Imperial vicar

An imperial vicar (German: Reichsvikar) was a prince charged with administering all or part of the Holy Roman Empire on behalf of the emperor.

Later, an imperial vicar was invariably one of two princes charged by the Golden Bull with administering the Holy Roman Empire during an interregnum.

His decision to declare the dissolution of the Empire as well as to abdicate was apparently partially designed to forestall an interregnum with rule by the imperial vicars, which he feared might result in the election of Napoleon as emperor.

In the second half of the 14th century, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor made permanent Frederick's decision and associated it to the title of Duke of Savoy.

In 1556, given that France occupied the Savoyard states in 1535–1536, Emperor Charles V intended to transfer the position to Philip II of Spain with his abdication but Philip's requests to receive the title were denied by Charles's successor Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor.

[3][4][5] Duke Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy used the Imperial vicarship in order to recover the dynastic possessions of his family in 1557-1559.