Hardly anyone knows them, the empresses of the Holy Roman Empire in the early modern period - with the significant exception of the "great" Maria Theresa, daughter of Charles VI. and wife Franz I. But the other, unknown empresses were far more than just the wives of their imperial husbands and ancestors of the dynasty. Thanks to their specific endowment with economic, social and cultural capital by their families of origin, they became important actors at the imperial court who developed a variety of different activities: They acted as mediators in cultural transfer, promoted art and science as patrons and played a central role in religious matters Life of the court. But they were also the point of contact for foreign envoys and were sometimes seen as the heads of their own court party. For the first time, the volume offers an overview of a representative selection of these princesses and shows that they were far more than "just the emperor's wife".