

Even in Hamburg, Protestant and remote from his court, prayers were regularly said for him and his birthday was celebrated." The Holy Roman Empire was German in various ways: most of its population was German-speaking, its official full name was the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" (German: Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation), it conducted most of its business in German, and one of the titles held by its emperor was "King in Germany." Derek Beales adds, " and the Empire were foci of German patriotism. Most of these states, Salzburg included, were included in a larger political entity, the Holy Roman Empire. The Archbishopric of Salzburg was but one of more than 300 similarly independent states in the part of Europe that was populated by German speakers.

Thus in one sense Mozart's nationality could be said to be "Salzburgian", though English-language biographers do not generally use this term to designate his nationality. Mozart was born in Salzburg, which was then the capital of the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg, a small, essentially sovereign state. He was a generous patron of the Mozart family. Sigismund von Schrattenbach was the ruling archbishop at Salzburg when Mozart was born and during his youth.
