English: Map showing most of the Electorate of Trier (in yellow) with the vast territory of the Imperial Abbey of Prüm (far left, in pink), and adjacent states such as the County of Manderscheid (left, in green).
In the 16th century, Prüm had come under the rule of the archbishop-elector of Trier who had himself named 'Perpetual Administrator" of the Imperial Abbey. The abbey enjoyed a large autonomy and the monks elected their own abbot, often in defiance of the wishes of the Elector of Trier. Cropping from a map by N. Visscher II titled Archiepiscopatuc ac Electoratus Trevirensis Ditio. (c. 1720 reprint)