Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire

E60880

The Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire was a self-governing urban polity that owed allegiance directly to the emperor rather than to any intermediate territorial lord.


Statements (50)
Predicate Object
instanceOf city-state
imperial estate
political entity
couldBeMediatizedBy Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803
declinedWith centralization of territorial states
dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806
developedDuring High Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
emergedFrom communal movements in medieval towns
medieval town privileges
flourishedDuring early modern period
governedBy city council
urban patriciate
hasCharacteristic corporate membership in the Empire
direct relationship with the emperor
economic orientation toward trade and crafts
mixed republican and oligarchic institutions
often Protestant after the Reformation
often member of regional city leagues
urban autonomy
hasEstateType Reichsstadt
hasPoliticalStatus imperial immediacy
hasRight coinage in many cases
fortification of the city
high jurisdiction
legislation within its territory
low jurisdiction
self-government
taxation within its territory
includesExamples Free Imperial City of Augsburg
Free Imperial City of Cologne
Free Imperial City of Frankfurt
Free Imperial City of Nuremberg
Free Imperial City of Strasbourg
Free Imperial City of Ulm
languageOfAdministration German
Latin
legalBasis imperial charter
privileges granted by the emperor
notSubjectTo count
duke
local bishop as territorial lord
territorial prince
owedAllegianceTo Empire as a whole
Holy Roman Emperor
partOf Holy Roman Empire
representedIn College of Cities of the Imperial Diet
Imperial Diet
subjectTo imperial courts
imperial law

Referenced by (16)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire ("Free Imperial City of Nuremberg")
Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire ("Free Imperial City of Frankfurt")
Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire ("Free Imperial City of Augsburg")
Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire ("Free Imperial City of Ulm")
Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire ("Free Imperial City of Cologne")
includesExamples
Lübeck
Ulm
historicalStatus
Upper Rhenish Circle ("Free Imperial City of Frankfurt am Main")
Upper Rhenish Circle ("Free Imperial City of Speyer")
includesTerritory
Albrecht Dürer ("Free Imperial City of Nuremberg")
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ("Free Imperial City of Frankfurt")
placeOfBirth
Weil der Stadt
historicalAffiliation
Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire ("Free and Imperial Cities")
included
Nuremberg Castle ("Free Imperial City of Nuremberg")
ownedBy
Johannes Kepler ("Free Imperial City of Regensburg")
placeOfDeath
Ulm Minster ("Free Imperial City of Ulm")
wasCityChurchOf

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