free imperial city
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English
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Free_Imperial_Cities_1792.png/220px-Free_Imperial_Cities_1792.png)
Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]A calque of German Freie Reichsstadt (short singular form of Freie und Reichsstädte) or Latin urbs imperialis libera.
Noun
[edit]free imperial city (plural free imperial cities)
- (historical) A self-ruling city within the Holy Roman Empire that had some autonomy and was represented in the Imperial Diet.
- A free imperial city held the status of Imperial immediacy, and was thus subordinate only to the Holy Roman Emperor, whereas a territorial city or town (Landstadt) was subordinate to a territorial prince – either an ecclesiastical lord (prince-bishop or prince-abbot) or a secular prince (duke (Herzog), margrave, count (Graf), etc.).
- 1996, John Dornberg, Western Europe, Oryx Press, page 56:
- The city-states of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire had their origins as free imperial cities, a term coined in the late eleventh century.
- 2007, Carlos Ramirez-Faria, Concise Encyclopedia Of World History, Atlantic Publishers, page 243:
- Verdun was an ancient bishopric and a free imperial city, which France conquered in 1552 (together with Metz and Toul) and made into a fortress to protect its eastern borders.
Translations
[edit]self-ruling city within the Holy Roman Empire subordinate only to the emperor
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Further reading
[edit]Imperial immediacy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
List of free imperial cities on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Royal free city on Wikipedia.Wikipedia