Free Imperial City
In the Holy Roman Empire, a Free Imperial City (Freie Reichsstadt) was a self-ruling city that enjoyed Imperial immediacy, and as such, was subordinate only to the emperor, as opposed to a territorial city or town (Landstadt) which was subordinate to a territorial lord - such as a lay prince (duke, margrave, count, etc.) or an ecclesiastical prince (prince-bishop, prince-abbot).
Free Imperial Cities were Imperial Estates and had representation in the Reichstag.
Read more about Free Imperial City: Distinction Between Free Imperial Cities and Other Cities, Origin, Development
Famous quotes containing the words free, imperial and/or city:
“A majority, held in restraint by constitutional checks, and limitations, and always changing easily, with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“‘Society’ in America means all the honest, kindly-mannered, pleasant- voiced women, and all the good, brave, unassuming men, between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Each of these has a free pass in every city and village, ‘good for this generation only,’ and it depends on each to make use of this pass or not as it may happen to suit his or her fancy.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)