Free Imperial City

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:

    Have you ever been up in your plane at night, alone, somewhere, 20,000 feet above the ocean?... Did you ever hear music up there?... It’s the music a man’s spirit sings to his heart, when the earth’s far away and there isn’t any more fear. It’s the high, fine, beautiful sound of an earth-bound creature who grew wings and flew up high and looked straight into the face of the future. And caught, just for an instant, the unbelievable vision of a free man in a free world.
    Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)

    Insensibility, of all kinds, and on all occasions, most moves my imperial displeasure.
    Frances Burney (1752–1840)

    The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents.... It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community.... It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods.
    Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)