free imperial city
noun1
- 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.).
forms
free imperial cities