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:
“Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
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—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
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—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.
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