Imperial city

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This page is about the generic term. For specific and other meanings see Imperial City.

An imperial city (German: Reichsstadt) was a township in the Holy Roman Empire, which held the status of Imperial immediacy and was directly subordinate to the emperor. Their citizens enjoyed a certain autonomy, mainly judiciary power, equivalent to the Princes, and as an Imperial State held a vote in the Reichstag. Later imperial cities were often grouped with those "free cities" (Freie Städte) that had freed themselves from the ecclesiastical rule of a Prince-bishop, and this grouping was then called "free and imperial city", which over time changed into free imperial city.

The imperial cities arose from the town foundings of the Imperial House of Hohenstaufen in the 12th and 13th century, mainly in their home territories in Swabia (then including Alsace) and in Thuringia. Their citizens declared themselves directly answerable to the emperor, a status they retained after the downfall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in 1268. From about 1489, free and imperial cities were represented by a separate college (Reichsstädtekollegium) in the Imperial Diet, subdivided into a Swabian and Rhenish bench:

Terms for types of administrative territorial entities

English terms

Common English terms (nouns)¹ used to derive other terms and the derived ones historic in italics

Area

Borough

Capital

Federal capital
Imperial capital

Autonomous province
Overseas province

Region

Administrative region
Autonomous region
Capital region
Development region
Economic region
Mesoregion
Microregion
Overseas region
Planning region
Special administrative region
Statistical region
Subregion

State

Territory

Town

Zone

Other English terms

Current	Alpine resort Bailiwick Banner Autonomous banner Block Cadastre Canton Circle Circuit Colony Commune Condominium Constituency Department Overseas department Division Subdivision Duchy Eldership Federal dependency Governorate Hamlet Neighbourhood Parish Periphery Principality Co-principality Protectorate Quarter Regency Autonomous republic Reservation Reserve Riding Sector Autonomous sector Shire Suzerainty Townland Village Summer village Ward

Historic	Agency Barony Burgh Imperial Circle Diocese Exarchate Hide Hundred March Monthon Presidency Residency Seat Tenth Tithing

Non-English or loanwords

Current	Amt Arrondissement Bairro Bakhsh Baladiyah Barangay Bezirk Regierungsbezirk Colonia Comarca Comune Daïra Deme Frazione Freguesia Gmina Gemeinde İl Județ Kelurahan Kreis Kunta / kommun Finland Sweden Län / lääni Maakuntaliitto / landskapsförbund Località Mahalle Megye Muban Oblast Autonomous Okrug Autonomous Ortsteil Ostān Poblacion Powiat Purok Raion Ranchería Shabiyah Shahr Shahrestān Sitio Sýsla Taluka Tehsil Vingtaine Voivodeship Vilayat / Vilayet / Wilayah

Defunct	Commote Heerlijkheid Katepanikion Köping / Kauppala Landskap / Maakunta Landskommun/Maalaiskunta Liwa Naucrary Nome Egypt Greece Pagus Pargana Plasă Satrapy Syssel Theme Subah

¹ Used by ten or more countries.

See also: Census division; Electoral district; Political division; Arabic / French / Spanish terms for country subdivisions; Table of administrative divisions by country

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