Reichsfreiheit
Encyclopedia
Imperial immediacy was a privileged feudal
and political status, which the estates of the realm
such as an imperial city
, a religious entity, a feudal principality, or a minor lordship could attain within the Holy Roman Empire
. A reichsfrei city, abbey or territory was under the direct authority of the Holy Roman Emperor
and the Imperial Diet (Reichstag), without any intermediary liege lord
(s). In modern terms, it would be understood as a form of sovereignty
.
They formed the Imperial Estates
together with those Count
s and Barons
, Imperial prelates and Imperial cities who only held a collective vote (votum curiatum).
Further immediate estates not represented in the Reichstag were the Imperial Knight
s as well as several abbeys and minor localities, the remains of those territories, which in the High Middle Ages
had been under the direct authority of the Emperor
and mostly had been given in pledge to the princes meanwhile.
(or "blood justice") through which capital punishment could be administered. These rights depended on the legal patents granted by the emperor.
Some disadvantages could include the direct intervention by imperial commissions, such as those that happened in several of the southwestern cities after the Schmalkaldic War
and the potential restriction or outright loss of previously held legal patents. Other disadvantages could include the loss of all immediate rights, if the Emperor and/or the Imperial Diet could not defend those rights against outside aggression, such as that which occurred in the French Revolutionary wars
and the Napoleonic Wars. The Treaty of Lunéville
in 1801 required the emperor to renounce all claims to the portions of the Holy Roman Empire left of the Rhine. At the last meeting of the Imperial Diet in 1802-03, also called the German Mediatisation
, most of the free imperial cities and the ecclesiastic states lost their imperial immediacy and were absorbed by several dynastic states.
Understanding the practical application of the rights of immediacy makes the history of the Holy Roman Empire particularly difficult to understand, especially among modern historians. Even such contemporaries as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
and Johann Gottlieb Fichte
called the empire a monstrosity. Mid-19th century historians wrote of the Empire as something neither Holy nor Roman, nor an Empire, and in comparison to the British "empire", saw its German counterpart as an abysmal failure that reached its pinnacle of success in the early Middle Ages and declined thereafter. For nearly a century after the publication of James Bryce
's monumental work The Holy Roman Empire (1864), this view prevailed among most English-speaking
historians of the Early Modern period
, and contributed to the development of the Sonderweg
theory of the German past.
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
and political status, which the estates of the realm
Estates of the realm
The Estates of the realm were the broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society, recognized in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe; they are sometimes distinguished as the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners, and are often referred to by...
such as an imperial city
Free Imperial City
In the Holy Roman Empire, a free imperial city was a city formally ruled by the emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which were governed by one of the many princes of the Empire, such as dukes or prince-bishops...
, a religious entity, a feudal principality, or a minor lordship could attain within the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. A reichsfrei city, abbey or territory was under the direct authority of the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
and the Imperial Diet (Reichstag), without any intermediary liege lord
Liege Lord
Liege Lord was an American speed/power metal band, active in the 1980s and considered to be a pioneer of the genre. It was formed by Matt Vinci, Anthony Truglio and Frank Cortese....
(s). In modern terms, it would be understood as a form of sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
.
Gradations
Several immediate estates held the privilege to attend the Reichstag meetings in person including an individual vote (votum virile):- the seven Prince-electorPrince-electorThe Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
s designated by the Golden Bull of 1356Golden Bull of 1356The Golden Bull of 1356 was a decree issued by the Reichstag assembly in Nuremberg headed by the Luxembourg Emperor Charles IV that fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire... - the other Princes of the Holy Roman EmpirePrinces of the Holy Roman EmpireThe term Prince of the Holy Roman Empire denoted a secular or ecclesiastical Imperial State, who ruled over an immediate fief directly assigned by the Holy Roman Emperor...
- secular: DukeDukeA duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
s, MargraveMargraveA margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
s, LandgraveLandgraveLandgrave was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor...
s etc. - ecclesiastical: Prince-BishopPrince-BishopA Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
s and Prince-ProvostPrince-ProvostPrince-Provost is a rare title for a monastic superior with the ecclesiastical style of provost who is a Prince of the Church in the sense that he also ranks as a secular 'prince' , notably a Reichsfürst of the Holy Roman Empire, holding a direct vote in the Reichstag assembly coequal to an actual...
s.
- secular: Duke
They formed the Imperial Estates
Imperial State
An Imperial State or Imperial Estate was an entity in the Holy Roman Empire with a vote in the Imperial Diet assemblies. Several territories of the Empire were not represented, while some officials were non-voting members; neither qualified as Imperial States.Rulers of Imperial States were...
together with those Count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
s and Barons
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
, Imperial prelates and Imperial cities who only held a collective vote (votum curiatum).
Further immediate estates not represented in the Reichstag were the Imperial Knight
Imperial Knight
The Free Imperial Knights, or the Knights of the Empire was an organisation of free nobles of the Holy Roman Empire, whose direct overlord was the Emperor, remnants of the medieval free nobility and the ministeriales...
s as well as several abbeys and minor localities, the remains of those territories, which in the High Middle Ages
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....
had been under the direct authority of the Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
and mostly had been given in pledge to the princes meanwhile.
Advantages and disadvantages
Some additional advantages could include the right to collect taxes and tolls, hold a market, mint coins, bear arms, and conduct legal proceedings. The latter could include the so called BlutgerichtBlood court
Blood Court or high justice in the Holy Roman Empire referred to the right of a Vogt to hold a criminal court inflicting bodily punishment, including the death penalty.Not every Vogt held the blood court...
(or "blood justice") through which capital punishment could be administered. These rights depended on the legal patents granted by the emperor.
Some disadvantages could include the direct intervention by imperial commissions, such as those that happened in several of the southwestern cities after the Schmalkaldic War
Schmalkaldic War
The Schmalkaldic War refers to the short period of violence from 1546 until 1547 between the forces of Emperor Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire, commanded by Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, and the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League within the domains of the Holy Roman...
and the potential restriction or outright loss of previously held legal patents. Other disadvantages could include the loss of all immediate rights, if the Emperor and/or the Imperial Diet could not defend those rights against outside aggression, such as that which occurred in the French Revolutionary wars
First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition was the first major effort of multiple European monarchies to contain Revolutionary France. France declared war on the Habsburg monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792, and the Kingdom of Prussia joined the Austrian side a few weeks later.These powers initiated a series...
and the Napoleonic Wars. The Treaty of Lunéville
Treaty of Lunéville
The Treaty of Lunéville was signed on 9 February 1801 between the French Republic and the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, negotiating both on behalf of his own domains and of the Holy Roman Empire...
in 1801 required the emperor to renounce all claims to the portions of the Holy Roman Empire left of the Rhine. At the last meeting of the Imperial Diet in 1802-03, also called the German Mediatisation
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....
, most of the free imperial cities and the ecclesiastic states lost their imperial immediacy and were absorbed by several dynastic states.
Problems in understanding the Empire
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
and Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte was a German philosopher. He was one of the founding figures of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a movement that developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant...
called the empire a monstrosity. Mid-19th century historians wrote of the Empire as something neither Holy nor Roman, nor an Empire, and in comparison to the British "empire", saw its German counterpart as an abysmal failure that reached its pinnacle of success in the early Middle Ages and declined thereafter. For nearly a century after the publication of James Bryce
James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce
James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce OM, GCVO, PC, FRS, FBA was a British academic, jurist, historian and Liberal politician.-Background and education:...
's monumental work The Holy Roman Empire (1864), this view prevailed among most English-speaking
Anglosphere
Anglosphere is a neologism which refers to those nations with English as the most common language. The term can be used more specifically to refer to those nations which share certain characteristics within their cultures based on a linguistic heritage, through being former British colonies...
historians of the Early Modern period
Early modern period
In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...
, and contributed to the development of the Sonderweg
Sonderweg
Sonderweg is a controversial theory in German historiography that considers the German-speaking lands, or the country Germany, to have followed a unique course from aristocracy into democracy, distinct from other European countries...
theory of the German past.
See also
- Imperial Abbey
- Imperial Estate
- Free Imperial CityFree Imperial CityIn the Holy Roman Empire, a free imperial city was a city formally ruled by the emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which were governed by one of the many princes of the Empire, such as dukes or prince-bishops...
- List of states of the Holy Roman Empire
- MediatizationMediatizationMediatisation is the loss of imperial immediacy. Broadly defined it is the subsumption of one monarchy into another monarchy in such a way that the ruler of the annexed state keeps his sovereign title and, sometimes, a measure of local power...