![]() ![]() ![]() In a few cases, such as in Cologne, the former ecclesiastical lord continued to claim the right to exercise some residual feudal privileges over the Free City, a claim that gave rise to constant litigation almost until the end of the Empire. The Free Cities ( Freie Städte Urbes liberae) were those, such as Basel, Augsburg, Cologne and Strasbourg, that were initially subjected to a prince-bishop and, likewise, progressively gained independence from that lord. Those cities, which had initially been administered by royal stewards, gradually gained independence as their city magistrates assumed the duties of administration and justice. In the course of the 13th and 14th century, some cities were promoted by the emperor to the status of Imperial Cities ( Reichsstädte Urbes imperiales), essentially for fiscal reasons. The evolution of some German cities into self-ruling constitutional entities of the Empire was slower than that of the secular and ecclesiastical princes. ![]() An Imperial city held the status of 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 prince – be it an ecclesiastical lord (prince-bishop, prince-abbot) or a secular prince (duke ( Herzog), margrave, count ( Graf), etc.). In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term Free and Imperial Cities (German: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded Free imperial city ( Freie Reichsstadt, Latin: urbs imperialis libera) from the 15th century was used to denote a self-ruling city that enjoyed a certain amount of autonomy. ![]() Free Imperial Cities of the Holy Roman Empire ![]()
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