Imperial Estate

Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise significant rights and privileges and were "immediate", meaning the only authority above them was that of the Holy Roman Emperor.

The system of imperial states replaced the more regular division of Germany into stem duchies in the early medieval period.

The old Carolingian stem duchies were retained as the major divisions of Germany under the Salian dynasty, but they became increasingly obsolete during the early high medieval period under the Hohenstaufen, and they were finally abolished in 1180 by Frederick Barbarossa in favour of more numerous territorial divisions.

Counts and nobles were not directly represented in the Diet in spite of their immediate status, but were grouped into "benches" (Grafenbänke) with a single vote each.

The status of Estate was normally attached to a particular territory within the Empire, but there were some reichsständische Personalisten, or "persons with Imperial statehood".

In the German mediatization between 1803 and 1806, the vast majority of the Estates of the Holy Roman Empire were mediatised.

Rulers had autonomy inasmuch as their families were concerned; in particular, they were permitted to make rules regarding the inheritance of their states without imperial interference.

They were permitted to make treaties and enter into alliances with other Imperial States as well as with foreign nations.

Similarly, among ecclesiastics, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order held one individual vote in the Council of Princes and two in the Bench of the Rhine.

[2] Apart from the highest tiers of the emperor, kings, prince-bishops and the prince electors, the estates are represented in groups of four.

[3] It is likely that this system was first introduced under Emperor Sigismund, who is assumed to have commissioned the frescoes in Frankfurt city hall in 1414.