Reichsdorf
A Reichsdorf was in the Holy Roman Empire , a rich nearest place, but no imperial estate shaft had. The imperial villages were formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 alongside the imperial estates and imperial knighthood.
Function and history
Imperial villages were the remains of the old crown estates that were dissolved in the 15th century . Residents of imperial villages were not subject to serfdom and did not have to do any labor . These rights were always preserved even with the not infrequent pledges to local princes. The imperial villages exercised sovereignty in church and school matters with certain restrictions . They also enjoyed religious freedom since the Reformation. Reichsdörfer themselves chose their mayors and judges , with lower, sometimes also higher jurisdiction, and set village rules. They only paid imperial taxes .
In the 14th century there were more than 100 imperial villages, the number of which gradually decreased through pledging, donation and submission. The 40 former imperial villages and hamlets in Alsace lost their rights with the occupation by France. At the end of the Holy Roman Empire ( Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803) the few remaining imperial villages were mediatized . These were:
- The free ones on Leutkircher Heide (in the area of today's districts Reichenhofen, Herlazhofen and Wuchzenhofen of the city of Leutkirch im Allgäu )
- The Taunus villages Sulzbach , Holzhausen (today as Burgholzhausen district of Friedrichsdorf ) and Soden (today: Bad Soden am Taunus )
- The Lower Franconian villages of Gochsheim and Sennfeld near Schweinfurt
- The free Reichstal Harmersbach
List of imperial villages
Location of the Reichsdörfer (red) and Reichsweiler (green) on a map of today's Bas-Rhin department in Alsace
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The 40 former imperial villages and hamlets in Alsace
Location of the Reichsdörfer (red) on a map of today's Germany |
Reichsdörfer
Reichsweiler
- Gebolsheim (to Wittersheim )
- Keffendorf (to Ohlungen )
- Rumersheim (to Berstett )
Other imperial villages
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See also
- Kröver Reich
- Cheap home , Godramstein , Steinweiler , Erlenbach , Klingen , Rohrbach and Impflingen
- Freigericht Kaichen
literature
- Helmut Neuhaus : The Empire in the Early Modern Age (= Encyclopedia of German History 42). 2nd Edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56729-2 .
- Erhard Nietzschmann: The free in the country. Former German imperial villages and their coats of arms. Melchior, Wolfenbüttel 2013, ISBN 978-3-944289-16-8 .
- Friedrich Weber: History of the Frankish imperial villages Gochsheim and Sennfeld. Published by Ernst Stoer's Buchhandlung, Schweinfurt 1913.