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:
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.
