City privileges

City privileges were given to the places in their sphere of influence by the high nobility ( duke , prince , elector , king , emperor ). Even if the privileges are mentioned in documents , there is no list of the order (importance) of a possible award, but the cities were granted different rights at different times. These privileges were mostly limited in time and initially had to be confirmed by the heirs . After all, it meant on the one hand a loss of power by the Führer, on the other hand it strengthened the economic power of the place and thus his own wallet . Every city wanted as unlimited as possible, as many privileges as possible. All this led to a constant struggle between rulers and subordinates.

The cities received privileges of various kinds, but mostly they were of an economic or legal nature. One could state the so-called Magdeburg law , plus the miles, judicial, embarrassing and mining law. In detail there was, for example, the right to hold markets and the withholding of customs duties and the collection of one's own taxes, the settlement of craftsmen, brewing beer, mining and selling ore, erecting city walls, speaking justice, but also sealing with red Wax ( red seal privilege ) could be one of them.

It can be seen that, starting from the Middle Ages , the cities acquired more and more rights, but from the 17th century the nobles increasingly curtailed their city privileges, until at the latest with the introduction of popular rule ( republic , democracy ) the privileges of the cities disappeared.