In the
Holy Roman Empire, the collective term
Free and Imperial Cities , briefly worded
Free imperial city (
Freie Reichsstadt, ), was used from the 15th century to denote a self-ruling city that enjoyed a certain amount of
autonomy and was represented in the
Imperial Diet. 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.).