List of states in the Holy Roman Empire


This list of states in the Holy Roman Empire includes any territory ruled by an authority that had been granted imperial immediacy, as well as many other feudal entities such as lordships, sous-fiefs, and allodial fiefs.
The Holy Roman Empire was a complex political entity that existed in central Europe for most of the medieval and early modern periods and was generally ruled by a German-speaking Emperor. The states that composed the Empire, while enjoying a form of territorial authority called Landeshoheit that granted them many attributes of sovereignty, were never fully sovereign states in the sense that term is understood presently.
In the 18th century, the Holy Roman Empire consisted of approximately 1,800 such territories, the majority being tiny estates owned by the families of Imperial Knights. This page does not directly contain the list but discusses the format of the various lists and offers some background to understand the complex organisation of the Holy Roman Empire. The lists themselves can be accessed via the alphabetical navigation box below; each letter will lead the reader to a page on which states of the Empire that began with that letter are listed.

Table of states

While any such list could never be definitive, the list attempts to be as comprehensive as possible. It is sorted alphabetically and split into separate articles linked below. There is also a separate list of Free Imperial Cities and a list of participants in the Imperial Diet as of 1792.
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
  • List of states in the Holy Roman Empire

    Key

  • The "Circle" column shows the Imperial Circle that the state belonged to.
  • The "Bench" column shows where the state was represented in the Imperial Diet.
Note that in the "Circle" column, "n/a" denotes a state that had ceased to exist before the Reichsreform.
Other abbreviations used in the list are:
  • Abp.
  • Bp.
  • Co.
  • D.
  • Ldg.
  • Mrg.
  • Pr.
  • RA

    Definition of terms

  • Hochstift: the territory ruled by a bishop as a prince.
  • Imperial Abbey : an abbey with imperial immediacy. Its head was a Reichsabt, literally 'Imperial Abbot' or 'Abbot of the Empire'. A monastery with similar status was a Reichskloster.
  • Imperial Circle : a regional grouping of states of the Holy Roman Empire, primarily for the purpose of organising a common defence and of collecting imperial taxes, but also as a means of organisation within the Imperial Diet.
  • Imperial Diet : the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire. The same name was used in the North German Confederation and in Germany until 1945.
  • Imperial Estate : an entity in the Holy Roman Empire with a vote in the Imperial Diet. Several states had no seats in the Empire, while some officials were non-voting members; neither qualified as Imperial States.
  • Imperial Free City : a city formally responsible to the emperor only – as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which belonged to the territory of one of the many princes of the Empire, such as dukes or prince-bishops. Free cities also had independent representation in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire.
  • Imperial immediacy was a privileged feudal and political status, a form of statehood within the Holy Roman Empire. The ruler of an immediate city, abbey or territory had no overlord other than the Holy Roman Emperor and the Imperial Diet. Immediate states had the right to collect taxes and tolls themselves, and held juridical rights themselves. De facto, immediacy corresponded to a semi-independence with a far-reaching autonomy.
  • Imperial Reform: In 1495, an attempt was made at a Diet in the city of Worms to give the disintegrating Holy Roman Empire a new structure, commonly referred to as Imperial Reform.
  • Imperial State : an entity in the Holy Roman Empire with a vote in the Imperial Diet.
  • Kleinstaaterei is a German word mostly used to describe the territorial fragmentation in Germany and neighboring regions during the Holy Roman Empire. It refers to the large number of nearly sovereign small and medium-sized secular and ecclesiastical principalities and free imperial cities, some of which were little larger than a single town or the surrounding grounds of the monastery of an Imperial abbey.
  • League of cities is Military alliance and mutual assistance strengthened the position of imperial cities, especially during the interregnum period of the 13th to 14th century.
  • Mediatization is the loss of imperial immediacy through annexation by a larger state. A mediatized lord lost most of his power over his former territory, but retained his title and most of his personal privileges.
  • Prince of the Empire: any ruling Prince whose territory is a member of the Holy Roman Empire and entitled to a voting seat in the Imperial Diet.
  • Prince-abbot or prince-abbess : an abbot or abbess with the rank of prince. Prince-abbots had a seat and vote on the Ecclesiastical Bench of the College of Ruling Princes of the Imperial Diet, where they sat alongside the prince-bishops.
  • Prince-bishop : a bishop with the rank, ex officio, of prince. As a prince, he was the temporal ruler of a Hochstift; as a bishop, he exercised the spiritual duties of an ordinary bishop over his diocese, which was always larger than his Hochstift. Prince-bishops had seat and voice on the Ecclesiastical Bench of the College of Ruling Princes of the Imperial Diet. Nearly all the bishops of the Holy Roman Empire outside the Habsburg lands were prince-bishops.
  • Prince-elector or electoral prince : a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors.
  • Secularization: the transfer of property from ecclesiastical to civil possession or use.

    Estate of the Empire (''Reichsstand'')

The following excerpt from François Velde's Unequal and Morganatic Marriages in German Law provides an excellent overview on what an Estate of the Empire is. For his purpose, the author deals only with the hereditary territorial rulers but it should be remembered that the Estates also included a substantial number of non-hereditary territorial rulers such as the ecclesiastical states and free imperial cities.

Grouped lists

''The following lists are going to be included into the table above.''

Ecclesiastical orders

1529: College of Princes
1793: Council of Princes
  • The Order of St. John
1793: Council of Princes

Livonian territories

  • Terra Mariana :
  • * Archbishopric of Riga
  • * Livonian Order
  • * Bishopric of Dorpat
  • * Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek
  • * Bishopric of Courland
  • * Roman Catholic Diocese of Reval
  • * Riga

    Territories of old princely families

  • Holstein-Gottorp
  • * Holstein-Gottorp-Oldenburg
  • Holstein-Glückstadt
  • Ernestine duchies

    Italian territories

  • Carrara
  • Finale
  • Florence
  • Genoa
  • Guastalla
  • Lucca
  • Mantua
  • Massa
  • Milan
  • Modena and Reggio
  • Montferrat
  • Parma
  • Piedmont
  • Piombino
  • Saluzzo
  • Siena
  • Tuscany
  • Verona

    Territories of new princely families

  • Thurn und Taxis, held Friedberg-Scheer

    Religious leagues

  • Catholic League
  • Heilbronn League
  • League of Torgau
  • Protestant Union
  • Schmalkaldic League

    Political leagues

  • Fürstenbund
  • Old Swiss Confederacy

    In English

  • The Arenberg Archives and Cultural Centre. "The Dukes of Arenberg". . Retrieved June 26, 2006.
  • Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture. "aeiou: The Annotable, Elektronic, Interactive, Osterreich, Universal Information System". . Retrieved June 23, 2006.
  • "Austrian and German Mediatized Houses, 1871–1919". . Retrieved July 4, 2006.
  • "Braunschweig – Brunswick. A history". . Retrieved July 6, 2006.
  • Cahoon, Benjamin M.. "Europe Index" in WorldStatesmen.org. . June 26, 2006.
  • Dotor, Santiago. "Historical Flags " in FOTW: Flags of the World Web Site. . Retrieved July 3, 2006.
  • "Freiburg's History for Pedestrians". . Retrieved June 26, 2006.
  • Graz, Thomas. "Thomas's Glassware Tour to Central Europe: Old Glasses from Old Europe" in German History Ring. . Retrieved June 20, 2006.
  • Hilkens, Bob. "States and Regents of the World: An Alphabetical Listing of States and Territories and their Regents in the 19th and 20th Centuries". . Retrieved June 27, 2006.
  • "History of the House of Sayn". . Retrieved July 13, 2006.
  • Kane, Ed. "Castle Directory: Alphabetical Listing of German Castles and Fortifications". . Retrieved July 28, 2006.
  • The History Files: . Retrieved July 9, 2006.
  • "Lippe: Chronology of Lippe" in Genealogy.net. . Retrieved June 25, 2006.
  • Martinsson, Örjan. "Historical Atlas: Europe". . Retrieved July 14, 2006.
  • "Medieval German Counties". . Retrieved July 9, 2006.
  • "Milestones in Pomeranian History, with particular attention to Lauenburg and Buetow". . Retrieved June 26, 2006.
  • Pantel, Mike. "The History of Baden-Wurttemberg". . Retrieved June 25, 2006.
  • Principality of Liechtenstein. "Liechtenstein at a Glance: History". . Retrieved June 25, 2006.
  • Reitwiesner, William Addams. "One of the major questions about the Mediatized Houses is the word 'Mediatized'. What does it mean?". . Retrieved July 1, 2006.
  • Rozn, Val. "The German Reigning Houses: Titles, territories, regnal chronologies". . Retrieved June 9, 2006.
  • Rozn, Val. "The Imperial Nobility and the Constitution of the Holy Roman Empire". . Retrieved July 16, 2006.
  • Rozn, Val. "The Last Years of the Ancient Empire". . Retrieved June 24, 2006
  • "Schaumburg-Lippe" in Genealogy.net. . Retrieved June 25, 2006.
  • "Sovereigns in Germany". . Retrieved June 22, 2006.
  • Voss, Hans Peter. "History of Schleswig Holstein". . Retrieved July 3, 2006.