Imperial Diet

The Imperial Diet (Reichstag) was the forum of the Holy Roman Empire where the Imperial Estates (Reichsstände) would discuss issues and make decisions when the consensus of the Empire as a whole was either deemed necessary or required by law. Convened for the first time in 1499 in the wake of the Imperial Reform (Reichsreform) lead by Emperor Maximilian I, the Imperial Diet structured the governance of the Empire from the early modern era onwards.
Imperial Estates were territories that enjoyed imperial immediacy (Reichsunmittelbarkeit), that is the Emperor was the immediate and direct lord of their rulers, as they were formally feudal fiefs; alongside this immediacy, the Imperial Estates were to share the burden of the Empire by paying taxes which funded its military expenses and the various bodies upholding the common legal framework that characterised its social and political order. These two criteria thus determined whether a territory held the right to participate and vote in the Diet.


College of Electors | College of Princes | Ecclesiastical Bench | Secular Bench | College of Imperial Cities | Rhenish Bench | Swabian Bench



College of Electors | College of Princes | Ecclesiastical Bench | Secular Bench | College of Imperial Cities | Rhenish Bench | Swabian Bench



College of Electors | College of Princes | Ecclesiastical Bench | Secular Bench | College of Imperial Cities | Rhenish Bench | Swabian Bench



College of Electors | College of Princes | Ecclesiastical Bench | Secular Bench | College of Imperial Cities | Rhenish Bench | Swabian Bench


College of Electors | College of Princes | Ecclesiastical Bench | Secular Bench | College of Imperial Cities | Rhenish Bench | Swabian Bench


  • College of Imperial Cities

College of Electors | College of Princes | Ecclesiastical Bench | Secular Bench | College of Imperial Cities | Rhenish Bench | Swabian Bench


College of Electors | College of Princes | Ecclesiastical Bench | Secular Bench | College of Imperial Cities | Rhenish Bench | Swabian Bench | College of Imperial Cities | Rhenish Bench | Swabian Bench

Retrieved from "http://wappenwiki.org/index.php?title=Imperial_Diet&oldid=132573"