In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' to Emperor and Empire and not to any other intermediate authorities, while
The Prince-Bishop of Liège, member of the Imperial estates, enjoyed Imperial immediacy and therefore could negotiate and sign international treaties on his own, as long as they were not directed against the Emperor and the Empire.
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities, briefly worded free imperial city, was used from the 15th century to denote a self-ruling city that had a certain amount of auto
Imperial immediacy
…of immediacy varied and classification is difficult, especially for the Middle Ages. The situation was relatively clear in the case of the cities: imperial cities were directly subject to the emperor's jurisdiction and taxation, and a first list can be found in the imperial tax register of 1241. In the case of…
The Swabian city of Rottweil maintained its independence up to the mediatisation of 1802–03. (Rottweil, c. 1435).
A partial list of the Free Imperial Cities of Swabia based on the Reichsmatrikel of 1521. It indicates the number of horsemen (left hand column) and infantry (right hand column) which each Imperial Estate had to contribute to the defence of the Empire.
Weißenburg im Nordgau in 1725
Württemberg more than doubled its size when it absorbed some 15 Imperial Cities (in orange) and other territories during the mediatisations of 1803 and 1806.