Leutkirch im Allgäu is a former Free Imperial City located in south-eastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is part of the district of Ravensburg, in the western Allgäu region and belongs to the administrative region (Regierungsbezirk) of Tübingen.
According to the German Meteorological Service, Leutkirch is one of the sunniest cities in Germany.
Leutkirch im Allgäu seen from the north
Schloss Zeil overlooking Leutkirch, circa 1900. The palace of the counts of Waldburg was built just outside the territory of the Free Imperial City.
Tower (der Pulverturm) with church (die Sankt Martins Kirche) in background
The late Gothic St. Martin's Church built in the early 16th. century. The onion dome was added in 1814.
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities, briefly worded free imperial city, was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that had a certain amount of autonomy and was represented in the Imperial Diet.
Swabian Rottweil maintained its independence up to the mediatization 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 Free Cities (in orange) and other territories during the mediatisations of 1803 and 1806.
