The Free Imperial City of Kempten was a

Free Imperial City In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

in the

Swabian Circle The Circle of Swabia or Swabian Circle (german: Schwäbischer Reichskreis or ''Schwäbischer Kreis'') was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1500 on the territory of the former German stem-duchy of Swabia. However, it di ...

."Kempten". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2012 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/314674/Kempten

History

In 1213, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II declared the abbots of

Kempten Abbey The Princely Abbey of Kempten (german: Fürststift Kempten or Fürstabtei Kempten) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire for centuries until it was annexed to the Electorate of Bavaria in the course of the German mediatizatio ...

members of the Imperial Diet and granted the abbot the right to bear the title of Duke, making the abbey the Imperial Ducal Abbey of Kempten. In 1289, King

Rudolf of Habsburg Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany from the House of Habsburg. The first of the count-kings of Germany, he reigned from 1273 until his death. Rudolf's election marked the end of the Great Interregnum whic ...

granted special privileges to the settlement in the river valley, making it an

Imperial City In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

. In 1525 the last property rights of the abbots in the Imperial City were sold in the so-called "Great Purchase", marking the start of the co-existence of two independent cities bearing the same name next to each other. The Imperial City converted to

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in direct opposition to the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

monastery in 1527, signing the Augsburg Confession. During the turmoil of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

(1632–33), the city was destroyed by imperial forces. During the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

the Imperial City came under Bavarian rule (1802–03). In 1819, the city was united with the properties of the Abbey into a single communal entity.

References

{{coord, 47, 43, 40.66, N, 10, 48, 48.5, E, display=title City-states Free imperial cities Former republics 1802 disestablishments States and territories established in 1289

Free Imperial City of Kempten The Free Imperial City of Kempten was a Free Imperial City in the Swabian Circle."Kempten". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2012 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topi ...