Topic summary
Free imperial cities
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Free imperial city.
Organization
Free imperial cities were not officially admitted as individual Imperial Estates to the Imperial Diet until 1489, and even then their votes were usually considered only advisory (votum consultativum) compared to the benches of the electors and princes. The cities divided themselves into two groups, or benches, in the Imperial Diet, the Rhenish and the Swabian benches.