Imperial Possessions
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The imperial possessions were the territories of the Holy Roman Empire personally owned by the Emperor. The definition applies to the historical period before the Habsburg became the ruling House of the Empire.
Establishment
February 962: In 962, Otto was crowned Emperor by Pope John XII, thus intertwining the affairs of the German kingdom with those of Italy and the Papacy. Otto's coronation as Emperor marked the German kings as successors to the Empire of Charlemagne, which through the concept of translatio imperii, also made them consider themselves as successors to Ancient Rome.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
The Frankish Kingdom was partitioned and reuinited several times as the Frankish rulers used to divide their territories equally among their heirs. This lead also to a number of wars and revolts.
1.1.Incoronation of Otto I
East Frankish King Otto I was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor.
Were a series of military campaigny by the Mongols that created the largest contiguous Empire in history, the Mongol Empire, which controlled most of Eurasia.
2.1.Mongol Invasions of Germany
Were a series of Mongol raids in Germany.
2.1.1.First Mongol Invasion of Germany
Was a Mongol raid in the Holy Roman Empire.
May 1241: The Mongols invaded the Holy Roman Empire without major clash of arms.The army invaded eastern Germany, and crossed the March of Moravia in April-May 1241.
June 1241: The Mongols left eastern Germany and Moravia.
January 1139: The "staufer territory", i.e.territories of the Staufen Dynasty, became Imperial Possessions when the Dynasty was elevated to Imperial rank.
January 1139: Von Belmont appears in the documents for the first time in the Gamertinger contracts of January 22, 1139.
January 1140: Geroldseck County is established in modern-day Hohengeroldseck.
January 1145: Hohenberg County is p: Partitioned from Zollern.
January 1147: From 1146, Hugo V (1125-1152) would bear the title of count palatine (Pfalzgraf), as Hugo I of Tübingen.
January 1148: After 1147, Giengen became the center of an estate in the Brenz Valley.
January 1148: Anno 1147 Bruno von Burgau was first mentioned. The origin of the "Burg ob der Au" is assumed to be around the year 1100.
January 1149: Erbach Lordship is mentioned for the first time in 1148.
January 1156: Establishment of the Konstanz Prince-Bishopric.
January 1168: The Warthausen sold their dominion around 1167 to Emperor Frderick I.
January 1174: The Counts of Kyburg ruled over the Zug area since the Lenzburgers died out in 1173.
January 1175: Foundation of Fleckenstein Lordship.
January 1192: In 1191 the Welf possessions in Swabia fell to the Staufer family.
January 1193: Konstanz is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1201: Grüningen passed through the Counts of Veringen to the Counts of Württemberg at the end of the 12th century, who established the line of the Counts of Grüningen-Landau there.
January 1201: The feudal lords who initially lived here, who called themselves von Ursin, built a castle and founded the Irsee monastery in the 12th century.
January 1201: From the end of the 12th century, the Altems Castle of the Lords of Ems was one of the most powerful and largest castle complexes (350 meters long and 80 meters wide) in southern Germany.
January 1201: In the High Middle Ages (950 to 1250 AD), the sovereign rights were exercised by the Barons of Regensberg.
January 1201: The Lords of Horbourg existed from the 12th century.
January 1201: Expansion of the Hababsurg possessions in central Switzerland.
January 1201: Lützelstein Castle was built at the end of the 12th century by Count Hugo, a son of Count Hugo von Blieskastel. In 1223, the castle and county of Lützelstein had to be given in fief to the Bishopric of Strasbourg.
January 1207: Lichtenberg Lordship is mentioned for the first time in 1206.
January 1208: St. Gallen Abbey gains imperial immediacy.
January 1216: In 1215 Nördlingen received city rights from Emperor Friedrich II and became an imperial city.
January 1217: Schlettstadt is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1218: Expansion of the Zähringen Domains in Baden-Württembeg.
January 1219: Ortenau is acquired by the Hohenstaufen imperial family.
January 1221: It is in a charter of the year 1246 that appears for the first time the name of Landser, in the form castro dicto Landisera. The fief belonged to the lords of Butenheim, who are suspected of having been only looting knights who ransomed travelers.
January 1221: Establishment of the Lordship of Splügen.
January 1221: Pfullendorf is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1222: As of 1221, the Remagen municipality describes itself as a civitas libera (free municipality, i.e. dependent on no one else but the German king).
January 1223: Establishment of the Pruem Abbey.
January 1224: The first documented mention from 1223 is now in the state archive in Basel.
January 1226: With the death of the last Count of Laufen, Boppo V, at the beginning of the 13th century, the county became an imperial fief of the Hohenstaufen royal family.
January 1226: In 1258 the fief of Alttrauchburg had been given to the stewards of Waldburg, who purchased it outright in 1306 from the count, who had run into debt.
January 1231: In 1230 Nijmegen became a free imperial city under Henry VII.
January 1235: Establishment of the Warthausen Lordship.
January 1238: In 1237, Emperor Friedrich II raised Rottenmünster to the status of an imperial monastery and entrusted the protection of the monastery to the imperial city of Rottweil.
January 1240: Triberg was first mentioned in 1239 in a document in which a Ministeriale Peter von Triberc is named.
January 1241: In 1240 Offenburg became a free imperial city.
January 1241: Reutlingen is declared a Free Imperial City.
October 1241: In September 1241, Wesel was granted city rights by the young count of Kleve, Dietrich primogenitus.
January 1242: Mosbach is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1242: Bopflingen is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1243: In 1242, the Imperial City of Eger received Nuremberg city rights. This granted the city certain privileges and freedoms, similar to those enjoyed by the city of Nuremberg in Germany.
January 1247: After belonging to the Staufer family from 1218 to 1246, the town of Mahlberg was part of the dominion of the Lords of Geroldseck.
January 1249: Through inheritance, in 1248 the Hohenstaufen came into possession of the north-eastern part of the Upper Franconian possessions of the Counts of Andechs-Meranien with Bayreuth.
January 1249: Windesheim is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1251: Esslinegen is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1251: In the 11th century, at the end of the early Middle Ages, the first castle complex of Sigmaringen was built on the rock blocking off the valley. The first documented mention dates back to 1077, when King Rudolf of Swabia unsuccessfully besieged Sigmaringer Castle. The city was officially founded in 1250.
January 1251: Buchau is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1251: Mindelheim Lordship is mentioned for the first time in 1250.
January 1252: Mühlhausen (Thuringia) is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1259: The Falkenstein Lordship was established in 1258 by Phlipp of Falkenstein he inherited when he inherited the bailiwick of Wetterau and the bailiwick of the Dreieich forest.
January 1269: The imperial county of Ortenau entered into the domains of the Habsburgs.
January 1269: Rottweil is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1269: Überlingen is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1269: The Knights of Schwangau hold an imperial fief from 1268.
January 1274: With the end of Hohenstaufen Dynasty influence from 1273, many imperial territories were acquired by states of the Holy Roman Empire.
January 1274: The Staufen emperors slowly transferred most non-military powers over the Imperial Possessions to local lords.
January 1275: Rothenburg is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1276: Buchhorn is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1277: Ravensburg is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1281: In 1280, the "Vienna Arbitration" of King Rudolf von Habsburg ended a long conflict with the taverns of Limpurg for city rule and enabled Schwäbisch Hall to achieve the status of an imperial city.
January 1283: In 1281/82 Biberach was elevated to the status of imperial city by Rudolf I of Habsburg.
January 1287: Memmingen is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1287: Kaufbeuren is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1290: Kempten is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1291: Goslar is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1294: Leutkirch is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1301: In the 14th century Velden belonged to the new Bohemian possessions for a while.
January 1301: The lords of Lichtenberg build a castle in Lichtenau (Baden).
January 1301: Wimpfen is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1332: In 1329, the Margraves of Brandenburg sold Aš Land to the Luxembourg king John of Bohemia. John of Bohemia, also known as John the Blind, was a member of the Luxembourg dynasty and ruled as King of Bohemia from 1310 until his death in 1346.
January 1352: Dinkelsbühl is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1366: Isny is declared a Free Imperial City.
January 1372: Heilbron is declared a Free Imperial City.
Disestablishment
January 1373: Frankfurt am Main is declared a Free Imperial City.
Selected Sources
Droysen, G. (1886): Historischer Handatlas, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Germany)
Strakosh-Grassmann, G. (1893): Der Einfall der Mongolen in Mitteleuropa in den Jahren 1241 und 1242, Innsbruck (Austria), pp. 53-67
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