Imperial City of Kempten in the Allgäu Reichstadt Kempten im Allgäu | |||||||||
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| 1289–1802/3 | |||||||||
 A view of Kempten in 1650 | |||||||||
| Status | Free Imperial City (State of theHoly Roman Empire) | ||||||||
| Capital | Kempten im Allgäu | ||||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• City founded | before 50 BC | ||||||||
• City gainedImperial immediacy | 1289 | ||||||||
• Abbey sold property within Imperial City | 1525 | ||||||||
| 1527 | |||||||||
• Mediatised toBavaria | 1802/3 | ||||||||
• Abbey united with city | 1819 | ||||||||
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TheFree Imperial City of Kempten was aFree Imperial City in theSwabian Circle.[1]
In 1213,Holy Roman EmperorFrederick II declared the abbots ofKempten Abbey members of theImperial Diet and granted the abbot the right to bear the title of Duke, making the abbey theImperial Ducal Abbey of Kempten.
In 1289, KingRudolf of Habsburg granted special privileges to the settlement in the river valley, making it anImperial City. 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 toProtestantism in direct opposition to theCatholic monastery in 1527, signing theAugsburg Confession.
During the turmoil of theThirty Years' War (1632–33), the city was destroyed by imperial forces.
During theNapoleonic Wars 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.
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Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon Circles est. 1512:Austrian,Burgundian,Upper Saxon,Electoral Rhenish · Unencircled territories | ||
47°43′40.66″N10°48′48.5″E / 47.7279611°N 10.813472°E /47.7279611; 10.813472
