In theHoly Roman Empire,Landeshoheit[a] (German pronunciation:[ˈlandəsˌhoːhaɪt]) orsuperioritas territorialis[b] (translated asterritorial superiority,territorial supremacy orterritorial sovereignty) was the authority possessed by theimmediate lords within their own territories. It was possessed by allimperial estates andimperial knights. It has often been conflated withsovereignty but while it "carried with it nearly all the ingredients or attributes of true sovereignty, [it] was legally distinct from it, and was everywhere in Germany admitted to be so."[1]
ThePeace of Westphalia has frequently been portrayed as conferring full sovereignty on at least theimperial princes. In fact, the princes' powers were not expanded, but the right of their aristocratic subjects (mediate lords) to maintain military forces was removed. The princes' rights to make treaties and to enter into alliances and thus to engage in foreign relations was not affected but remained "constrained by the obligation not to harm the emperor or Empire."[2] Their authority in their own territories remained "circumscribed by imperial law and by the emperor's formal position as their feudal overlord".[2]
Landeshoheit was unique to the Empire, where the relationship between the crown and its vassals evolved in a direction opposite that of other European monarchies. "Whereas in most other European states, [the precursor of modern statehood] evolved on the central governmental level and on the basis of the monarchical sphere of authority", in the Empire hallmarks of modern statehood appeared first among the imperial estates.[3]
Although the fiefs that were part of theKingdom of Italy had no representation in the imperial diet, and did therefore not constitute imperial estates, some of them possessedLandeshoheit. The two primary examples of this are the Langhe fiefs, ruled by theDuke of Savoy, and the fiefs held by theMalaspina family.