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Imperial Estate
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<p>An Imperial Estate was an entity or an individual of the <a href="/facts/Holy_Roman_Empire/6mdobnXN">Holy Roman Empire</a> with representation and the right to vote in the <a href="/facts/Imperial_Diet_(Holy_Roman_Empire)/hH5SclMv">Imperial Diet</a> (<i><i>Reichstag</i></i>). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise significant rights and privileges and were "<a href="/facts/Imperial_immediacy/9AUKKuz7">immediate</a>", meaning the only authority above them was that of the <a href="/facts/Holy_Roman_Emperor/RYrqYynl">Holy Roman Emperor</a>. They were thus able to rule their territories with a considerable degree of <a href="/facts/Autonomy/5ne4C7N8">autonomy</a>. </p><p>The system of imperial states replaced the more regular division of <a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX">Germany</a> into <a href="/facts/Stem_duchy/5YDAp4Q9">stem duchies</a> in the early medieval period. The old <a href="/facts/Carolingian_Empire/kyp74kXx">Carolingian</a> stem duchies were retained as the major divisions of Germany under the <a href="/facts/Salian_dynasty/FUKU8WH2">Salian dynasty</a>, but they became increasingly obsolete during the early high medieval <a href="/facts/Era/3H0fTQrK">period</a> under the <a href="/facts/Hohenstaufen/zcy1ntA6">Hohenstaufen</a>, and they were finally abolished in 1180 by <a href="/facts/Frederick_I%2c_Holy_Roman_Emperor/cHAmGDKu">Frederick Barbarossa</a> in favour of more numerous <a href="/facts/Territorial/j6KoWv1C">territorial</a> divisions. From 1489, the Imperial Estates represented in the Diet were divided into three chambers, the college of <a href="/facts/Prince-electors/W6rHIgAB">prince-electors</a> (<i>Kurfürstenkollegium/den Kurfürstenrat</i>), the college of <a href="/facts/Princes_of_the_Holy_Roman_Empire/e7weX1PV">imperial princes</a> (<i>Reichsfürstenrat</i>) and the college of <a href="/facts/Free_imperial_city/1IFRXHob">imperial cities</a>. Counts and nobles were not directly represented in the Diet in spite of their immediate status, but were grouped into "benches" (<i>Grafenbänke</i>) with a single vote each. <a href="/facts/Imperial_Knight/rTwzlkxp">Imperial Knights</a> had immediate status but were not represented in the <a href="/facts/Imperial_Diet_(Holy_Roman_Empire)/hH5SclMv">Diet</a>. </p>