Free Imperial City of Aachen

Free Imperial City of Aachen/Aix-la-Chapelle
Freie Reichsstadt Aachen
Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire
1306–1801
Flag Coat of arms
Free Imperial City of Aachen
Capital		Aachen
Government		Administrative republic
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Settlement founded	ca sixth millennium BC
•	Gained Imp. immediacy	1306
•	Otto I crowned Emperor	936
•	Fire devastated city	1656
•	1st Treaty ended     War of Devolution	2 May 1668
•	2nd Treaty ended War     of Austr. Succession	April – May 1748
•	Annexed by France	1801
•	to Kingdom of Prussia	1815
Succeeded by Roer (department)
Today part of		Germany

The Free Imperial City of Aachen, known in English by its French name of Aix-la-Chapelle, was a Free Imperial City and spa of the Holy Roman Empire west of Cologne and southeast of the Low Countries, in the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. The pilgrimages, the Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor, flourishing industries and the privileges conferred by various emperors made it one of the most prosperous market towns of the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1306, Aachen was given Imperial immediacy and declared a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire. Aachen played a part in the league which kept the peace between 1351 and 1387 between the Meuse and the Rhine. In 1450 a rebellion led to the acceptance of the guilds to a share in local government. In the 16th century Aachen began declining in importance and prosperity. It was too close to the Kingdom of France frontier to be safe, and too far from the Holy Roman Empire to be convenient as a capital city. In 1562 the Imperial election and Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II took place at Frankfurt, a precedent followed until the end of the Holy Roman Empire. The Protestant Reformation brought trouble to Aachen. In 1580 Protestantism got the upper hand; an Imperial ban resulted and was imposed in 1598 by Ernest of Bavaria, archbishop-elector of Cologne. A religious relapse of the city led to a new Imperial ban by Emperor Matthias in 1613, and in 1614 Ambrogio Spinola's Spanish Army forced the recalcitrant city back into the Catholic fold. In 1656 a great fire destroyed 4,000 houses. This calamity completed the ruin started by the Thirty Years' War.