Imperial prelates

An Imperial abbey (German: Reichsabtei, Reichskloster, Reichsstift, Reichsgotthaus) was a religious establishment within the Holy Roman Empire which enjoyed the status of imperial immediacy (Reichsunmittelbarkeit) and therefore was answerable directly to the Emperor. The possession of imperial immediacy came with a unique form of territorial authority known as Landeshoheit, which carried with it nearly all the attributes of sovereignty. Particularly after the Peace of Westphalia (1648), all entities of the Empire possessing immediacy enjoyed and exercised de facto sovereign power. Any abbot or abbess, no matter how Lilliputian his or her domain, governed with basically the same political powers as those of any secular prince such as levying taxes, rendering low and high justice, maintaining a standing army, and if they were so inclined, despatching embassies, declaring war, signing treaties, etc. About 45 Imperial abbeys (including priories) survived up to the mass secularisation of 1802–03.

The head of an Imperial abbey was generally an Imperial abbot (Reichsabt) or Imperial abbess (Reichsäbtissin). (The head of a Reichspropstei—an Imperial provostry or priory—was generally a Reichspropst). Collectively, Imperial abbots, provosts and priors were formally known as Reichsprälaten (Imperial Prelates). A small number of the larger and most prestigious establishments had the rank of princely abbeys (Fürstsabtei), and were headed by a Prince-Abbot or a Prince-Provost (Fürstabt, Fürstpropst), with status comparable to that of Prince-Bishops. Most however were Imperial Prelates and as such participated in a single collective vote in the Imperial Diet as members of the Bench of Prelates, later (1575) divided into the Swabian College of Imperial Prelates and the Rhenish College of Imperial Prelates. Despite their difference of status within the Imperial Diet, both the Imperial Prelates and the Prince-Abbots exercised the same degree of authority over their principality.

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