Reichsstand

Reichsstand refers to one of the Estates of the Holy Roman Empire, and by extension the body of imperial estates that sat in the Imperial Diet and represented the territorial units with imperial immediacy. The Estates comprised three main groups: the Reichsfürstenstand (imperial princes and prince-bishops); the Reichsstädte (Free Imperial Cities); and the Reichsritterschaft (Imperial Knights). Each estate could sit in the Reichstag and wield influence; Free Imperial Cities had individual seats and votes; the princes and bishops had votes as part of the College of Princes, and the Knights sent deputies as the Knightly estate. The exact voting weights and procedures varied over time and by reform, but the Estates collectively blocked or approved imperial measures alongside the Emperor.

The Reichsstände possessed sovereignty within their territories to a degree, held their own courts and taxation rights, and were bound by the Imperial Constitution. They were a central feature of the Imperial structure alongside the Emperor, the Imperial Circles, and the Diet; they were crucial in electing the Emperor; the Golden Bull of 1356 formalized the rights of the electors, who were themselves members of the Estates.

With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 during the Napoleonic era, the Reichsstände lost their unity and legal vitality as new German states emerged and mediatisation redistributed property and authority to larger states. The term remains a historical reference to the substantive parliamentary-like body within the Empire's constitutional framework.