Editing Imperial circle (section)

{{short description|Administrative groupings of the Holy Roman Empire}}
{{inline citations|date=September 2021}}
[[File:Map of the Imperial Circles (1560)-en.svg|thumb|450px|A map of the imperial circles in 1560
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{{legend|#C83737|[[Burgundian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#D38D5F|[[Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#D35FBC|[[Electoral Rhenish Circle]]}}
{{legend|#71C837|[[Upper Rhenish Circle]]}}
{{legend|#8080FF|[[Lower Saxon Circle]]}}
{{legend|#FFAACC|[[Upper Saxon Circle]]}}
{{legend|#D40000|[[Franconian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#FFCC00|[[Swabian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#55DDFF|[[Bavarian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#FF7F2A|[[Austrian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#FEFEE9|[[Territories of the Holy Roman Empire outside the Imperial Circles|Unencircled territories]]}}
]]

During the [[early modern period]], the [[Holy Roman Empire]] was divided into '''imperial circles''' ({{langx|la|Circuli imperii}}; {{langx|de|Reichskreise}} {{IPA|de|ˈʁaɪçsˌkʁaɪzə|}}; singular: ''{{lang|la|Circulus imperii}}'', ''{{lang|de|Reichskreis}}'' {{IPA|de|ˈʁaɪçsˌkʁaɪs|}}), administrative groupings whose primary purposes were the organization of common defensive structure and the collection of imperial taxes. They were also used as a means of organization within the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] and the [[Reichskammergericht|Imperial Chamber Court]]. Each circle had a circle diet, although not every member of the circle diet would hold membership of the Imperial Diet as well.

Six imperial circles were introduced at the [[Diet of Augsburg]] in 1500. In 1512, three more circles were added, and the large [[Saxon Circle]] was split into two, so that from 1512 until the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in the [[War of the Third Coalition|Napoleonic era]], there were ten imperial circles. The [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown|Crown of Bohemia]], the [[Early Modern Switzerland|Swiss Confederacy]] and [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]] remained unencircled, as did various minor territories which held [[imperial immediacy]] and mostly regrouped the semi-official [[Kingdom of Germany]] and the remains of the [[Kingdom of Arles]].