Editing Imperial Estate (section)

== Composition ==
{{see also|List of states in the Holy Roman Empire}}
[[File:Holy Roman Empire 1648.svg|thumb|340px|Map of the Holy Roman Empire in 1648]]
Imperial Estates could be either ecclesiastic or secular. The ecclesiastical Estates were led by:
* the three clerical [[Prince-elector]]s: the Archbishops of [[Electorate of Cologne|Cologne]], [[Archbishopric of Mainz|Mainz]] and [[Electorate of Trier|Trier]];
* [[Prince-Bishop|Prince-Archbishops]] and Prince-Bishops as well as [[Prince-Abbot]]s and [[Prince-Provost]]s of the Empire;
* [[List of Imperial abbeys|Imperial Prelates]], immediate [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|Prior]]s and [[Provost (religion)|Provosts]];
* [[Grand Master (order)|Grand Masters]] of [[military order (society)|military order]]s like the [[Teutonic Knights]] or [[Knights Hospitaller]].
The secular Estates, most notably:
* the four Prince-Electors of the [[Electoral Palatinate|County Palatine of the Rhine]], [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]], [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] and [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]], later also [[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]] (replacing the Palatinate) and [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]].
* [[Princes of the Holy Roman Empire|Imperial Princes]] including [[Grand Duke]]s, [[Duke]]s, [[Count palatine|Counts Palatine]], [[Margrave]]s and [[Landgrave]]s;
* [[Imperial Count]]s, [[Burgrave]]s, [[Freiherr|Baron]]s, and [[Imperial prelate|prelate]]s;
* the [[Free imperial city|Free and Imperial cities]].
Until 1582 the votes of the Free and Imperial Cities were only advisory. None of the rulers below the Holy Roman Emperor ranked as kings, with the exception of the [[List of rulers of Bohemia|Kings of Bohemia]].

The status of Estate was normally attached to a particular territory within the Empire, but there were some ''{{lang|de|reichsständische Personalisten}}'', or "persons with Imperial statehood". Originally, the Emperor alone could grant that status, but in 1653, several restrictions on the Emperor's power were introduced. 
The creation of a new Estate required the assent of the College of Electors and of the College of Princes (see {{lang|de|[[Imperial State#Reichstag|Reichstag]]}} below). The ruler was required to agree to accept Imperial taxation and military obligations. Furthermore, the Estate was required to obtain admittance into one of the [[Imperial Circle Estates|Imperial Circles]]. Theoretically, personalist Estates were forbidden after 1653, but exceptions were often made.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}
Once a territory attained the status of an Estate, it could only lose that status under very few circumstances. A territory ceded to a foreign power ceased to be an Estate.

From 1648 onwards, inheritance of the Estate was limited to one family; a territory inherited by a different family ceased to be an Estate unless the Emperor explicitly allowed otherwise. Finally, a territory could cease to be an Imperial Estate by being subjected to the [[Imperial ban]] (the most notable example involved [[Frederick V, Elector Palatine]], who was banned in 1621 for his participation in the [[Bohemian Revolt]]).

In the [[German mediatization]] between 1803 and 1806, the vast majority of the Estates of the Holy Roman Empire were mediatised. They lost their Imperial immediacy and became part of other Estates. The number of Estates was reduced from about three hundred to about thirty. Mediatisation went along with secularisation: the abolition of most of the ecclesiastical Estates. This dissolution of the constitution of the structure of the empire was soon followed by the dissolution of the empire itself, in 1806.