Privileges for Imperial cities

Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian (born 1282/86, ruled 1314-1347) is regarded by scholars as a "friend of the cities", as he confirmed and extended the rights and legal security of the imperial and free cities through numerous privileges. However, there were also good reasons for this perceived "city-friendliness": cities were economic centres on whose financial power the king depended and whose resources were sufficient to house the itinerant ruler for longer periods and to host Hoftag assemblies. Likewise, they were or increasingly became places for the formation of public opinion. After the interdict of 1324 imposed in Papal Avignon (France), it was also necessary to prevent the cities from accepting it and renouncing Ludwig. Imperial cities also helped secure public peace. This economic and political power is the reason for the importance of urban policy as one of the pillars of Ludwig IV’s reign, which is reflected in the number of privileges granted to the cities: confirmations of old privileges, city law privileges, market and fair privileges, tax and customs privileges, jurisdictional privileges or non-seizure privileges. For the imperial cities, these were necessary to maintain or even expand their autonomy and economic power. Mutual benefit made the privilege a suitable instrument of royal rule. The charters for Augsburg and Kempten shown here are examples of the peak phases of the issuance of privileges, namely after the king’s coronation in 1314 and after the return from the Rome campaign in 1330.

Emmanuel Walz