Burgraviate of Friedberg Burggrafschaft Friedberg | |||||||
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Middle Ages–1806 | |||||||
Status | State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||
Capital | Friedberg | ||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages, Early modern period | ||||||
• Established | Middle Ages | ||||||
• Disestablished | 1806 | ||||||
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The Burgraviate of Friedberg was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire. It originated in the Late Middle Ages from the Burgmannschaft of Reichsburg Friedberg in Hesse. Unique within the Empire were the cooperative-organized constitutional structure of the Burggrafschaft and the endowment with manorial privileges by the Emperor, which were confirmed several times until its dissolution in 1806.[1] Due to the formation of its own territory, which in addition to control over the neighboring Reichsstadt Friedberg and the Freigericht Kaichen included a narrow strip of land in the southern Wetterau, Friedberg Castle can be regarded as the only reichsständische castle since its inclusion in the Reichsmatrikel in 1431.[2] According to its self-image, the Kayserliche und des heiligen Reichs-Burg Friedberg, as it was called, was a prominent institution of the Imperial Knighthood and directly subordinate to the king or emperor.