Includes bibliographical references and index.

Front Matter -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Preface -- Notes on the Text -- Figures and Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Approaches -- Polities without a Prince: an Introduction -- Origins, Evolutions and Settings -- Regimes -- Domestic Affairs: Co-Operation and Conflict -- External Relations: Protectors and Predators -- Religious Life: Heaven and Earth -- Perspectives -- Representations and Perceptions -- Conclusions -- Back Matter -- Communities Possessing, Claiming or Attributed Imperial Village Status (Pre-1803) -- Senior Officials and Clergymen in Five Imperial Villages c. 1300–1800 -- Bibliography -- Index.

Hundreds of rural communities tasted political freedom in the Holy Roman Empire. For shorter or longer periods, villagers managed local affairs without subjection to territorial overlords. In this first book-length study, Beat Kümin focuses on the five case studies of Gochsheim and Sennfeld (in present-day Bavaria), Sulzbach and Soden (Hesse) and Gersau (Switzerland). Adopting a comparative perspective across the late medieval and early modern periods, the analysis of multiple sources reveals distinct extents of rural self-government, the forging of communalized confessions and an enduring attachment to the empire. Negotiating inner tensions as well as mounting centralization pressures, Reichsdörfer provide privileged insights into rural micro-political cultures while their stories resonate with resurgent desires for greater local autonomy in Europe today.