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Freie Stadt Frankfurt¹ Free City of Frankfurt¹ State of the Holy Roman Empire State of the German Confederation 1372 – 1806 1816 – 1866 → Flag Coat of arms Location of Frankfurt within the German Confederation Capital Frankfurt am Main Language(s) German Government Republic History  - Gained Reichsfreiheit 1372  - Annexed by Napoleon 1806  - Puppet grand duchy 1810–13  - Restored 9 July 1815  - Annexed by Prussia 8 October 1866 Population  - 1864 est. 91,150  Currency South German gulden (from 1754) 1: Until 1806, Frankfurt was known as the "Free Imperial City of Frankfurt" Freie Reichsstadt Frankfurt. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the imperial part of the name was dropped upon the city-state's restoration in 1815.

For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt am Main was a city-state within two major Germanic states:

• The Holy Roman Empire as the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt (German: Freie Reichsstadt Frankfurt) (until 1806)
• The German Confederation as the Free City of Frankfurt (German: Freie Stadt Frankfurt) (1815–66)

Frankfurt was a major city of the Holy Roman Empire, being the seat of imperial elections since 885 and the city for imperial coronations from 1562 (previously in Aachen) until 1792. Frankfurt was declared an Imperial Free City (German: Reichsstadt) in 1372, making the city directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor and not to a regional ruler or a local nobleman.

Due to its imperial significance, Frankfurt survived mediatisation in 1803. Following the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Frankfurt fell to the rule of Napoleon I, who granted the city to the Archbishopric of Mainz. Archbishop Karl Theodor von Dalberg, the last imperial arch-chancellor, became the puppet ruler of the newly-formed Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. After the defeat of Napoleon and the collapse of the Confederation of the Rhine, Frankfurt was returned to its pre-Napoleonic form via the Congress of Vienna of 1815 and became a member of the German Confederation.

During the period of the German Confederation, Frankfurt continued to be a major city. The confederation's governing body, the Bundestag (officially called the Bundesversammlung, Federal Assembly) was located in the palace of Thurn und Taxis in Frankfurt's city centre. During the Revolutions of 1848, the Frankfurt Parliament was formed in an attempt to unite the German states in a democratic manner. It was here that Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV refused the offer of the crown of Little Germany.

In 1866, the Kingdom of Prussia went to war with the Austrian Empire over Schleswig-Holstein, causing the Austro-Prussian War. Frankfurt, remaining loyal to the German Confederation, did not join with Prussia. Following Prussia's victory, Frankfurt was annexed by Prussia, becoming part of the newly-formed province of Hesse-Nassau.

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Free City of Frankfurt

v • d • e Free Imperial Cities of the Holy Roman Empire
Cities that lost their Reichsfreiheit before the French Revolutionary Wars	Basel · Bern · Besançon · Brakel · Cambrai · Donauwörth · Duisburg · Düren · Gelnhausen · Hagenau · Herford · Kolmar · Kaysersberg · Konstanz · Landau · Lemgo · Mainz · Metz · Munster · Obernai · Rosheim · Sarrebourg · Schaffhausen · Schmalkalden · Schlettstadt · Soest* · Solothurn · Strassburg · Toul · Turckheim · Verden · Verdun · Warburg · Wissembourg · Zürich	Free Imperial Cities as at 1648
Free Imperial Cities as of 1792	Aachen · Aalen · Augsburg · Biberach · Bopfingen · Bremen* · Buchau · Buchhorn · Cologne* · Dinkelsbühl · Dortmund* · Esslingen · Frankfurt · Friedberg · Gengenbach · Giengen · Goslar* · Hamburg* · Heilbronn · Isny · Kaufbeuren · Kempten · Leutkirch · Lindau · Lübeck* · Memmingen · Mühlhausen · Mülhausen · Nordhausen · Nördlingen · Nuremberg · Offenburg · Pfullendorf · Ravensburg · Regensburg · Reutlingen · Rothenburg · Rottweil · Schwäbisch Gmünd · Schwäbisch Hall · Schweinfurt · Speyer · Überlingen · Ulm · Wangen · Weil · Weißenburg · Wetzlar · Wimpfen · Windsheim · Worms · Zell
* indicates members of the Hanseatic League

v • d • e Holy Roman Empire — Upper Rhenish Circle (1500–1806)
Ecclesiastical princes	Basel | Fulda | Heitersheim | Odenheim–Bruchsal | Prüm | Speyer | Strassburg | Weissenburg | Worms
Bench of Secular princes	Hersfeld | Hesse: Darmstadt, Kassel | Isenburg-Birstein | Kaiserslautern | Lorraine‡ | Nassau: Idstein, Ottweiler, Saarbrücken, Usingen, Weilburg | Salm-Kyrburg | Savoy | Simmern | Solms-Braunfels | Sponheim* | Veldenz and Lautereck | Waldeck* | Zweibrücken
Bench of Counts and Lords	Bretzenheim* | Dachstuhl* | Falkenstein* | Hanau: Lichtenberg†, Münzenberg† | Isenburg: Büdingen, Meerholz*, Wächtersbach* | Königstein: Mainz, Stolberg | Kriechingen | Leiningen: Hardenburg, Westerburg | Mensfelden* | Olbrück* | Reipoltskirchen* | Salm: Dhaun*, Grehweiler, Grumbach | Solms: Hohensolms, Laubach, Lich, Rödelheim | Wartenberg* | Wittgenstein: Berleburg, Wittgenstein
Bench of Cities	Frankfurt | Friedberg | Speyer | Straßburg | Wetzlar | Worms
* No seat in the Reichstag       † until 1736       ‡ Nomeny after 1737

v • d • e States of the German Confederation (1815–66)
Empires	Austria
Kingdoms	Prussia | Bavaria | Saxony | Hanover | Württemberg
Electorates	Hesse
Grand Duchies	Baden | Hesse | Luxembourg | Mecklenburg-Schwerin | Mecklenburg-Strelitz | Oldenburg | Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Duchies	Anhalt: Bernburg¹, Dessau¹, Köthen² | Brunswick | Holstein | Limburg | Nassau | Saxony: Altenburg³, Coburg-Saalfeld4, Coburg-Gotha³, Gotha-Altenburg4, Hildburghausen4, Lauenburg, Meiningen
Principalities	Hesse-Homburg | Hohenzollern: Hechingen5, Sigmaringen5 | Liechtenstein | Lippe | Reuß: Elder, Junior | Schaumburg-Lippe | Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen | Waldeck and Pyrmont
City-states	Bremen | Frankfurt | Hamburg | Lübeck
1: Merged to Anhalt from 1863;     2: until 1847;     3: from 1826;     4: until 1826;     5: until 1850