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{{short description|Administrative groupings of the Holy Roman Empire}}
{{inline citations|date=September 2021}}
[[File:Map of the Imperial Circles (1560)-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.8|A map of the imperial circles in 1560
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{{legend|#C83737|[[Burgundian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#D38D5F|[[Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#D35FBC|[[Electoral Rhenish Circle]]}}
{{legend|#71C837|[[Upper Rhenish Circle]]}}
{{legend|#8080FF|[[Lower Saxon Circle]]}}
{{legend|#FFAACC|[[Upper Saxon Circle]]}}
{{legend|#D40000|[[Franconian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#FFCC00|[[Swabian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#55DDFF|[[Bavarian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#FF7F2A|[[Austrian Circle]]}}
{{legend|#FEFEE9|[[Territories of the Holy Roman Empire outside the Imperial Circles|Unencircled territories]]}}
]]

During the [[early modern period]], the [[Holy Roman Empire]] was divided into '''imperial circles''' ({{langx|la|Circuli imperii}}; {{langx|de|Reichskreise}} {{IPA|de|ˈʁaɪçsˌkʁaɪzə|}}; singular: ''{{lang|la|Circulus imperii}}'', ''{{lang|de|Reichskreis}}'' {{IPA|de|ˈʁaɪçsˌkʁaɪs|}}), administrative groupings whose primary purposes were the organization of common defensive structure and the collection of imperial taxes. They were also used as a means of organization within the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] and the [[Reichskammergericht|Imperial Chamber Court]]. Each circle had a circle diet, although not every member of the circle diet would hold membership of the Imperial Diet as well.

Six imperial circles were introduced at the [[Diet of Augsburg]] in 1500. In 1512, three more circles were added, and the large [[Saxon Circle]] was split into two, so that from 1512 until the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in the [[War of the Third Coalition|Napoleonic era]], there were ten imperial circles. The [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown|Crown of Bohemia]], the [[Early Modern Switzerland|Swiss Confederacy]] and [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]] remained unencircled, as did various minor territories which held [[imperial immediacy]] and mostly regrouped the semi-official [[Kingdom of Germany]] and the remains of the [[Kingdom of Arles]].

==Formation==
Initially the 1500 [[Diet of Augsburg]] set up six imperial circles as part of the [[Imperial Reform]]:
* the [[Bavarian Circle]]
* the [[Franconian Circle]]
* the [[Saxon Circle]]
* the [[Swabian Circle]]
* the [[Upper Rhenish Circle]]
* the [[Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle]]

Originally, the territories held by the Habsburg dynasty and the electors remained unencircled. In 1512, the Diet at [[Trier]] and [[Cologne]] organized these lands into three more circles:
* the [[Austrian Circle]], including the Habsburg territories inherited by [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]]
* the [[Burgundian Circle]], including the patrimony of Maximilian's late wife, [[Mary of Burgundy]]
* the [[Electoral Rhenish Circle]], including the ecclesiastical Electorates of [[Archbishopric of Mainz|Mainz]], [[Electorate of Cologne|Cologne]] and [[Electorate of Trier|Trier]], and the secular [[Electorate of the Palatinate]].
Also, the Saxon Circle was divided into:
* the [[Lower Saxon Circle]]
* the [[Upper Saxon Circle]], including the Electorates of [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]] and [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]]

Although the empire lost several western territories after the secession of the [[Dutch Republic|Seven United Netherlands]] in 1581 and during the French annexations of the 1679 [[Treaties of Nijmegen|Peace of Nijmegen]], the ten circles remained largely unchanged until the early 1790s, when the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] brought about significant changes to the political map of Europe.

Some of the circles were ''de facto'' controlled by a powerful noble house. The Austrian Circle corresponded almost exactly with the [[Erblande|Habsburg hereditary lands.]] The Burgundian Circle encompassed the territory controlled by the Spanish Habsburgs (Franche-Comte and the [[Habsburg Netherlands]]). The Bavarian Circle mostly consisted of the Wittelsbach [[Duchy of Bavaria]] plus its satellites. The Upper Saxon Circle was dominated by the electorates of [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]] (plus its satellite [[Ernestine duchies]]) and [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]].

== Responsibilities ==
The Imperial Circles were extremely important in the administration of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1747, [[Friedrich Karl von Moser|Friedrich Carl Moser]] noted that "the preservation of the imperial system depends largely upon . . . the western imperial circles."<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Wines |first=Roger |date=1967 |title=The Imperial Circles, Princely Diplomacy and Imperial Reform 1681-1714 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1877665 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=1–29 |doi=10.1086/239995 |jstor=1877665 |issn=0022-2801}}</ref> Some historians go even farther, like Hanns Hubert Hofmann, who suggests that "all real state-like functions of the Reich lay exclusively with the circles, not the diet."<ref name=":0" />

At first, starting as elective districts in 1500, the powers of the Imperial Circles gradually expanded. In 1512 they became responsible for enforcing decrees of the ''[[Reichskammergericht]]'', the Imperial Chamber Court. In 1530, they were made responsible for mobilizing contingents of the [[Army of the Holy Roman Empire|''Reichsarmee'']], and by 1555, they were responsible for protecting the public peace within the Empire. In 1559, they began to regulate imperial coinage.

The [[Peace of Augsburg]] in 1555 also drew upon the first attempts at local organization in the circles, particularly in the Swabian Circle. It created a fixed constitution for the circles and gave them authority to keep civil and religious peace in their territories. The princes in each circle met in local assemblies called the ''kriestags'', and as such, the circles became a substitute for imperial bureaucracy. After 1555, several circles became effective governmental bodies, especially in Swabia, Franconia, and Lower Saxony. Not only did they carry out orders from the Imperial Diet and Courts, but they also enacted their own legislation. Examples of such include economics, police, and military affairs.

By 1648, some of the Imperial Circles, which became dominated by one or two major powers, began to lose their function. The Austrian and Burgundian circles, both dominated by possessions of the Habsburgs, never developed full constitutions in the first place. Both Saxon circles (for example the Upper Saxon Circle was dominated by Brandenburg and Saxony) stopped convening by 1683, and the Bavarian circle only met on occasion to decide military measures.

==Unencircled territories==
{{main|Territories of the Holy Roman Empire outside the Imperial Circles}}
A number of imperial territories remained unencircled, notably the [[lands of the Bohemian crown]], the [[Old Swiss Confederacy]] and most of the [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italian territories]].
Besides these, there were also a considerable number of minor territories which retained [[imperial immediacy]], such as individual [[Imperial Village]]s, and the lands held by individual [[Imperial Knight]]s.

== References ==
{{reflist}}
* Winfried Dotzauer: ''Die deutschen Reichskreise in der Verfassung des alten Reiches und ihr Eigenleben. 1500–1806''. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1989, {{ISBN|3-534-04139-9}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=nivgmctAVyAC&dq=1554+Reichskreis&pg=PA58]
* Peter Claus Hartmann (ed.): ''Regionen in der frühen Neuzeit. Reichskreise im deutschen Raum, Provinzen in Frankreich, Regionen unter polnischer Oberhoheit. Ein Vergleich ihrer Strukturen, Funktionen und ihrer Bedeutung''. (= Zeitschrift für historische Forschung; Beiheft 17). Duncker und Humblot, Berlin 1994, {{ISBN|3-428-08078-5}}.

== Literature ==
Contemporary (1500&ndash;1806) literature and source material:
* Wolfgang Wüst (ed.): ''Die "gute" Policey im Reichskreis. Zur frühmodernen Normensetzung in den Kernregionen des Alten Reiches'', edition of primary sources in four volumes, vol. 1: ''Der Schwäbische Reichskreis, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Bayerisch-Schwabens'', Berlin 2001; vol. 2: ''Der Fränkische Reichskreis'', Berlin 2003; vol. 3: ''Der Bayerische Reichskreis und die Oberpfalz'', Berlin 2004; vol.: Die lokale Policey: Normensetzung und Ordnungspolitik auf dem Lande. Ein Quellenwerk, Berlin 2008.
*''[https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Hernach_volgend_die_zehen_Kray%C3%9F Hernach volgend die Zehen Krayß]'', 1532.
* Johannes Alhusius: ''Politica methodice digesta.'' 3.Aufl., Herborn 1614.
* Martin Zeiller: ''Von den zehn Kreisen.'' 1660, 1694.
* Johann Samuel Tromsdorff: ''Accurate neue und alte Geographie von ganz Teutschland''. Frankfurt 1711 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=mU8AAAAAcAAJ pp. 128ff]).
*[https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Zedler:Crei%C3%9F "Creiß"] in:  Zedler, ''Grosses vollständiges Universallexikon aller Wissenschaften und Künste'', vol. 6 (Ci – Cz), 1733.

==External links==
* {{Citation|url=http://historicalmaps.webs.com/Historical_Maps_of_Germany.htm |contribution=Imperial Circles in the 16th Century |title=Historical Maps of Germany |publisher=Webs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127140233/http://historicalmaps.webs.com/Historical_Maps_of_Germany.htm |archive-date=2012-01-27 }}.

{{Circles of the Holy Roman Empire}}
{{Terms for types of administrative territorial entities}}
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[[Category:Circles of the Holy Roman Empire| ]]
[[Category:1500s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:1500 establishments in Europe]]
[[Category:Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1500]]
[[Category:Types of administrative division]]