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A royal free city, or free royal city (Latin: libera regia civitas), was the official term for the most important cities in the Kingdom of Hungary from the late 12th century[1][2][3] to the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.
The cities were granted certain privileges by the King of Hungary to prevent their control by the Hungarian nobility, hence "royal", and exercised some self-government in relation to their internal affairs and so were "free". From the late 14th century, the elected envoys of the royal free cities participated in the sessions of the Hungarian Diet and so they became part of the legislature. This list also includes cities in the Kingdom of Croatia and the Banate of Bosnia, which were part of the Lands of the Hungarian Crown.
The term "royal free city" in the kingdom's languages is as follows:
- Latin: Libera regia civitas
- Hungarian: Szabad királyi város
- German: Königliche Freistadt
- Romanian: Oraș liber regesc
- Slovak: Slobodné kráľovské mesto
- Croatian: Slobodni kraljevski grad
- Serbian: Слободни краљевски град, romanized: Slobodni kraljevski grad
They had a status similar to the free imperial cities in the Holy Roman Empire.
- ^ Katalin Prajda: Rapporti tra la Repubblica Fiorentina e il Regno d’Ungheriaa livello di diplomazia, migrazione umana, reti mercantili e mediazione culturale nell’età del regime oligarchico (1382-1434), che corrisponde al regno di Sigismondo di Lussemburgo (1387-1437)(Florence, 2011)[1]
- ^ Magyar történelmi fogalomtár, szerk. Bán Péter, Bp., Gondolat, 1989. ISBN 9632822021
- ^ Bácskai Vera – Nagy Lajos: Piackörzetek, piacközpontok és városok Magyarországon 1828-ban. Budapest, 1984.