Imperial Circle: Encyclopedia II - Imperial Circle - Formation of the circles

Imperial Circle - Formation of the circles

Initially six circles were created in 1500 as part of the Reichsreform (Imperial Reform):

• the Bavarian Circle
• the Swabian Circle
• the Upper Rhenish Circle
• the (Lower Rhenish-)Westphalian Circle
• the Franconian Circle
• the Lower Saxon Circle

A further four circles were created in 1512:

• the Burgundian Circle
• the Austrian Circle
• the Upper Saxon Circle
• the Electoral Rhenish Circle

These ten circles remained largely unchanged until the early 1790s, when the Wars of the French Revolution brought about significant changes to the political map of the Empire.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Formation of the circles", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki