Editing Holy Roman Empire (section)

==== Changes in political structure ====
{{Further|Medieval commune|League of cities|Hanseatic League|Swabian League of Cities|Imperial immediacy|Feudalism in the Holy Roman Empire}}
[[File:Schedelsche Weltchronik Struktur des Reiches.jpg|thumb|An illustration from [[Nuremberg Chronicle|Schedelsche Weltchronik]] depicting the structure of the Reich: The Holy Roman Emperor is sitting; on his right are three ecclesiastics; on his left are four secular electors.]]

During the 13th century, a general structural change in how land was administered prepared the shift of political power toward the rising [[bourgeoisie]] at the expense of the aristocratic [[feudalism]] that would characterize the [[Late Middle Ages]]. The rise of the [[Free imperial city|cities]] and the emergence of the new [[Burgher (title)|burgher]] class eroded the societal, legal and economic order of feudalism.{{Sfn|Rothstein|1995|pp=9–}}

Peasants were increasingly required to pay tribute to their landlords. The concept of [[property]] began to replace more ancient forms of jurisdiction, although they were still very much tied together. In the territories (not at the level of the Empire), power became increasingly bundled: whoever owned the land had jurisdiction, from which other powers derived. Jurisdiction at the time did not include legislation, which was virtually nonexistent until well into the 15th century. Court practice heavily relied on traditional customs or rules described as customary.

During this time, territories began to transform into the predecessors of modern states. The process varied greatly among the various lands and was most advanced in those territories that were almost identical to the lands of the old Germanic tribes, ''e.g.'', Bavaria. It was slower in those scattered territories that were founded through imperial privileges.

In the 12th century the [[Hanseatic League]] established itself as a commercial and defensive alliance of the merchant [[guild]]s of towns and cities in the empire and all over northern and central Europe. It dominated marine trade in the [[Baltic Sea]], the [[North Sea]] and along the connected navigable rivers. Each of the affiliated cities retained the legal system of its sovereign and, with the exception of the [[Free imperial city|Free imperial cities]], had only a limited degree of political autonomy. By the late 14th century, the powerful league enforced its interests with military means, if necessary. This culminated in [[Second Danish-Hanseatic War|a war]] with the sovereign Kingdom of Denmark from 1361 to 1370. The league declined after 1450.{{Efn|name=Translation}}{{Sfn|Szepesi|2015}}{{Sfn|Rothbard|2009}}