English: Introductory paragraph of an administrative document dated 1748 by Abbot Edmund II of the Imperial Abbey of Marchtal (also Marchthal, Obermarchtal) in Swabia.
The words IMMEDIAT and EXEMPT are emphasized to stress the fact that the abbey is a self-ruling Imperial Estate, and therefore immediate to the Empire and Emperor (Reich und Kaiser) and free from the jurisdiction of any intermediate lord. In spiritual matters, the abbey is also exempt from the jurisdiction of the local bishop, being directly answerable to the Pope. Like some 40 other Imperial abbots and abbesses of the Holy Roman Empire, the Abbot of Marchtal had seat and voice in the Imperial Diet, where he sat on the Bench of the Prelates of Swabia. Cropped from a Commons document: File:Schulordnung Marchtal 1748.jpg