Kaiserstadt Aachen

@ask-aph-sliven: “Say, Aachen, what do you think about eastern european countries/the Balkan?” @ask-aph-serbul: “I’m wondering what you think about Serbia & Bulgaria?”

In the year 936, Otto I was crowned in Aachen as Eastern Frankish king. Since then Aachen remained the coronation place of German kings who wanted to rule over the Holy Roman Empire for the next 600 years.Until 1531, 30 German kings were crowned in the Aachen Cathedral - the last was Ferdinand I.

After the antipope Paschal III. canonized Charlemagne in 1165, Aachen received town and market rights and minting privilege and therefore became a free imperial city due to a charter of freedom called "Karlsprivileg" (Charlemagne privilege) on 8 January 1166. Titled as "caput civitatum" ("head of the cities") and "caput et sedes regni Theutonici" ("head and seat of the German Empire"), Aachen's inhabitants were freed from serfdom and taxes.