Section of an 1823 cadastral map of Kempten, with the blue line representing the old border between the Protestant Free Imperial City and the Catholic Princely Abbey of Kempten before the two entities were annexed by Bavaria in 1802. As can be seen, the grounds of the prince-abbot's palace ("Residenz") almost touched the walls of the Free City. After the town of Kempten seceded from the Princely Abbey in the late Middle Ages to become a free imperial city (a "Reichsstadt"), a new, smaller town (a "Stiftsstadt", shown top left) developed to service the Abbey.