1. Role and status before the 19th century
Mayors (German Bürgermeister) were originally holders of the highest office in a town. They presided over councils (Rat, gelehrter) and courts, played a central role in urban rituals (e.g. Citizenship, oath of), and represented the interests of the town with territorial rulers, in the territorial estates (Estates of the realm), and later in parliaments that admitted mayors as members by virtue of their offi…