The euphemism claims a brief explanation.

In old German law the nobles and cities that gained local independence by shaking off the control of the local potentate were termed _immediate_, because they owed allegiance directly to the Emperor, without any feudal intermediary: if by mischance they fell under that hated control they were said to be _mediatized_.

This term was now applied to acts that subjected the knight, or city, not to feudal control, but to complete absorption by the king or prince of Napoleon's creation.

Six Imperial or Free Cities survived the Secularizations, namely, the three Hanse towns, and Augsburg, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg.

The northern towns still held their ancient rights; but Augsburg and Nuremberg now fell to the King of Bavaria, and Frankfurt was bestowed by Napoleon on Dalberg, the Prince Primate of the Confederation.
German life began to lose much of the quaint diversity beloved of artists and poets; but it also gained much.