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SWABIAN LEAGUE

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 177 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SWABIAN See also:

LEAGUE , an association of See also:German cities, principally in the territory which had formed the old duchy of See also:Swabia. The name, though usually given to the See also:great federation of 1488, is applicable also to several earlier leagues (e.g. those of 1331, 1376). The Swabian cities had attained great prosperity under the See also:protection of the See also:Hohenstaufen emperors, but the extinction of that See also:house in 1268 was followed by disintegration. Cities and nobles alike, now owing See also:allegiance to none but the See also:emperor, who was seldom able to defend them, were exposed to the aggression of ambitious princes. In 1331, twenty-two Swabian cities, including See also:Ulm, See also:Augsburg, See also:Reutlingen and See also:Heilbronn, formed a league at the instance of the emperor See also:Louis the Bavarian, who in return for their support promised not to See also:mortgage any of them to a See also:vassal. The See also:count of See also:Wurttemberg was induced to join in 1340. Under See also:Charles IV. the lesser Swabian nobles began to combine against the cities, and formed the Schlegelerbund (from See also:Schlegel, a maul). See also:Civil See also:war ensuing in 1367, the emperor, jealous of the growing See also:power of the cities, endeavoured to set up a league under his own See also:control, for the See also:maintenance of public See also:peace (Landfriedensbund, 1370). The defeat of the See also:city league by See also:Eberhard II. of Wurttemberg in 1372, the See also:murder of the See also:captain of the league, and the See also:breach of his obligations by Charles IV., led to the formation of a new league of fourteen Swabian cities led by Ulm in 1376. This league triumphed over the count of Wurttemberg at Reutlingen in 1377, and the emperor having removed his See also:ban, it assumed a permanent See also:character, set up an See also:arbitration See also:court, and was rapidly extended over the Rhineland, See also:Bavaria and See also:Franconia. In 1382 an See also:alliance was made at Ehingen with the See also:archduke of See also:Austria, and through his See also:mediation with the three See also:chief knightly associations of Swabia. The new See also:king, See also:Wenceslaus, hoped at first, like his See also:father Charles, to check the federal See also:movement by associating all estates of the See also:realm under his own See also:lead in Landfriedenseinigungen, but such a compact made at See also:Heidelberg in 1384, although renewed at See also:Mergentheim three years later, was a See also:mere makeshift.

The struggle between burghers and nobles was precipitated by the inclusion of the See also:

urban members of the Swiss See also:confederation in the league in 1385 and the overthrow of Archduke See also:Leopold of Austria by the latter at See also:Sempach in the following See also:year. A See also:quarrel between the See also:duke of Bavaria and the See also:archbishop of See also:Salzburg gave the See also:signal for a See also:general war in Swabia, in which the cities, weakened by their See also:isolation, mutual jealousies and See also:internal conflicts, were defeated by Count Eberhard II. at Doffingen (Aug. 24, 1388), and were severally taken and devastated. Most of them quietly acquiesced when Wenceslaus proclaimed a Landfriede at See also:Eger in 1389 and prohibited all leagues between cities. The professed aims of the cities which had formed this league of 1376 were the maintenance of their imperial status (Reichsunmittelbarkeit), See also:security against See also:sale or mortgage and against excessive See also:taxation, the protection of See also:property, See also:trade and See also:traffic, and the power to suppress disturbances of the peace. There is no trace of co-operation with the Hanseatic towns. The league necessarily opposed the pretensions of the emperors and the electoral princes, especially as set forth in the See also:Golden See also:Bull, and in accordance with the growing spirit of civil freedom demanded a See also:share in the See also:government, but that there was any widespread conscious See also:desire for a fundamental See also:change in the constitution, for the abolition of aristocratic See also:privilege or for a See also:republic, as certain historians maintain, is improbable (K. Klupfel, Der schwabische Bund). For nearly a See also:century there was no great effort at federation among the Swabian cities, See also:attention being diverted to the ecclesiastical controversies of the See also:time, but there were partial and See also:short-lived associations, e.g. the league of twelve Swabian cities in See also:defence of their liberties in 1392, the Marbach league in 1405 against the German king, See also:Rupert, and in 1441 the See also:union of twenty-two cities (in 1446 See also:thirty-one) headed by Ulm and See also:Nuremberg, for the suppression of See also:highway See also:robbery. This latter union in 1449 formed a See also:standing See also:army and waged war on a confederation of princes led by See also:Albert See also:Achilles, afterwards elector of See also:Brandenburg (q.v.). The growing anarchy in Swabia, where the cities were violently agitated by the See also:constant infringement of their liberties (e.g. the See also:annexation of See also:Regensburg by Bavaria in 1486), induced See also:Frederick III., who required men and See also:money for the Hungarian War, to conciliate the cities by propounding a See also:scheme of pacification and reform. His See also:commissioner, Count See also:Hugo of Werdenberg, met the Swabian estates at See also:Esslingen and laid before them a See also:plan probably See also:drawn up by See also:Bertold, elector of See also:Mainz, and on the 14th of See also:February 1488 the Great Swabian League was constituted.

There were four constituent parties, the archduke See also:

Sigismund of Austria, Count Eberhard V. (afterwards duke) of Wurttemberg, who became the first captain of the league, the knightly league of St See also:George, and lastly twenty-two Swabian imperial cities. The league received a formal constitution with a federal See also:council consisting of three colleges of nine councillors each, a captain and a federal court with judicial and executive See also:powers. The armed force which was to See also:police Swabia consisted of 12,000 See also:foot and ;co 1horse, each party contributing one-See also:fourth. The league gained strength by the speedy See also:accession of Augsburg and other Swabian cities, the margraves of Brandenburg-See also:Ansbach, Baireuth and See also:Baden, the four Rhenish See also:electors, &c., and in 1490 of See also:Maximilian, king of the See also:Romans, whom the league had helped to See also:rescue from the hands of the Netherlanders in 1488. It did not render him the support he expected in his See also:foreign policy, but it performed its See also:primary See also:work of restoring and maintaining See also:order with See also:energy and efficiency. In 1492 it compelled Duke Albert of Bavaria to renounce Regensburg; in 1519 it expelled the turbulent duke, See also:Ulrich of Wurttemberg, who had seized Reutlingen, and it sold his duchy to Charles V.; and in 1523 it defeated the Franconian knights who had takenup arms with See also:Franz von See also:Sickingen. In 1525, Truchsess, the league captain, aided by the forces of See also:Trier and the See also:palatinate, overthrew the See also:rebel peasants of Konigshofen on the Tauber and at See also:Ingolstadt. The league, which had been several times renewed, expired on the 2nd of February 1534, its See also:dissolution being due to internal dissensions regarding the See also:reformation. Futile attempts were made to renew it, in 1535 by the Bavarian See also:chancellor, See also:Eck, and in 1547 by Charles V. See E. Osann, Zur Geschichte See also:des schwabischen Bundes (See also:Giessen, 1861) ; K.

Klupfel, " Der schwabische Bund " (in Hist. Taschenbuch, 1883-1884), Urkunden zur Geschichte des schwabischen Bundes (See also:

Stuttgart, 1846-1853). (A. B.

End of Article: SWABIAN LEAGUE

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