Formation and Defeat of Predecessor Leagues
The Swabian Imperial cities had attained great prosperity under the protection of the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254); however the deposition of Emperor Frederick II in 1245 and the extinction of his dynasty in 1268 was followed by disintegration. Cities and nobles alike, owing allegiance to none but the German king, who was seldom able to defend them, were exposed to the aggression of ambitious princes.
On 20 November 1331, 22 Swabian cities, including Ulm, Augsburg, Reutlingen and Heilbronn, formed a league at the insistence of Emperor Louis IV of Wittelsbach, who in return for their support promised not to mortgage any of them to a vassal. The count of Württemberg was induced to join in 1340. Under the rule of Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg (reigned 1355–1378), the lesser Swabian nobles began to combine against the cities, and formed the Schleglerbund (from Schlegel, a maul). With civil war ensuing in 1367, the Emperor, jealous of the growing power of the cities, endeavoured to set up a league under his own control for the maintenance of public peace (Landfriedensbund, 1370). The defeat of the city league by Count Eberhard II of Württemberg in 1372, the murder of the captain of the league, and the breach of his obligations by Charles IV, led to the formation of a new league of 14 Swabian cities led by Ulm on 4 July 1376.
This renewed league triumphed over Count Eberhard II at Reutlingen in 1377, and the emperor having removed his ban, it set up an arbitration court, and was rapidly extended over the Rhineland, Bavaria, and Franconia. However, Württemberg struck back and united with the forces of Elector Palatine Rupert I and the Nuremberg Burgrave Frederick V of Hohenzollern finally defeated the league in 1388 at Döffingen. The next year the city league disbanded according to the resolutions of the Reichstag at Eger.
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