Swabian League of Cities

The Swabian League of Cities (German: Schwäbischer Städtebund) was a primarily military alliance between a number of free imperial cities in and around the area now defined as south-western Germany. Its objective was the maintenance of the privileges, rights, and freedoms of its members, and it therefore also opposed the territorial ambitions of increasingly assertive surrounding states within the Holy Roman Empire such as Bavaria, Württemberg, and Austria.

The Swabian League of Cities was first formed on 20 November 1331, when twenty-two imperial cities of the former Duchy of Swabia banded together in support of the Emperor Louis IV, who in return promised not to mortgage any of them to any imperial vassal. Among the founding cities were Augsburg, Heilbronn, Reutlingen, and Ulm. The counts of Württemberg, Oettingen, and Hohenberg were induced to join in 1340.

Under the rule of the Emperor Charles IV (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).

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