SWABIAN LEAGUE, an association of German cities, principally in the old duchy of Swabia. The cities had attained prosperity under the Hohenstaufen emperors, but on the extinc tion of that house in 1268, they were ill-defended against ag gression by succeeding dynasties.
In 1331, 22 Swabian cities, including Ulm, Augsburg, Reut lingen and Heilbronn, formed a league at the instance of the em peror Louis the Bavarian, who in return for their support promised not to mortgage any of them to a vassal. The count of Wurttemberg was induced to join in 1340. Under Charles IV. the lesser Swabian nobles began to combine against the cities, and formed the Schlegelerbund (from Schlegel, a maul). Civil war ensuing in 1367, the emperor, jealous of the growing power of the cities, endeavoured to set up a league under his own con trol, for the maintenance of public peace. The defeat of the city league by Eberhard II. of WUrttemberg 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 Swab ian cities led by Ulm in 1376. This league triumphed over the count of Wiirttemberg at Reutlingen in 1377, and the emperor having removed his ban, it assumed a permanent character, set up an arbitration court, and was rapidly extended over the Rhine land, Bavaria and Franconia. Its professed aims were the main tenance of the imperial status of the constituent cities, the secur ity against sale or mortgage and against excessive taxation, the protection of property, trade and traffic, and the power to sup press disturbances of the peace. There is no trace of co-operation with the Hanseatic towns.
For nearly a century there was no great effort at federation among the Swabian cities, though there were partial and short lived associations. The growing anarchy in Swabia, where the cities were violently agitated by the constant infringement of their liberties (e.g., the annexation of Regensburg by Bavaria in 1486), induced Frederick III., who required men and money for the Hungarian War, to conciliate the cities by propounding a scheme of pacification and reform. His commissioner, Count
Hugo of Werdenberg, met the Swabian estates at Esslingen, and on Feb. 14, 1488, the Great Swabian League was constituted. There were four constituent parties, the archduke Sigismund of Austria, Count Eberhard V. of Wurttemberg, who became the first captain of the league, the knightly league of St. George, and lastly 22 Swabian imperial cities. The league received a formal constitution with a federal council consisting of three colleges of nine councillors each, a captain and a federal court with judicial and executive powers. The armed force which was to police Swabia consisted of 12,00o foot and 1,200 horse, each party con tributing one-fourth. The league gained strength by the speedy accession of Augsburg and other Swabian cities, the margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Bayreuth and Baden, the four Rhenish electors, etc., and in 1490 of Maximilian, king of the Romans, whom the league had helped to rescue from the hands of the Netherlanders in 1488. It did not render him the support he expected in his foreign policy, but it performed its primary work of restoring and maintaining order with energy and efficiency. In 1492 it compelled Duke Albert of Bavaria to renounce Regens burg; in 1519 it expelled the turbulent duke, Ulrich of Wiirt temberg who had seized Reutlingen, and it sold his duchy to Charles V.; and in 1523 it defeated the Franconian knights who had taken up arms with Franz von Sickingen. In 1525 Truchsess, the league captain, aided by the forces of Trier and the palatin ate, overthrew the rebel peasants of Konigshof en on the Tauber and at Ingolstadt. The league, after several renewals, expired on Feb. 2, its dissolution being due to the Reformation. Futile attempts were made to renew it, in 1535 by the Bavarian chancellor, Eck, and in 1547 by Charles V.
See E. Osann, Zur Geschichte des schwiibischen Bundes (Giessen, 1860 ; K. Kliipfel, Urkunden zur Geschichte des schwiibischen Bundes (Stuttgart, , "Der schwabische Bund," Hist. Taschenbuch (1883-84). (A. B. G.)