In several respects Konstanz by the late fifteenth century was well on its way to
becoming a Swiss city. Its bishops, from Otto von Sonnenberg onwards, especially
the long-serving Hugo von Hohenlandenberg (r. 1496–1530; 1531–2), came
from eminent Swiss noble families and were known to have Swiss sympathies.101
They had entered alliances with the Swiss as early as 1469, and these were regularly
renewed, while for its part the cathedral chapter had a Burgrecht treaty with Luzern,
which was similarly extended.102 Konstanz as a city held more lordships in the
Thurgau than is commonly recognized, not to mention its numerous outburghers
(rural citizens who had acquired burgher’s rights).103 Its patricians had castles and
estates there, as well as in the Hegau and Klettgau.104 Indeed, in 1487 the city sent
Emperor Frederick a memorandum warning him of the dangers of creating a pan-
South German alliance—accomplished the following year in the Swabian League—
since many of Konstanz’s richer citizens were leaving the city and seeking Swiss
protection.105 Any sympathies for Austria appear to have come from the guilds,
especially the fishers’ guild, with close commercial links to Swabia.106
At first sight the foundation of the Swabian League need have had few implica-
tions for Konstanz. Emperor Frederick’s intention had been to construct a broad
defensive alliance among cities and princes of the south to combat Bavarian
expansion under the Wittelsbachs, or, more precisely, to forestall any attempt by
Archduke Sigismund to mortgage Outer Austria to Bavaria.107 Indeed, the Swiss
themselves were invited to participate. Konstanz was initially excused from joining
101 Maurer, Schweizer und Schwaben, 70. On Hugo von Hohenlandenberg see Peter Niederhäuser
(ed.), Ein feiner Fürst in einer rauhen Zeit. Der Konstanzer Bischof Hugo von Hohenlandenberg (Zürich,
2001); Peter Niederhäuser, ‘Hugo von Hohenlandenberg. Bischof von Konstanz, 1460-1532’, in
Rainer Brüning and Regina Keyler (eds), Lebensbilder aus Baden-Württemberg (Schwäbische
Lebensbilder, 24) (Stuttgart, 2013), 1–28.
102 Maurer, Konstanz im Mittelalter, 206–7, 212; Kramml, ‘Reichsstadt Konstanz’, 318.
103 See the discussion on Konstanz’s lordships in the Thurgau in Chapter 2. On outburghers see
Dikenmann, ‘Stellung’, 16–21, who believed that they were mostly nobles or convents. But this view
has been corrected by Maurer, who stresses the large number of peasant outburghers (paleburghers).
Maurer, Konstanz im Mittelalter, 74–7.
104 Maurer, Schweizer und Schwaben, 82. 105 Maurer, Konstanz im Mittelalter, 206.
106 Carl, ‘Eidgenossen und Schwäbischer Bund’, 257. This is evident from Maximilian’s attempts
to redraft the city’s constitution to favour the guilds over the patricians in 1510 and the reaction of the
fishers’ guild in 1527. See Chapters 9 and 10.
107 Horst Carl, ‘“Schwabenkrieg” oder “Schweizerkrieg”? Der Schwäbische Bund als Gegner der
Eidgenossenschaft’, in Regierungsrat des Kantons Solothurn (ed.), ‘an sant maria magtalena tag
geschach ein grose schlacht’. Gedenkschrift 500 Jahre Schlacht bei Dornach 1499–1999 (Solothurn,
1999), 97–130, here at 102.