28 The Swiss and Their Neighbours, 1460–1560
wrangling between Konstanz on the one hand and Uri, Unterwalden, and Zug, on
the other: the city should be offered associated membership of the Confederation,
on a par with St Gallen, Schaffhausen, and Rottweil.119 It is more than likely that
similar plans had been mooted before, since Maximilian had voiced his implacable
opposition to any such move the previous year.120 The difficulty was that the Inner
cantons, the bit now firmly between their teeth, would not let go of claims to
the Landgericht, negotiations over which dragged on fruitlessly until the eve of the
Swiss War.121 In reality, what alarmed Uri, Zug, and Unterwalden was the prospect
of the urban cantons becoming dominant within the Confederation,122 against
which the instrument of common lordship afforded little counterweight. These
tensions were already visible at the time of the quarrel over appointment to the see
of Konstanz in 1480. At that juncture, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Glarus, and
Zug supported the local Swiss candidate, Otto von Sonnenberg, whereas Zürich,
Bern, and Luzern, together with Fribourg and Solothurn, concluded a Burgrecht in
which they took the side of the Habsburg nominee, Ludwig von Freiberg.123
We must assume that Schwyz’s proposal was meant seriously: in September
1495, after all, a diet in Zürich noted that the citizens of Konstanz were more
inclined to ally with the Swiss than the Swabian League.124 But the plan had
already been overtaken by events. From the early 1480s there had been growing
resentment in the Confederation at the activities of supposed Jewish usurers in the
Thurgau, who sought, and were granted, protection by Konstanz’s territorial court.
Then, in early 1495, a band of irregulars drawn from Uri, Unterwalden, and Zug,
numbering at least six hundred, in defiance of their authorities’ prohibition but
probably with their tacit approval, invaded the Thurgau, ostensibly to protect the
common folk from harm at the hands of the Jews, the last of whom had in fact
been driven out of the Thurgau and were now seeking restitution of their property.
The irregulars hoped thereby to force Konstanz to surrender the Landgericht, and
it was only Swiss mediation that persuaded them to turn homewards at
Frauenfeld,125 but not before they had extracted a commitment from the city to
pay a ransom of 4000 fl if it refused to give way. Any hope that Konstanz might
align itself to the Confederation was, for the moment, dashed, not least since it was
only prepared to contemplate full membership, not association.126
Not surprisingly, Konstanz switched tack. It indicated in October 1495 that it
was now willing to join the Swabian League, though the deed was not formalized
until December 1498.127 It can have come as small comfort to Konstanz that the
119 EA III, 1, 505 (no. 534: d) (1496).
120 Heinig, ‘Friedrich’, 289. In June 1496 Konstanz gave an undertaking to Maximilian not to
enter any (foreign) alliance. EA III, 1, 507–9 (no. 537: m).
121 EA III, 1, 523–4 (no. 555: a) (1497); 525–6 (no. 558: e) (1497); 530–1 (no. 564: m) (1497);
538–42 (no. 572: uu) (1497).
122 Kramml, ‘Reichsstadt Konstanz’, 321. 123 Kramml, ‘Reichsstadt Konstanz’, 315.
124 Kramml, ‘Reichsstadt Konstanz’, 320–1; EA III, 1, 492–3 (no. 519: h).
125 Maurer, Konstanz im Mittelalter, 213; Carl, ‘Eidgenossen und Schwäbischer Bund’, 252–3.
A detailed account is given in Dikenmann, ‘Stellung’, 104–12.
126 Dikenmann, ‘Stellung’, 114.
127 Maurer, Konstanz im Mittelalter, 215; Kramml, ‘Reichsstadt Konstanz’, 321.