The Swiss or Swabian War of 1499 33
remain neutral;158 by the same token, the city withdrew from membership of the
Swabian League when its renewal was discussed in 1500.159
The Peace of Basel had further consequences: the city of Basel abandoned its
precarious neutrality and was accepted as a full member of the Confederation, not
without opposition from within the city and without,160 while Schaffhausen, as a
reward for its solidarity in the war, was elevated from associated to full membership
in the same year.161 But in other respects little appeared to have changed. As Tom
Brady has observed, ‘a few cities did turn Swiss... but the confederates no longer
dreamed of glory in Swabia or on the Upper Rhine’.162 If we look in greater detail
at the conduct of the war on the Hochrhein, the reasons may become apparent.
158 Kramml, ‘Reichsstadt Konstanz’, 322.
159 Carl, ‘Eidgenossen und Schwäbischer Bund’, 235.
160 Once Strasbourg had joined the Swabian League Basel had little choice. There were anti- and
pro-Helvetic factions in the city, while its neighbour and rival Solothurn was also opposed. Sieber-
Lehmann, ‘Schwierige Nachbarn’, 284–5; Meyer, ‘Thurgau’, 102–3.
161 Schib, ‘1291-1501’, 17. It was granted a share in the administration of the transalpine bailiwicks
in Ticino.
162 Brady, Turning Swiss, 70.