Calm amidst the Storm 51
harrying its Reforming clerics: the Catholic cantons certainly would not come to
the city’s rescue.302
The upshot was that the city council felt it had no option but to seek safety in
Zürich’s arms, though not all the guilds were in favour.303 Their opponents coun-
tered by declaring that the Burgrecht contravened the provisions of the Treaty of
Basel.304 To rub salt in the wound, Konstanz then concluded a Burgrecht with
Bern, the other major Swiss city which was on the point of formally introducing
Reformed worship.305
In a neat diplomatic side-step, Zürich maintained that its Burgrecht was not
intended to underpin the Reformed faith, nor was it directed against the Empire,
Austria, or the Swabian League. Moreover, it did not contravene either the Basel
treaty or the Hereditary Agreement: therefore there was no reason for it to lead to
war. This bland assurance convinced no one. Austria was known to be planning
a counter-attack: the bailiff of Nellenburg was allegedly about to seize the
Reichenau.306 Yet in the end nothing happened! Late in 1528 the Upper Austrian
government in Innsbruck was still imploring the Catholic cantons to get Zürich
and Bern to abandon their alliance with Konstanz.307 All to no avail. The link was
only severed after the conclusion of the Kappel Wars from 1529 to 1531 which
brought the Confederation to the brink of implosion,308 at which point all sides
realized that, in the famous words of Benjamin Franklin, if they did not hang
together, then assuredly they would hang separately.
Throughout the Kappel Wars Konstanz remained on the sidelines. Despite its
active promotion of the new faith in the Thurgau, its adherents in the face of the
bailiff’s hostility turned rather to Zürich for protection. Although by 1529 the
Christliches Burgrecht had expanded to take in Basel and Schaffhausen Konstanz
still felt vulnerable. Rumours of an army being mustered in Swabia prompted the
city to seek allies in the imperial cities there, many of whom had embraced the
Reformation. Of its Swiss allies, only Bern signalled its willingness to send troops
in an emergency.309
The question of a closer relationship with the Confederation remained open.
Konstanz conducted secret talks with its evangelical allies but knew perfectly well
that the Catholic cantons would not tolerate the admission of a fourteenth member
on either confessional or political grounds, especially if that involved surrendering
the common lordship of the Thurgau.310 Only after the Second Peace of Kappel
was Bern prepared to air the issue openly,311 not least because throughout the
302 EA IV, 1a, 1180–7 (no. 486: to f+g, II: i; ii; iii; iv; viii; ix; x) (1527).
303 EA IV, 1a, 1200 (no. 491) (1527); 1214–15 (no. 496) (December 1527): Appendix 6 (Christliches
Burgrecht). Around 10% of guildsfolk were hostile, led by the pro-Austrian fishers’ guild. Dobras,
‘Konstanz zur Zeit der Reformation’, 63.
304 EA IV, 1a, 1266–74 (no. 504: i) (1528): Appendix 6a; Braun, Eidgenossen, 277.
305 EA IV, 1a, 1277 (no. 507) (1528); 1282 (no. 511) (1528).
306 EA IV, 1a, 1301–4 (no. 522: to a 2; to a 3: 1; 4) (1528).
307 EA IV, 1a, 1423–9 (no. 588: b) (1528). 308 Rublack, ‘Außenpolitik’, 69.
309 EA IV, 1b, 326–8 (no. 163: a; b; to b) (1529).
310 EA IV, 1b, 671–2 (no. 334: 1; 3; 4) (1530).
311 EA IV, 1b, 1248–53 (no. 668: r) (1532).