Low association

The Lower Association was an alliance between the imperial cities of Strasbourg , Basel , Colmar and Schlettstadt , the bishops of Basel and Strasbourg , the Old Confederation and Duke Siegmund of Austria , regent of Upper Austria and Tyrol , which held the Anti-Burgundy League together during the Burgundian Wars of 1474–1477 . The term “lower” association is derived from the distinction between the “upper”, i.e. H. Upper German Confederation Association.

history

At the core of the Lower Association is an alliance project of the four imperial cities of Strasbourg, Basel, Colmar and Schlettstadt, which was directed against the expansion policy of Duke Charles “the Bold” of Burgundy in 1473 . Kaisersberg, Oberehnheim ( Obernai ) and other cities also applied for admission in 1474. In 1469, Karl bought the Habsburg possessions in Alsace and Breisgau from Duke Siegmund of Austria as a pledge, which brought the imperial cities into the immediate Burgundian sphere of influence. The imperial cities were gradually joined by other partners, such as smaller Alsatian cities and the bishops of Strasbourg and Basel and, on March 31, 1474, the eight towns of the Old Confederation for ten years. After negotiations in Constance , the alliance was finally expanded to include Duke Siegmund of Austria, to whom the imperial cities advanced 76,000 guilders in order to redeem the pledged areas. In this context, there was also a preliminary reconciliation between Siegmund and the Confederates in the so-called Eternal Direction . Duke René II of Lorraine , one of Charles' main opponents, also joined the Lower Association. In addition to the foreign policy thrust, the alliance also served to maintain the peace in Upper Germany.

In the same year, the Lower Association opened the war against Charles the Bold on the side of the Swiss Confederation, who was defeated and killed in the so-called Burgundian Wars until 1477. In the battles of Grandson , Murten and Nancy , larger contingents of the Alsatian cities and the Dukes of Austria and Lorraine fought alongside the Confederates. After the end of the Burgundian Wars and the end of the ten-year alliance with the Confederation, the alliance fell apart again.

The "Low Association" of 1493

In 1493 an alliance between the Alsatian cities excluding Basel and the regent of Upper Austria was again concluded under the name “Lower Association”. This alliance, however, was now directed against the Confederation and fought in 1499 in Swabian War on the side of the German King Maximilian I against the Swiss. This second Lower Association dissolved in 1508 and was not renewed despite Maximilian's efforts.

Members

• Upper Rhine imperial cities:
  • Basel
  • Strasbourg
  • Colmar
  • Schlettstadt
• Confederation :
  • Zurich
  • Bern
  • Lucerne
  • Uri
  • Schwyz
  • Unterwalden
  • Glarus
  • train
• Diocese of Basel
• Diocese of Strasbourg
• Upper Austria (under Duke Siegmund )
• Lorraine (under Duke René II )

literature

• Albert Wilhelm Matzinger: On the history of the lower association. (Inaugural dissertation from the University of Basel), Zurich 1910 in the Internet archive

Web links

• Claudius Sieber-Lehmann : Low Association. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

swell

1. ^ Official collection of the older Eidgenössische Farewell, Vol. 2, p. 492
2. ↑ Historisch-Bibliographisches Lexikon der Schweiz , Vol. 5. Neuchâtel 1929, pp. 300f.
3. ↑ Historisch-Bibliographisches Lexikon der Schweiz , Vol. 5. Neuchâtel 1929, p. 300.