Association of cities
A city association is an association of two or more cities for mutual political and / or economic strengthening. City leagues were mainly created in the 13th century . In addition to military powers, they had extensive legal powers and made a decisive contribution to the emancipation of the bourgeoisie from the domination of the nobility .
Individual city leagues also gained a high degree of power and thus became an important economic and political factor that had to be taken into account by the respective ruler.
precursor
There have been a large number of city federations in history, for example amphictyony with a religious and cultural orientation and symmachy with a military orientation in ancient Greece .
Important city associations
From the 12th century
- 1183 : Lombard League of Cities
- 1246 : Saxon Association of Cities
- 1246 : Ladbergener Städtebund : in Ladbergen concluded alliance of the cities of Coesfeld , Herford , Minden , Münster and Osnabrück
- 1254 - 1257 : Rheinischer Städtebund : 70 German cities between Lübeck , Aachen , Zurich and Regensburg
- 1259 : Wendish League of Cities : between Lübeck , Kiel , Wismar , Rostock and Stralsund
- 1291 : Swiss Confederation - instead of towns, initially only three forest sites or also places or estates , later cantons
From the 14th century
- 1304 - 1481 : Thuringian Tri-City Federation ( Erfurt , Nordhausen , Mühlhausen )
- 1346 - 1815 : Upper Lusatian six-city federation under the leadership of Bautzen - the most permanent city federation in today's Germany ; Re-establishment: 1991
- 1354 - 1679 : Alsatian League of Ten Cities
- 1356 - 1669 : the Hanseatic League
- 1376 - 1381 : Swabian Association of Cities : over 20 Swabian cities under the leadership of Ulm
- 1377–1378: Niederhessischer Städtebund: 18 Lower Hessian cities under the leadership of Kassel
- 1381 : Second Rhenish League of Cities around the cities of Frankfurt , Mainz , Worms , Speyer and Strasbourg
- 1381 - 1389 : South German Association of Cities
- 1385 - 1386 : Constance Federation
- 1472 - 1632 : Linzer Eintracht ( Linz am Rhein , Unkel , Erpel , Honnef , Königswinter , Oberkassel , Leutesdorf , Ober- and Niederhammerstein as well as Hönningen , Remagen and Mehlem )
- 1488 : Swabian League no Städtebund but stands covenant , since in addition to the imperial cities very strong weight of the southern German territorial rulers, Württemberg, Tyrol and smaller lordships (Werdenberg, Furstenberg, Waldenburg, Zollern etc.) and Imperial Knight
Today's counterparts
The city conventions and city federations founded in the 20th century (e.g. the Austrian Association of Cities founded in 1915 ) represent the interests of the participating cities vis-à-vis the federal and state governments ( see main article, local authority umbrella organization ).
Another new type of “city alliance” are international city partnership rings (e.g. Ravensburg - Montélimar - Rivoli , which have each entered into city partnerships) or working groups for economic, tourism and cultural promotion such as the European association “ Neustadt in Europa ” with 36 Members, at the national level of the Zipfelbund . Historic city federations were also revived for similar goals, such as the New Hanseatic League or in 1991 the Upper Lusatian Six City Association .
See also
- Tri-City Alliance
- Tetrapolis
- Pentapolis
- Hexapolis
- Nine City Federation
- Decapolis
- League of Twelve Cities
- German Association of Towns and Municipalities
Web links
- Karl Heinz Burmeister: City federations. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .