Medieval German cities did not rely on walls and militias alone—they also turned to nobles for protection. David Bachrach explores these military alliances and what they reveal about how urban communities navigated power, war, and survival.
By David Bachrach
The period between the excommunication of Emperor Frederick II (1212-1250) in 1239 and the death of his son Conrad IV in 1254, was marked by intensive warfare throughout much of the German kingdom between the adherents of the Staufen dynasty and the supporters of the anti-kings Henry Raspe (1246-1247) and William of Holland (1248-1254). Following Conrad’s death, William received almost universal acknowledgement as the legitimate ruler until his own death in 1256. The most faithful adherents of the late Staufen rulers were their ministerials (formerly unfree officials who had risen into the ranks of the lower nobility) and the cities, particularly in the Rhineland. Many of these cities had received far-reaching privileges to administer their own affairs from Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190) and Henry VI (1190-1197), as well as from Frederick II. City communes, representing the leading merchants and master craftsmen, seized control over the powers of justice, taxation, and defense, often to the exclusion of their bishops.
Although urban militias had played significant roles in the military organization of the German kingdom since at least the tenth century, the lengthy period of civil war during the thirteenth century required cities to make substantially greater investments in their defenses. Urban communes improved and even expanded the walls of their cities, extended the obligation to participate in the urban militia to a much larger part of the population, developed large-scale arsenals, including siege engines, to supply the militia forces, and established alliances with other cities, such as the famous Rhenish League (1254-1257), to defend their common interests. The urban communes also expanded their direct political control over the districts outside their walls, establishing a situation parallel to the contados of contemporary city-states in the Italian peninsula.
A Fragmented Kingdom
A map of the Holy Roman Empire around 1250 – created by Gustav Droysen (1838–1908) / Wikimedia Commons
Although Conrad IV’s death brought an end to the civil war between the pro- and anti-Staufen forces, the German kingdom did not return to the largely peaceful state of the quarter century preceding Frederick II’s excommunication in 1239. Following William of Holland’s death, Richard of Cornwall, the younger brother of King Henry III of England (1216-1273), and King Alfonso X of Castile (1252-1284) expended enormous sums to secure election as the German king. Ultimately, Richard was able to prevail and nominally rule the German kingdom from 1257 until his death in 1272. However, despite some concerted efforts, particularly during the first several years of his reign, Richard was not able to restore peace to the kingdom.
In the highly volatile political environment before the election of Count Rudolf of Habsburg as king (1273-1291), denoted by many specialists in German history as the “interregnum”, many cities sought to establish military alliances with local nobles in a bid to maintain their independence from their bishops and the more powerful regional nobility. Rudolf himself, was the participant in many such alliances. Richer, a monk at the monastery of Senones, wrote circa 1265 that the citizens of Strasbourg made an alliance with Count Rudolf during their conflict with their Bishop Walter of Geroldseck (1260-1263) and established him as their “lord and battle commander.”
However, because of the vast number of surviving city documents and charters, we are best informed about the military alliances made by the citizens of Cologne with numerous local lords. An important element of all of these alliances was the inclusion of a clause that the nobles were to become fellow citizens (Latin concives, German Mitbürger) and receive property within the city walls of Cologne.
Cologne’s Military Agreements
Cologne depicted in 1499 from the Koelhoffsche Chronik
The earliest surviving record of one of these military alliances comes from a charter issued by the city council of Cologne on 7 May 1263, which recounts the terms of an agreement with Count William IV of Jülich (died 1278) and the latter’s brother Walram. As part of the agreement, both of these men became citizens of Cologne, i.e. ze kolne burgere worden. They were obligated to come inside the walls of the city if it were threatened by the archbishop of Cologne or another powerful noble, with a military contingent consisting of 20 knights and 30 men-at-arms. The city undertook to pay the wages of these men as well as their other costs. Count William and his brother each received an annual retainer of 100 marks, and the funds were to be drawn from revenues accruing to defined properties within the walls of Cologne.
Just two days later, the city concluded three other agreements with the lords of Löwenberg, Merode, and Frenz, who were vassals of Count William. These agreements were all modelled on the one that the city had made with William, with each lord swearing to come into the city in times of military danger. They each received an annual retainer and were promised payment for each fighting man that they brought with them to the city. Just one month later, Cologne made similar agreements, albeit in Latin rather than in German, with Duke Walram of Limburg (1247-1279) and Count Dieter V of Katzenelnbogen (1235-1276). Both Walram and Dieter promised to come to the city with nine knights and fifteen men-at-arms.
The city made one last agreement, as part of this initial burst, with Lord Frederick of Bedburg, at the end of August 1264. He promised to bring ten armed men with him to the city, in return for an annual retainer and a guaranteed daily rate of pay for his men when they arrived. Frederick, like all the other lords noted here, also became a citizen of Cologne.
Why These Alliances Mattered
Martyrdom of St Ursula before the City of Cologne, painted around 1411 – Wikimedia Commons
These agreements, which the city leadership made with eight local and regional lords in the space of three months in 1264, make it clear that they valued the option of bringing contingents of trained fighting men within the walls at times of need. However, it must also be emphasized that the fighting power of these men was quite negligible when compared to the massive militia forces that Cologne could deploy when necessary. Several thousand men of Cologne, for example, served on the victorious side against Archbishop Siegfried (1275-1297) at the battle of Worringen in 1288.
Instead, the citizens of Cologne looked to their newly established noble citizens to help secure the city’s trade routes in the Low Countries, and to use their connections with other local and regional magnates to mediate conflicts before they rose to the level of military violence. The great merchant families of Cologne had economic interests throughout the Rhineland and across the Channel into England. Their goal was to avoid conflicts and to secure the freedom of movement of Cologne merchants.
Following this initial slew of agreements, in which they secured transportation routes to the west and north, the city leadership made alliances and gave citizenship to the lords of Isenburg-Arenfels and Sterrenberg, who controlled transportation routes to the south, as well as with the lords of Schinnen to the northwest, and with the counts of Waldeck to the east. These new concives were well-placed to protect the merchants of Cologne on main riverine routes and roads.
The model of urban-noble military alliances which included the establishment of the latter as fellow citizens were adopted by numerous other cities including, most notably Worms, and became a common feature of urban life during the fourteenth century.
David Bachrach is a Professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he researches medieval military history, particularly in England and Germany.
Medieval German cities did not rely on walls and militias alone—they also turned to nobles for protection. David Bachrach explores these military alliances and what they reveal about how urban communities navigated power, war, and survival.
By David Bachrach
The period between the excommunication of Emperor Frederick II (1212-1250) in 1239 and the death of his son Conrad IV in 1254, was marked by intensive warfare throughout much of the German kingdom between the adherents of the Staufen dynasty and the supporters of the anti-kings Henry Raspe (1246-1247) and William of Holland (1248-1254). Following Conrad’s death, William received almost universal acknowledgement as the legitimate ruler until his own death in 1256. The most faithful adherents of the late Staufen rulers were their ministerials (formerly unfree officials who had risen into the ranks of the lower nobility) and the cities, particularly in the Rhineland. Many of these cities had received far-reaching privileges to administer their own affairs from Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190) and Henry VI (1190-1197), as well as from Frederick II. City communes, representing the leading merchants and master craftsmen, seized control over the powers of justice, taxation, and defense, often to the exclusion of their bishops.
Although urban militias had played significant roles in the military organization of the German kingdom since at least the tenth century, the lengthy period of civil war during the thirteenth century required cities to make substantially greater investments in their defenses. Urban communes improved and even expanded the walls of their cities, extended the obligation to participate in the urban militia to a much larger part of the population, developed large-scale arsenals, including siege engines, to supply the militia forces, and established alliances with other cities, such as the famous Rhenish League (1254-1257), to defend their common interests. The urban communes also expanded their direct political control over the districts outside their walls, establishing a situation parallel to the contados of contemporary city-states in the Italian peninsula.
A Fragmented Kingdom
Although Conrad IV’s death brought an end to the civil war between the pro- and anti-Staufen forces, the German kingdom did not return to the largely peaceful state of the quarter century preceding Frederick II’s excommunication in 1239. Following William of Holland’s death, Richard of Cornwall, the younger brother of King Henry III of England (1216-1273), and King Alfonso X of Castile (1252-1284) expended enormous sums to secure election as the German king. Ultimately, Richard was able to prevail and nominally rule the German kingdom from 1257 until his death in 1272. However, despite some concerted efforts, particularly during the first several years of his reign, Richard was not able to restore peace to the kingdom.
In the highly volatile political environment before the election of Count Rudolf of Habsburg as king (1273-1291), denoted by many specialists in German history as the “interregnum”, many cities sought to establish military alliances with local nobles in a bid to maintain their independence from their bishops and the more powerful regional nobility. Rudolf himself, was the participant in many such alliances. Richer, a monk at the monastery of Senones, wrote circa 1265 that the citizens of Strasbourg made an alliance with Count Rudolf during their conflict with their Bishop Walter of Geroldseck (1260-1263) and established him as their “lord and battle commander.”
However, because of the vast number of surviving city documents and charters, we are best informed about the military alliances made by the citizens of Cologne with numerous local lords. An important element of all of these alliances was the inclusion of a clause that the nobles were to become fellow citizens (Latin concives, German Mitbürger) and receive property within the city walls of Cologne.
Cologne’s Military Agreements
The earliest surviving record of one of these military alliances comes from a charter issued by the city council of Cologne on 7 May 1263, which recounts the terms of an agreement with Count William IV of Jülich (died 1278) and the latter’s brother Walram. As part of the agreement, both of these men became citizens of Cologne, i.e. ze kolne burgere worden. They were obligated to come inside the walls of the city if it were threatened by the archbishop of Cologne or another powerful noble, with a military contingent consisting of 20 knights and 30 men-at-arms. The city undertook to pay the wages of these men as well as their other costs. Count William and his brother each received an annual retainer of 100 marks, and the funds were to be drawn from revenues accruing to defined properties within the walls of Cologne.
Just two days later, the city concluded three other agreements with the lords of Löwenberg, Merode, and Frenz, who were vassals of Count William. These agreements were all modelled on the one that the city had made with William, with each lord swearing to come into the city in times of military danger. They each received an annual retainer and were promised payment for each fighting man that they brought with them to the city. Just one month later, Cologne made similar agreements, albeit in Latin rather than in German, with Duke Walram of Limburg (1247-1279) and Count Dieter V of Katzenelnbogen (1235-1276). Both Walram and Dieter promised to come to the city with nine knights and fifteen men-at-arms.
The city made one last agreement, as part of this initial burst, with Lord Frederick of Bedburg, at the end of August 1264. He promised to bring ten armed men with him to the city, in return for an annual retainer and a guaranteed daily rate of pay for his men when they arrived. Frederick, like all the other lords noted here, also became a citizen of Cologne.
Why These Alliances Mattered
These agreements, which the city leadership made with eight local and regional lords in the space of three months in 1264, make it clear that they valued the option of bringing contingents of trained fighting men within the walls at times of need. However, it must also be emphasized that the fighting power of these men was quite negligible when compared to the massive militia forces that Cologne could deploy when necessary. Several thousand men of Cologne, for example, served on the victorious side against Archbishop Siegfried (1275-1297) at the battle of Worringen in 1288.
Instead, the citizens of Cologne looked to their newly established noble citizens to help secure the city’s trade routes in the Low Countries, and to use their connections with other local and regional magnates to mediate conflicts before they rose to the level of military violence. The great merchant families of Cologne had economic interests throughout the Rhineland and across the Channel into England. Their goal was to avoid conflicts and to secure the freedom of movement of Cologne merchants.
Following this initial slew of agreements, in which they secured transportation routes to the west and north, the city leadership made alliances and gave citizenship to the lords of Isenburg-Arenfels and Sterrenberg, who controlled transportation routes to the south, as well as with the lords of Schinnen to the northwest, and with the counts of Waldeck to the east. These new concives were well-placed to protect the merchants of Cologne on main riverine routes and roads.
The model of urban-noble military alliances which included the establishment of the latter as fellow citizens were adopted by numerous other cities including, most notably Worms, and became a common feature of urban life during the fourteenth century.
David Bachrach is a Professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he researches medieval military history, particularly in England and Germany.
Click here to read more from David Bachrach
Further Readings:
David S. Bachrach, “Military Citizenship Agreements in Thirteenth Century Germany,” Journal of Medieval Military History 23 (2025 for 2024), 56-71.
Subscribe to Medievalverse
Related Posts