sed on to the lesser officers, from the
king or emperor direct. Secondly, whenever the emperor held a _curia
generalis_ (or general assembly, or diet) in one of the episcopal
cities, and for a week before and after, all jurisdictional and
administrative power reverted to him and his immediate officers. The
citizens on their part clung to this connexion and made use of it
whenever their independence was threatened by their bishops, who
strongly inclined to consider themselves lords of their cathedral
cities, much as if these had been built on church-lands. As early as
1073, therefore, we find the citizens of Worms successfully rising
against their bishop in order to provide the emperor Henry IV. with a
refuge against the rebellious princes. Those of Cologne made a similar
attempt in 1074. But a second class of imperial cities (_Reichsstadte_),
much more numerous than the former, consisted of those founded on
demesne-land belonging either to the Empire or to one of the families
who rose to imperial rank. This class was largely reinforced, when after
the extinction of the royal house of Hohenstaufen in the 13th century, a
great number of towns founded by them on their demesne successfully
claimed immediate subjection to the crown. About this time, during the
interregnum, a federation of more than a hundred towns was formed,
beginning on the Rhine, but spreading as far as Bremen in the north,
Zurich in the south, and Regensburg in the east, with the object of
helping to preserve the peace. After the death of King William in 1256,
they resolved to recognize no king unless unanimously elected. This
league was joined by a powerful group of princes and nobles and found
recognition by the prince-electors of the Empire; but for want of
leadership it did not stand the test, when Richard of Cornwall and
Alphonso of Castile were elected rival kings in 1257.[8] In the
following centuries the imperial cities in south Germany, where most of
them were situated, repeatedly formed leagues to protect their interests
against the power of the princes and the nobles, and destructive wars
were waged; but no great political issue found solution, the relative
position of the parties after each war remaining much what it had been
before. On the part of the towns this was mainly due to lack of
leadership and of unity of purpose. At the time of the Reformation the
imperial towns, like most of the others, stood forward as champions of
the new cause a