Biberach

Biberach was a Free Imperial City on the Riß in Upper Swabia. Rudolf I made it an imperial city in 1281 and 1282, and it adopted Ulm’s law code in 1312.

The Reformation divided the city: from 1548 Catholics and Protestants shared Saint Martin’s church. Biberach changed hands repeatedly between imperial and Swedish armies around the 1634 Battle of Nördlingen. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia established equal confessional representation in its offices. French and Austrian armies fought at its gates in 1796; mediatised in 1803, it passed to Baden and then to Württemberg in 1806.