Ravensburg

Ravensburg was a Free Imperial City on the Schussen, between the Danube and Lake Constance. Emperor Rudolf I had granted it that status in 1276.

Around 1380 merchant families led by the Humpis founded the Great Ravensburg Trading Society, which dealt in linen, spices and wine until its collapse in 1530. After the Reformation, Catholics and Protestants shared city offices equally, an arrangement confirmed by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Ravensburg passed to Bavaria in 1803 and to Württemberg in 1810.