Kempten

Kempten lies beside the Iller in the Allgäu, on the site of Roman Cambodunum. A monastery founded in the eighth century became a powerful lordship, while the town by the river gradually secured the status of an imperial city. Salt, linen and metal goods sustained its trade. The city stood beside the abbey's own settlement, but their separate rulers often quarrelled.

During the Peasants' War in 1525, the prince-abbot sold his remaining rights in the imperial city to its citizens. The city embraced the Reformation, while the neighbouring abbey remained Catholic. In the Thirty Years' War Swedish troops destroyed the monastery in 1632; imperial and Bavarian forces then stormed the city. The abbey was rebuilt around Saint Lawrence's church and a princely residence. Bavaria occupied both communities in 1802, secularising the abbey and ending the city's independence; the two towns were formally united in 1818.