Editing Alsace (section)

===Alsace within the Holy Roman Empire===
At about this time, the surrounding areas experienced recurring fragmentation and reincorporations among a number of [[feudalism|feudal]] secular and ecclesiastical lordships, a common process in the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Alsace experienced great prosperity during the 12th and 13th centuries under [[House of Hohenstaufen|Hohenstaufen emperors]].
[[File:Albert III Alsace.jpg|thumb|Seal of [[Albert IV, Count of Habsburg]] (d.1239), inscribed in Latin (with abbreviations): ''SIGILLUM ALBERTI (COMIS) DE HABESB(URG) ET LANGRAVII ALSACTIAE'' ("seal of Albert of Habsburg, Count of Habsburg and Landgrave of Alsace")]]
[[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick I]] set up Alsace as a province (a ''[[wikt:procuratio|procuratio]]'', not a ''[[provincia]]'') to be ruled by [[ministeriales]], a non-noble class of civil servants. The idea was that such men would be more tractable and less likely to alienate the [[fief]] from the crown out of their own greed. The province had a single provincial court (''[[Landgericht (medieval)|Landgericht]]'') and a central administration with its seat at [[Haguenau|Hagenau]]. [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] designated the [[Bishop of Strasbourg]] to administer Alsace, but the authority of the bishop was challenged by Count [[Rudolf I of Germany|Rudolf of Habsburg]], who received his rights from Frederick II's son [[Conrad IV of Germany|Conrad IV]]. Strasbourg began to grow to become the most populous and commercially important town in the region.

In 1262, after a long struggle with the ruling bishops, its citizens gained the status of [[free imperial city]]. A stop on the [[Paris]]-[[Vienna]]-[[Orient]] trade route, as well as a port on the Rhine route linking [[southern Germany]] and Switzerland to the Netherlands, England and [[Scandinavia]], it became the political and economic center of the region. Cities such as [[Colmar]] and [[Hagenau]] also began to grow in economic importance and gained a kind of autonomy within the "[[Décapole]]" (or "Zehnstädtebund"), a federation of ten free towns.

Though little is known about the early history of the [[History of the Jews in Alsace|Jews of Alsace]], there is a lot of information from the 12th century onwards. They were successful as moneylenders and had the favor of the Emperor.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wigoder |first1=Geoffrey |title=Jewish Art and Civilization |date=1972 |page=62}}</ref> As in much of Europe, the prosperity of Alsace was brought to an end in the 14th century by a series of harsh winters, bad harvests, and the [[Black Death]]. These hardships were blamed on Jews, leading to the [[pogrom]]s of 1336 and 1339. In 1349, Jews of Alsace were accused of poisoning the wells with [[plague (disease)|plague]], leading to the massacre of thousands of Jews during the [[Strasbourg pogrom]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The power of plagues |first=Irwin W. |last=Sherman |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2006 |isbn=1-55581-356-9 |page=74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOjqWL-u9VMC&q=strasbourg+pogrom+february+14+1349&pg=PA74}}</ref> Jews were subsequently forbidden to settle in the town. An additional natural disaster was the [[Rhine rift]] earthquake of 1356, one of Europe's worst which made ruins of [[Basel]]. Prosperity returned to Alsace under [[Habsburg]] administration during the [[Renaissance]].

[[File:Absolute Petite France 02.jpg|thumb|[[Petite France, Strasbourg|Petite France]], [[Strasbourg]]]]

Holy Roman Empire central power had begun to decline following years of imperial adventures in Italian lands, often ceding hegemony in Western Europe to France, which had long since centralized power. France began an aggressive policy of expanding eastward, first to the rivers [[Rhône]] and [[Meuse]], and when those borders were reached, aiming for the Rhine. In 1299 the French proposed a marriage alliance between [[Blanche of France, Duchess of Austria|Blanche]] (sister of [[Philip IV of France]]) and [[Rudolf I of Bohemia|Rudolf]] (son of [[Albert I of Germany]]), with Alsace to be the dowry; however, the deal never came off. In 1307, the town of [[Belfort]] was first chartered by the Counts of [[Montbéliard]]. During the next century, France was to be militarily shattered by the [[Hundred Years' War]], which prevented for a time any further tendencies in this direction. After the conclusion of the war, France was again free to pursue its desire to reach the Rhine and in 1444 a French army appeared in Lorraine and Alsace. It took up winter quarters, demanded the submission of [[Metz]] and [[Strasbourg]] and launched an attack on [[Basel]].

In 1469, following the {{Interlanguage link|Treaty of St. Omer|fr|3=Traité de Saint-Omer}}, Upper Alsace was sold by Archduke [[Sigismund, Archduke of Austria|Sigismund of Austria]] to [[Charles the Bold]], Duke of Burgundy. Although Charles was the nominal landlord, taxes were paid to [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor]]. The latter was able to use this tax and a dynastic marriage to his advantage to gain back full control of Upper Alsace (apart from the free towns, but including Belfort) in 1477 when it became part of the demesne of the Habsburg family, who were also rulers of the empire. The town of Mulhouse joined the [[Swiss Confederation]] in 1515, where it was to remain until 1798.

By the time of the [[Protestant Reformation]] in the 16th century, Strasbourg was a prosperous community, and its inhabitants accepted Protestantism in 1523. [[Martin Bucer]] was a prominent Protestant reformer in the region. His efforts were countered by the Roman Catholic Habsburgs who tried to eradicate heresy in Upper Alsace. As a result, Alsace was transformed into a mosaic of Catholic and Protestant territories. On the other hand, [[Montbéliard|Mömpelgard (Montbéliard)]] to the southwest of Alsace, belonging to the Counts of [[Württemberg]] since 1397, remained a Protestant enclave in France until 1793.