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Rh which he sought to raise money for his extravagant pleasures excited a rising known as that of the arme Konrad (poor Conrad), not unlike the rebellion in England led by Wat Tyler; order was soon restored, and in 1514 by the treaty of Tübingen the people undertook to pay the duke's debts in return for various political privileges, which in effect laid the foundation of the constitutional liberties of the country. A few years later Ulrich quarrelled with the Swabian League, and its forces, helped by William IV., duke of Bavaria, who was angered by the treatment meted out by Ulrich to his wife Sabina, a Bavarian princess, invaded Württemberg, expelled the duke and sold his duchy to the emperor Charles V. for 220,000 gulden. Charles handed over Württemberg to his brother, the German king, Ferdinand I., who was its nominal ruler for a few years. Soon, however, the discontent caused by the oppressive Austrian rule, the disturbances in Germany leading to the Peasants' War and the commotions aroused by the Reformation gave Ulrich an opportunity to recover it. Aided by Philip, landgrave of Hesse, and other Protestant princes, he fought a victorious battle against Ferdinand's troops at Lauffen in May 1534, and then by the treaty of Cadan he was again recognized as duke, but was forced to accept his duchy as an Austrian fief. He now introduced the reformed doctrines and proceeded to endow Protestant churches and schools throughout his land. Ulrich's connexion with the league of Schmalkalden led to another expulsion, but in 1547 he was reinstated by Charles V., although on somewhat onerous terms.

Ulrich's son and successor, Christopher (1515-1568), completed the work of converting his subjects to the reformed faith. He introduced a system of church government, the Grosse Kirchenordnung, which has endured in part to the present day. In this reign a standing commission was established to superintend the finances, and the members of this body, all of whom belonged to the upper classes, gained considerable power in the state, mainly at the expense of the towns. Christopher's son Louis, the founder of the Collegium illustre, died childless in 1593 and was succeeded by a kinsman, Frederick I. (1557-1608). This energetic prince, who disregarded the limits placed to his authority by the rudimentary constitution, by paying a large sum of money, induced the emperor Rudolph II. in 1599 to free the duchy from the suzerainty of Austria. Thus once again Württemberg became a direct fief of the Empire. Unlike his predecessor, the next duke, John Frederick (1582-1628), was not allowed to become an absolute ruler, but was forced to recognize the checks on his power. During this reign, which ended in July 1628, Württemberg suffered severely from the Thirty Years' War, although the duke himself took no part in it. His son and successor Eberhard III. (1614-1674), however, plunged into it as an ally of France and Sweden as soon as he came of age in 1633, but after the battle of Nördlingen in 1634 the duchy was occupied by the imperialists and he himself was for some years an exile. He was restored by the peace of Westphalia, but it was to a depopulated and impoverished country, and he spent his remaining years in efforts to repair the disasters of the great war. During the reign of Eberhard IV. (1676-1733), who was only one year old when his father Duke William Louis died in 1677, Württemberg made the acquaintance of another destructive enemy. In 1688, 1703 and 1707 the French entered the duchy and inflicted brutalities and sufferings upon the inhabitants. The sparsely populated country afforded a welcome to the fugitive Waldenses, who did something to restore it to prosperity, but this benefit was partly neutralized by the extravagance of the duke, anxious to provide for the expensive tastes of his mistress, Christiana Wilhelmina von Grävenitz. Charles Alexander, who became duke in 1733, had embraced the Roman Catholic faith while an officer in the Austrian service. His favourite adviser was the Jew Suss Oppenheimer, and it was thought that master and servant were aiming at the suppression of the diet and the introduction of the Roman Catholic religion. However, the sudden death of Charles Alexander in March 1737 put an abrupt end to these plans, and the regent, Charles Rudolph of Württemberg-Neuenstadt, had Oppenheimer hanged.

Charles Eugene (1728-1793), who came of age in 1744, was gifted, but vicious and extravagant, and he soon fell into the hands of unworthy favourites. He spent a great deal of money in building palaces at Stuttgart and elsewhere, and took the course, unpopular to his Protestant subjects, of fighting against Prussia during the Seven Years' War. His whole reign was disturbed by dissensions between the ruler and the ruled, the duke's irregular and arbitrary methods of raising money arousing great discontent. The intervention of the emperor and even of foreign powers was invoked, and in 1770 a formal arrangement removed some of the grievances of the people. But Charles Eugene did not keep his promises, although in his old age he made a few further concessions. He died childless, and was succeeded by one brother, Louis Eugene (d. 1795), and then by another, Frederick Eugene (d. 1797). This latter prince, who had served in the army of Frederick the Great, to whom he was related by marriage, educated his children in the Protestant faith. Thus, when his son Frederick II. became duke in 1797, the ruler of Württemberg was again a Protestant, and the royal house has adhered to this faith since that date. During Frederick Eugene's short reign the French invaded Württemberg, compelled the duke to withdraw his troops from the imperial army and to pay a sum of money.

Frederick II. (1754-1816), a prince whose model was Frederick the Great, took part in the war against France in defiance of the wishes of his people, and when the French again invaded and devastated the country he retired to Erlangen, where he remained until after the conclusion of the peace of Lunéville in 1801. By a private treaty with France, signed in March 1802, he ceded his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, receiving in return nine imperial towns, among them Reutlingen and Heilbronn, and some other territories, amounting altogether to about 850 sq. m. and containing about 124,000 inhabitants. He also accepted from Napoleon the title of elector. These new districts were not incorporated with the duchy, but remained separate; they were known as New Württemberg and were ruled without a diet. In 1805 Württemberg took up arms on the side of France, and by the peace of Pressburg in December 1805 the elector was rewarded with various Austrian possessions in Swabia and with other lands in the neighbourhood. On the 1st of January 1806 Frederick assumed the title of king, abrogated the constitution and united old and new Württemberg. Subsequently he placed the property of the church under the control of the state. In 1806 he joined the Confederation of the Rhine and received further additions of territory containing 160,000 inhabitants; a little later, by the peace of Vienna in October 1809, about 110,000 more persons were placed under his rule. In return for these favours Frederick joined Napoleon in his campaigns against Prussia, Austria and Russia, and of 16,000 of his subjects who marched to Moscow only a few hundreds returned. Then after the battle of Leipzig he deserted the waning fortunes of the French emperor, and by a treaty made with Metternich at Fulda in November 1813 he secured the confirmation of his royal title and of his recent acquisitions of territory, while his troops marched with those of the allies into France. In 1815 the king joined the Germanic Confederation, but the congress of Vienna made no change in the extent of his lands. In the same year he laid before the representatives of his people the sketch of a new constitution, but this was rejected, and in the midst of the commotion Frederick died on the 30th of October 1816.

At once the new king, William I., took up the consideration of this question and after much discussion a new constitution was granted in September 1819. This is the constitution which, with subsequent modifications, is still in force, and it is described in an earlier section of this article. A period of quietness now set in, and the condition of the kingdom, its education, its agriculture and its trade and manufactures, began to receive earnest attention, while by frugality, both in public and in private matters, King William helped to repair the shattered finances of the country. But the desire for greater political freedom had not been entirely satisfied by the constitution of 1819, and after 1830 there was a certain amount of unrest. This, however,