After the Swiss Confederation became independent from the Habsburgs, the new Confederation began to expand. After the expansion to the "Acht Orte" (Eight Cantons), they began looking for additional territory. As the city of Lucerne grew in power, they became interested in the southern portion of what would become the "Freie Ämter". In 1394 they acquired the Amt of Merenschwand which gave Lucerne an exclave west of the river Reuss. In the Battle of Sempach, the Habsburg villages of Aristau and Meienberg were destroyed. Following the defeat of 1386, and despite the 1394 peace between the Habsburgs and the Confederation, the Habsburg city of Bremgarten entered into an alliance with Bern in 1407.