page_title: Basel
section_title: Prince-Bishopric of Basel
hierarchical_section_title: Basel / History / Prince-Bishopric of Basel
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Holzschnitt von Basel aus der Schedel'schen Weltchronik, Blatt 243v/244r English: Woodcut of Basel from the Nuremberg Chronicle
context_page_description: Basel or Basle is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city with about 180,000 inhabitants. The official language of Basel is German, but the main spoken language is the local Basel German dialect.
  Basel is commonly considered to be the cultural capital of Switzerland. The city is famous for its many museums, ranging from the Kunstmuseum, the first collection of art accessible to the public in the world and the largest museum of art in Switzerland, to the Fondation Beyeler and the Museum of Contemporary Art, the first public museum of contemporary art in Europe. The University of Basel, Switzerland's oldest university, and the city's centuries-long commitment to humanism, have made Basel a safe haven at times of political unrest in other parts of Europe for such notable people as Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Holbein family, Friedrich Nietzsche, and in the 20th century also Hermann Hesse and Karl Jaspers.
  The city of Basel is Switzerland's second-largest economic centre after the city of Zürich and has the highest GDP per capita in the country, ahead of the cantons of Zug and Geneva.
context_section_description: From the donation by Rudolph III of Burgundy of the Moutier-Grandval Abbey and all its possessions to Bishop Adalbero II of Metz in 999 until the Reformation, Basel was ruled by Prince-Bishops. 
  In 1019, the construction of the cathedral of Basel (known locally as the Münster) began under Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor. 
  In the 11th to 12th century, Basel gradually acquired the characteristics of a medieval city.
  The main market place is first mentioned in 1091. The first city walls were constructed around 1100 (with improvements made in the mid-13th and in the late 14th century). 
  A city council of nobles and burghers is recorded for 1185, and the first mayor, Heinrich Steinlin of Murbach,  for 1253.
  The first bridge across the Rhine was built in 1225 under bishop Heinrich von Thun (at the location of the modern Middle Bridge), and from this time the settlement of Kleinbasel gradually formed around the bridgehead on the far river bank. The bridge was largely funded by Basel's Jewish community who had settled there a century earlier. For many centuries to come Basel possessed the only permanent bridge over the river "between Lake Constance and the sea".
  The first city guild were the   furriers, established in 1226. A total of about fifteen guilds were established in the course of the 13th century, reflecting the increasing economic prosperity of the city. The Crusade of 1267 set out from Basel.
  Political conflicts between the bishops and the burghers begin in the mid-13th century and continue throughout the 14th century. By the late 14th century, the city was for all practical purposes independent although it continued to nominally pledge fealty to the bishops.
  The House of Habsburg attempted to gain control over the city. This was not successful, but it caused a political split among the burghers of Basel into a pro-Habsburg faction, known as Sterner, and an anti-Habsburg faction, the Psitticher.
  The Black Death reached Basel in 1348. The Jews were blamed, and an estimated 50 to 70 Jews were executed by burning on 16 January 1349 in what has become known as the Basel massacre. 
  The Basel earthquake of 1356  destroyed much of the city along with a number of castles in the vicinity.  
  A riot on 26 February 1376, known as Böse Fasnacht, led to the killing of a number of men of Leopold III, Duke of Austria. This was seen as a serious breach of the peace, and the city council blamed "foreign ruffians" for this and executed twelve alleged perpetrators. Leopold nevertheless had the city placed under imperial ban, and in a treaty of 9 July, Basel was given a heavy fine and was placed under Habsburg control.
  To free itself from Habsburg hegenomy, Basel joined the Swabian League of Cities in 1385, and many knights of the pro-Habsburg faction, along with duke Leopold himself, were killed  in the Battle of Sempach the following year.
  A formal treaty with Habsburg was made in 1393. 
  Basel had gained its de facto independence from both the bishop and from the Habsburgs and was free to pursue its own policy of territorial expansion, beginning around 1400. 
  
  The unique representation of a bishops' crozier as the heraldic charge in the coat of arms of Basel
  first appears in the form of a gilded wooden staff in the 12th century.
  It is of unknown origin or significance (beyond its obvious status of bishop's crozier), but it is assumed to have represented a relic, possibly attributed to Saint Germanus.
  This staff (known as Baselstab) became a symbol representing the Basel diocese, depicted in bishops' seals of the late medieval period.
  It is represented in a heraldic context in the early 14th century, not yet as a heraldic charge but as a kind of heraldic achievement flanked by the heraldic shields of the bishop. The staff is also represented in the bishops's seals of the period.
  The use of the Baselstab in black as the coat of arms of the city was introduced in 1385.
  From this time, the Baselstab in red represented the bishop, and the same charge in black represented the city.
  The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is In Silber ein schwar
caption: 1493 woodcut of Basle, from the Nuremberg Chronicle
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