The Décapole (Zehnstädtebund or Dekapolis in German) was an alliance of ten towns of the Holy Roman Empire in Alsace, in a league founded in 1354, and discontinued in 1679.
In 1354 the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV ratified the treaty uniting the towns of Haguenau, Colmar, Wissembourg, Turckheim, Obernai, Kaysersberg, Rosheim, Munster, Sélestat and Mulhouse.[1] Haguenau became its capital while Strasbourg, another free town of the empire, remained outside of the alliance. In 1515, Mulhouse pulled out of the alliance in order to ally with Swiss cantons. They were replaced by Landau in 1521.[1]
The alliance was strongly shaken by the Thirty Years' War which ravaged the region, allowing France to annex most of the towns in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The signing of the Treaties of Nijmegen in 1679 finally brought an end to the Décapole.
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