that he realized the fatal flaw of the treaty: it did not involve the Estates and, thanks in part to Maximilian's advanced age, they neither the will nor power to act against Ulrich. The final event that sealed the fate of Ulrich's first reign of the Duchy came eight days after Maximilian I's death on 12 January 1519, when Duke Ulrich stormed the Imperial City of Reutlingen on the pretense of avenging the recent murder of the commander of the town's fort and his wife. He made it a property of Württemberg property, with its allegiance owed to Ulrich rather than the Emperor. This entire event, the metaphorical last straw of Ulrich's reign, was in complete violation of the Treaty of Tübingen and angered the other Free Cities, most of whom were in the Swabian League, from which Württemberg had been expelled in February 1512 against the wishes of Maximilian I, who prepared for war while Ulrich coerced 80,000 florins from the Estates and received 10,000 crowns from Francis I of France in February 1519 to fund his war and repay a past debt. The man to lead the Swabian League army was the capable Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria, and his campaign would last little over two weeks. It opened with Duke Wilhelm IV attacking Hellenstein Castle on 28 March 1519, followed then by attacks on Esslingen, Uhlbach, Obertürkheim, Hedelfingen, the nunnery of Weiler Filstand, Hunddskehle Castle, Teck Castle, and finally stormed Stuttgart in April and forced Ulrich to flee. His first reign had ended, and he would not return for 15 years. Habsburg occupation The first order of business for the Swabian League occupation was to set Württemberg's government in order, and one of the most crucial tasks to achieve this was to settle the enormous 1.1 million gulden debt, and few wanted to help finance this mountainous deficit. The knights, who were at this time most able to assist, did not want to as they felt that they did not constitute an estate of the Duchy and were thus without obligation to the Duchy. Since the knights refused to pay and the Ehrbarkeit and lay citizenry had not the funds to pay, the League sold the Duchy to the new Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, on 6 February 1520 for a sum of 220,000 florins with the blessing of the Estates and on the conditions that they