and the perceptible increase in instrumental specialization in the Hofkapelle (a phenomenon also present at larger German courts), which may have been effected by the employment of foreign musicians. This process was brought about by the formalization of service at the Ducal family's country estates. By 1715, this began to cause financial hardship in Stuttgart, as the ecclesiastical bodies whom fronted the salaries of the Hofkapelle made known their disdain for paying a clearly secular facet of the court. To reduce this strain, a rotational system wherein a copyist and pianist were on call at all times with three groups consisting of a violinist, an oboist, and a string bass player alternating every four weeks. These musicians were simply referred to as "court and chamber musicians," weren't appointed at a higher rank, and they were paid differently. Chamber music began to be considered a major part of the court's musical establishment, on par even with church and table music, as evidenced by various documents following Pez's death (25 September 1716) in May 1717 from Schwartzkopf and Störl that confirmed Pez's view of the Hofkapelle as a pool of multi-talented musicians who could play a wide range of instruments, and the hiring of violinist and virtuoso Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello as "director of chamber music" about a month after Pez's death. By the end of 1717, the concept of an orchestra as an institution began to solidify at the court. University The University of Tübingen was established by the ruling dynasty in 1477. Religion In the 16th century, Württemberg became one of three competing southwest Imperial states vying for greater status in the region and the Empire at large. Itself Lutheran, Württemberg sparred with the Roman Catholic Duchy of Lorraine and the Calvinist Electoral Palatinate. Württemberg found allies in north and east Germany because of its Lutheran faith. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Pietism became widespread throughout the Duchy as a response to the perceived hedonism of Baroque society and attempt at a French absolutist state. They interpreted the social and natural calamities faced by the Württemberg as God's punishment for the immorality of the Ducal court and society and worked to uphold the Estates of Württemberg and co-operation between it and the Duke. After the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht that ended the War of the Spanish Succession, the Duchy enjoyed a period of peace and increasing fortune, and