the resident knight there, as an official of the Count of Cleves, is the guarantor of Cleve influence on the middle Emscher. The sphere of rule of Strünkede extends temporarily from Buer in the West via Herne and Castrop to Mengede in the East. 1244 – The association of the ministeriales of the Essen Abbey and the citizens of the town of Essen arrange for the Essen Town Walls to be erected. 1248 – The free imperial cities of Dortmund and Duisburg adhere to the 'anti-king' William II of Holland. Late Middle Ages 1253 – On a bridge over the Lippe in Werne, Dortmund, Soest, Münster und Lippstadt founded the Werne Federation (Werner Bund). This union of towns became a forerunner of the Hanseatic League. Dortmund soon took on a leading role for all Westphalian towns in the League. 1254 – Battle on the Wülferichskamp east of Dortmund 1283–1289 – War of the Limburg Succession. The weakened position of the ducal power, i.e. the Archbishop of Cologne, after the Battle of Worringen in 1288, hardens the powerful position enjoyed by the counts. In the Ruhr, this applies especially to the participants in the conflict – the counts of Berg and Mark, but also indirectly to the neutral Count of Cleves. 1290 – Duisburg is 'mortgaged' to the Count of Cleves – it ends up finally under the possession of Cleves (presumably because the Emperor did not have enough finance at his disposal to buy it back). 1321 – Count Engelbert II of the Mark awards Bochum town rights (he is celebrated today in the Engelbert Fountain). 1350 – The Black Death reaches the Ruhr. 1371 – The erection of a toll-booth on the Homberger Werth marks the founding of Ruhrort. 1388–1389 – Great Dortmund Feud, the imperial city of Dortmund tries to assert its independence, but becomes deeply indebted in doing so. 1389 – In a document by Count Engelbert III of the Mark is the first mention of the Sälzer zu Brockhausen. It is the first evidence for full-scale salt extraction in Unna. 1396 – The oldest written evidence of wild horses in the Emscher valley. The use of stock in the Emscherbruch between Waltrop and Bottrop was a privilege reserved for the nobility. Whereas towns were concentrated on the Hellweg and River Lippe, the region in between was sparsely populated 1398 – The County of Cleves is inherited