to the castle, as documents state from 1375. While two of the three castle masters were absent and against the resistance of the third one they established a wall between castle and town with a moat. Probably the linking walls were broken off at the same time. The quarrels with the masters persisted. Finally, on May 22, 1417, Sigismund gave Weinsberg to his treasurer Konrad IX. So the town had been devalued by losing its status as a free imperial city to the subordinated status of the Masters of Weinsberg's rule. The town looked for protection in a further city federation called the Weinsberg Federation. On November 27, 1420, 33 free imperial cities united for the protection of Weinsberg. The town refused to acknowledge Konrad's rule and did not want to pay its taxes any longer. That is why Konrad IX achieved the Reichsacht at the royal court imposing on all citizens of age on 10 February 1422. Since it had caused nothing the Aberacht followed in 1425. In addition the Pope – presumably Martin V – imposed the anathema on them in 1424. However, all this had not caused anything, and Konrad took drastic steps. Weakening the Swabian towns allied with Weinsberg, he acquired the town Sinsheim, where one of the arteries led to the Frankfurt Trade Fair. In August 1428 he attacked businessmen in Sinsheim travelling to the fair and detained 149 people from 20 cities, so the Frankfurt fair had to fail. The king took it as a personal offense and withdrew his favour from Konrad. In October 1428 the cities agreed with Konrad in Heidelberg, however the king forbade this agreement. Two years later, the parties reached an agreement on the basis of the obtained agreement two years before. According to the corresponding treaty Konrad had to recognize Weinsberg as a (undivided) free imperial city. 16th until 19th century The German religious reformer Johannes Oecolampadius was born here in 1482 and was a preacher at the local church from 1510 to 1518, the year in which he went to Basel, where he introduced the reformation. On April 16, 1525 (Easter Sunday), during the German Peasants' War, the peasants attacked and destroyed the castle, which was already damaged from an earlier attack in 1504. They then proceeded to execute the nobleman who had been in command of both town and castle and who had treated the peasants