constantly into conflict with local nobles. Another aspect of the territorial policy was buying land and villages around the city, making use of any opportunity that presented itself, for example if local rulers (counts, monasteries etc.) needed money. Mühlhausen bought 19 still existing and 43 later abandoned villages and an area of in this way, covering the north-western part of today's district Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis. The villages had to pay taxes to Mühlhausen and were secured by the Mühlhausen , a moat of length with several towers () to observe the region. The economic heyday between the mid-13th and the early 16th century was a result of long-distance trade with textiles, woad and other goods. In 1286, Mühlhausen had joined the Hanseatic League. By the mid-15th century it was one of the largest cities in Germany. Early modern period The Reformation brought disturbances to Mühlhausen. The monk and peasant leader from Reifenstein Abbey preached at St. Mary's in February 1523 for the first time, followed by Thomas Müntzer in August 1524. Both had not only religious demands (they were members of the Anabaptist movement) but also political ones, aimed against the privileges of the magistracies and their oligarchic rule over the city. The city council was deposed and replaced by an "Eternal Council" (). During the German Peasants' War 1524/25, the city's monasteries were looted and the Bildersturm devastated the churches. After the emperor's army defeated the uprising, Müntzer, Pfeiffer and other leaders were executed. Müntzer's execution on 27 May 1525 took place right outside the city. Furthermore, the city had to pay a fine of 40,000 guilders to the empire and partially lost its independence, because the Hessians and both lines of the Wettins (Ernestines and Albertines) were appointed to control the city government. By contrast to these three rulers, Mühlhausen remained Catholic and became a secret member of the Nuremberg League, an alliance of catholic territories in the empire, founded in 1538. After the three rulers realized that in 1542, the Reformation was introduced by force in Mühlhausen by Justus Menius. The Schmalkaldic War resulted in the defeat of the Hessians and the Ernestines by the emperor in 1547 and partially returned the city's independence. In foreign policy it had to coordinate with the Albertines and it had to pay taxes to the empire. After 1710, Hanover was Mühlhausen's protecting power. Johann Sebastian Bach was organist of the church Divi