d him apprehended. His life was in great danger, and he was forced to disguise himself as a messenger and escape from the city. He made his way to Lindau and to Innsbruck and the court of King Maximilian. The victors confiscated those of his properties that lay outside of the city of St. Gallen and banned him from the Confederation. Ulrich then appealed to the imperial court (as did Schwendiner, who had fled with him) for the return of his property.
The suit had the support of Friedrich II and Maximilian and the trial threatened to drag on for years. In fact, it was continued by Ulrich's sons Hans and Ulrich after his death in 1496, and eventually the Varnb�lers regained their properties. However, other political ramifications resulted from the court action, because the Confederation gained ownership of the city of St. Gallen and rejected the inroads of the empire. Thus, the conflict strengthened the relationship between the Confederation and the city of St. Gallen. On the other hand, the matter deepened the alienation between Switzerland and the German Holy Roman Empire, which would eventually lead to a total separation as a result of the Swabian War.
Despite the unpropitious end of his career, Ulrich Varnb�ler is immortalized in a famous woodcut by Albrecht D�rer, which is now part of the Smithsonian Institution's woodcut collection.
Among Varnb�ler's sons, the eldest (Hans/Johann) became the mayor of Lindau. He is the patriarch of the Baden and W�rttemberg Varnb�lers.
Reformation
Starting in 1526 then-mayor and humanist Joachim von Watt (Vadian) introduced the reformation into the city of St. Gallen. The town converted to the new reformed religion while the abbey remained Roman Catholic. While iconoclastic riots forced the monks to flee the city and remove images from the city's churches, the fortified abbey remained untouched. The abbey would remain a Catholic stronghold in the Protestant city until 1803
