= Cologne =
[c] The pre Roman Cologne [c]
First proofs of human live in the city area of cologne is estimated to the Old Stone Age; at least discoveries of a Lithic core in Dellbrück as well as a hand axe in the kings wood and findings in Cologne-Worringe indicate this. Indications for a permanent establishment are found for the time after 4500 BC, when the fertile loess soil of the Rhine terrace  and the mild climate attracted tillers from the Danube region. The most important discovery of a Bandkeramik settlement from the Neolithic time was made in 1929 in Lindenthal. The Lindenthal village which was located between Hehenlind and Stüttgenhof, was settled between the end of the 5th and the 4th millennium multiple times and abandoned again - reason was probably an extensive agriculture which forced the peasants from time to time to leave the settlement till the diffused soil had regenerated. Ruins of another Bandkeramik settlement were also found in Mengenich.  
At the end of the Stone Age on the area of the town there were several agriculture villages in Nippes, the inner city as well as Merheim and Brück, which belong to the Michelberg culture. The Glockenbecher culture, the first metal-working culture in the Rhineland settled after 2000 BC all over Europe and left stone and copper tools. Dating to the Urnenfelderkultur in the 12th century BC, which signified a change in the burial ritual from the inhumation to the cremation burial, a burial ground was found in the south of Cologne. Proofs of still another glacial burial culture - barrow - was mainly found right of the Rhine in Dellbruck, but also on the left side in Lindenthal, Müngersdorf, Riehl, Longerich and Worringen. 1949 the verifiable count of in Dellbrück was 685, however it is estimated that the original burial ground hold altogether 1200 burial sites.
Traces of Celtic colonization during the La-Tène time can be found in Cologne as well, the most famous examples stem from the left side of the Rhine; from the first century BC e.g. from the south side of the Cologne Dome. Of the for Celts characteristic craftsmanship an extraordinary piece was found in Cologne to the south east of the Roman city wall. According to Cesar the area belong to the tribal area of the Celtic Eburons.
[c] The Roman Cologne [c]
In 55 BC Cesar as governor of Gaul had conquered the land onto the Rhine. An uprising oth the Eburones in 54 was quelled one year later and the tribe that lived on the left Rhine side beetween Maas and the Ardene completely extinguished. During the fighting Cesar met the German tribe of the Ubier who settled right of the Rhine, out of which he used some warriors as scouts. As Cesar complemented them as "more cultivated than other German tribes", they were fought by their neighboring tribes for their friendship to the Romans, so that they moved finally over the Rhine in the now vacated area. Tacitus writes that the Ubier soon subordinated to Agrippa and therefore the Roman empire. Other Records mention a pact between the Ubier and the Roman where they were commissioned with large areas right of the Rhine. Both reports do not mention an actual date.
As the founding year of the Oppidum Ubiorum, the first urban settlement in the location of the latter Cologne often the year 38 BC is used. It is a fact that Agrippa traveled twice to the Rhine in that time: In the years 40-38 BC and in 20/19 BC, so that it can be claimed for sure that the capital of the Ubier was founded latest 19 BC. The urban settlement was ideally located ant the crossroads of two important trade routes. It was already fortified by the Ubier but also the Roman used it as a garrison and religious center. Similar to Lyon in Gaul in Cologne an alter for the tutelary goddess of Rome was erected, after which the city was called Ara Ubiorum. This altar still could not be located. For the first time it is mentioned in the context of the Varus battle 9 AD by Tacitus.
When Rome abandoned its plan to conquer the Germania east of the Rhine in 17 AD the Ubier settlement consolidated in the Roman border region. Already in the year 15 or 16 AD Agruppina the Younger, later wife of the Roman emperor Claudius and mother of Nero was born here. Through her influence the Oppidum Ubiorum gained the status of a Roman colony and was now called Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium or for short CCAA. The name of the city comprised both names of Agrippina and of the emperor Claudius. The Ara in the name refers to the Roman altar in the city. Of about 150 Roman colonies Cologne is the only one which deduces its common name from the Roman city privilege. They were officially granted on 8th of July 50 AD.
The construction of the city wall, which is at average 2.5 m thick and 8 m high and build from stone with nine gates and 19 round turrets, one of which from the 3rd century is well preserved, started on the east side already at the end of the 1st century; The work on the fortification were probably finished in the 3rd century. In the year 68, the death year of Nero and the related crisis in Rome, the Bataver together with allied tribes sieged the city and achieved at first the abandonment by its inhabitants. The demanded destruction of the fortification the Agrippiniens however refused and soon subordinated to the Roman protection.
When in 81 AD the military district around Cologne became the Roman province lower germania (lat. Germania inferior), the on the Rhine valley road located CCAA became province capital in 89. At that time the water system of the city was improved by one of the longest aqueducts in the Roman empire, the Eifelwater aqueduct.
The rule of Trajan beginning in 98 marked the start of a blooming time for the whole empire; also in CCAA the 150 long period of peace lead to an upswing of the economy and construction. Around 180 the Pratorium for the province offices was constructed. The remains of the foundations were found in 1953 when building the Spanish Building of the modern city hall. Manufacture work from Cologne, especially glass and pottery were exported into th whole Roman empire and beyond.
After a fight with Salonius, the son of emperor Gallienus, in the year 259/260 the military commander Postumus went over to the border troops and was elected as emperor of the Imperium Galliarum by them. Postumus conquered CCAA and killed Salonius - Cologne became the capital of his new empire to which Gaul, temporarily Spain and probably also Britain belonged. Only in 274 this special empire ended, during which CCAA bloomed once more, by the recapture by emperor Aurelian. Coins of high quality with the counterfeit of Postumus were struck at that time. In the year of the recapturing however Cologne was attacked the first time by German tribes and laid to waste.
Because of this emperor Constantin ordered in 310 for the protection of the city the construction of the Castellum Divitia on the right bank of the Rhine, which was connected through a solid wooden bridge with stone pillars.
The number of inhabitants of Cologne in the third and forth century is estimated to 15'000 people; in addition there were about 5000 more in the surrounding country. Freedom of religion and culture reigned; besides the original Romain gods there were also goddesses of German and other religions from within the Roman empire. For example in 1882 an Isis figure was found on the northern wall of the Ursula church; in the Roman Germanium museum there are further discoveries, e.g. for most often as three times depicted mother goddesses (Matrones). Very common in Cologne was the Mitras cult. After the destruction of the  Jewish temple in Jerusalem and the accompanying dispersion (diaspora) of the Jews, there is evidence of a Jewish commune in Cologne. In the year 321 emperor Konstantin allowed the establishment of a Jewish commune with all privileges of Romain citizens. Even though there is not much known about the location of the commune in Cologne - it is assumed that the settlement was near the Mars gate within the city walls - is the oldest documented commune in Germany.
A Christian commune is documented since the beginning oth the fourth century. The first known Cologne bishop was Maternus in the year 313; the first written testimony of a  church dates to the year 355, its location is not known. A hall was erected on the northern cemetery, where according to later legends a group of Christian girls fell in one of the last persecutions of Christians - which are maybe the origins of the later cult of Ursula and the 11'000 virgins.
Since the German assault of 274 the city was attacked by Germans several times; especially the Franks forced their way across the Rhine. In the autumn of 355 they achieved the capture of Cologne and plundered it. Some month later the town was recaptured by Ceasar (in the Late Antiquity: Subemperor) Julian, who later became emperor (Augustus). At the start of the 5th century however the end of Romain domination in Gaul and therefore also in lower Germania loomed: Cologne withstood the advance of the Germans to the west pretty unscathed. A short recapture by the west Romain commander Flavius Aëtius between 435 and 446 fell together with the victory against the Attila king of the Huns (the advance of the Huns toward Cologne provided further material for the legend of the story of Saint Ursula). Latest when Aëtius was murdered in 454 the end of the Romain rule in Cologne arrived, the Franks captured Cologne and made the city a outpost of one of their districts ("Gau").
[c] The Cologne of the Franks [c]
At the beginning of the Frankish reign on the once Romain area of Rhine and Mosel in the 5th century the tribe of the Franks was split into several subgroups. In the north Gaul and Rhine area various small kings reigned, among them the Merowingian Childerich I. in Tournai, after his death 481/482 his son Chlodwig I. soon expanded his domain. At that time Sigibert, king of the Ripuarish Franks and cousin of Chlodwig, reigned in Cologne. The Ripuarish kingdom was finished off by Chlodwig, as he persuaded Sigiberts son to get his father killed and the killed him through his own messenger. When Chlodwig arrived in Cologne he denied responsibility for the murder and offered the citizens his protection - upon that they crowned jubilantly him their ruler in St. Gereon, which made him king of all Franks. This is told by the historian Gregor of Tours who had only unsecured information for the time of Chlodwig.
During the Frankish rule in Cologne there lived a mix of peoples of Franks, other Germans and Romans, inhabitants from before the arrival of the Franks, with very different religions. The Roman part of the town inhabitants still spoke Latin in the 6th century. Even though the progressing Christianisation of the Merowingian realm after the baptism of Chlodwig and the Cologne state as diocesan town there were non Christian places of worship at least till the 6th century.
The Franks, a people of warriors and peasants, used Cologne, which had still an intact Romain infrastructure despite the various captures, especially the Praetorium, where the kings resided, as well as the bridges and city wall. In agriculture and craftsmanship they built upon the Romain basics; for example the many Romain estates around Cologne and military facilities became Frankish villages and settlements. Even though the population was vastly reduced in Frankish time, the trade and craftsmanship still were on a high level, though the export trade in the 6th century was not that significant.
A thread by the Saxons who progressed to the castle Deutz, could be forced back in 557. In the bloody fights for power among Chlodwigs successors Cologne was involved repeatedly. For example Theudebert flew after the battle at Toul in 612 against his brother Theuderich of Toul to Cologne. When in another fight he won, Theuderich moved into Cologne and was crowned king there by the remaining supporter of Theudebert.
The infighting in the royal dynasty caused a power gain of the Frankish gentry - the Hausmeier, who took the daily government work off their hands; in 687 the Carolingian Pippin the Middle sized all Frankish government work. He stayed for a longer period in Cologne, his residence was probably near the nowadays church St. Mary at the capitol. Though among his successors there was still unrest: Pippins stepson Carl Martell finally forced Plektrudis, the widow of his father, who resided in Cologne, to lay down her power and move into a monastery, medieval resources indicate the church St. Mary at the capitol which was endowed by her. 
The Carolingian finally came to power in the Frankish realm through Martells son Pippin the Younger in 751 which was the end of the Merowingian reign in Frank and the end of the residence of the king in Cologne. The Carolingian resided in Aachen.
In important role during the Frankish time has the bishops of Cologne. The most important among them was Kunibert of Cologne around 625, who dealt with the government work for king Dagobert III. and his son Sigibert III. Legend has it that Kunibert sanctified the oldest surviving church bell, the Saufang. The Clemens church where Kunibert was entombed after his death in 663 was renamed to Kunibert church.
[c] The Carolingian Cologne [c]
During the Saxony wars of Charlemagne Cologne gained more influence again politically as well as culturally; the first known Carolingian bishop is Hildegar, who was killed in 753 in a battle against Saxony at the Iburg. Since that time Cologne worshiped many Christian martyrs, collected their relics in precious shrines and constructed churches for many of them. In the late Merowingian dome a new liturgist facility was added, a Schola Cantorum.
Pope Zacharias planed to name Bonifatius as archbishop of Cologne to promote the conversion of Saxony and Frisian from Cologne. The plan failed at first due to the resistance of the resident bishops and gentry, so Cologne became archbishop's see in 795. Already in 787 Charlemagne named the priest Hildebold bishop of Cologne, when they could not agree on a new bishop on their own. Therefore Hildebold became the first archbishop in 795; he held office until his death in 818, four year after Charlemagne died. 
After the death of Charlemagne a new conflict over the Frankish realm arose. At first Cologne belong to the so called middle realm between East and West Franconia or the Lotharingen realm of Charlemagne's grandson Lothar II, whose divorce and remarriage, which was supported by the Cologne archbishop Gunthar,cause the excommunication of Gunthar in 848, who never the less stayed in office untill 866. He protested against the disentaglement of Bemen out of his metropolitan union by the founding of the archbishopric Hamburg-Bremen in 848. This resulted at first in a stand still. However when Gunthar was excommunicated due the the marriage of Lothar II., pope Nicolaus I. issued the founding bull for the archbishopric Hamburg-Bremen on 31th of May 864. In 873Gunthars successor dedicated the church, known as Old dome - precursor of the Cologne Cathedral. The construction probably started in 850; however as Gunthar seemed to be disliked as client, it was later attributed the more famous predecessor, that is why it was long known as the Hildebolddome.
After the death of Lothar Cologne became part of East Franconia of king Ludwig the German.
Due to Frankish infighting the realm was weakened to the outside in such a manner, that in the winter 881/882 Dane Vikings on their raids through the Rhineland could advance upstream the Rhine till Cologne and Bonn. They pillaged and burned down the towns and according to historic reports in Cologne only the dome and the churches St. severing and St. Gergoen were spared, all other buildings and the city wall burned down. The cleric of the city flew before the invasion of the Normans with the most important church treasures to Mayence. The big destruction of that time could not be proven archaeologically and might be exaggerated.
Already in 882 the Cologne city wall was rebuilt and fortified, which was very useful, because when the Vikings came back in 883, Cologne escaped unscathed thanks to the wall in contrast to Bonn and Andernach which burned again. In the year 891 Cologne with the archbishop Hermann received of the pope Stephan V. significant relics for the newly built churches.
At the beginning of the 10th century Cologne changed for the second to last time during the Carolingian time the realm: In East Franconia Konrad I. was elected king, which cause the Lotharingen princes to split off and brought Cologne into the sphere of the Carolingian West Franconia. This period finally endend when Heinrich I. of Saxony with some conquering expedition brought Lotharingen back into East Franconia. In 925 the princes and the Cologne archbishop confirmed the affiliation of Lotharingen - and thereby Cologne - to East Franconia.
[c] The medieval Cologne [c]
Archbishop Brun, borther of the later emperor Otto I., was elected as clerical leader in Cologne in 953. After he put down a revolt in Lotharingen against his brother, Otto I also made the archbishop duke of Lotharingen and thereby also a mundane sovereign of Cologne. Thereby he now had the jurisdiction, market and coinage privileges of the city - this marked the begin of a period archbishopric power in Cologne that laste till the battle of Worringen in the year 1288.
Brun left behind permanent traces in the city. Under his reign the old Cathedral was expanded, multiple cloisters and monasteries were founded (e.g. the predecessor of the current church Great St. Martin) and around 950 included the settlment of the Rheinvostadt (Rhine suburb), which was at the time still beyond the city walls, into the city (now the area around the Old market and the Hey market). For the emperors visits in Cologne he probably let construct a Pfalz near the dome.
Shortly after Otto I. together with his family visited the archbishop in Cologne in 965, Brun died at an age of 40 years on a diplomatic mission in Reims. He was entombed in the Cologne cloister church St. Pantaleon.
After Bruns only shortly reigning successor Folcmar mainly archbishop Gero appeared in 969. He traveled in 971 to Constantinople to look for a wive for Otto II. He planned to marry the son of the emperor to the daughter of the east Roman emperor; in the end Gero achieved the marriage of his niece Theophanu in the year 971. The empress reigned for six and a half years after the death of Otto II. in 983 for her underage son Otto III. She already died in 991. The Byzantine influence  on the German art and culture can be attributed to her and her large entourage. After she was entombed like Brun in St. Pantaleon, her fellow countrymen settled down as craftsmen and artists around this church which still can be seen in todays street names like Greek market.
The art historical and iconographic important Gero cross in the Old Cathedral was according to traditions order and setup by Gero in 970. After his death it was placed at his sarcophagus in the Cathedral. Of Geros successor, archbishop Everger, who was treasurer in Geros time, the chronicle of Thietmar of Mersebugs tells, that he entombed Gero and his successor Warin both seemingly dead, so he could take over. Evergers successor was archbishop Heribert. He reigned from 999 till 1021 and founded the abbey Deutz in 1003. During his reign Cologne had to endure several famines and dry spells. His prayers should have brought the sought after rain, so that he was sactified after his death in 1147.
Heriberts successor Pilgrim contributed through his crowning of king Heinrich III. and his mother Gisela to the permanent privilege of the Cologne archbishops to crown kings in Aachen. On top of that he was named archchancellor of Italy, a honorary appointment, which possessed all Cologne archbishop of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation after him.
In 1031 the Cologne archbishop gained the coinage privilege and the Cologne market started its triumph on the lower Rhine. In the following year (1040) the first synagogue was build in Cologne. Queen Richeza of Poland was entombed in Cologne in 1061.
In the year 1074 there was a rebellion of the citizen of Cologne agianst their liege, archbishop Anno II. When Anno confiscated a merchant ship in the Cologne port, the son of the rich merchant resisted this encroachment. Anno was barely able to escape from the furious mob and flew the city. Some days later he returned with armed troops, the city capitulated and the the leaders were punished draconicly. 
In 1096 Cologne was the staging area for the crusaders of the lower Rhine. The crusaders looted and pillaged the Jewish quarter. During the conflict between the emperor Heinrich IV. and his son Heinrich V. new fortifications were erected in 1106. Cologne supported the side of Heinrich IV. By this second town extension the city wall encircled and area of 203.6 hectare. On the 25th of August 1128 a lightning bolt caused a devastating fire, which destroyed the right of the Rhine quarter Deutz. Numerous buildings were destroyed. The Cologne city hall was first mentioned in a document of 1135.
The big city seal of Cologne is first documented in the year 1149; it's actual time of origin is disputed. Around 1140 about 20'000 citizens lived in the city. In the year 1150 Cologne was struck by a huge fire and the plague.
The Cologne archbishop Rainald of Dassel brought the bones of the Biblical Magi to Cologne on 23rd of July 1164. Thereby Cologne became one of the most important place of pilgrimage in the Christian Europe and attracted a huge number of pilgrims and kings for salvation to Cologne. Also because of the 1121 found and venerated relics of the Holy Gereon and his companions as well as the in the 12th century found bones of the legendary Holy Ursula and according to legend 11'000 companions, Cologne became together with Rome and Santiago de Compostela one of the three big locations of pilgrimage of the late Middle Age. The relic treasure of Cologne is supposed to have compromised more than 800 saints.
Because of a dispute between the burg-grave and the reeve of Cologne in May of 1169 Philipp affirmed an old order, where their ministerial appointment and the amount of their authority and jurisdiction as well as the freedoms of the Cologne citizens was documented. 1171 the council of Cologne renewed the custom privileges for the merchants of Dinant, which were already chartered to them by the archbishop Friedrich I (died in 1131). In 1174 archbishop Philipp I. of Heinsberg loaned 1000 Mark from the city to wage war against Italy and pawned in this coinage privileges.
On 27th of July in 1180 the archbishop Philipp compromised in the context of the city fortifications that were erected against his veto, that the status quo relying on the fortification, houses and porches could remain for the payment of 2000 Mark and a royalty. The treaty was confirmed on 11th of August by emperor Friedrich I. The large medieval city wall was then built in the following six decades. The area of the city grew from 102.6 to 402.6 hectare. After the completion the wall with 52 turrets and 12 gates was the largest fortification building in Europe. The Leprosorium of Cologne which is well situated at the Cologne Aachen road was first documented in the shrine map of the parish St. Aposteln in 1180. The destroyed beadhouse is mentioned as 'hoff to Malaten buyten Colne' on 25th of April 1243.
The council of Cologne is first mentioned in 1216 in the passed down documents. The entry of the future empress and English princess Isabella of England in 1235 on her journey to her wedding to emperor Friedrich II. in Worms was one of the most fabulous social event of the late Middle Age. Isabella was welcomed with honor and she stayed for six weeks in Cologne. Archbishop Konrad of Hochstaden laid the founding stone for the new Cologne Cathedral on 15th of August 1248. The church teacher Albertus Magnus had an important role during his time in Cologne to arbitrate in conflicts between the town and the archbishop. With the small verdict of 17th of April 1252 and the great verdict of 18th June of 1258 he examined the dispute between town and bishop. In the great verdict the highest jurisdiction and sovereign power was granted to the archbishop. At the same time the verdict affirmed the right of autonomy of the town. As a result Konrad of Hochstaden could not gain the aimed for territorial power over Cologne and had to settle with the overall supervision.
[c] The late medieval Cologne [c]
In July 1254 Cologne joined the Rhenish city pact, which comprised 59 cities and also sovereigns and  existed until 1257. Reason for the founding was the uncertainty in the Holy Roman empire at the time of the Interregnum. The Rhenish pact demanded the abolishment of the 20 Rhine custom duties, which hindered the trade. It turned against feuds and proposed rules to resolve conflicts.
Archbishop Konrad of Hochstaden granted the city of Cologne the staple right on 7th of May 1259. Thereafter all arriving and traveling through merchants had to staple their goods in Cologne and to offer them for sale. The staple right was important for the development of Cologne to an European economic metropolitan in the late Middle Age. Archbishop Engelbert II. of Falkenburg assured the Jews in town his protection in 1266. A conflict between citizens and the archbishop escalated in a fight at the Ulre gate in October 1268. The dispute is described in the rime chronicle of Gottfried Hagens.
The Cologne citizens eked out their freedom of the archbishopric reign in the battle of Worringen on 5th of June 1288. In a conflict between Siegfried of Westerburg, archbishop of Cologne, and duke Johann I. of Brabant the city sided with the duek. The archbishop was captured. As a result the city of Cologne became de facto a free city, even if it was only affirmed in writing in 1475.
The choir of the Gothic Cathedral was dedicated on the 27th of September 1322. The relics of the Biblical Mage, attraction for numerous pilgrims were transferred to the new Cathedral. In 1324 master Eckhart was head of common studies in Cologne. In 1325 he was denunciated by brothers at the Cologne archbishopHeinrich II. of Virnburg because of heretical belief statements and died either in 1327 or 1328 in Cologne or Avignon.
In an inscription in the Cologne oath book on the 5th of March 1341 the carnival is mentioned for the first time. In the summer of 1349 the plage cost more than 100 lifes on a daily basis. In the night from 23th to 24th August 1349 there was the plague pogrom, where the Cologne Jews was annihilated. In the "Hansasaal" of the Cologne town hall there was a meeting of the Hanseatic cities and they formed a confederation against the Dane king Waldemar IV.
The conflict between the council and the Richerzeche dominating patricians and the aspiring guilds reached a first climax in the so called weaver revolt of Cologne. At the end of the 14th century there were about 300 weaver workshops in Cologne with about 6000 employees. They produced about 20'000 bales (1.6 m wide cloth at 25 m length) per year. The Cologne garment tailor Wilhelm Wavern exported at that time 10'000 pair of trousers per year. A weaver journeyman earned about 8 Shillings a day at the following cost structure: one cock 3 Schilling, 25 eggs 25 Schilling, a fish 2 Schilling, a pair of trousers 32 Schilling, 1 pair shoes 10 Schilling. The weaver revolt should take into account the enormous economic importance of the weaver guild. It began on White Sunday in 1369 and ended in the gory weaver battle on 20th of November 1371 on the Waid market with a heavy defeat of the weaver guild, which was punished harshly. For a time the patrician families could reassert their power. The Richerzeche was restored but finally abolished in 1396.
In the year 1374 Cologne lived through the highest (ice free) watermark to that date. After snow melting and day long rain fall in large parts of the drainage are of the Rhine a watermark of 13.3 m was reached on 11th February. At peak level boats could drive over the right Rhenish city wall. This is a single event that was documented by many contemporary sources. From April 1375 until the peace agreement on 16th of February 1377 there was a grave dispute of power in the Schöffen war between the city of Cologne and the archbishop Friedrich of Sarwerden. Occasion was the struggle of competence in the context of the clerks (Schöffen), who assisted the archbishopric burg grave in high court or represented him. In the course of the Shöffen war emperor Karl IV. passed a realm ostivaision over Cologne and in the surrounding country, especially in Deutz, there were large destructions.
The old university of Cologne was founded on 21th May of 1388 by the citizenship of Cologne and was authorized by pope Urban VI. The opening was on Epiphany of 1389.
Founding headmaster was Hartlevus de Marca, who opened the lecture through as disputation with the professor of theology Gerhard Kikpot of Kalkar on Jesaja 60,1 ("Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.") The university had its predecessor in common studies of the Mendicant orders especially those of the Dominican order, which Albertus Magnus has established in 1248. The university of Cologne is the forth foundation in the Holy Roman Empire after Karl's university in Prague (1348), university of Vienna (1365) and the university of Mayence (1386). The old university closed on 28th of April 1798 by the entering French troops, as has happed to the other universities in France in 1795 and the restructuring of the university of Mayence into a central school for the Département de la Roer.
In the morning at 3 o'clock of 6th of November 1395 a heavy earthquake shock Cologne, only 8 days after being hit by hail with bullets the size of chicken eggs.
In the year 1396 the power of the patricians came to an end in a bloodless revolution. A rank based constitution took its place, which is based on the organization of the 'Gaffeln' (guilds). Antedate to this were long years of conflicts within the council and the constituting patrician dynasties. 
On 8th of July 1391 Hilger Quattermart of the Stesse, the leader of the patrician Greifen party, disabled the clerks of the high court. On the 11th of August 1391 the right to elect the mayor was passed from the rich cooperation 'Richerzeche' to the council. On 17th of July 1394 the council decided indefinite expulsion of Heinrich of Staves, an uncle of Hilger Quattermart, due to his infringements of duties at the Deutz customs. In the heated council meeting of 26th of December 1395 it came to the deletion of the decree of exile for Heinrich of Staves by Hilger Quattermart in the council book; This was followers by a provoking appearance of Heinrich of Staves in the city. On 4th of January 1396 the newly founded party of the "Freunde" (friends) under the leadership of Konstantin of Lyskirchen disempowered the party of the Greifen together with its leader Hilger Quattermart.
Hilger Quattermart flew. His kinsman Heinrich von Stave was executed on the new market on 11th January 1396, many of the Greifen were condemned to lifelong incarceration. On 18th of June Konstantin of Lyskirchen tried to restore all the old patrician privileges. The craftsmen and merchant guilds protesting against this were sent home by him "of his high horse". Therefore the guild captured the "Freunde" in their meeting room. The Greifen were freed. On 24th June 1396 a provisional council was constituted consisting of 48 merchants, land owner and craftsmen.
The town chronicler Gerlach of Hauwe formulated the so called compound letter which was signed on 14th of September 1396 by the 22 Gaffeln and was put into effect. The Gaffeln were put together heterogeneously, they contained the dis-empowered patrician, offices, guilds and private persons, but not the numerous very strong cleric; each Cologne citizen had to enter one of the Gaffel. The compound letter constituted a council of 49; there were 36 councilmen from the Gaffeln and 13 Gebrechherren (people to break the ballot). It was in effect until the end of the free city in 1797. On 14th of April 1397 the council approved the guild letters of the thread-spinstress, silk-maker and gold-spinstress in accordance to the other guild order. Economically the Cologne women reached a degree of freedom in the late Middle Age that was unique in the German empire. Women acted on their own accord and were to a large degree contractually capable. 
[c] Free city Cologne [c]
In 1400 about 40'000 citizens lived in Cologne. Cologne was therefore the bigest city on the Holy Roman Empire. Upon the election of Ruprecht of the Pfalz as counter king of king Wenzel in the year 1400, Aachen denied the counter king entry of the city based on advice of Cologne.
On 6th of January 1401 Ruprecht of the Pfalz was crowned king of the Germans in the Cologne Cathedral and on 6 July 1402 the English marriage between Blanca of England, daugter of Henry IV. and Ludwig III., son of king Ruprecht, was celebrated in the Cathedral. It was achieved by the mediation of negotiators of the Cologne council. In 1403 the council prohibited any kind of mummery at the carnival.
The city hall tower was completed in 1414 and was used as archive, weaponry and fire watch. In the same year the reign of archbishop Dietrich II. of Moers (1414 - 1463) began, the longest reign of an archbishop in Cologne. The Jews of Cologne, after their resettlement of 1372, were definitely cast out in 1424. The synagogue was rededicated into the council chapel St. Mary in Jerusalem, the Cologne Mikwe was infilled. With that ended the tradition of one of the oldest and most important settlements of Jews on German soil.
The first Cologne begger regulation is dated to the year 1435 and was included in the Cologne bylaws in 1437. It prescribed that healthy people had to work for their upkeep or leave the city and that baggers were nor allowed to display their wounds and afflictions in public, so that 'good citizens' were not disturbed. At the same time  the beggar regulation was purposefully targeted against foreign beggars. Stefan Locher finished the altarpiece alter of the city patrons, which reflected the self confidence of the free city and nowadays is shown in the Cathedral. In the same year the council order on 11th of June that all piglets be disposed within the city save the ones of bakers, brewers and farmers. This and other equally ineffective decrees of the council throw a clear light on the hygiene within the city. With Wilhelm Roggelin and Peter Puckgassen the first official garbage collectors were recruited by the city.
The Güntenich, the ball and dance house of the council was being build from 1441 till 1447 by the city architect Johann van Bueren. On 26th of February the first documented witch trail in Cologne took place. After searing the oath of the Urfehhde the accused was set free. In 1449 the city prohibited the import of foreign beer in Cologne, by contravening the importers were menaced with incarceration. In 1446 the first Cologne letterpress (Liber Johannis Chrysostomi super psalmo quinquagesimo) was publicized in the printing shop of Ulrich Zell. Zell probably learned his trade with the Mayence printers Peter Schöffer and Johannes Fust; one decade later there were already 10 printing shops in Cologne. In 1469 Heinrich van Beeck composed an comprehensive history of the city Cologne, the Agrippina named universal chronicle Chronica coloniensis. In it the history of the city from its till 1419 was laid out. Besides the chronicle is stated in the hand written on equal footing a part of a charter.
Emperor Friedrich III. affirmed during the course of the Cologne Stift feud in 1475 officially the since 1288 practice status as a free city; the Hanseatic league under the lead of Cologne acquired the Stahlhof in London as trading office. Four years later in 1479 the university of Cologne achieved the right of emperor Friedrich III. to dissect corpses. In 1481/1482 an attempt to usurp failed, the so called small acquiesce against the finance policy of the council, because the Gaffel held to a large degree to the councils side.In 1484 a dying person reported homosexual practice in Cologne. When a great investigation found out that well over 200 well situated citizens were involved, the results of the investigation were brushed under the carpet.
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschichte_der_Stadt_Köln, 2015-09-15]