The Peace of Constance[1] of 1183 was signed in Konstanz by Frederick Barbarossa and representatives of the Lombard League. It confirmed the Peace of Venice of 1177. The Italian cities retained local jurisdiction over their territories, and had the freedom to elect their own councils and to enact their own legislation, as well as to keep their Lombard League. Yet their consuls had to take the oath of featly to the emperor and receive the investiture from him, Imperial judges had the prerogative to judge appeals and some districts in Italy were placed under direct imperial administration. The cities stopped fulfilling their obligations during the long struggle for the imperial crown that followed the death of Emperor Henry VI in 1197, and the Peace of Constance was at the centre of the new conflict fought between the so-called second Lombard League and Frederick II between 1226 and 1250. It was celebrated for the rest of the Middle Ages and beyond as the only imperial recognition of the autonomy of a large group of Italian cities.