REUTLINGEN, a manufacturing town of Wiirtemberg, situated in a fertile and pretty district on the Echatz, an affluent of the Neckar, near the base of the Achalm, and 20 miles to the south of Stuttgart. It is a quaint but well-built town, with numerous picturesque houses and a fine Gothic church of the 13th and 14th centuries, overtopped by a lofty spire. The tanneries of Reutlingen are extensive, producing large quantities of leather ; and its other industrial products are very multifarious, includ-ing cotton, woollen, and knitted goods, lace, ribbons, hats, shoes, paper, machinery, hardware, and lime. To fruit, growers Reutlingen is interesting as the seat of a celebrated pomological institute, while the Christian-socialist refuges of Pastor Werner are widely known in philanthropic circles. In 1880 the town contained 16,609 inhabitants, of whom 809 were Roman Catholics and 44 Jews.

Reutlingen was made a free imperial town by Frederick II. in 1240, and was unflinching in its loyalty to the emperors of his line. It successfully resisted a siege by Heinrich Raspe, the kival of Conrad IV., and in 1377 its citizens defeated Count Ulrich of Wiirtemberg at the Aehalm. At a later periOd Reutlingen became a member of the Swabian League, and it was among the first Swabian towns to einbrace the Reformation. It was annexed to Wiirtemberg in 1802.