At the same time that Augsburg sought to guide the introduction of religious reform in Donauwörth and Kaufbeuren, its council undertook a concerted effort to spread the Reformation to its surrounding countryside. These attempts at rural reform constituted another facet of the city's program of religio-political expansion. Unlike its Three Cities' allies Nuremberg and Ulm, Augsburg did not control an extensive hinterland. It exerted tremendous economic influence on nearby villages, but its jurisdiction outside the city walls was limited. During the 1530s and 1540s, Augsburg's council employed religious reform as a means of establishing greater authority over neighboring rural communities. One of its most controversial undertakings centered on Mindelaltheim, a village in the Habsburg margravate of Burgau. After consulting with Ulm, in October 1544 Augsburg installed an evangelical preacher named Hans Hess in the village. It acted on authority of the parish's right of presentation, which belonged to the city's Dominican convent, St. Katharina. This act did not go unnoticed for long. King Ferdinand, who controlled high justice in Mindelaltheim, demanded Augsburg “remove the preacher…. If this does not occur, we will act against him ourselves under the authority granted us by our territorial lordship.” To counter Ferdinand, Augsburg sought aid from its Schmalkaldic allies. The League's estates refused to support the city, stating they “could not defend Augsburg's introduction of a preacher in Mindelaltheim, which is in direct violation of the king's princely authority.” Reluctantly, Augsburg's council removed Hess.