 When these councillors appealed to Albert II for help, many artisans and burghers regarded this as a treasonous act, fearing that this appeal to the prince would only provoke him to abolish the autonomy of the city.The fortified city maintained its own guards, not allowing soldiers of the Prince-Archbishop to enter it.The city reserved an extra very narrow gate, the so-called "Bishop's Needle" (, first mentioned in 1274), for all clergy, including the Prince-Archbishop.