'', first built in the 13th century, completed the road over the
St. Gotthard Pass. A stone bridge from the 1500s was damaged by war and later destroyed by a flood in 1888. This photo shows a second stone bridge, built in 1826, and above it a third bridge from 1958. Under the
Hohenstaufen dynasty of the
Holy Roman Empire, the three regions of
Uri,
Schwyz and
Unterwalden (the or "forest communities") had gained
Imperial immediacy (), the first two because the emperors wanted to place the strategically important St. Gotthard Pass under their direct control, the latter because most of its territory belonged to immediate monasteries. The cities of
Bern and
Zürich had also become immediate when the dynasty of their patrons, the
Zähringer, had died out. When
Rudolph I of Habsburg was elected "King of the Germans" in 1273, he also became the direct
liege lord of these regions. He instituted a strict rule and raised the taxes to finance wars and further territorial acquisitions. When he died in 1291, his son
Albert I got involved in a power struggle with
Adolf of Nassau for the German throne, and the Habsburg rule over the alpine territories weakened temporarily. Anti-Habsburg insurgences sprang up in
Swabia and Austria, but were quashed quickly by Albert in 1292.
Zürich had participated in this uprising. Albert
besieged the city, which had to accept him as its patron. This time of turmoil prompted the to cooperate more closely, trying to preserve or regain their immediacy. The first alliance started in 1291 when Rudolph bought all the rights over the town of
Lucerne and the abbey estates in
Unterwalden from
Murbach Abbey in
Alsace. The saw their trade route over Lake Lucerne cut off and feared losing their independence. When Rudolph died on July 15, 1291, the Communities prepared to defend themselves. On August 1, 1291, an Everlasting League was made between the Forest Communities for mutual defense against a common enemy. Uri and Schwyz got their status reconfirmed by
Adolf of Nassau in 1297, but to no avail, for Albert finally won the power struggle and became King of Germany in 1298 after Adolf was killed in the
Battle of Göllheim.
Nucleus The
Federal Charter of 1291 is one of the oldest surviving written documents of an alliance between Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, the founding cantons of the
Old Swiss Confederacy. It is possible that it was written a few decades later than the given date of 1291, which would put it in the same date range as the
pact of Brunnen of 1315. The traditional date given for the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy in
Swiss historiography of the 16th century (
Aegidius Tschudi and others) is 1307. King
Rudolf I died in 1291, and 1307 falls into the reign of King
Albert I, both members of the
House of Habsburg ruling in a time of
political instability, when the Holy Roman Empire had been without an emperor for several decades. The politically weak kings of this period had to make frequent concessions to their subjects and vassals in order to remain in power. The founding cantons received confirmations of the establishing their immediate status. Even Unterwalden was finally properly granted this status by Albert's successor
Henry VII in 1309. This did not prevent the dukes of Habsburg, who originally had their homelands in the
Aargau, from trying to reassert their sovereignty over the territories south of the Rhine. In the struggle for the crown of the
Holy Roman Empire in 1314 between duke
Frederick I of Austria and the
Bavarian king
Louis IV, the sided with Louis for fear of the Habsburgs trying to annex their counties again, like Rudolph I had done. When a long-simmering conflict between
Schwyz and the abbey of
Einsiedeln escalated once more, the Habsburgs responded by sending a strong army of knights against these peasants to subdue their insurrection, but the Austrian army of Frederick's brother
Leopold I was utterly defeated in the
Battle of Morgarten in 1315. The three cantons renewed their alliance in the
pact of Brunnen, and Louis IV reconfirmed their Imperial immediacy. The
Swiss chronicles of the
Burgundy Wars period (1470s) refer to a rebellion against the local
bailiffs, with a coordinated destruction of their forts or castles, known as the ("
slighting") in
Swiss historiography. The earliest reference for this is the
White Book of Sarnen (1470), which records that {{verse translation|language=gsw The text names
Zwing Uri at
Amsteg as the first castle slighted, followed by castle Schwandau in
Schwyz, Rötzberg in
Stans, and finally the castle at
Sarnen, the storming of which is told in a graphic manner. The was long seen as historical, substantiated by the numerous ruined castles in Central Switzerland, but archaeological excavations have shown that these castles were abandoned gradually, not during a sudden uprising, during the period of roughly 1200 to 1350. By the 1970s, the "demythologization" of the foundational period of the Confederacy was at its peak, and the default view was to regard the reports of the late-15th-century chronists as essentially legendary. Since the late 1970s, systematic surveys of medieval castles in Central Switzerland have shown that a number of castles were indeed destroyed during the early 14th century, so that a possible historical nucleus of the accounts may be granted, even though the destruction of these forts in itself was of limited military import and could not have resulted in a lasting political change.
Expansion to the Subsequently, the three communities (their territories did not yet correspond to the areas of the modern-day
cantons) followed a slow policy of expansion. Uri entered a pact with the previously Habsburg valley of
Urseren in 1317. In 1332, In the west, the had already formed an alliance with the city of
Bern in 1323, and even sent a detachment to help the Bernese forces in their territorial expansion against the
dukes of Savoy and the Habsburgs in the
Battle of Laupen in 1339. Bern's position after that battle was strong enough that such alliances often ended with the other party becoming a Bernese dependency, as happened with e.g.
Burgdorf or
Payerne. An external threat during this time arose in the form of the
Guglers, marauding mercenary knights from France who were beaten back under the leadership of Bern in December 1375.
Consolidation In 1364, Schwyz reconquered the city and land of Zug and renewed the alliance the following year. In the 1380s,
Lucerne expanded its territory aggressively, conquering
Wolhusen, claiming sovereignty over the valley of the
Entlebuch and the formerly Habsburg city of
Sempach. As a consequence,
Leopold III of Austria assembled an army and met the confederate army near Sempach in 1386, where his troops were defeated decisively in the
Battle of Sempach and he himself was killed. A large part became Bernese, while the
County of Baden was subsequently administered by the confederation as a common property until 1798. Only the
Fricktal remained a Habsburg possession. In the
Valais, the conflict between the
Bishop of Sion and the
Duchy of Savoy, which had led to a separation in 1301 (the bishop controlling the upper Valais and the Savoyards the lower part), broke out again. Twice the Savoyards temporarily occupied the whole Valais, but both times they were ultimately defeated. Both peace treaties from 1361 and 1391 restored the
status quo of 1301. As a result of these struggles, the villages in the upper Valais organized themselves in the ("seven tenths") around 1355, emerging after these wars as largely independent small states, much like the cantons of the Confederacy. In the
Grisons, then called Churwalchen, the
bishop of Chur and numerous local noble families competed for the control of the region with its many alpine passes. Throughout the 14th century, three leagues of free communities appeared. The ("League of the House of God"), covering the area around
Chur and the
Engadin, was founded when in 1367 the bishop,
Jean de Vienne, planned to hand over the administration of his diocese to the Austrian Habsburgs. It bought its freedom by paying the bishop's debt and in the following decades increased its control over the secular administration of the prince-bishopric, until the bishop's regent was deposed in 1452. In the upper valley of the
Rhine, the ("Gray League") was founded in 1395 under the direction of the abbot of
Disentis and including not only the peasant communities but also the local nobles to end the permanent
feuds of the latter. By 1424 the Gray League was dominated by the free communities and gave itself a more democratic charter. The third league, the
League of the Ten Jurisdictions (), would not be formed until later.
Internal crisis The relationships between the individual cantons of the confederation were not without tensions, though. A first clash between Bern and the four over the
Raron conflict (Bern supported the barons of Raron, while the forest cantons sided with the ) in the upper
Valais was barely avoided. The local noble barons of Raron established themselves as the leading family in the upper Valais in the late 14th century and competed with the bishop of Sion for the control of the valley. When emperor
Sigismund designated them counts in 1413 and ordered the bishop to hand over his territories to the von Raron, a revolt broke out in 1414. The following year, both rulers had lost: the von Raron had not succeeded in ousting the bishop, who in turn had to concede far-reaching rights to the in the treaty of Seta in 1415. The
Old Zürich War, which began as a dispute over the succession to the
count of Toggenburg, was a more serious test of the unity of the Eight Cantons. Zürich did not accept the claims of Schwyz and Glarus, which were supported by the rest of the cantons, and in 1438 declared an
embargo. The other members of the confederation expelled Zürich from the confederation in 1440 and declared war. In retaliation Zürich made a pact with the Habsburgs in 1442. The other cantons invaded the canton of Zürich and besieged the city, but were unable to capture it. By 1446, both sides were exhausted, and a preliminary peace was concluded. In 1450, the parties made a definitive peace and Zürich was admitted into the confederation again, but had to dissolve its alliance with the Habsburgs. The confederation had grown into a political alliance so close that it no longer tolerated separatist tendencies of its members. The end of the dynasty of the counts of Toggenburg in 1436 also had effects on the
Grisons. In their former territories in the
Prättigau and
Davos, the (initially eleven, after a merger only ten) villages founded the League of the Ten Jurisdictions ().
Further expansion In the second half of the 15th century, the confederation expanded its territory further. In the north, the formerly Habsburg cities of
Schaffhausen and
Stein am Rhein had become immediate in 1415, with the ban of Frederick IV. The two strategically important cities—they offered the only two fortified bridges over the river
Rhine between Constance and Basel—not only struggled with the
robber barons from the neighbouring
Hegau region but also were under pressure from the Habsburg dukes, who sought to re-integrate the cities into their domain. On June 1, 1454, Schaffhausen became an associate () of the confederacy by entering an alliance with six of the eight cantons (Uri and Unterwalden did not participate). With the help of the confederates, a Habsburg army of about 2,000 men was warded off east of
Thayngen. Stein am Rhein concluded a similar alliance on 6 December 1459. The city of
St. Gallen had also become free in 1415, but was in a conflict with its
abbot, who tried to bring it under his influence. But as the Habsburg dukes were unable to support him in any way, he was forced to seek help from the confederates, and the abbey became a protectorate of the confederacy on 17 August 1451. The city was accepted as an associate state on 13 June 1454.
Fribourg, another Habsburg city, came under the rule of the
Duke of Savoy during the 1440s and had to accept the duke as its lord in 1452. Nevertheless, it also entered an alliance with Bern in 1454, becoming an associate state, too. Two other cities also sought help from the confederates against the Habsburgs:
Rottweil became an associate on 18 June 1463, and
Mülhausen on 17 June 1466, through an alliance with Bern (and Solothurn). In
Rapperswil, a Habsburg
enclave on
Lake Zürich within confederate territory, a pro-confederate coup d'état in 1458 led to the city becoming a protectorate of the confederacy in 1464. Duke
Sigismund of Austria got involved in a power struggle with
Pope Pius II over the nomination of a bishop in Tyrol in 1460. When the duke was excommunicated by the pope, a situation similar to that of 1415 arose. The confederates took advantage of the problems of the Habsburgs and conquered the Habsburg
Thurgau and the region of
Sargans in the autumn of 1460, which became both commonly administered property. In a peace treaty from 1 June 1461, the duke had no choice but to accept the new situation. The Swiss also had an interest in extending their influence south of the
Alps to secure the trade route across the
St. Gotthard Pass to
Milan. Beginning in 1331, they initially exerted their influence through peaceful trade agreements, but in the 15th century, their involvement turned military. In 1403 the upper
Leventina, as the valley south of the pass is called, became a protectorate of Uri. The Swiss and the
Duchy of Milan were in conflict over this region throughout much of the 15th century. In 1439, Uri assumed full control of the upper Leventina; the Duchy of Milan gave up its claims there two years later, and so did the
chapter of Milan in 1477. Twice the Swiss conquered roughly the whole territory of the modern canton of
Ticino and also the
Ossola valley. Twice, the Milanese reconquered all these territories except the Leventina. Both times, the Swiss managed, despite their defeats, to negotiate peace treaties that were actually favorable for them.
Burgundy Wars The Burgundian Wars were an involvement of confederate forces in the conflict between the
Valois dynasty and the
Habsburgs. The aggressive expansionism of the
Duke of Burgundy,
Charles the Bold, brought him in conflict with both the French king
Louis XI and emperor
Frederick III of the
House of Habsburg. His embargo politics against the cities of Basel,
Strasbourg and
Mulhouse prompted these to turn to Bern for help. The conflicts culminated in 1474, after duke
Sigismund of Austria had concluded a peace agreement with the confederates in Constance (later called the
Perpetual Accord, ). The confederates, united with the Alsatian cities and Sigismund in an "anti-burgundian league", conquered part of the Burgundian Jura (
Franche-Comté), and the next year, Bernese forces conquered and ravaged the
Vaud, which belonged to the
Duchy of Savoy, which in turn was allied with Charles the Bold. The , with the help of Bernese and other confederate forces, drove the Savoyards out of the lower Valais after a victory in the
Battle on the Planta in November 1475. In 1476, Charles retaliated and marched to
Grandson with his army, but suffered three devastating defeats in a row, first in the
Battle of Grandson, then in the
Battle of Murten, until he was killed in the
Battle of Nancy in 1477, where the confederates fought alongside an army of
René II,
Duke of Lorraine. There is a proverbial saying in Switzerland summarizing these events as ("[Charles the Bold lost] his goods at Grandson, his boldness at Murten and his blood at Nancy"). As a result of the Burgundian Wars, the dynasty of the
dukes of Burgundy had died out. Bern returned the Vaud to the duchy of Savoy against a
ransom of 50,000
guilders in 1476, and sold its claims on the
Franche-Comté to
Louis XI for 150,000 guilders in 1479. The confederates only kept small territories east of the
Jura mountains, especially Grandson and Murten, as common dependencies of Bern and Fribourg. The whole Valais, however, would henceforth be independent, and Bern would reconquer the Vaud in 1536. While the territorial effects of the Burgundian Wars on the confederation were minor, they marked the beginning of the rise of Swiss mercenaries on the battlefields of Europe.
Swiss mercenaries (
Luzerner Schilling, 1513) In the Burgundian Wars, the Swiss soldiers had gained a reputation of near invincibility, and their
mercenary services became increasingly sought after by the great European political powers of the time. Shortly after the Burgundy Wars, individual cantons concluded mercenary contracts, so-called "
capitulations", with many parties, including the
Pope—the papal
Swiss Guard was founded in 1505 and became operational the next year. More contracts were made with France (a Swiss Guard of mercenaries would be destroyed in
the storming of the Tuileries Palace in Paris in 1792), the
Duchy of Savoy, Austria, and still others.
Swiss mercenaries would play an initially important, but later minor, role on European battlefields until well into the 18th century. Swiss forces soon got involved in the
Italian Wars between the Valois and the Habsburgs over the control of northern Italy. When the power of the
Duchy of Milan perished in these wars, the Swiss finally managed to bring the whole
Ticino under their control. In 1500, they occupied the strategically important fortress of
Bellinzona, which the French king
Louis XII, who ruled Milan at that time, ceded definitively in 1503. From 1512 on, the confederates fought on the side of
Pope Julius II and his
Holy League against the French in territories south of the Alps. After initial successes and having conquered large parts of the territory of
Milan, they were utterly defeated by a French army in the
Battle of Marignano in 1515, which put an end to military territorial interventions of the confederation, mercenary services under the flags of foreign armies excepted. The results of this short intermezzo were the gain of
Ticino as a common administrative region of the confederacy and the occupation of the valley of the Adda river (
Veltlin,
Bormio, and
Chiavenna) by the
Three Leagues, which would remain a dependency of the
Grisons until 1797 with a brief interruption during the
Thirty Years' War. ====== Both Fribourg and Solothurn, which had participated in the Burgundy Wars, now wanted to join the confederation, which would have tipped the balance in favour of the city cantons. The rural cantons were thus strongly opposed. In 1477 they marched upon the cities in protest. At
Stans in 1481 the
Federal Diet met in order to resolve the issues, but war seemed inevitable. A local hermit,
Niklaus von der Flüe, was consulted on the situation. He requested that a message be passed on to the members of the Diet on his behalf. The details of the message have remained unknown to this day, but it did calm tempers and led to the drawing up of the Treaty of Stans (). Fribourg and Solothurn were admitted into the confederation. After isolated bilateral pacts between the leagues in the
Grisons and some cantons of the confederation had already existed since the early 15th century, the federation of the
Three Leagues as a whole became an associate state of the confederation, in 1498, by concluding alliance agreements with the seven easternmost cantons. When the confederates refused to accept the resolutions of the
Diet of Worms in 1495, the
Swabian War (also called the Swiss War in Germany) broke out in 1499, opposing the confederation against the
Swabian League and emperor
Maximilian I. After some battles around Schaffhausen, in the Austrian
Vorarlberg and in the
Grisons, where the confederates were victorious more often than not, the
Battle of Dornach, where the emperor's commander was killed, put an end to the war. In September 1499, a peace agreement was concluded at Basel that effectively established a
de facto independence of the confederation from the empire, although it continued nominally to be part of the
Holy Roman Empire until after the
Thirty Years' War and was not included into the system of
imperial circles in 1500. As a direct consequence of the Swabian War the previously associated city states of
Basel and
Schaffhausen joined the confederation in 1501. Between 1403 and 1422 some of these lands were annexed by forces from Uri, but subsequently lost after the
Battle of Arbedo in 1422. While the Battle of Arbedo stopped Swiss expansion for a time, the Confederation continued to exercise influence in the area. The Canton of Uri conquered the
Leventina Valley in 1440. In a second conquest Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden gained the town of Bellinzona and the Riviera in 1500. Throughout the winter of 1499/1500 unrest in Bellinzona grew, until January when an armed revolt of the citizens of Bellinzona drove the French troops from the city. Following the capture and execution of
Ludovico Sforza in April 1500 and seeking protection from France, Bellinzona joined the Swiss Confederation on 14 April 1500. Bellinzona would remain under the joint administration of Uri,
Schwyz and
Nidwalden until the creation of the
Helvetic Republic after the
French invasion of Switzerland in 1798. Between 1433 and 1438 the Duke of
Milan, Aloisio Sanseverino, sat as a feudal lord over Lugano. Under the reign of his heirs in the following decades rebellions and riots broke out, which lasted until the French invasion of 1499.
Myths and legends , 1780 The events told in the saga of
William Tell, which are purported to have occurred around 1307, are not substantiated by historical evidence. This story, like the related story of the (the oath on the , a meadow above
Lake Lucerne), seems to have its origins in the late 15th century
White Book of Sarnen, a collection of folk tales from 1470, and is generally considered a fictitious glorification of the independence struggles of the . The
legend of
Arnold von Winkelried likewise is first recorded in the 16th century; earlier accounts of the
Battle of Sempach do not mention him. Winkelried is said to have opened a breach in the lines of the Austrian footsoldiers by throwing himself into their
lances, taking them down with his body such that the confederates could attack through the opening. ==Social developments==