Chapter II: Descent of the Saxon Emperors (2)

It hardly needs to be said in these days that whilst no one thinks of taking these beautiful old-world stories literally, yet few of us would care to toss them contemptuously and entirely on one side. Truly they have a meaning, if not exactly that which was once accepted. In the present instance they represent and illustrate a long epoch during which a high-spirited people were engaged in establishing a confederation, and maintaining it against a powerful enemy--one long effort to secure emancipation from Habsburg tyranny--an epoch which opened with the acquisition of a charter of liberties for Uri in 1231, and closed with the brilliant victory of Morgarten in 1315.

It remains now to show briefly what may be considered the authentic history of the period, that is, the history as found in authentic documents.

And first, it is clearly absurd to suppose that the three Forest Cantons sprang suddenly into existence as democracies. Feudalism had spread its net over the Waldstaetten as elsewhere in Switzerland and Europe generally. But the inborn love of freedom amongst the "freemen" of the three cantons was intensified by two things, the secluded Alpine life and the tyranny and aggressiveness of the Habsburgs. The inhabitants of the Forest were Alamanni, who, in the seventh century, had moved into the higher Alpine regions, the immigration into those regions being greatly promoted by a decree of Charlemagne, that whoever should cultivate land there with his own hands should be the owner thereof. But besides these farmer freemen, land was taken up by religious-houses, and by the secular grandees, who claimed the soil cultivated by their serfs, bondsmen, and dependants of all kinds. By the bounty of Louis the German, the "Gotteshausleute" (God's-house-people), had become of great importance in Uri; in 853 that monarch had bestowed his royal lands in Uri, with everything appertaining thereto, on the Abbey of our Lady at Zurich, an abbey founded for his daughters. Beneath the mild rule of these royal ladies the inhabitants had acquired great independence, and had shared with their mistress the high privilege of the "Reichsfreiheit," which saved their lands from being mortgaged, or from falling under the power of vassal princes. Besides the Lady Abbess, there were other proprietors in Uri--the Maison Dieu of Wettingen, the barons of Rapperswyl, and other high-born or noble families, and, lastly, a body of "freemen."

This scattered and various society was knit into one close boundary-association by the possession of the "Almend," a stretch of land common to all, according to the old German custom--to free and unfree, rich and poor, noble and serf, who were brought together in council for deliberation. These assemblies gave rise to the political gatherings of the "Landsgemeinde."

Now by a decree of the Emperor Frederick II., Uri was severed from the jurisdiction of Zurich Abbey in 1218, and placed under the control of Habsburg, who had succeeded to the governorship of Zurichgau, a district which then included the three Forest states. "Reichsfreiheit" was lost, and the inhabitants, fearing their state would fall into the hands of the Habsburgs, applied for protection from Henry, son of Frederick II., then at variance with the Habsburg family. He complied with their request, and on the 26th of May, 1231, granted them a charter of liberties, restored "Reichsfreiheit," and received them into the pale of the empire. Uri was now under the direct control of the monarch, and the local authority was vested in an _Ammann_ chosen from the native families. An imperial representative appeared twice a year in the country to hold his half-yearly sessions, and to collect the imperial taxes. When Rudolf of Habsburg rose to the imperial throne, he recognized fully the validity of the Uri charter. However a charter was but little check on the monarchical tyranny, and we find the country exasperated by Rudolf's grinding taxation.

The inhabitants of Schwyz were no less bold, resolute, and energetic, than those of Uri, and no less averse to falling into the hands of the Habsburgs. Here the freemen predominated, and owned the largest portion of the country. There is not space to tell of their long quarrel with the monks of Einsiedeln respecting some forest lands. Suffice it to say that, after a stout stand for their rights, they were ordered to share the _corpus delicti_, the forest, with their opponents. During the quarrels between Rome and the Hohenstaufen, Schwyz staunchly upheld the cause of Frederick II., but the wavering policy of Rudolf of the junior line, Habsburg-Laufenburg, was a strong temptation to separate themselves from him (1239). They sent letters, messengers, and most likely auxiliaries, to Frederick, when he was besieging Faenza with the view of recovering the Lombard cities, and begged for the protection of the empire. Frederick expressed his gratification that the freemen of Schwyz should voluntarily place themselves under his protection, and sent them a charter similar to that of Uri (1240)--to "his faithful men"--by which they obtained the "Reichsfreiheit," and an assurance that they should not be severed from the empire.

A very few years later we hear of the first federal union of which we have any certain knowledge. The great quarrel between the emperor and the Pope, and the flight of the latter to Lyons, had set Europe on fire. Schwyz took up arms to defend the founder of its liberties, and entered into an alliance with Uri and Unterwalden--and even Lucerne--to throw off the yoke of the younger Habsburg line. War raged fiercely in the valleys of the Forest and by Lake Lucerne, till the Popish party was brought to bay, and the overseer driven from the Habsburg castle. We do not know the result of this insurrection; it closed no doubt with the death of Rudolf and Frederick in 1249-50.

It is to this period of the insurrection doubtless that the stories of Tell, the oath on the Ruetli, &c., apply most clearly. They are reminiscences probably of some forgotten episodes of the campaigns. Had the annalists connected the stories with these times instead of with the reign of Albrecht, their validity could hardly have been contested.

When Rudolf III. of Habsburg-Austria became emperor, and had bought from the younger branch of his house the estates and titles in the Waldstaetten, he drew Schwyz most closely to his family. He refused to confirm Frederick's charter on the plea that that monarch had been excommunicated. The magistrates were officers of his own; he gathered the taxes in his own name, and, in 1278, assigned them as dowry to the English bride of his favourite son, Hartmann. Schwyz did not feel comfortable under all this, and stood on its guard.

Unterwalden[26], the lowland district of the Forest, was politically quite behind the times. It was exceedingly fertile, and was much in request, and in the thirteenth century was parcelled out amongst religious-houses, great nobles, and lesser freemen. The Habsburgs being not only the greatest proprietors, but also stewards of the religious-houses, naturally held sovereign sway. It was only by the aid of friendly neighbours indeed that Unterwalden could hold its own against such powerful masters, and of all its neighbours the men of Schwyz were not only the best organized, politically, but the most energetic and far-seeing. That the Schwyzers took the lead in the emancipation of the district is pretty clear from the name that was given to the newly-formed state by surrounding lands, and by the Austrians after the battle of Morgarten.

The death of Rudolf in 1291 was good news to the men of the Forest, and all their pent-up hopes of the recovery of their ancient rights once more burst forth. Yet dreading new dangers from new governors, they took measures of precaution. Within a fortnight of Rudolf's death the three districts of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden had entered into a perpetual league or defensive alliance (_Ewiger Bund_), a renewal no doubt of a previous pact, probably that of 1246. They may have met on the Ruetli to swear the solemn oath which was to bind them into a confederation, _a perpetuite_. The various acts of agreement were drawn up in Latin, and the document--the Magna Charta of the Eidgenossenschaft--treasured up at Schwyz, is held in veneration by the whole Swiss nation. It bears an essentially conservative character, and witnesses to the thought and consideration given to the matter, no less than to the strong sense of equity and clear judgment of the contracting parties. Amongst other things it enjoins that every one shall obey and serve his master according to his standing; that no judge shall be appointed who has bought his office with gold, nor unless he be a native; that if quarrels shall arise between the Eidgenossen (_inter aliquos conspiratos_), the more sensible shall settle the differences, and if the one party does not submit, the opposition shall decide in the matter. To the document were affixed the seals of the three countries as a guarantee of its authenticity.

FOOTNOTES:

[26] Unterwalden is parted into two unequal halves by a mountain range running from the Titlis to the Buochser Horn, with the wood of Kerns in its centre. The districts on both sides have thence taken the names of Ob and Nidwalden, above and below the wood.

XI.

THE BATTLE OF MORGARTEN.

(1315.)

The primary object of the Perpetual League was to secure for the three Waldstaetten that safety which the empire, with its fluctuating fortunes and condition, failed to ensure. Rich and mighty cities in Germany and Italy had joined in alliance with similar intent, but whilst these alliances had come to nought, the simple peasants of the Forest, hardened by continual struggles, had developed into a power before which even the Habsburgs were of no avail; for, gifted with striking political understanding and far-sightedness, these born diplomatists knew how to turn the tide of events to their own advantage.

As an additional security, they entered within a few weeks into an alliance with Zurich and the Anti-Habsburg coalition that had sprung up in East Switzerland when Adolf of Nassau was chosen successor to King Rudolf in preference to his son Albert, whose absolutism was dreaded by all. The Zurich forces attacked Winterthur, a Habsburg town, but owing to the absence of reinforcements sustained a severe defeat (1292). Taking advantage of their heavy losses, Duke Albert laid siege to the imperial city of Zurich. Great was his dismay, however, when from his camp he saw a formidable force drawn up in battle array on the Lindenhof, an eminence within the city. The armour-bearers, their helmets, shields, and lances glittering in the sun, appeared to the foe to indicate an overwhelming force, and Albert made his peace with the remarkable city. This was gladly accepted, as well it might be, for it is said that the dazzling array seen by Albert consisted of the Amazons of the place, to wit, the women of the town, who had lit on this stratagem to save their city.

King Adolf guaranteed the "liberties" of Uri and Schwyz in 1297; but on his death in the following year, in battle against his rival, Albert of Habsburg, these were again at stake--for charters had to be submitted to the sovereign's pleasure at every new accession--and in fact were never acknowledged by the succeeding king. As the object of the Habsburgs was to join the Waldstaetten to their Austrian possessions, their policy was naturally to oppose the freedom of the district. It was a fact highly favourable to Swiss interests that the German monarchy was elective; for the princes and prince-electors, with their personal and selfish aims, shut out the mighty Habsburg dynasty, whenever candidates presented themselves whom they considered more likely to favour their views. On such grounds Adolf of Nassau was elected, as was also Henry of Luetzelburg later on.

Albrecht was not the cruel, taciturn, tyrant Swiss chroniclers and historians have pictured him. They have, in fact, confounded him with previous rulers, chiefly of the junior Habsburg line. Albrecht was bent on the aggrandizement of his house, but, if anything, less selfishly so than his father Rudolf III. He was, however, no friend of Swiss liberties, and, had he lived longer, would doubtless have checked any efforts on the part of the Swiss to gain greater freedom. But he was cut off in the very prime of life, by his nephew and ward, John of Swabia, who believed himself defrauded of his heritage. With John were other young Swiss nobles--Von Eschenbach, Von Balm, Von Wart, &c.; and by these Albrecht was stabbed, within sight of his ancestral manor, Habsburg, as he was on a journey to meet his queen, Elizabeth. He sank to the ground, and expired in the lap of a poor woman (1308). The assassins got clear away, excepting Wart. A terrible vengeance was taken on him, and on the friends and connections of the fugitives, however innocent. A thousand victims perished, by order of the bloody Elizabeth. On the spot where her husband had fallen the queen built the Monastery of Koenigsfelden (King's Field), a place which afterwards attained great fame and splendour. The stained windows of the church still in existence, are masterpieces of Swiss work, showing all the exquisite finish of the fourteenth century, and testifying to the former magnificence of the abbey.

Once again the Habsburgs were passed over, and Henry VII. became King of Germany. To him Unterwalden owes its charter, which placed the three small states on an equal footing politically. However, he died in Italy when going to receive the imperial crown--it is thought by poison. On his decease the opposing parties elected two sovereigns, Louis of Bavaria, and Frederick the Handsome, of Austria, son of Albrecht. During a short interregnum, which occurred after the death of Henry VII., Schwyz began hostilities against the Abbey of Einsiedeln, of which the Habsburgs were stewards. This greatly vexed Frederick, and his annoyance was increased by finding that the Forest generally sided with his rival. Goaded beyond bearing, Frederick determined to deal a crushing blow against the rebellious Forest states, and, late in the autumn of 1315, hostile operations commenced. We are now in our story on the eve of the famous battle of Morgarten, which is justly regarded by the Swiss as one of the noblest of the many noble episodes in their stirring history. There is not a civilized nation in the world to which the name of Morgarten is not familiar.

Both parties prepared for war. The Wald Cantons fortified such parts of their district as offered no sufficient security, and placed troops at the entrance to the valley. Duke Leopold, a younger brother of the king, a great champion, and eager for combat, undertook the command of the campaign, with much dash and self-reliance. He gathered a considerable army together on the shortest notice, the Aargau towns, with Lucerne and Winterthur, and even Zurich, sending troops, whilst the nobility espoused his cause, and rallied to his standard at Zug. In order to divide the forces of the enemy the leader ordered a section of the army, under Count Otto of Strassberg, to break into Unterwalden by the Bruenig Pass. Leopold himself commanded the main force, and directed his principal charge against Schwyz, which was particularly obnoxious to him. Of the two roads leading from Zug to Schwyz, he chose--probably from ignorance--the one which was the more difficult, and strategically the less promising. On the 15th of November, the day before the feast of St. Othmar, he brought his cavalry to AEgeri, and thence moved in a heedless fashion along the eastern bank of that lake, taking no care either to watch the enemy or to reconnoitre his ground. Amongst his baggage was a cartload of ropes, with which he intended to fasten together the cattle he expected to seize. Hurried on by the nobles, and himself eager for the fray, he neglected even the most elementary measures of precaution, which, indeed, he deemed quite unnecessary when marching against mere peasants. His _cortege_ resembled a hunting party rather than an army expecting serious warfare. Reaching the hamlet of Haselmatt, the troops began slowly to ascend the steep and frozen slopes of Morgarten, in the direction of Schornen. Soon they were hemmed in by lake and mountain, when, without a moment's warning, there came pouring down upon the dense masses of horsemen huge stones, pieces of rock, and trunks of trees. Dire confusion followed at once. This unexpected avalanche had been hurled down upon them by a handful of men posted on the mountain ridge, and well informed respecting the movement of the Austrians. Presently the main body of the men from Schwyz and Uri appeared behind Schornen, and like a whirlwind rushed down the hill on the terrified and bewildered foe, who were caught in the narrow pass of Morgarten, as in a net. It was quite impossible to ward off such an attack as that. Then the Eidgenossen began to mow down the Austrians with their terrible weapon the halberd, an invention of their own.

A confused scramble and a terrified _melee_ ensued, in which it was at once seen that the foe must succumb, utterly disorganized as they were, and well-nigh helpless through terror. Many in sheer despair rushed into the lake. Soon lay scattered over the wintry field the "flower of knighthood," amongst them the counts of Kyburg and Toggenburg, and other Swiss nobles. Leopold himself had a narrow escape, and hurried back to Winterthur, "looking," says Friar John of that place, an eye-witness, "like death, and quite distracted." Otto of Strassberg, hearing of the disaster, retreated with such rapidity that he died overcome by the physical efforts he had made. "Throughout the country the sounds of joy and glory were changed into wails of lamentation and woe." Such was the ever-memorable battle of Morgarten. As to the number of men who fell on that day, the accounts vary hopelessly, and we do not venture to give any figures. The infantry probably fled, and had no share in the encounter.

Such was the first proof the young Confederation gave of their mettle and skill in warfare. The battle has been called the Swiss Thermopylae, but it was more fortunate in its results than that of the Greeks. It confirmed the national spirit of resistance to the house of Habsburg, and commenced a whole series of brilliant victories, which for two centuries increased the glory, as they improved the military skill of the Swiss nation. In humbleness and in a spirit of true devotion, the victors fell to thanking God on the battlefield for their rescue, and they instituted a day of thanksgiving to be observed as year after year it should come round.

On the 9th of December in the same year (1315) the Eidgenossen proceeded to Brunnen, to renew by oath, and enlarge by some additional paragraphs, the treaty or league of 1291, and this for nearly five hundred years remained the fundamental code of agreement between the three Waldstaetten. The Forest Cantons, having grown into three independent republics, claimed each separate administration or autonomy. The idea of a federal union thus started by the Forest men gradually grew in favour with neighbouring commonwealths struggling for independence; and these, so attracted, slowly clustered round the Forest Cantons, to form a bulwark against a common foe.

XII.

THE LEAGUE OF THE EIGHT STATES.

(1332-68.)

One by one the Swiss lands were reached by the breeze of freedom blowing from the Forest Cantons after the great victory of Morgarten. Yet it was only very gradually and in small groups that the other districts entered within the pale of the Eidgenossenschaft. Eight states made up the nucleus for some time; indeed, till after the Burgundian wars, in 1481, they jealously kept out all intruders. In fact, the confederate states looked on outsiders merely as "connections," or subjects, and associated with them on no other footing. It is a somewhat startling and unusual thing to find republics ruling over subject lands, yet in this case the result was to knit the whole more closely together in after centuries. In the fourteenth century the union was of the loosest kind; alliances wavered, and politics were swayed by separate ends. The other commonwealths, in joining themselves with the Forest states, had no notion of giving up their individual life, but were wishful to create a body powerful enough to secure independence against the aggressions of Austria; and at the price of continued struggle, and steady perseverance no less admirable, they achieved that object.

Attracted by common interests as a near neighbour, and being moreover the mart of the Forest Cantons, Lucerne was the first to be drawn into the union. This town had acquired great independence under the mild rule of the famous Murbach Abbey. But in 1291 the convent, having got into financial straits, had sold the town to the Habsburgs. Finding but little liberty under their new rulers, the men of Lucerne formed in 1332 with the Forest the union of the four Waldstaetten,[27] with the view of shaking off the Austrian yoke. Lucerne was bound by treaty not to league herself with outsiders without the consent of the Forest Cantons.

In 1351 Zurich followed suit. Her clever and powerful burgomaster, Brun, was keenly desirous of raising her to greatness. He was less regardful of the interests of the Eidgenossen, and indeed had strong leanings towards Austria and the empire, as affording a wider scope for ambitious politics. Consequently he would not permit her superior position as an imperial free city, nor her foreign and commercial relations, to be injured by submission to the Forest control, and he carried a clause which left her free to join in any other alliances she choose, provided that with the Waldstaetten was not broken. He also bound the Forest states by treaty, to secure to Zurich its own constitution. The documents connected with this alliance show that the five states formed a power quite ready to cope with Austria. And well for them that they were so ready. Louis of Bavaria, the protector of the Forest Cantons, was dead, and his successor on the German throne was Charles IV., son of the famous blind King of Bohemia, who fell so bravely at Cressy. To maintain his authority Charles fell back on the friendship of Austria, and to win the favour of Albrecht (the "Wise," or "Lame"), he nullified all the measures which Louis had enacted against Austria, measures which had destroyed the power of that country in the Waldstaetten. The destruction of Rapperswyl[28] (Zurich), and the union between Zurich and the other four states were regarded by the Habsburgs as a challenge, and gave rise to a long-protracted war, marked rather by feats of diplomacy on the part of Austria than by feats of arms. Albrecht was desirous of having a reckoning with the Eidgenossen generally, yet for the present he confined his attacks to Zurich, their strongest outpost. The assault by sixteen thousand men in 1351 was stoutly opposed, and collapsed suddenly by proffers of peace. Queen Agnes of Koenigsfelden, the duke's sister, was called in as umpire, and Brun temporizing with Austria to save his town, a verdict was passed so injurious to the people of the Forest, that they refused the mediation of this "wondrously shrewd and quick woman," who had for these thirty years swayed the Habsburg politics, and the quarrel broke out anew.

The Zurcher now assumed the offensive, and defeated the Austrians at Taetwil, being led by Roger Manesse, the grandson of the amateur poet. They then marched on Glarus, and conquered that valley in November, 1351. Clarona, like Lucerne, had drifted from beneath the spiritual rule, and had fallen under that of the Habsburgs, much to her dislike. An old chronicler reports that "the Glarner were well disposed towards the Eidgenossen," and it is not difficult to believe that they consented willingly to be conquered, for in the spring of the next year they utterly defeated the Austrian forces under Count Stadion, who had returned with the intention of recovering the country if possible. The union of the Glarner with the Confederates was fixed by a treaty, on June 4, 1352, but, curious to relate, they were received as inferiors or _proteges_ (Schutzort) and not as equals. The Confederates no doubt reasoned that the acquisition of the valley, with its open villages, offered no adequate advantages for the extra risks to which it exposed them.

Zug was the next to be brought into the union. The very situation of Zug, surrounded as it was by the federal territory, rendered it quite necessary that that state should be brought into the fold of the Eidgenossen. The country districts surrendered at the approach of the federal forces, but the town of Zug offered a stout resistance. However, the townsmen heard nothing from Albrecht, much less received any help from him, and yielded on June 27, 1352. Thanks to the greater security she offered, Zug was admitted as a full member.

In July, 1352, Albrecht renewed his attack on Zurich, with an army double the one first brought against her, Bern, Basel, Strasburg, Solothurn, and Constance, being bound by treaty, sending troops. But this second venture likewise miscarried, after stout opposition and much wasteful ravaging. This plan of storming an imperial city was unpopular amongst the neighbouring towns, and Eberhard "the Quarrelsome," who held the chief command in the place of the lame duke, displeased with the secret negotiations, left the camp, and the army was dissolved. Again the Austrians resorted to diplomatic machinations, and recovered by the pen what they had failed to keep by the sword. The treaty, or rather truce, of Brandenburg, so called from its author, reinstated the Habsburger in their Forest possessions. Glarus and Zug were compelled to give up their union with the Eidgenossen, and, like Lucerne, to return to the Habsburg rule. Nevertheless, though complying outwardly, the states still maintained their friendly _liaisons_. And the league of the five states remained intact, and was indeed strengthened by the alliance of Bern with the Waldstaetten, with which she had been more closely connected ever since the great battle of Laupen, where the Forest men had proved such staunch and useful friends. The treaty is dated March 6, 1353.

Albrecht was dissatisfied with the results of the last truce, and renewed the hostilities in the spring of 1353. Prevailing on Charles IV. to intervene that monarch twice visited Zurich, and held interviews with her representatives, and those of the Waldstaetten. Yet it was evident his purpose was to give every advantage to Austria. The citizens trusting that his mediation would be just, received him with "imposing pomp and great honours." But their high hopes were soon dashed. Influenced by the Austrian counsellors about him, Charles strongly upheld the old Habsburg claims, and on his second visit even denied the validity of the ancient charters of the Forest, and requested the Eidgenossen to dissolve their union. Naturally, the Confederates were unwilling to throw away the results of a century's hard struggling, and, insisting on their unchangeable and undeniable rights, they simply answered that his "views were incomprehensible to them." Charles at once returned to Nuernberg, and thence sent to Zurich his declaration of war.

Albrecht, who had bought and rebuilt Rapperswyl, assembled there his forces, and laid waste the borders of the lake. The king fixed his camp at Regensberg; and thence the two pushed forward and formed a junction at Kuesnacht. Their united forces, estimated at fifty thousand, formed the most formidable and magnificent army seen that century. Ravaging the lovely vineyard slopes, laments a contemporary annalist, they marched on Zurich, and, in spite of the sallies of the Zurcher to avert such a fate, completely encircled the town. Entirely cut off from all supplies, the inhabitants had no hope of holding out for any length of time, especially against a foe ten times more numerous. But at the most critical moment the place was saved by a stratagem. For suddenly the imperial banner was seen floating over the citadel. The burgesses (or their leader Brun) had hoisted it up as a declaration that they were the subjects of the Holy Roman Empire, and meant no disobedience to the king. The incident made a deep impression on the enemy, and Charles at once suspended the siege. Thus for the third time foiled Albrecht retired in high dudgeon to Baden, and thence began to indulge in mere petty warfare. As for the king, he betook himself to Prague, there to enrich the Domkirche with the numerous relics and antiquities he had delightedly amassed during his stay in Swiss lands. This king was the founder of Bohemia's greatness, and of the splendour of its capital.

On his return from Italy as Roman emperor he concluded a peace at Regensburg, in July, 1355, and the war came to an end. The result, as in the case of the previous war, had been injurious to the interests of the Confederation. Glarus and Zug remained excluded from the League, and the Habsburgs retained their lands in the Forest. The only thing left was the union of the six states. Zurich had borne the burden of the war for the last four years, and, unless she wished to forfeit her very existence, was compelled to have peace at any price. And as she was completely exhausted, and yet was made the surety for the Waldstaetten, the Eidgenossen submitted to the harsh conditions imposed.

In 1358 Albrecht died, and was succeeded by his enterprising son, Rudolf IV. This ruler made it his special object to extend his power on the Upper Zurich lake. Rapperswyl was fortified and enlarged, and the famous wooden bridge across the lake was built--not for pilgrims wandering to Einsiedeln, as common report had it, but--to connect the territories he had conquered, or was expecting to conquer. Besides, he wished to cut off Zurich from the direct route to, and trade with, Italy, and from the Forest. But in 1360 died the all-powerful Brun, who had ever sympathised with Austria; and, in 1364, the old Queen Agnes (the widowed queen of Hungary), who had resided for twenty years at Koenigsfelden. Rudolf likewise died about the same time, and with their decease the Austrian spell was broken, and the hold of the Habsburgs on Zurich for a while loosened. Charles, now unfriendly towards Austria, tried to win favour with the Eidgenossen. He heaped privileges on Zurich, and sanctioned the league of the six states. Zurich refused to renew the treaty of Regensburg by oath, and as persistently declined to punish the people of Schwyz for breaking it. A fresh outbreak of war seemed imminent, but was averted by the peace of Torberg, 1368, which established a better agreement between Austria and the Confederation. By this treaty Zug was permitted to be re-annexed to the league. Zug had been conquered by Schwyz in 1365, at a moment when the attention of Austria was withdrawn. Glarus did not return to the Confederation until it had, so to speak, qualified itself for re-admission, by gaining the most remarkable victory of Naefels, the story of which will be told later on.

FOOTNOTES:

[27] Compare _Vierwaldstaettersee_, the German for Lake Lucerne.

[28] See Chapter xiii.

XIII.

ZURICH AN EXAMPLE OF A SWISS TOWN IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

(853-1357.)

We may perhaps do well to pause here awhile before proceeding to show how the various Swiss cantons were gathered into the fold of the Eidgenossenschaft--a long process, as a matter of fact--and devote a short chapter to a glance at an aristocratic city whose polity and development contrast with those of the Forest lands. Zurich presents a fair example of a city whose origin dates back to a remote age, and whose transition from the condition of a feudal territory into the position of an independent commonwealth can be clearly followed. That Turicum is a word of Celtic origin, and that the place was one of the lake settlements in prehistoric times, and a Roman toll-station later on, has been already shown.

The chief founders of this Alamannic, or Swabian, settlement, however, were the Carolinger. Louis the German had raised the Grand Abbey and Church of Our Lady (Fraumunsterabtei) in 853, to provide his saintly daughters, Hildegarde and Bertha, with positions and incomes equal to their rank. His ancestors, Pepin the Short and Charlemagne, had founded or enlarged the minster, with its vast establishment of prebends, and the Carolinum, or clerical colleges. Both institutions were richly endowed with land, and granted many prerogatives, especially the _immunity_, most precious of all, viz., the severance from the county or local administration of Zurich. They thus came again under the immediate control of the empire, and there were developed, two distinct centres of feudal life. Yet a third nucleus was formed by the dependants of royalty, the _fiscalini_, and followers of the monarch and of the Swabian dukes. These were grouped around the imperial palace (Pfalz) on the Lindenhof, a fortified stronghold on the site of the Roman _castrum_, and a favourite residence of the German sovereigns, who were attracted thither by the natural beauty of the place. The houses of the Alamannic free peasantry were scattered over the slopes of Zurichberg, and reached down to the Limmat river. Gradually these four distinct settlements approached each other, and in the tenth century the inner core at the mouth of the lovely lake was girt with strong walls with towers, and the _tout ensemble_ now looked like a picturesque mediaeval city with its suburbs. The rights of high jurisdiction over the whole were exercised by a royal governor, or representative of the sovereign. This was the so-called _Reichsvogtei_, or Advocacia in imperio.

The noble counts of Lenzburg were imperial governors from about 970 to 1098, but when the Zaerings became the governors of the Swiss lands the Lenzburgs became their holders till their death. Then the _Reichsvogtei_, that is, the city and its vicinity, fell back into the hands of the Zaerings, and was held by them directly till the extinction of the dynasty, 1218. From that time the charge was entrusted to the city-board, as Voegte. In Zurich the Lady Abbess acknowledged as her superior none but the governing Zaeringen duke, and later on, that is, after the dynasty had come to an end, took the foremost position. Indeed Frederick and the Hohenstaufer created his _Reichsfuerstin_, Princess Abbess, and thus the office became one of very special dignity, and was bestowed generally on ladies of noble birth. By the acquisition of territory--reaching into Alsacia and to the St. Gothard--by privileges acquired under successive monarchs, by monopolies (coinage, fees, and tolls on markets and fairs, &c.), the institution rose to an eminence and splendour truly royal. Dukes and counts visited the abbey to pay court to its illustrious abbess--_die Hohe Frau von Zurich_, as she was styled--and entrusted their daughters to her care. Yet it was for court-life these high-born damsels were to be prepared rather than for the religious vows. The inner life of this great monastery, though highly interesting in itself, cannot enter into a short sketch like the present. Not only was the Abbess Lady Paramount over her clergy and vast abbatial household, with its staff of officers and its law-court, but she also bore sway over the city itself. When the administration began to require increased attention she enlarged its council, and presided at its meetings. This curious state of things continued till the thirteenth century, which saw the rise of a general political emancipation in German cities. Though apparently under a thraldom, yet the citizens really grew beneath the mild and equitable female rule into a powerful and thriving body, and at length began to contest with their mistress for self-rule.

To Frederick II. they owed their emancipation. By him Zurich became a free imperial city, governed by its own council. Council and citizens gradually becoming alive to their own civic interests, step by step wrested the civil power from the hands of the Lady Abbess, and emerged into the condition of an independent commonwealth. By this time society within the city had arranged itself into three distinct classes. (1) The clergy, headed by the abbess and the provost. (2) The knights, owing military service to emperor and abbess, and the burghers, or chiefly free landowners, and important commercial men. This second order was the governing class, and out of it came the members of the council. (3) The craftsmen, who exercised their trades only with the permission of their masters, the governing class. The workers were excluded from all share in the government, and were even prohibited from forming guilds. The majority of the artisans and serfs lived without the gates, in the outer city or walled-in suburbs. These political inequalities at length met with violent opposition, and in 1336 there broke out a revolution.

The industry of the thrifty and energetic population increased the material wealth of the city, and commercial treaties were entered into with neighbouring countries, with Italy particularly, and Italian influence made itself felt ever since the twelfth century, through four hundred years, not only in trade, but also in architecture. Zurich became an emporium for silk, and the silk manufacture, introduced from Italy, became a speciality, and was found in no other German town.[29] The activity displayed in building churches and monasteries was simply astonishing. The present minster, in the Lombard style, on the type of San Michele at Pavia, was built in the twelfth century, and the abbey was restored by the noble ladies in the thirteenth. The frequent visits of kings and emperors, who held their diets here, naturally increased the importance of the city. Taking it altogether, Zurich must have been, even in the thirteenth century, a fine specimen of a mediaeval town, for Barbarossa's biographer, Otto von Freysing, calls it the noblest city of Swabia ("Turegum nobilissimum Sueviae oppidum").[30] Her policy of entering into alliances with the Swabian and Rhenish towns, and with the vast South-German coalition, and the friendly political and commercial relations she maintained, show that she fully grasped the situation, and gave her that security which promoted her trade and industry, and allowed her to develop freely.

The thirteenth century spread enlightenment amongst the benighted people of the Middle Ages, and increased the growth of political freedom in the cities, thanks to the struggles between the Papacy and the Hohenstaufen. Zurich had early emancipated herself from the spiritual sway and influence of her abbess mistress. Already, in 1146, the people had listened with keen interest to the advanced religious teaching of Arnold of Brescia, and in the ensuing quarrels sided with the freethinking Frederick II. During the interdict of 1247-49 Frederick's staunch adherents boldly drove from the town those clergy who refused to perform their spiritual functions. On a second expulsion from the town the friars took sides with the citizens, and obeyed the order literally, for they went out by one gate of the town, and re-entered by another, and resumed their offices. That the Zurcher had grown strong and self-reliant is shown by their alliance with Rudolf of Habsburg, in the feuds against their common foes, the neighbouring nobles, whose raids they checked, and by openly resisting the heavy taxation imposed by the monarch on the city. On one occasion--it was at a drinking-bout--the chief magistrate denounced this oppressive policy most wrathfully in the very presence of the queen and her daughters.

The Staufen epoch, seething with social and political movements, was also full of the spirit of romanticism. The English and French met the Germans in the Crusades, and quickened in the Fatherland the love of poetry and romance. Then the great religious wars themselves opened out a whole new world of thought and fancy. The glorification of the brilliant exploits of the Staufen sovereigns, themselves poets, inspired many a grand or lovely song, the highest flights producing the Nibelungen and the _Minnelieder_. In Swiss lands also minstrelsy flowed richly, and Zurich stands out as a "Poets' Corner" in the thirteenth century. At the hospitable manor of Roger Manesse, a famous knight and magistrate of the city, or at the great Abbey Hall, a brilliant company of singers clustered round the Princess Abbess Elizabeth, an eminent woman, and her relatives, the Prince Bishop of Constance, Henry of Klingenberg, and his brother Albrecht, the famous chevalier. Then the Prince Abbots of Einsiedeln, and the abbots of Petershausen (Constance), the counts of Toggenburg, the barons of Regensberg, of Eschenbach, and Von Wart, together with many other lords, spiritual and temporal, and many a fair and illustrious lady--all these thronged the courtly circle to listen to the recital of the _Minnelieder_, or perchance to produce their own. The famous Codex Manesse, lately at Paris, and now in Germany,[31] bears witness to the romantic character of the age. It contains the songs of some hundred and fifty German and Swiss minstrels, who sang between the years 1200 and 1350. Manesse and his son, a canon at the minster, undertook the collection out of pure enthusiasm. Their amanuensis was a comely young fellow named Hadloub, the son of a freeman farmer from the Zurichberg. A pretty story is told how during his mechanical labour of copying there grew strong in him the love of poetry, and he became himself a poet. For he fell in love with a high-born lady at Manesse's court, who however noticed him not. Then he told his grief in love songs which Manesse added to his collection. Indeed these songs close the series of Swiss poems in the Codex Manesse. Gottfried Keller, of Zurich, one of the greatest German novelists of the present day, has treated of the period in his exquisite novel "Hadloub" (_Zurcher Novellen_). Space does not permit us to give any account of the story, and the reader must be referred to the fascinating tale as it stands. Hadloub was indeed the last Swiss minstrel belonging to that fertile age. The love and beauty of woman is the theme of his songs, and in depicting these he particularly excels--the real _Minnegesang_. Uhland, the great lyric poet says of him, "In the clear soul of this poet the parting minstrelsy has once more reflected its own lovely image."

But whilst poetry was rejoicing the hearts of the nobles, political clouds were fast gathering over the city, to break at length into a wild hurricane. As a matter of fact, a few distinguished families had established an oligarchy in the place of the city council in process of time. The craftsmen, excluded from any share in the administration, and moreover finding fault with the financial management of the state, and galled by the domineering conduct of the aristocracy, rose in fierce opposition. Rudolf Brun, an ambitious ruler, but a clever statesman, being at variance with his own patrician party, suddenly placed himself at the head of the malcontents. Overthrowing the government before it had time to bestir itself, Rudolf had himself elected burgomaster, an official in whom all power was to centre. In 1336 he presented a new constitution, making the whole assembly swear to it. To insure its validity this code (_Geschworne Brief_) was submitted to the sanction of the abbess and the provost, and was also approved by the emperor. This new constitution was quite in keeping with the political views of the age, and remained in its chief points the leading constitutional guide of the commonwealth down to the revolution of 1798. It was a curious blending of democratic with aristocratic and monarchical elements. The craftsmen, who up to the present had counted for nothing in politics, were now formed into thirteen corporations, each selecting its own guildmaster, who represented its members in the governing council. The nobility and the wealthy burghers who practised no profession, or the Geschlechter (patricians), and rentiers formed a highly aristocratic body known as the Constafel (Constables), and were likewise represented in the state council by thirteen members, six of whom Brun named himself. The position of the burgomaster was the most striking of all, and was, in fact, that of a Roman dictator of old, or resembling the Italian tyrannies of the Visconti or Medici. Elected for life, vested with absolute power, the burgomaster was responsible to none, whilst to him fealty was to be sworn by all on pain of losing the rights of citizenship. The idol of the people to whom he had granted political power, Brun was regarded as the true pilot and saviour in stormy times. The fallen councillors brooded revenge, and being banished the town, resorted to Rapperswyl, the Zurich _extra muros_, and at the other end of the lake. There they made _chose commune_ with Count John of that place, who was desirous of evading payment of the debts he had contracted in Zurich. Feuds and encounters followed, and John was slain in battle in 1337. The emperor tried to restore peace, but the exiled councillors were bent on bringing back the old state of things, and on regaining their seats. They plotted against Brun's life, and those of his associates, and fixed upon the 23rd of February, 1350, for making an attack by night on the city, with the intention of seizing it by a single _coup-de-main_. They relied on the help of sympathisers within the town. The burgomaster, being apprized of the plot, summoned his faithful burghers to arms by the ringing of the tocsin. A bloody hand-to-hand fight in the streets took place, thence called the _Zurcher Mordnacht_. The conspiracy was crushed by the majority, and Count John of Rapperswyl, son of the above-mentioned count, was thrown into the tower of Wellenberg, a famous state prison. There he passed his time in the composition of _Minnelieder_.

Brun made a bad use of his victory. His cruelties to the prisoners and to Rapperswyl, which he burnt, are unjustifiable, and seem inexplicable in so far-sighted a statesman. He was ambitious, and desired not only his own advancement, but also that of his native city. He had depended on Austria, hoping to rise through her alliance and aid, but, suddenly forgetting all moderation, and disregarding all traditional _liaisons_ with her, he laid waste the territory of the counts of Rapperswyl, cousins to the Habsburgs. This of course entangled Zurich in a war with Austria, who threatened to level her with the ground. Having estranged the neighbouring states by her cruel proceedings, or rather by those of Brun, Zurich stood alone, and was compelled to look around for aid and countenance. Though by no means friendly towards the bold Forest men, the dictator Brun concluded an alliance with them. The Waldstaetten were quite ready to receive into their league a commonwealth so powerful and well-organized as Zurich, a state likely to be at once their bulwark and their emporium. They therefore willingly agreed to Brun's stipulations (May 1, 1351), and, further acquiesced in the proviso that Zurich should be allowed to conclude separate treaties. These treaties or alliances were very common at that time, and changeable as they were, they nevertheless gave additional security for the time being.

But though Brun had introduced a _regime_ of force, he yet made concessions to the masses, giving them a share of political power. And his constitutional system answered the wants of the city, to a great degree, for some four centuries and a half.

FOOTNOTES:

[29] White silk veils in the guise of bonnets were exported to Vienna, and even as far as Poland. This silk-making, of course, increased the prosperity of the town. It declined, and was reintroduced in the sixteenth century in a far more advanced condition, by the persecuted Protestants from Locarno.

[30] He also reports that one of its gates bore the inscription, "_Nobile Turegum multarum copia rerum_."

[31] It happened to be in the possession of the Elector of the Palatinate, and was carried off to France when Louis XIV. laid waste the province.

XIV.

BERN CRUSHES THE NOBILITY: GREAT VICTORY OF LAUPEN, 1339.

The alliance of Bern was a great acquisition to the federal league. She formed the corner-stone of the Burgundian states, and brought them into connection with, and finally into the pale of, the Swiss Confederation. Her early history has been touched upon in previous chapters. True to her original position as a check on the nobility, and forming a natural stronghold, this proud Zaeringen town shows a singularly martial, and indeed dominant spirit, and runs a military and political career of importance. Bern had effectively resisted the encroachments of the old house of Kyburg (1243-55), and stoutly opposed the oppressive tax of 40 per cent, imposed by Rudolf of Habsburg. And, though she had suffered a severe defeat at Schosshalde, in 1289, the disaster was more than compensated by a great victory at Dornbuehl, in 1298, and she had carried over her rival, Freiburg and the nobles of the highlands, partners of the latter. It was always a most usual thing in the fourteenth century for states to enter into leagues, with the view of better safeguarding themselves against neighbouring and powerful foes. And thus Bern gathered all the kindred elements of West Switzerland into a Burgundian Confederation--the free imperial valley Hasle, the rich monastery of Interlaken, the house of Savoy, the new house of Kyburg-Burgdorf, the bishops of Sion, the cities of Bienne, Solothurn, Freiburg,--all these were at one time or another in union with Bern. The friendship with Freiburg, however, was often disturbed by feelings of jealousy that at times grew into feuds, but that for Solothurn was lasting. It was, in fact, based on similarity of political views and aims, both agreeing in refusing to acknowledge the rival kings, Louis of Bavaria and Frederick the Handsome. In consequence of their obstinacy, Leopold, who had been defeated at Morgarten, and wished to reassert the authority of his brother, laid siege to Solothurn in 1318. The Bernese came to the help of the sister city. A memorable scene was witnessed during the course of the assault. The river Aare was much swollen at the time, and a bridge that the beleaguering forces had thrown across was carried away by the flood, and their men were being drowned in numbers. Then the Solothurner, forgetting all injuries, rushed out with boats to save their enemies. Leopold was so touched by such magnanimity that he at once raised the siege, and presented the town with a beautiful banner.

Bern's strong bent for territorial extension was quite a match for the encroaching tendencies of the Habsburgs. To get a footing in the canton the latter made use of a crime committed amongst the Kyburger. That illustrious house, well-nigh ruined morally and financially, had been compelled by its adverse fortunes to place in the Church a younger son, Eberhard. The young man submitted with great reluctance. Happening to fall to a quarrel with Hartmann, at the castle of Thun, high words arose and were succeeded by blows, and Hartmann was slain. This was in 1332. On the plea of avenging the murder, the Habsburgs set up a claim to the Kyburg property. Bern however confirmed the count in his possessions, and purchasing Thun from him, returned it as a fief, requiring him to give an undertaking that Burgdorf should never be mortgaged without her knowledge and consent. But Eberhard gradually forgot the services Bern had rendered his house, and, fearing her power, veered round to Freiburg, and became a citizen of that town. The differences then swelled into an outbreak, which had been for some time impending. Bern, it is to be noted, had in many ways got the start of the sister city; for instance, she had become an imperial free city in the year 1218, on the extinction of the Zaeringer, and this had given her a considerable lift. Then, in 1324, Bern had secured the mortgage of Laupen, an excellent stronghold on the Saane, and had driven the Freiburger from the district. And in 1331, after the house of Kyburg had joined its fortunes with those of Freiburg, the strong fortress of Guemminen had been demolished, as well as many Kyburg castles. Guemminen belonged to her rival, and was a place of singular strategical importance.