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Title: The Story of Switzerland
Author: Hug, Lina, Stead, Richard
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Story of Switzerland" ***
[Illustration: ANCIENT SWISS LAKE DWELLINGS, ZURICH LAKE. (_From Design
by Dr. F. Keller._)]
The Story of the Nations
THE STORY OF SWITZERLAND
BY
LINA HUG
AND
RICHARD STEAD
NEW YORK
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
London: T. FISHER UNWIN
1890
COPYRIGHT, 1890
BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
_Entered at Stationer's Hall, London_
BY T. FISHER UNWIN
Press of
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
New York
THE STORY OF THE NATIONS
12MO, ILLUSTRATED. PER VOL., $1.50
THE EARLIER VOLUMES ARE
THE STORY OF GREECE. By Prof. JAS. A. HARRISON
THE STORY OF ROME. By ARTHUR GILMAN
THE STORY OF THE JEWS. By Prof. JAS. K. HOSMER
THE STORY OF CHALDEA. By Z. A. RAGOZIN
THE STORY OF GERMANY. By S. BARING-GOULD
THE STORY OF NORWAY. By Prof. H. H. BOYESEN
THE STORY OF SPAIN. By E. E. and SUSAN HALE
THE STORY OF HUNGARY. By Prof. A. VÁMBÉRY
THE STORY OF CARTHAGE. By Prof. ALFRED J. CHURCH
THE STORY OF THE SARACENS. By ARTHUR GILMAN
THE STORY OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN. By STANLEY LANE-POOLE
THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. By SARAH O. JEWETT
THE STORY OF PERSIA. By S. G. W. BENJAMIN
THE STORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT. By GEO. RAWLINSON
THE STORY OF ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. By Prof. J. P. MAHAFFY
THE STORY OF ASSYRIA. By Z. A. RAGOZIN
THE STORY OF IRELAND. By Hon. EMILY LAWLESS
THE STORY OF THE GOTHS. By HENRY BRADLEY
THE STORY OF TURKEY. BY STANLEY LANE-POOLE
THE STORY OF MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA. BY Z. A. RAGOZIN
THE STORY OF MEDIÆVAL FRANCE. By GUSTAVE MASSON
THE STORY OF MEXICO. By SUSAN HALE
THE STORY OF HOLLAND. By JAMES E. THOROLD ROGERS
THE STORY OF PHOENICIA. By GEORGE RAWLINSON
THE STORY OF THE HANSA TOWNS. By HELEN ZIMMERN
THE STORY OF EARLY BRITAIN. By Prof. ALFRED J. CHURCH
THE STORY OF THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. By STANLEY LANE-POOLE
THE STORY OF RUSSIA. By W. R. MORFILL.
THE STORY OF THE JEWS UNDER ROME. By W. D. MORRISON.
THE STORY OF SCOTLAND. By JAMES MACKINTOSH.
For prospectus of the series see end of this volume
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK AND LONDON
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
TO
PROFESSOR GEORG VON WYSS
AND
PROFESSOR G. MEYER VON KNONAU
PREFACE.
For many reasons, some of which are obvious to the least thoughtful, the
history of Switzerland is peculiarly interesting, and not least so to
English-speaking peoples. In the first place, the "playground of Europe"
is every year visited by large numbers of British and Americans, some of
whom indeed are familiar with almost every corner of it. Then to the
Anglo-Saxon race the grand spectacle of a handful of freemen nobly
struggling for and maintaining their freedom, often amidst enormous
difficulties, and against appalling odds, cannot but be heart-stirring.
To the citizen of the great American republic a study of the
constitution of the little European republic should bring both interest
and profit--a constitution resembling in many points that of his own
country, and yet in many other respects so different. And few readers,
of whatever nationality, can, we think, peruse this story without a
feeling of admiration for a gallant people who have fought against
oppression as the Swiss have fought, who have loved freedom as they
have loved it, and who have performed the well-nigh incredible feats of
arms the Switzers have performed. And as Sir Francis O. Adams and Mr.
Cunningham well point out in their recently published work on the Swiss
Confederation, as a study in constitutional history, the value of the
story of the development of the Confederation can hardly be
over-estimated.
Few of the existing accounts of Swiss history which have appeared in the
English language go back beyond the year 1291 A.D., the date of the
earliest Swiss League, and of course Switzerland as a nation cannot
boast of an earlier origin. But surely some account should be given of
the previous history of the men who founded the League. For a country
which has been occupied at different periods by lakemen, Helvetians, and
Romans; where Alamanni, Burgundians, and Franks have played their parts;
where Charlemagne lived and ruled, and Charles the Bold fought; where
the great families of the Zaerings, the Kyburgs, and Savoy struggled;
and whence the now mighty house of Habsburg sprang (and domineered)--all
this before 1291--a country with such a story to tell of its earlier
times, we say, should not have that story left untold. Accordingly in
this volume the history of the period before the formation of the
Confederation has been dwelt upon at some little length. It should be
mentioned, too, that in view of the very general interest caused by the
remarkable discovery of the Swiss lake settlements a few years ago, a
chapter has been devoted to the subject.
Mindful, however, of the superior importance of the formation and
progress of the Confederation, an endeavour has been made to trace that
progress step by step, showing how men differing in race, in language,
in creed, and in mode of life, combined to resist the common enemy, and
to build up the compact little state, we now see playing its part on the
European stage. The whole teaching of the history of the country may be
summed up in Mr. Coolidge's words, in his "History of the Swiss
Confederation" (p. 65). "Swiss history teaches us, all the way through,
that Swiss liberty has been won by a close union of many small states."
And Mr. Coolidge adds an opinion that "it will be best preserved by the
same means, and not by obliterating all local peculiarities, nowhere so
striking, nowhere so historically important as in Switzerland."
It remains to add a few words as to the authorities consulted by the
writers of this little volume. The standard Swiss histories have
naturally been largely used, such as those of Dr. Carl Dändliker,
Dierauer, Vulliemin, Daguet, Strickler, Vögelin, and Weber ("Universal
History"). Amongst other histories and miscellaneous writings--essays,
pamphlets, and what not--may be mentioned those of Dr. Ferdinand Keller,
Wartmann, Heer, Heierli, Von Arx, Mommsen, Burkhardt, Morel, Marquardt,
Dahn, Büdinger, Secretan, Von Wyss, Meyer von Knonau, Schweizer,
Finsler, Roget, Bächtold, Marcmonnier, Rambert, Hettner, Scherer,
Roquette, Freytag, Pestalozzi, Schulze, and Kern. Amongst the English
works consulted are Freeman's writings, the Letters of the Parker
Society, Adams and Cunningham's "Swiss Confederation," Coolidge's
reprint from the "Encyclopædia Britannica" of the article on the
"History of the Swiss Confederation," Bryce's "Holy Roman Empire," &c.
The authors are indebted for most kind and valuable assistance to
several eminent Swiss scholars. To Prof. Georg von Wyss and Prof. Meyer
von Knonau special thanks are due, whilst Prof. Kesselring, Herr J.
Heierli, and others, have shown much helpful interest in the progress of
the work. They also owe many thanks to Dr. Imhoof, who has most kindly
furnished them with casts from his famous collection of coins; and to
the eminent sculptors, Vela and Lanz, who have given permission to use
photographs of their latest works for illustration purposes.
ZURICH and FOLKESTONE, _July, 1890_.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE ix
TABLE OF CANTONS xiii
TABLE SHOWING NAMES, AREAS, AND POPULATIONS OF CANTONS xxiv
I.
THE LAKE DWELLERS 1-12
Discovery of Lake Settlements--Dr. Ferdinand Keller's
explorations--Three distinct epochs--Daily life of the
Lakemen--Lake Settlements in East Yorkshire.
II.
THE HELVETIANS 13-28
Extent of their territory--Their government and mode of
life--Orgetorix--Divico beats the Roman forces--Cæsar routs
Helvetians--Vercingetorix--Valisians--Rhætians.
III.
HELVETIA UNDER THE ROMANS 29-43
Cæsar's mode of dealing with Helvetia--Augustus--Helvetia
incorporated into Gaul--Vespasian--Alamanni and
Burgundians--Christianity introduced.
IV.
THE ANCESTORS OF THE SWISS NATION 44-57
The Huns and their ravages--Alamanni--Burgundians--"The
Nibelungenlied"--The Franks subdue both Alamanni and
Burgundians--Irish monks preach in Switzerland.
V.
THE CAROLINGIANS--CHARLEMAGNE 58-70
Pepin le Bref--Charlemagne--His connection with Zurich.
VI.
THE KINGDOM OF BURGUNDY; THE DUCHY OF SWABIA; AND THE GERMAN EMPIRE 71-82
Division of Charlemagne's territory into three--Rudolf the
Guelf--Swabian Dukes--Genealogical tables.
VII.
BURGUNDY AND SWABIA UNDER THE GERMAN EMPERORS 85-94
Bertha, the "Spinning Queen"--Her son Conrad--Helvetia in close
connection with Germany--Henry III.--Struggle with the Papal power.
VIII.
THE REIGN OF THE HOUSE OF ZAERINGEN 95-100
Their origin--Freiburg and other towns founded--Bern
founded--Defeated by Savoy--The Crusades.
IX.
THE HOUSES OF KYBURG, SAVOY, AND HABSBURG 101-117
Fall of the Zaerings--Kyburg dynasty--Growth of Feudalism--The
Hohenstaufen--Savoy--Rise of the Habsburgs--Rudolf.
X.
THE CONFEDERATION, OR EIDGENOSSENSCHAFT 118-130
The Forest Cantons--The Oath on the Rütli--Rudolf oppresses the
Waldstätten--Tell and the apple--Investigation as to the facts
relating to the foundation of the League.
XI.
THE BATTLE OF MORGARTEN 131-137
Attempt on Zurich by the Habsburgs--Albrecht--Gathering of the Wald
peoples--Austrian defeat.
XII.
THE LEAGUE OF THE EIGHT STATES 139-146
Lucerne joins the League--Zurich follows--War with Austria--Glarus
attached to the League as an inferior or protected State--Zug joins
the Union--Bern.
XIII.
ZURICH AN EXAMPLE OF A SWISS TOWN IN THE MIDDLE AGES 147-157
Abbey Church of our Lady--Influence of the Lady Abbess--Citizens in
three classes--They gradually gain freedom--Trade of the
city--Zurich a literary centre--Uprising of the working classes--A
new constitution.
XIV.
BERN CRUSHES THE NOBILITY: GREAT VICTORY OF LAUPEN 158-166
Bern of a military bent--Forms a West Swiss Union--Siege of
Solothurn--Bern opposes the Habsburgs--Acquires Laupen--Victory at
Laupen--League of the Eight States completed.
XV.
THE BATTLES OF SEMPACH AND NAEFELS 167-178
Opposition to Austria--Leopold III., Character of--His
plans--Defeat and death at Sempach--Winkelried--Battle of Naefels.
XVI.
HOW SWITZERLAND CAME TO HAVE SUBJECT LANDS 179-189
Acquisition of surrounding territories
desirable--Appenzell--Valais--Graubünden--Aargau--Quarrels with
Milan.
XVII.
WAR BETWEEN ZURICH AND SCHWYZ 190-199
Dispute concerning Toggenburg lands--Stüssi of Zurich and Von
Reding of Schwyz--Zurich worsted--Makes alliance with
Austria--France joins the alliance--Battle of St. Jacques.
XVIII.
BURGUNDIAN WARS 200-216
Charles the Bold--Louis XI. of France--Causes which led to the
war--Policy of Bern--Commencement of hostilities--Battle of
Grandson--Morat--Siege of Nancy and death of Charles.
XIX.
MEETING AT STANZ, &C. 217-229
Prestige gained by the League--Disputes respecting the admission of
Freiburg and Solothurn--Diet at Stanz--Nicolas von der
Flüe--Covenant of Stanz--Waldmann--His execution.
XX.
THE LEAGUE OF THE THIRTEEN CANTONS COMPLETED 230-242
Maximilian--Swabian War--Separation of Switzerland from the
Empire--Basel joins the League--Schaffhausen--Appenzell--Italian
wars--Siege of Novara--Battle of Marignano--St. Gall.
XXI.
THE GREAT COUNCILS, LANDSGEMEINDE, AND DIET, &C. 243-253
Two kinds of Canton--Constitution of Bern and of
Zurich--Landsgemeinde--Tagsatzung--Intellectual and literary life.
XXII.
THE REFORMATION IN GERMAN SWITZERLAND 254-268
Zwingli--His early life--His desire for a reformation--Appointed to
Zurich--A national Reformed Church established--Spread of the new
faith--The Kappeler Milchsuppe--Disputes between Luther and
Zwingli--Second quarrel with the Forest--Zwingli killed.
XXIII.
THE REFORMATION IN WEST SWITZERLAND 269-278
Political condition of Vaud and Geneva--Charles III. and
Geneva--The "Ladle Squires"--Bonivard thrown into Chillon--Reformed
faith preached in French Switzerland by Farel--Treaty of St.
Julien--Operations in Savoy.
XXIV.
GENEVA AND CALVIN 279-290
Calvin--His "Institutes"--His Confession of Faith--Banishment from
Geneva--His return--The _Consistoire_--The "Children of
Geneva"--Servetus burnt--The Academy founded--Calvin's death.
XXV.
THE CATHOLIC REACTION 291-302
_Droit d'asile_--Pfyffer--Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of
Milan--Borromean League--Protestants driven from
Locarno--Switzerland an asylum for religious refugees--Effect of
Swiss Reformation on England--Revival of learning--Escalade of
Geneva.
XXVI.
THE ARISTOCRATIC PERIOD 303-314
Thirty Years' War--Graubünden and its difficulties--Massacre in
Valtellina--Rohan--Jenatsch--Peasants' Revolt--Treaty with France.
XXVII.
POLITICAL MATTERS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 315-323
Aristocracy and plebeians--French League--Massacre at
Greifensee--Davel's plot--Bern--Its three castes--Constitutional
struggles in Geneva--Affray in Neuchâtel.
XXVIII.
SWITZERLAND AND THE RENAISSANCE: INFLUENCE OF VOLTAIRE AND ROUSSEAU 324-342
Voltaire--Residence at Ferney--No special influence on
Geneva--Rousseau--Madame de Staël--Swiss savants--Zurich a Poets'
Corner--Breitinger, Bodmer, Haller, Klopstock,
&c.--Pestalozzi--Lavater--The Helvetic Society.
XXIX.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND SWITZERLAND 343-359
Swiss Guards massacred in Paris--Insurrection of Stäfa--Treaty of
Campo Formio--The Paris Helvetic Club--The "Lemanic
Republic"--Surrender of Bern--Helvetic Republic
proclaimed--Opposition by Schwyz, Stanz, &c.
XXX.
THE "ONE AND UNDIVIDED HELVETIC REPUBLIC" 357-368
A levy ordered by France--Franco-Helvetic alliance--Austrian
occupation--Russian occupation--Battle of Zurich--Suwarow's
extraordinary marches--Heavy French requisitions--Rengger and
Stapfer,--Centralists and Federalists--Napoleon as mediator.
XXXI.
THE MEDIATION ACT AND NAPOLEON 369-381
Conference in Paris on Swiss matters--Mediation Act signed--The
Bockenkrieg--Six new cantons formed--Material and intellectual
progress--Extinction of Diet--The "Long Diet"--Congress of
Vienna--Completion of twenty-two cantons.
XXXII.
SWITZERLAND UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1815-48 382-394
Dissatisfaction with results of Vienna Congress--The French
revolution of 1830--The "Day of Uster"--The Siebner
Concordat--Catholic League--Progress of education--Political
refugees in Switzerland--Louis Philippe--Louis
Napoleon--Disturbances in Zurich by the Anti-Nationalists--The
Sonderbund War.
XXXIII.
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1848 395-407
New Federal Constitution--Federal Assembly--Federal
Council--Federal Tribunal--Powers of the individual
cantons--Military service--Neuchâtel troubles--Federal Pact
amended--The Initiative--The Referendum.
XXXIV.
INDUSTRY, COMMERCE, RAILWAYS, EDUCATION. THE "RIGHT OF ASYLUM" 408-421
Extent of trade--Exports and imports--Railways--Education--Keller the
poet--The Geneva Convention--International Postal Union--International
Labour Congress--Switzerland as a political asylum--Franco-German
War--Summary of population statistics.
GENEALOGICAL TABLES 83, 84
INDEX 423
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
LAKE DWELLINGS, ZURICH LAKE, FROM A DESIGN BY
DR. FERDINAND KELLER _Frontispiece_
MAP, SHOWING LAKE SETTLEMENTS AROUND ZURICH LAKE, BY MR. HEIERLI 2
(1) DECORATION ON SWORD HILT; (2 AND 3), STONE CELTS
FOUND IN SWISS LAKE DWELLINGS (COPIED BY PERMISSION
FROM "HARPER'S MAGAZINE") 4
(1) VESSEL; (2) SPECIMENS OF WOVEN FABRICS FOUND IN
SWISS LAKE DWELLINGS (COPIED BY PERMISSION FROM
"HARPER'S MAGAZINE") 7
SPECIMENS OF POTTERY FOUND IN SWISS LAKE DWELLINGS
(COPIED BY PERMISSION FROM "HARPER'S MAGAZINE") 10
JOHANNISSTEIN, WITH RUINS OF CASTLE OF "HOHENRHÆTIA,"
NEAR THUSIS, GRAUBÜNDEN 16
HOUSE (FORMERLY CHAPEL) IN ROMAUNSH STYLE, AT
SCHULS, LOWER ENGADINE, GRAUBÜNDEN 27
SILVER COIN, VERCINGETORIX (DR. IMHOOF, WINTERTHUR) 29
GOLD COIN, VESPASIAN [VESPASIANUS IMPERATOR-AETERNITAS]
(DR. IMHOOF) 34
GOLD COIN OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY [ST. FELIX, ST.
REGULA-SANCTUS CAROLUS] (DR. IMHOOF) 42
THE EIGER 52
GREAT MINSTER AND WASSERKIRCHE, ZURICH
(APPENZELLER, ZURICH) 67
FURKA PASS 79
CATHEDRAL (EXTERIOR), LAUSANNE 92
CHÂTEAU DE VUFFLENS, VAUD (FOURTEENTH
CENTURY) 102
BRONZE FIGURES FROM MAXIMILIAN MONUMENT,
INNSBRUCK (ARTHUR OF THE ROUND TABLE,
BRITAIN; THEODOBERT, DUKE OF BURGUNDY;
ERNEST, DUKE OF AUSTRIA; THEODORIC, KING
OF THE OSTROGOTHS) 106
THE OLD HABSBURG CASTLE, CANTON AARGAU 112
THALER OF THE THREE CANTONS (URI, SCHWYZ,
AND UNTERWALDEN) 120
MAP OF OLD SWITZERLAND 138
UPPER FALL OF THE REICHENBACH (MEYRINGEN) 160
PORCH OF BERN MINSTER, WITH STATUE OF RUDOLF
VON ERLACH 165
WINKELRIED'S MONUMENT, STANZ 174
ARMS OF URI 189
ST. JACQUES MONUMENT, BASEL, BY SCHLÖTH 196
ARMS OF SCHWYZ 198
ELIZABETH, WIFE OF ALBERT II.; MARIA OF BURGUNDY;
ELEANOR OF PORTUGAL; KUNIGUNDE,
SISTER OF MAXIMILIAN (FROM MAXIMILIAN
MONUMENT, INNSBRUCK) 201
MAP OF GRANDSON 210
OLD WEAPONS AND ARMOUR IN ZURICH ARSENAL 214
INNER COURT OF THE ABBEY OF OUR LADY. LUTH
CHAPTER OF ZURICH 220
ARMS OF UNTERWALDEN 229
MARBLE RELIEVI, MAXIMILIAN MONUMENT, INNSBRUCK 231
CITY WALLS OF MURTEN 235
CUSTOM-HOUSE, FREIBURG 240
SARNEN, BERN 244
CITY WALLS, LUCERNE 246
ULRICH ZWINGLI 256
MINSTER, BERN 270
THALER OF 1564 (ST. GALL) 289
HIGH ALTAR, CHUR CATHEDRAL 306
ROUSSEAU 329
PESTALOZZI 330
HALLER 333
LAVATER 340
THE LION OF LUCERNE 344
LA HARPE 348
REDING 354
DILIGENCE CROSSING THE SIMPLON PASS 362
INTERLAKEN, FROM THE FELSENEGG 386
POLYTECHNIKUM AT ZURICH 397
VIEW OF SION 404
LAW COURTS AT LAUSANNE 407
"VICTIMS OF THE WORK," ST. GOTHARD TUNNEL,
FROM A BAS-RELIEF BY VELA (BY SPECIAL
PERMISSION OF SCULPTOR) 411
PORTRAIT OF GOTFRIED KELLER, THE POET 413
INTERIOR OF LAUSANNE CATHEDRAL 419
TABLE
SHOWING NAMES (GERMAN AND FRENCH), AREAS, AND POPULATIONS OF CANTONS.
----------------------------+------------------------+---------+-------------
| | Area in| Population
German Name. | French Name. | Square |(approximate)
| | Miles. |Dec. 1, 1888.
----------------------------+------------------------+---------+-------------
1. Aargau |Argovie | 543 | 193,000
2. Appenzell | Appenzell | |
{Ausser Rhoden | {Rhodes Extérieures| 100 | 54,000
{Inner Rhoden | {Rhodes Intérieures| 60 | 13,000
3. Basel Stadt |Bâle-Ville | 14 | 74,000
" Land | " Campagne | 163 | 62,000
4. Bern |Berne | 2,660 | 539,000
5. Freiburg |Fribourg | 644 | 119,000
6. St. Gallen |St. Gall | 779 | 229,000
7. Genf |Genève (Geneva) | 109 | 107,000
8. Glarus |Glaris | 267 | 33,000
9. Graubünden |Grisons | 2,774 | 96,000
10. Luzern |Lucerne | 579 | 135,000
11. Neuenburg |Neuchâtel | 312 | 109,000
12. Schaffhausen |Schaffhouse | 116 | 37,000
13. Schwyz |Schwyz (Schwytz) | 351 | 50,000
14. Solothurn |Soleure | 303 | 85,000
15. Tessin |Tessin (Italian, Ticino)| 1,095 | 127,000
16. Thurgau |Thurgovie | 381 | 105,000
17. Unterwalden {Obdem Wald |Unterwalden {Le Haut | 183 | 15,000
{Mid dem " | {Le Bas | 112 | 12,000
18. Uri |Uri | 415 | 17,000
19. Wallis |Valais | 2,026 | 102,000
20. Waadt |Vaud | 1,244 | 251,000
21. Zug |Zoug | 92 | 23,000
22. Zürich |Zurich | 665 | 332,000
----------------------------+------------------------+---------+-------------
Total | 15,987 |2,920,723[1]
+---------+-------------
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This grand total of the population, on Dec. 1, 1888, is taken from
the provisional Census Tables issued by the Swiss Government in 1889.
THE STORY OF SWITZERLAND.
I.
THE LAKE DWELLERS.
Who first lived in this country of ours? What and what manner of men
were they who first settled on its virgin soil and made it "home"? These
questions naturally present themselves every now and then to most
thoughtful people. And the man with any pretensions to culture feels an
interest in the history of other countries besides his own.
But however interesting these questions as to primary colonizations may
be, they are usually exactly the most difficult of answer that the
history of a country presents. Now and then indeed we may know tolerably
well the story of some early Greek immigration, or we may possess full
accounts of the modern settlement of a Pitcairn Island; but in far the
greater number of instances we can but dimly surmise or rashly guess who
and what were the earliest inhabitants of any given region.
MAP SHOWING THE CHIEF LAKE SETTLEMENTS IN OR NEAR LAKE ZURICH, By Prof.
T. Heierli, Zurich.
In the case of Switzerland, however, we are particularly fortunate.
"Every schoolboy" has heard of the wonderful discoveries made on the
shores of the beautiful Swiss lakes during the last few years, and the
same schoolboy even understands, if somewhat hazily, the importance
attaching to these discoveries. Nevertheless, some short account of the
earliest inhabitants of the rugged Helvetia must occupy this first
chapter. And to the general reader some little information as to what
was found, and how it was found, on the lake shores, may not come amiss.
In the winter of 1853, the waters of Zurich lake sank so low that a wide
stretch of mud was laid bare along the shores. The people of Meilen, a
large village some twelve miles from the town of Zurich, took advantage
of this unusual state of things to effect certain improvements, and
during the operations the workmen's tools struck against some obstacles,
which proved to be great wooden props, or piles. These piles, the tops
of which were but a few inches below the surface of the mud, were found
to be planted in rows and squares, and the number of them seemed to be
enormous. And then there were picked out of the mud large numbers of
bones, antlers, weapons, implements of various kinds, and what not. Dr.
Ferdinand Keller, a great authority on Helvetian antiquities, was sent
from Zurich to examine the spot, and he pronounced it to be a lake
settlement, probably of some very ancient Celtic tribe. Many marks of a
prehistoric occupation had previously been found, but hitherto no traces
of dwellings. Naturally the news of this important discovery of lake
habitations caused a great sensation, and gave a great impulse to
archæological studies. Dr. Keller called these early settlers
_Pfahl-bauer_, or pile-builders, from their peculiar mode of building
their houses.
[Illustration: (1) DECORATION ON SWORD HILT; (2 AND 3) STONE CELTS,
FOUND IN SWISS LAKE DWELLINGS.
(_Copied by permission from "Harper's Magazine."_)]
During the course of the last thirty years, over two hundred of these
aquatic villages have been discovered--on the shores of the lakes of
Constance, Geneva, Zurich, Neuchâtel, Bienne, Morat, and other smaller
lakes, and on certain rivers and swampy spots which had once been lakes
or quasi-lakes. The Alpine lakes, however, with their steep and often
inaccessible banks, show no trace of lake settlements.
The lake dwellings are mostly[2] placed on piles driven some 10 feet
into the bed of the lake, and as many as thirty or forty thousand of
these piles have been found in a single settlement. The houses
themselves were made of hurdlework, and thatched with straw or rushes.
Layers of wattles and clay alternating formed the floors, and the walls
seem to have been rendered more weather-proof by a covering of clay, or
else of bulrushes or straw. A railing of wickerwork ran round each hut,
partly no doubt to keep off the wash of the lake, and partly as a
protection to the children. Light bridges, or gangways easily moved,
connected the huts with each other and with the shore. Each house
contained two rooms at least, and some of the dwellings measured as much
as 27 feet by 22 feet. Hearthstones blackened by fire often remain to
show where the kitchens had been. Mats of bast, straw, and reeds abound
in the settlements, and show that the lakemen had their notions of
cosiness and comfort. Large crescent-shaped talismans, carved on one
side, were hung over the entrances to the huts, showing pretty clearly
that the moon-goddess was worshipped. The prehistoric collections in the
public museums at Zurich, Berne, Bienne, Neuchâtel, and Geneva, not to
speak of private collections, are very extensive and very fine,
containing tools, handsome weapons, knives of most exquisite shape and
carving, women's ornaments, some of them of the most elegant kind. A
"lady of the lake" in full dress would seem to have made an imposing
show. An undergarment of fine linen was girded at the waist by a broad
belt of inlaid or embossed bronze work. Over the shoulders was thrown a
woollen cloak fastened with bronze clasps, or pins, whilst neck, arms,
and ankles were decked with a great store of trinkets--necklaces,
anklets, bracelets, rings, spangles, and so forth. The whole was set off
by a diadem of long pins with large heads beautifully chiselled, and
inlaid with beads of metal or glass, these pins being stuck through a
sort of leathern fillet which bound up the hair. So beautiful are some
of the trinkets, that imitations of them in gold are in request by the
ladies of to-day.
[Illustration: (1) VESSEL; (2) SPECIMENS OF WOVEN FABRICS FOUND IN SWISS
LAKE DWELLINGS.
(_Copied by permission from "Harper's Magazine."_)]
It is curious to find that one of the most extensive lake colonies in
Switzerland is situated in and spread over the vast marshes of
Robenhausen (Zurich) which once formed part of Lake Pfäffikon. The
visitor who is not deterred by the inconvenience of a descent into a
damp and muddy pit some 11 feet deep, where excavations are still being
carried on, finds himself facing three successive settlements, one above
another, and all belonging to the remote stone age. Between the
successive settlements are layers of turf, some 3 feet thick, the growth
of many centuries. The turf itself is covered by a stratum of sticky
matter, 4 inches thick. In this are numbers of relics embedded, both
destructible and indestructible objects being perfectly well preserved,
the former kept from decay through having been charred by fire. The late
Professor Heer discovered and analysed remains of more than a hundred
different kinds of plants. Grains, and even whole ears of wheat and
barley, seeds of strawberries and raspberries, dried apples, textile
fabrics, implements, hatchets of nephrite--this mineral and the Oriental
cereals show clearly enough that the lakemen traded with the East,
though no doubt through the Mediterranean peoples--spinning-wheels,
corn-squeezers, floorings, fragmentary walls--all these are found in
plenty, in each of the three layers. The topmost settlement, however,
contains no destructible matters, such as corn, fruits, &c. This is to
be accounted for by the fact that the two lower settlements were
destroyed by fire, and the uppermost one by the growth of the turf, or
by the rising marshes. In the latter case there was no friendly action
of fire to preserve the various objects.
The scholar's mind is at once carried back to the account given by
Herodotus of Thrakian lake-dwellers.[3] The people of this tribe, he
tells us, built their houses over water, so as to gain facilities for
fishing. They used to let down baskets through trapdoors in the floors
of their huts, and these baskets rapidly filled with all kinds of fish
that had gathered around, tempted by the droppings of food.
Though the lakemen depended chiefly on the water for their supply of
food, yet they were hunters, and great tillers of the ground as well as
fishermen. They grew wheat and barley, and kept horses, cattle, sheep,
and goats. The women spun flax and wool, and wove them into fabrics for
clothing. Their crockery was at first of a very primitive description,
being made of black clay, and showing but little finish or artistic
design. But the children were not forgotten, for they were supplied with
tiny mugs and cups.[4]
[Illustration: SPECIMENS OF POTTERY FOUND IN SWISS LAKE DWELLINGS.
(_Copied by permission from "Harper's Magazine."_)]
With regard to the date when the immigration of lakemen began the
savants are hopelessly at variance. Nor do they agree any better as to
the dates of the stone and bronze epochs into which the history of the
lake settlements divides itself. But as in some of the marshy stations
these two epochs reach on to the age of iron, it is assumed by many
authorities that the lake dwellers lived on to historical times. This is
particularly shown in the alluvial soil and marshes between the lakes of
Neuchâtel and Bienne, Préfargier being one of the chief stations, where
settlements belonging to the stone, bronze, and iron ages are found
ranged one above another in chronological order. In the topmost stratum
or colony, the lakemen's wares are found mingling pell-mell with iron
and bronze objects of Helvetian and Roman make, a fact sufficient,
probably, to show that the lake dwellers associated with historical
peoples. It would be useless as well as tedious to set forth at length
all the theories prevailing as to the origin and age of the lake
dwellings. Suffice it to say that, by some authorities, the commencement
of the stone period is placed at six thousand, and by others at three
thousand years before the Christian era, the latter being probably
nearest the truth. As to the age of bronze, we may safely assign it to
1100-1000 B.C., for Professor Heer proves conclusively that the time of
Homer--the Greek age of bronze--was contemporary with the bronze epoch
of the lakemen.[5]
The Lake period would seem to have drawn to a close about 600-700 B.C.,
when the age of bronze was superseded by that of iron. According to the
most painstaking investigations made by Mr. Heierli, of Zurich, now the
greatest authority on the subject in Switzerland, the lakemen left their
watery settlements about the date just given, and began to fix their
habitations on _terra firma_. Various tombs already found on land would
bear witness to this change. When these peculiar people had once come on
shore to live they would be gradually absorbed into neighbouring and
succeeding races, no doubt into some of the Celtic tribes, and most
likely into the Helvetian peoples. Thus they have their part, however
small it may be, in the history of the Swiss nation. It must be added
that the Pfahl-bauer are no longer held to have been a Celtic people,
but are thought to have belonged to some previous race, though which has
not as yet been ascertained.
But enough has been written on the subject, perhaps. Yet, on the other
hand, it would have been impossible to pass over the lakemen in silence,
especially now when the important discoveries of similar lake
settlements in East Yorkshire have drawn to the subject the attention of
all intelligent English-speaking people.[6]
FOOTNOTES:
[2] There are two distinct kinds of settlement, but we are here dealing
with the first or earlier kind.
[3] Herod, v. 16.
[4] The lake tribes of the bronze age, however, not only understood the
use of copper and bronze, but were far more proficient in the arts than
their predecessors. Some of the textile fabrics found are of the most
complicated weaving, and some of the bronze articles are of most
exquisite chiselling, though these were probably imported from Italy,
with which country the lake dwellers would seem to have had considerable
traffic. The earliest specimens of pottery are usually ornamented by
mere rude nail scratchings, but those of the bronze period have had
their straight lines and curves made by a graving tool. In fact, the
later tribes had become lovers of art for its own sake, and even the
smallest articles of manufacture were decorated with designs of more or
less elaboration and finish.
[5] The products of the soil seem to have been the same amongst the
lakemen as amongst Homer's people. Both knew barley and wheat, and
neither of them knew rye. In their mode of dressing and preparing barley
for food the two peoples concurred. It was not made into bread, but
roasted to bring off the husk. And roasted barley is still a favourite
article of diet in the Lower Engadine. The Greeks ate it at their
sacrifices, and always took supplies of it when starting on a journey.
So Telemachus asks his old nurse Eurykleia to fill his goat skin with
roasted barley when he sets out in search of his father. And young Greek
brides were required to complete the stock of household belongings by
providing on their marriage day a roasting vessel for barley.
[6] Those who wish to see pretty well all that can be said on the matter
should read the valuable article in _The Westminster Review_, for June,
1887.
II.
THE HELVETIANS.
The history of a country often includes the history of many peoples, for
history is a stage on which nations and peoples figure like individual
characters, playing their parts and making their exits, others stepping
into their places. And so the Swiss soil has been trodden by many
possessors--Celts, Rhætians, Alamanni, Burgundians, Franks. These have
all made their mark upon and contributed to the history of the Swiss
nation, and must all figure in the earlier portions of our story.
Dim are the glimpses we catch of the early condition of the Helvetians,
but the mist that enshrouds this people clears, though slowly, at the
end of the second century before Christ, when they came into close
contact with the Romans who chronicled their deeds. The Helvetians
themselves, indeed, though not ignorant of the art of writing, were far
too much occupied in warfare to be painstaking annalists. At the
Celto-Roman period of which we are treating, Helvetia comprised all the
territory lying between Mount Jura, Lake Geneva, and Lake Constance,
with the exception of Basle, which included Graubünden, and reached into
St. Gall and Glarus. It was parcelled out amongst many tribes, even as
it is in our own day. The Helvetians, who had previously occupied all
the land between the Rhine and the Main, had been driven south by the
advancing Germans, and had colonized the fertile plains and the lower
hill grounds of Switzerland, leaving to others the more difficult Alpine
regions. They split into four tribes, of which we know the names of
three--the Tigurini, Toygeni, and Verbigeni. The first named seem to
have settled about Lake Morat, with Aventicum (Avenches) as their
capital. Basle was the seat of the Rauraci; to the west of Neuchâtel was
that of the Sequani; whilst Geneva belonged to the wild Allobroges. The
Valais[7] district was inhabited by four different clans, and was known
as the "Poenine valley," on account of the worship of Poeninus on
the Great St. Bernard, where was a temple to the deity. In the Ticino
were the Lepontines, a Ligurian tribe whose name still lingers in
"Lepontine Alps." The mountain fastnesses of the Grisons (Graubünden)
were held by the hardy Rhætians, a Tuscan tribe, who, once overcome by
the Romans, speedily adopted their speech and customs. Romansh, a
corrupt Latin, holds its own to this day in the higher and remoter
valleys of that canton.
All these tribes, except the two last mentioned, belonged to the great
and martial family of the Celts, and of them all the wealthiest, the
most valiant, and the most conspicuous were the Helvetians.[8] Of the
life and disposition of these Helvetians we know but little, but no
doubt they bore the general stamp of the Celts. They managed the javelin
more skilfully than the plough, and to their personal courage it is
rather than to their skill in tactics that they owe their reputation as
great warriors. But in course of time their character was greatly
modified, and, owing probably to their secluded position, they settled
down into more peaceful habits, and rose to wealth and honour, combining
with their great powers a certain amount of culture. They practised the
art of writing, having adopted the Greek alphabet, and gold, which was
possibly found in their rivers, circulated freely amongst them. To judge
from the relics found in Helvetian tumuli the Helvetians were fond of
luxuries in the way of ornaments and fine armour, and they excelled in
the art of working metals, especially bronze. They had made some
progress in agriculture, and in the construction of their houses, and
more especially of the walls that guarded their towns, which struck the
Romans by their neatness and practicalness. Nor would this be to be
wondered at if the old legends could be trusted, which tell us that
Hercules himself taught the Helvetians to build, and likewise gave them
their laws; an allusion, no doubt, to the fact that culture came to them
from the east, from the peoples around the Mediterranean. Besides many
hamlets, they had founded no fewer than four hundred villages and twelve
towns, and seem to have been well able to select for their settlements
the most picturesque and convenient spots. For many of their place-names
have come down to us, in some cases but little changed. Thus of colonies
we have Zuricum (Zurich), Salodurum (Soleure), Vindonissa (Windisch),
Lousonium (Lausanne), and Geneva; of rivers navigable or otherwise
useful, Rhine, Rhone, Aar, Reuss, Thur; of mountains, Jura and perhaps
Camor. Disliking the hardships of Alpine life the Helvetians left the
giant mountains to a sturdier race.
[Illustration: JOHANNISSTEIN, WITH RUINS OF CASTLE OF "HOHENRHÆTIA,"
NEAR THUSIS, GRAUBÜNDEN.
(_From a Photograph._)]
The nature of their political code was republican, yet it was largely
tinctured with elements of an aristocratic kind. Their nobles were
wealthy landed proprietors, with numerous vassals, attendants, and
slaves. In case their lord was impeached these retainers would take his
part before the popular tribunal. The case of Orgetorix may be cited. He
was a dynastic leader, and head over one hundred valley settlements; his
name appears on Helvetian silver coins as Orcitrix. He was brought to
trial on a charge of aspiring to the kingship, and no fewer than a
thousand followers appeared at the court to clear him, but _vox populi
vox dei_, and the popular vote prevailed. Orgetorix was sentenced to die
by fire, a punishment awarded to all who encroached upon the popular
rights.
Their form of religion was most probably that common to all the Celts,
Druidical worship. Invested with power, civil and spiritual, the Druids
held absolute sway over the superstitious Celtic tribes. Proud as the
Celts were of their independence, they yet were incapable of governing
themselves because of the perpetual dissensions amongst the tribes; and
they were overawed by the intellectual superiority of a priesthood that
professed all the sciences of the age--medicine, astrology, soothsaying,
necromancy--and had taken into its hands the education of the young. The
common people were mere blind devotees, and rendered unquestioning
obedience to the decrees of the Druids. Druidism was, in fact, the only
power which could move the whole Celtic race, and could knit together
the Celts of the Thames and those of the Garonne and Rhone, when they
met at the great yearly convocation at Chartres, then the "Metropolis of
the Earth." Human sacrifice was one of the most cruel and revolting
features of the Druidical religion.
The Celts were a peculiarly gifted people, though differing greatly from
the contemporary Greeks and Romans. They had been a governing race
before the Romans appeared on the stage, and wrested from them the
leading part. They had overrun the whole world, so to speak, casting
about for a fixed home, and spread as far as the British Isles, making
Gaul their religious and political centre, and settled down into more
peaceful habits. Driven by excess of population, or their unquenchable
thirst for war, or simply their nomadic habits--one cannot otherwise
account for their retrogression--they migrated eastwards whence they
came--to Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor--demanding territory, and
striking terror into every nation they approached by their warlike
habits. They knocked at the gates of Rome, and the Galatians were
conspicuous by their atrocities.[9] Brilliant qualities and great
national faults had been their peculiar characteristics. Quick-witted
they were, highly intelligent, ingenious, frank, versatile; attaching
much value to _gloire_, and _esprit_; susceptible of and accessible to
every impression, skilled handicraftsmen; but inclined to be vain,
boastful, and fickle-minded, averse to order and discipline, and lacking
in perseverance and moral energy. This, according to both ancient and
modern writers, was their character. They failed to create a united
empire, and to resist their deadly enemy, Rome.
What they did excel in was fighting. Dressed in gaudy costume--wide
tunic, bright plaid, and toga embroidered with silver and gold--the
Celtic noble would fight by preference in single combat, to show off to
personal advantage, but in the brunt of battle he threw away his
clothing to fight unimpeded. Bituitus, king of the Arverni, attired in
magnificent style, mounts his silver chariot, and, preceded by a harper
and a pack of hounds, goes to meet Cæsar in battle, and win his respect
and admiration.
The Helvetians were peaceful neighbours to Italy so long as they did not
come into direct contact with the Romans, but on the Rhine they were
engaged in daily feuds with the German tribes, who had driven them from
their settlements in the Black Forest, and had continued their raids
beyond the river. For the sake of plunder, or from mere restless habits,
the Germans had left their northern homes on the Baltic and North Seas,
the Cimbri, and their brethren, the Teutons and others, and were slowly
moving southward, repelling or being in turn repelled. The most daring
crossed the Rhine, and made their way straight through the lands of the
Belgians and Helvetians towards the South, thereby anticipating the
great dislocation of peoples which was to take place but five hundred
years later, when the Roman Empire, sapped at the root, crumbled to
pieces, unable longer to resist the tide of barbarian invasion.
On one of these expeditions the Cimbri, giving a glowing account of
sunny Gaul, and the booty to be obtained there, were joined by the
Helvetian Tigurini, whose leader was the young and fiery Divico (B.C.
107). They started with the intention of founding a new home in the
province of the Nitiobroges in Southern Gaul; but when they had reached
that territory they were suddenly stopped on the banks of the Garonne by
a Roman army under the consul Cassius and his lieutenant Piso. But,
little impressed by the military fame of the Romans, the Tigurini, lying
in ambush, gave battle to the forces of great Rome, and utterly routed
them at Agen, on the Garonne, between Bordeaux and Toulouse. It was a
brilliant victory; both the Roman leaders and the greater part of their
men were slain, and the rest begged for their lives. The proud Romans
were under the humiliating necessity of giving hostages and passing
under the yoke--a stain on the Roman honour not to be forgotten; but the
victors, being anything but diplomats, knew no better use to make of
their splendid victory than to wander about for a time and then go home
again.
A few years later (102 and 101 B.C.) the Tigurini, Toygeni, Cimbri, and
Teutons joined their forces on a last expedition southwards. The
expedition ended in the destruction of these German tribes. The Toygeni
perished in the fearful carnage at Aquæ Sextiæ, and the Cimbri later on
at Vercellæ. When the Tigurini heard of this last-mentioned disaster
they returned home.
Cæsar had been appointed governor of the Province (Provence) which
extended to Geneva, the very door of Helvetia; on the Rhine the Germans
continued to make their terrible inroads. Thus there was but little
scope for the stirring Helvetians, and the soil afforded but a scanty
supply of food; so they turned their eyes wistfully in the direction of
fair Gaul. Meeting in council they decided on a general migration,
leaving their country to whoever might like to take it. Then rose up
Orgetorix, one of their wealthiest nobles, and supported the plan,
volunteering to secure a free passage through the neighbouring provinces
of the Allobroges and Ædui. The 28th of March, B.C. 58, was the day
fixed for the departure, and Geneva was to be the meeting-place; thence
they were to proceed through the territory of the Allobroges. For two
years previously they were to get ready their provisions, and to collect
carts, horses, and oxen, but before the period had expired Orgetorix was
accused of treason, and being unable to clear himself, put an end to his
own life to escape public obloquy. This episode made no difference in
the general plan. The Helvetians, indeed, insisted on its being carried
out. Setting fire to their towns and villages to prevent men from
returning, they started on their adventurous journey on that spring morn
of 58 B.C. Cæsar's figures seem very large, but, if he is to be
trusted, the tribes numbered some 368,000 men, of which 263,000 were
Helvetians, the rest being neighbours of theirs. But 93,000 were capable
of bearing arms.
A curious yet thrilling sight must have been that motley caravan of
prodigious proportions--ten thousand carts drawn by forty thousand oxen,
carrying women, children, and the old men; riders and armour-bearers
alongside, toiling painfully through woods and fords, and up and down
rugged hills; behind the emigrants the smoking and smouldering ruins of
the homes they were leaving with but little regret. Yet they were no
mere adventurers, but looked forward with swelling hearts to a brighter
time and a more prosperous home. Arriving at Geneva they found the
bridge over the Rhone broken up by Cæsar's order. Cæsar was, in truth, a
factor they had not reckoned upon, and, after useless attempts to make
headway, they turned their steps towards Mount Jura, and whilst they
were toiling over the steep and rugged Pas de l'Ecluse, Cæsar returned
to Italy to gather together his legions. Returning to Gaul he arrived
just in time to see the Helvetians cross the Arar (Saône) with the
utmost difficulty. The Tigurini were the last to cross. And on them
Cæsar fell and cut them down, thus avenging the death of Piso--the
great-grandfather of Cæsar's wife--and wiping out the stain on the
honour of the Roman arms. His legions crossed the Saône in twenty-four
hours, and this performance so excited the admiration of the Helvetians,
who had themselves taken twenty days to cross, that they condescended
to send legates to treat with Cæsar for a free passage. They promised
him that they would do no harm to any one if he would comply with the
request, but threatened that if he should intercept them he might have
to see something of their ancient bravery. No threats or entreaties were
of avail, however, with such a man as Cæsar, who, smiling at their naïve
simplicity, asked them to gives hostages as a sign of confirmation of
their promise. "Hostages!" cried Divico, the hero of of Agen, in a rage,
"the Helvetians are not accustomed to give hostages; they have been
taught by their fathers to receive hostages, and this the Romans must
well remember." So saying he walked away.
The Helvetians continued their march, Cæsar following at a distance,
watching for an opportunity of attacking them. At Bibracte, an important
city of Gaul (now Mont Beuvray), west of Autun in Burgundy, the
opportunity offered itself. Cæsar seized a hill and posted his troops
there, and charged the enemy with his cavalry. The Helvetians fiercely
repulsed the attack, and poured on the Roman front, but were quite
unable to stand against the showers of the Roman pila, which often
penetrated several shields at once, and thus fastened them together so
that they could not be disentangled. Disconcerted by this unexpected
result, the Helvetians were soon discomfited by the sharp attack with
swords which instantly followed. Retiring for a while to a hill close
by, the barbarians again drew up in battle order, and again descended to
combat. Long and fierce was the struggle which followed; the Helvetians
fighting like lions till the evening, never once turning their backs on
the enemy. This is Cæsar's own report. But barbarian heroism was no
match for the regular, well-organized, and highly-trained Roman army,
and once more driven back, they withdrew to the hill where had been left
their wives and children with the baggage. From this place they ventured
to make a last resistance, and they drew up their carts in the form of a
deep square, leaving room in the middle for the non-combatants and the
baggage. Then mounting their extemporized fort--the so-called
Wagenburg--the Helvetian men commenced the fray, even their women and
children hurling javelins at the enemy. Not till midnight did the Romans
seize and enter on the rude rampart, and when they did the clashing of
arms had ceased. All the valiant defenders lay slain at their feet, and
the spirit of bold independence of the Helvetians was crushed for ever.
After this fearful disaster the rest of the emigrants, to the number of
110,000, continued their march through Gaul, but lacking both food and
capable leaders, and being moreover ill-used by the Gauls, they sent to
Cæsar for help. He demanded hostages, and ordered them to return home
and rebuild their towns and villages. And, further, he supplied them
with food for the journey, and requested the Allobroges to do the same
when the Helvetians should arrive in their province. Cæsar admits that
this apparent generosity on his part was dictated not by compassion, but
by policy. It was to his interest that these barbarians should re-occupy
Helvetia, because they would keep watch on the Rhine, and prevent the
irruption of the Germans into the country. In their condition now, he
calls the Helvetians ASSOCIATES (_foederati_), and not SUBJECTS, and
leaves them their own constitution, and, to some extent, their freedom.
But they did not relish this forced friendship, which was indeed more
like bondage; and when the Celts of Gaul rose in revolt under the noble
and beloved Vercingetorix, who had been a friend of Cæsar, they joined
their brethren (52 B.C.), and were again vanquished. On the defeat of
the Helvetians at Bibracte followed that of the Valisians, in 57 B.C. To
establish a direct communication between Central Gaul and Italy, Cæsar
took those same measures which Napoleon I. employed long afterwards; he
conquered the Valais (by his lieutenant Galba), that he might secure the
passage of the Great St. Bernard. A splendid road was formed over Mount
Poeninus, and a temple erected to Jupiter Poeninus, where the
traveller left votive tablets as a thanksgiving offering after a
fortunate ascent.
The subjugation of Rhætia was delayed for more than a generation. To
guard the empire against the Eastern hordes; against the mountain
robbers of Graubünden and the Tyrol, who descended into the valleys of
the Po, ravaging the country as far as Milan, and no doubt liberally
paying back in their own coin, the Romans who had made from time to time
such havoc in the Alpine homes--to guard against these, and the wild
Vindelicians of Bavaria, Augustus sent the two imperial princes to
reduce them to subjection. Drusus marched into the Tyrol, whilst
Tiberius advanced on Lake Constance, where even the Rhætian women
engaged in the conflict, and, in default of missiles, hurled their
sucking children into the face of the conquerors, through sheer
exasperation. Their savage courage availed them nothing, however; the
incursions from the East were repressed; and once the Rhætians were
overcome, they became the most useful of auxiliaries to the Roman army.
Horace's ode to Drusus alludes to the Rhætian campaign.
The Rhæto-Roman inhabitants of Graubünden--for they still occupy the
high valleys of the Engadine and of the Vorder-Rhine--present much
interest in point of language and antiquities. The sturdy Rhætians
belonged to the art-loving Etruscan race, whose proficiency in the
_amphora-technic_ we so highly value. An old legend calls their ancestor
Rætus a Tuscan. And not without show of reason, says Mommsen, for the
early dwellers of Graubünden and the Tyrol were Tuscans, and spoke a
dialect agreeing with that of the district of Mantua, a Tuscan colony in
the time of Livy. In Graubünden and Ticino were found, some thirty years
ago, stones bearing inscriptions in that dialect. The Rhætians may have
dropped behind in these Alpine regions on the immigration of Etruscans
into the valleys of the Po; or, they may just as likely have fled there
on the advent of the Celts, when that warlike race seized on the fertile
plains of the river, and drove the Etruscans from their home southward
and northward. Be that as it may, however, it is certain that the
Rhætians, once blended with the Romans, have preserved the Latin tongue
and customs to this day, for Romaunsh a corrupt Latin, with no doubt
some admixture of Tuscan, is still spoken by more than one-third of the
population of the Grisons.
[Illustration: HOUSE (FORMERLY CHAPLE) IN THE ROMAUNSH STYLE, AT SCHULS,
LOWER ENGADINE, GRAUBÜNDEN.
(_After a Photograph by Guler_.)]
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Valais (German, _Wallis_) means valley, and is so called from its
being a long narrow dale or vale hemmed in by lofty mountains.
[8] Mommsen, "Roman History," vol. ii. p. 166.
[9] "Story of Alexander's Empire," by Mahaffy, p. 79.
III.
HELVETIA UNDER THE ROMANS.
[Illustration: SILVER COIN, VERCINGETORIX.
(_Dr. Imhoof, Winterthur._)]
On the surrender of the noble Vercingetorix, a valiant knight, but no
statesman--he delivered himself up to Cæsar, trusting in his generosity
on the plea of former friendship, and died a prisoner of Rome--the war
with Gaul was virtually at an end. The sporadic risings that followed
lacked the spirit of union, and led to no results of any consequence.
During the seven years of his governorship in Gaul (58-51 B.C.), Cæsar
had completed the subjection of the entire country, with the exception
of the province of Narbonensis, whose conquest was of more ancient date.
He followed up his victories, and secured their results by organizing a
line of secure defences on the northern boundary of Gaul, along the
Rhine, creating thereby a new system of open defences--defences
offensive, so to speak--which he sketched out with full details, and
made Gaul herself a bulwark against the inroads of the aggressive
Germans. To secure peace and voluntary submission, he also regulated the
internal affairs of the new province, leaving her, however, most of her
old national institutions, hoping by conciliatory measures to gradually
bring her under Roman influences, and win her to side with Rome. But it
was left to others to carry out his plans, the Emperor Augustus being
the first to put them into practice; for civil war was again threatening
Italy, and Cæsar returned home to carry on his great contest with Pompey
for supremacy in the State.
Although Cæsar's plans were but a sketch they were faithfully carried
out, and the Gallic conquest proved to be more, and aimed higher, than
the mere subjection of the Celts. Cæsar was not only a great general,
but also a far-seeing politician. He had clearly understood that the
barbarian Germans might well prove more than a match for the Greek-Latin
world if they came into close contact with it. His defeat of Ariovistus,
who was on the point of forming a German kingdom in Gaul, and his wise
measures of defence, kept the barbarian hordes at bay for centuries, and
thus there was ample time given for the Greek-Latin culture to take root
throughout the West. It happened consequently that when Rome could no
longer offer any serious resistance, and the Germans poured into her
lands, the people of the West were already Romanized, and those of
Gaul, Britain, and Spain, became the medium of transmitting to the
Germans the spirit of classicism, by which they would otherwise have
hardly been affected; and those nations became the connecting link
between the classical age and the German era which absorbed its
high-wrought culture. If Alexander may be said to have spread Hellenism
over the East; Cæsar may be taken to have done as much, and indeed
vastly more for the West, for it is owing to him, though we can scarcely
realize the fact in our day, that the German race is imbued with the
spirit of classical antiquity.
The fall of Cæsar, and the state of anarchy that followed again, delayed
the work of pacification, and Helvetia was left to take care of herself.
But when Augustus was firmly seated on the imperial throne, he resumed
the task which had been bequeathed to him. The organization of Gaul was
chiefly his work, and it required an energetic yet moderate policy. The
old Narbonensis district, which had long been moulded into a Roman
province, was placed under senatorial control. New Gaul, or Gallia
Comata (_Gaule Chevelue_), as the whole territory was called which Cæsar
had conquered, was submitted to imperial authority, and treated more
adequately in accordance with the ancient constitutions of the various
tribes. To facilitate taxation and administration New Gaul was divided
into three provinces, each ruled by a Roman governor. Of these three
provinces, one was Belgica, extending from the Seine and the mouth of
the Rhine to Lake Constance, thus including Helvetia proper. Belgica, on
account of its size, was subdivided into three commands, in one of
which, that of Upper Germany, Helvetia found itself placed. Thus we
find Helvetia incorporated with Gaul.
The political capital of the Tres Galliæ, or Three Gauls, was Lugdunum
(Lyons), owing to its central position, and it seems to have been a very
important city. Here Drusus had raised an altar to his imperial father,
Augustus, and the Genius of the City. Here met the representatives of
the sixty-four Gallic states (including those of the Helvetians and the
Rauraci) on the anniversary of the emperor. Here, too, was the seat of
the Gallic Diet; and here, in the amphitheatre, took place rhetorical
contests, the Celts holding eloquence in high honour.
Eastern Switzerland, that is, Graubünden, and the land around Lake
Wallenstatt, as far as Lake Constance, was joined with Rhætia, which
likewise included, amongst other districts, the Tyrol and Southern
Bavaria. The whole of this territory was ruled by a governor residing at
Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg). The Valais district was joined to some
part of Savoy, and ruled by the procurator of the Poenine Alps. Ticino
does not concern us here, as it remained a portion of Italy down to the
sixteenth century.
Yet though thus arbitrarily made a part of Gaul, Helvetia formed a
province of itself, and had its own history and kept its own
constitution, thanks to Cæsar's wise and generous policy, by which he
provided that the Celts should not be interfered with in their method of
governing by tribes (_pagi_ or _civitates_), nor in their constitution,
so long as it did not clash with the Roman laws. When Cæsar had defeated
the Helvetians he sent them back to rebuild their old homes, and they
re-occupied their ancient territory, with the exception of that portion
which stretches from Fort l'Ecluse to Geneva and Aubonne, and borders on
Mount Jura. This portion was wrenched away and given to the Equestrian
Julian colony settled at Noviodunum (Nyon) on Geneva lake, to keep the
passes of the mountain (43 B.C.). The Jura range separated Helvetia from
the territory of the Rauraci, where another veteran colony was about the
same time established as a safeguard for the Rhine, to check the
incursions of the Germans. The Colonia Rauracorum was afterwards called
Augusta Rauracorum in honour of the emperor. The colonists of these two
settlements were mostly Romans, or had been admitted to Roman
citizenship, and occupied a different position from the inhabitants of
the country generally, for they were allowed Roman privileges and
favours--exemption from taxation most likely amongst others--but, on the
other hand, they were entirely dependent on the Roman Government.
The laborious investigations of the learned Mommsen and Charles Morel go
to show that the Helvetians were mildly treated by their masters. They
had been received into the Roman pale as friends (_foederati_), and as
such lived on favourable terms with these, and enjoyed as high a degree
of liberty and autonomy as was compatible with their position as Roman
subjects. The Rhætians had been taken from their country; the Helvetii,
on the contrary, had been sent back home and entrusted with the
guardianship of the Rhine, merely being required to furnish a
contingent for service abroad. They were allowed to maintain garrisons
of their own--that of Tenedo on the Rhine, for instance--to build forts,
to raise militia in case of war. And, as has before been mentioned,
their religious worship was not interfered with, nor their traditional
division into _pagi_, or tribes, and they were allowed a national
representative at the Gallic capital, Lyons. Helvetia took the rank of a
state (_Civitas Helvetiorum_), its chief seat (_chef-lieu_) being
Aventicum, which was also the centre of government. So long as Helvetia
conformed to the regulations imposed by the imperial government she was
allowed to manage her own local affairs. Latin was made the official
language, though the native tongue was not prohibited.
[Illustration: GOLD COIN, VESPASIAN (VESPASIANUS IMPERATOR-AETERNITAS).
(_By Dr. Imhoof, Winterthur._)]
A.D. 69-79. Under Vespasian, however, a great change took place. Thanks
to the munificence of that emperor, who had a great liking for
Aventicum, this city lost its Celtic character, and was made a splendid
city after the Italian type. He had sent there his befriended and
faithful Flavian colony of the Helvetians to live, giving her the
lengthy title of Colonia Pia Flavia Constans Emerita Helvetiorum
Foederata in return for services, for she had staunchly supported his
party against Vitellius when the latter contended with Galba for the
imperial throne. The inhabitants most likely received the Latin Right
(_Droit Latin_), or were considered Roman citizens, and as such were
more intimately connected with Rome, and had to submit to closer
control. Her institutions were assimilated to those of Italian towns.
She had a senate, a council of decuriones, city magistrates, a
_præfectus operum publicorum_ (or special officer to attend to the
construction of public buildings), Augustan flamens, or priests, and so
forth.
Notwithstanding the overwhelming importance of Aventicum, a certain
amount of self-government was left to the country districts, towns, and
villages (_vici_). The inhabitants of Vindonissa (Windisch), Aquæ
(Baden), Eburodunum (Yverdon), Salodurum (Soleure), erected public
buildings of their own accord. The towns of the Valais, Octodurum
(Martigny), Sedunum (Sion), &c., had their own city council and
municipal officers, and received the Latin Right. In the case of the
Helvetians, those of the capital and those of the provinces equally
enjoyed that Right; whereas, with Augusta Rauracorum, the case was
different, only the colonists within the walled cities being granted the
like standing and liberties. On the whole it may be said that, though
Helvetia kept many of her own peculiarities, and some of her ancient
liberties, she submitted to Rome, and was greatly influenced by the
advanced civilization of the empire. The Helvetians, indeed, underwent
that change of speech and character, which split them into two nations,
French and Germans.
One of the chief factors contributing to the Roman colonization of
Helvetia was the military occupation of its northern frontier, though
this occupation weighed heavily on the country. The great object of Rome
was to keep back the Germans, who were for ever threatening to break
into the empire. Vindonissa was one of the military headquarters, and
its selection for the purpose was justified by its excellent position,
situated as it was on an elevated neck of land, washed by three
navigable rivers, the Aare, Reuss, and Limmat, and at the junction of
the two great roads connecting East and West Helvetia with Italy. A
capital system of roads, too, was planned all over the country.
There would no doubt often be but little love lost between the
Helvetians and the soldiery in occupation. Tacitus ("Annals") tells of
one bloody episode. After the death of the madman hero, the twenty-first
legion, surnamed _Rapax_, or Rapacious, no doubt for good reasons, was
quartered at Vindonissa. Cæcina, a violent man, lieutenant of Vitellius,
then commander of the Rhine army, marched into Helvetia to proclaim
Vitellius emperor. But the Helvetians supported his opponent Galba, not
knowing that he had just been murdered, and fell upon the messengers of
Cæcina, and put them in prison, after first seizing their letters. The
lieutenant enraged at this affront laid waste the neighbouring Aquæ
(Baden near Zurich), a flourishing watering-place much frequented for
its amusements, Tacitus tells us. Calling in the Rhætian cohorts, he
drove them to the Boetzberg, and cut them down by thousands in the
woods and fastnesses of Mount Jura; then, ravaging the country as he
went, Cæcina marched on to Aventicum, which at once surrendered.
Alpinus, a notable leader, was put to death, and the rest were left to
the clemency of Vitellius. However, the Roman soldiery demanded the
destruction of the nation, but Claudius Cossus, a Helvetian of great
eloquence, moving them to tears by his touching words, they changed
their minds, and begged that the Helvetians might be set at liberty.
However this military occupation was, after sixty years of duration,
drawing to a close. Under Domitian and Trajan all the land between
Strasburg and Augsburg, as far as the Main, was conquered and annexed to
the Roman Empire. An artificial rampart was formed across country from
the mouth of the Main to Regensburg on the Danube, and the military
cordon was removed from the Swiss frontier to the new boundary line.
Helvetia, now no longer the rendezvous of the Roman legionaries, quietly
settled into a Roman province, where the language, customs, art, and
learning of Rome were soon to be adopted.
If the military stations were starting-points of the new culture, it was
the more peaceful immigrants who introduced agriculture, commerce, and
wealth, or, at any rate, caused it to make progress. Gradually the
Helvetians amalgamated with the Romans, adopting even their religion.
Horticulture and vine-culture were introduced. A Roman farmer grew vines
on a patch of ground near Cully, on Lake Geneva, and on an inscribed
stone (dug up at St. Prex) begs Bacchus (_Liber Pater Cocliensis_) to
bless the vintage. He little anticipated that his plantation would be
the ancestor, as it were, of the famous La Côte, now so highly valued.
Wherever the art-loving Roman fixed his abode he built his house, with
the wonderful Roman masonry, and furnished it with all the luxury and
art his refined taste suggested. Thus the country gradually assumed a
Roman aspect. Many towns and _vici_, or village settlements, sprang up
or increased in importance under Roman influence--Zurich, Aquæ (Baden
near Zurich), Kloten, Vindonissa, and others.[10] Yet the eastern
portion of the country could not compete in the matter of fine buildings
with the western cantons. Indeed, in the eastern districts the Helvetian
influence was never predominated over by the Latin influence, and the
Helvetians clung to their native speech despite the Latin tongue being
the official language.
But it was the mild and sunny west which most attracted the foreigner,
as it still does. Wealthy Romans settled in great numbers between Mount
Jura and the Pennine ranges. Every nook and corner of the Canton Vaud
bears even down to our days the stamp of Roman civilization. The shores
and sunny slopes of Geneva lake were strewn with villas, and the woody
strip of land between Villeneuve and Lausanne and Geneva was almost as
much in request for country seats by the great amongst the Romans as
that delightful stretch of coast on the Bay of Naples, from Posilippo
to Pozzuoli and Baiæ, where Cicero and Virgil, and many Romans of lesser
mark, had their _villegiatures_.
But the most remarkable place, whether for art, learning, or opulence,
was Aventicum, the Helvetian capital. Of this town some mention has been
made above, and, did space permit, a full description might well be
given of this truly magnificent and truly Roman city. Its theatre,
academy, senate-house, courts, palaces, baths, triumphal arches, and
private buildings were wonderful. Am. Marcellinus, the Roman writer, who
saw Aventicum shortly after its partial destruction by the Alamanni,
greatly admired its palace's and temples, even in their semi-ruinous
condition. The city next in beauty and size was Augusta Rauracorum
(Basel Augst), where the ruins of a vast amphitheatre still command our
wondering admiration.
But this period of grandeur was followed by the gradual downfall of the
empire, which was already rotten at the core. The degenerate Romans of
the later times were unable to stand against the attacks of the more
vigorous Germans. The story is too long to tell in detail, but a few
points may be briefly noted. In 264 A.D. the Alamanni swept through the
country on their way to Gaul, levelling Augusta Rauracorum with the
ground, and considerably injuring Aventicum. At the end of the third
century the Romans relinquished their rampart between the Rhine and the
Danube, and fell back upon the old military frontier of the first
century. Helvetia thus underwent a second military occupation. Yet the
prestige of Rome was gone. In 305 A.D. the Alamanni again overran
Helvetia, and completed the ruin of Aventicum. Weaker and weaker grew
the Roman power, and when the Goths pressed into Italy the imperial
troops were entirely withdrawn from Helvetia. As for the Helvetians
themselves, they were quite unable to offer any resistance, and when the
Alamanni once more burst into the land (406 A.D.), they were able to
secure entire possession of the eastern portions. The Burgundians,
another German tribe, followed suit, and in 443 A.D. fixed themselves in
West Helvetia. The inaccessible fastnesses of Graubünden alone remained
untouched by the tide of German invasion, which effected such changes in
the neighbouring districts.
At this period of worldly grandeur and internal decay, occurs another
historical event of the greatest importance, the rise of Christianity,
containing the vital elements necessary for bringing about the spiritual
regeneration of the world. The social and political decomposition
throughout the empire, the cruel tyranny of the sovereigns, the
decrepitude of the state and its institutions, the growing indifference
to the national religion, which showed itself in the facile adoption of,
or rather adaptation to, the Eastern forms of worship--the adoption of
the deities Isis and Mithra, for example--all these and many other
things unnecessary to mention, were unmistakable signs that Roman rule
was drawing to its close, and they also prepared the way for the
reception of the new doctrine. The belief in one God of mercy and love;
of one Saviour, the Redeemer of the world; of a future life,--were
startling but good tidings to the poor and oppressed, and made their
influence felt also on the rich and cultivated, who saw in Christianity
a tolerance, benevolence, human love, loftiness of principle and moral
perfection which had not been attained by the creeds of antiquity. The
passionate ardour and force of conviction amongst the Christians was
such that they faced suffering and death rather than abjure their tenets
or desist from preaching them to others.
The accounts of the introduction of Christianity into Switzerland are
mostly legendary, yet it is generally believed that it was not the work
of special missionaries. It is more likely that the new faith came to
the land as part and parcel of the Roman culture. Indeed this is now the
opinion most generally received. The military operations of the empire
required continual changes of locality on the part of the troops; thus
we find Egyptian, Numidian, and Spanish soldiers quartered on the Rhine
and the Danube, and such as they would most probably be the first to
bring in the new faith.
At first the Roman authorities looked upon Christians as state rebels,
and fierce persecutions followed. The oldest Christian legend of this
country tells of such a conflict between the state officials and the
Christians, and no doubt contains some admixture of truth, as many of
these stories do. A legion levied at Thebes in Egypt--hence called the
_Thebaïde_--was sent to Cologne to take the place of troops required to
quell a rising in Britain. Coming to the Valais, they were required by
the Emperor Maximian to sacrifice to the heathen gods (A.D. 280-300),
but being mostly Christians they refused, and were massacred with their
chief, Mauritius. Some, however, escaped for the time, but were called
upon to receive the martyr's crown later on, and in other places. Two
such, Ursus and Victor, came to Soleure with sixty-six companions, and
were put to death by order of Hirtæus, the Roman governor. Two others,
Felix and his sister Regula, reached Zurich, where their successful
conversions irritated Decius, who put them to the rack, and then
beheaded them. Yet, wonderful to tell, the legend goes on, they seized
their heads that had fallen, and, walking with them to the top of a hill
close by, buried themselves, bodies and heads too. This wonderful feat
was an exact counterpart of that reported to have been performed also by
Ursus and Victor at Soleure. Felix and Regula became the patron saints
of Zurich, and play a conspicuous part in its local history. Tradition
says that Charlemagne himself in later days erected a minster on their
burial spot. Thus, as ever, the blood of martyrs became the seed of the
Church.
[Illustration: GOLD COIN OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY (ST. FELIX, ST.
REGULA-SANCTUS CAROLUS). (_By Dr. Imhoof, Winterthur._)]
The Roman towns Geneva, St Maurice, Augusta Rauracorum, Aventicum,
Vindonissa, and Curia had been episcopal sees since the third century,
though some of these sees were in process of time removed to other
places. Thus, Augusta, Vindonissa, and St. Maurice were removed to
Basel, Constance, and Sion respectively.
FOOTNOTES:
[10] We know little of them, most likely they were but _vici_ (village
settlements). Aquæ alone we know from Tacitus was a city-like
watering-place; Kloten had handsome villas, but what it was we do not
know.
IV.
THE ANCESTORS OF THE SWISS NATION.
_THE ALAMANNI; BURGUNDIANS; FRANKS; MEROVINGIANS._
The fifth century was remarkable for what may be called the dislocation
of the peoples of Europe--the migrations of the Germans into the Roman
Empire, and, mightiest movement of all, the irruption of the Huns under
their terrible king Attila, the "Scourge of God." The mere sight of the
hideous Asiatics filled men with horror. Never afoot, but ever on their
ill-shaped but rapid steeds, to whose backs they seemed as if they were
glued, and on which they lived well-nigh day and night, it seemed as if
man and horse had grown into one being. Their large heads ill-matched
their meagre bodies; their tawny faces with deep-set eyes and high,
protruding cheek-bones made them resemble rough-cut figures in stone
rather than human beings. The Goths regarded them as the offspring of
spirits of the desert and of witches. These masses of Asiatic barbarism,
which had burst into Europe, stayed for awhile in Hungary, but soon
rolled towards the West, dislodging all the peoples with whom they came
in contact. Marching to the Rhine, they drove the Burgundians from their
settlements in the district of Worms, a land so rich in song and saga,
and entered Gaul to found a new kingdom. But the doom of the Huns was at
hand, for Aëtius the Roman general, and the last defender of the empire,
defeated them, A.D. 451, in a truly gigantic battle on the Catalaunian
Plain, in the Champagne country. The slaughter was so terrible that the
saying went abroad that the river ran high with the blood of 300,000
men.
But it was clear that the tottering empire could not defend itself
against a whole world in commotion. The time had come when Rome was to
leave the stage of history. The great German nation was forming. It
would be tedious and profitless to mention all the German tribes beyond
the Rhine and Danube, a well-nigh endless list of names, impossible to
remember. Besides, the petty tribes and clans gradually formed alliances
with each other for greater security, and, dropping their ancient names,
took collective ones more familiar to our ears--Saxons, Franks,
Thuringi, Burgundians, Alamanni, and Bavarians.
Of these the Alamanni and the Burgundians are those from whom the Swiss
are descended, and thus Switzerland, like England, has to look back to
Germany as its ancestral home. The tall, fair-haired, true-hearted
Alamanni for whom Caracalla had such an admiration that to be like them
he wore a red wig, are said to have been descendants of the Semnones,
who had migrated from Lusatia on the Spree (in Silesia) to the Main. The
name Alamanni is generally held by the learned to be derived from
_alah_, a temple-grove, and implies a combination of various tribes,
"the people of the Divine grove." The Suevi, of whom the Semnones were
the most conspicuous tribe, had a sacred grove in the district of the
Spree, where they met for worship. In the fifth century we find the
Alamanni occupying the district from the Main to the Black Forest, East
Helvetia, and Alsatia as far as the Vosges.
When this formidable horde took possession of Eastern Helvetia they
found but little trouble from the Celto-Roman population, who, thinned
by previous invasions, and unaccustomed to fighting, could offer no
serious resistance, and sank into slaves and servants. The towns were
laid in ruins, the country ravaged, and all culture trodden under foot.
It seemed as if "the hand on the dial of history had been put back by
centuries,"[11] and civilization had once more to begin her work. They
outnumbered the natives, and were not absorbed by them, but on the
contrary on the half-decayed stock of the Roman province the Alamanni
were grafted as a true German people, retaining their old language,
institutions, and mode of living.
The Alamanni did not at once develop into a civilized and cultivated
people, but retained their fondness for war and hunting, and other
characteristics of their ancient life. Their grand and majestic woods
had stamped themselves on the intrepid, dauntless spirits, whose deep
subjectiveness and truthful natures contrasts strongly with the polished
artfulness of the Romans. For the mighty aspects of nature--forest,
mountain, sea--play their part in moulding the character of a nation.
And their impenetrable woods had influenced the destinies of the Germans
in the early periods of their history--had saved them from the Roman
yoke, the labyrinths of swamp and river, defying even the forces of the
well-nigh all-powerful empire. Then, too, when hard fighting was afoot,
and men had burnt their homesteads before the advance of the foe, the
vast forest formed a safe retreat for women and children. The original
house, by the way, was a mere wooden tent on four posts, and could be
carried off on carts that fitted underneath. The next stage was a hut in
the style of the Swiss mountain-shed, but it was still movable--was, in
fact, a chattel the more to be taken along on their wanderings.[12]
Their mode of settling in their new country was curious enough, though
the early settlement of England was very similar in character. Disliking
walled towns of the Roman fashion, the Germans felt their freedom of
movement impeded and their minds oppressed by living within the
prison-like fortifications of strong cities. But loving seclusion and
independence, nevertheless, they built extensive farmsteads, where each
man was his own master. To the homestead were added fields, meadows, and
an extensive farmyard; the whole hedged about so as to keep the owner
aloof from his neighbours. Each farmer pitched his tent wherever "spring
or mead, or sylvan wood tempted him," reports Tacitus. This liking for
seclusion on the part of the Germans is well shown in the case of
Zurich, for at one time the canton had three thousand farm homesteads,
as against a hundred hamlets and twelve villages.
The mode of partitioning the land shows democratic features. It was
divided amongst the community according to the size of families and
herds of cattle, but one large plot was left for the common use. The
large _Allmend_, or common, supplied wood for the community, and there,
too, might feed every man's flocks and herds. The nobleman as such had
no domains specially set apart for him, his position and privileges were
honorary. He might be chosen as a high officer of a district, or even a
duke, or leader of the army, in time of war. Payment for such services
was unknown. Money was scarce, and indeed its use was mainly taught them
by the Romans. Not only did flocks and herds form their chief wealth,
but were the standard of value, each article being estimated as worth so
much in cattle.
Society was from the very first sharply and clearly divided into two
great classes--the landowners and the bondsmen--the "free and the
unfree." The former class was again split into "lesser men," "middle
men," and "first men," or Athelinge (Adelige), these last named being of
noble blood, and owners of most land and the greatest number of slaves
and cattle. The "unfree" were either _Hoerige_ that belonged to the
estate they tilled, and might be sold with it, or slaves who could call
nothing their own, for whatever they saved fell to their lord at their
death, if he so willed. A shire or large district was subdivided into
hundreds. The whole of the free men met on some hallowed spot, under
some sacred tree, with their priests and leaders. Here, besides
performing religious exercises, they discussed war and peace, dispensed
justice, chose their officers of state, and their leader if war was
imminent. War and jurisdiction were the whole, or well-nigh the whole,
of public life at that early stage. The popular assemblies, done away
with by the feudal system, revived later on in the form of the famous
"Landsgemeinde" of the forest district, which are still in use in some
of the cantons. Blood money, or _wergild_, was exacted from wrong-doers
as in Saxon times in England. The tariff drawn up for bodily injuries
reveals the mercenary and brawling temper of a semi-civilized people.
At the time they settled in Switzerland the Alamanni were heathens, and
worshipped nature-deities--in groves, near springs, or mountains--the
names of some of which we still trace in the names of the days of the
week. Their religion, which was that common to all Germany, reveals the
German mind--full of reverie, deep thoughtfulness, and wild romantic
fancy that leads to a tragical issue. Like most heathen people the
Alamanni clothed their gods in their own flesh and blood. Woden and his
attendant deities, shield-maidens--Freyr and Freya, the king and queen
of the elves--dwarfs, giants, spirits--all these are well known to us,
and are indeed the charm of the fairy tales of our youth. The bright
spirits, the _Asen_, war against the spirit of darkness, the giants, and
lose ground, for they have broken the treaties made with them. The Asen
are the benevolent powers of nature, spring sunshine, and fertilizing
rain, and live in bright palaces, in Walhalla, and receive the dead; the
evil spirits are the sterile rock, the icy winter, the raging sea, the
destructive fire. Thor destroys the rocks with his Hammer, pounding them
to earth that man may grow corn. The giants scale the sky to defy the
gods for assisting mankind, but Heimdallr stands watching on the
rainbow-bridge that leads to Asgard--the garden of the _Asen_--and
prevents their entrance. But the gods themselves are stained with guilt,
and in a fight with the Giants before the gates of Walhalla, they
utterly destroy each other. The columns of heaven and the rainbow-bridge
break down, the universe is destroyed and the downfall of the gods is
complete. But the heathen Germans could not bear the notion of entire
annihilation, so in a sort of epilogue the great tragedy is followed by
the dawn of brighter and better times, the gods recover their former
innocence, when they used to play with golden dice without knowing the
value of gold.[13] The _Götterdämmerung_, the Divine Dawn, has broken,
and a new epoch has set in for gods and men. One of Wagner's musical
dramas is, as is well known, founded on these myths. . To turn to the
Burgundians. They became the neighbours of the Alamanni in Helvetia
about 443 A.D., after a severe defeat by the Huns. This great battle is
pictured with great power in the "Nibelungenlied." The Burgundians play
a conspicuous part in that grand old epic. A wonderful blending it is of
heroic myth, beautiful romance, and historic sagas attaching to the
great heroes of the early Middle Ages--Theodoric the Great, Gunther of
Burgundy, Attila, King of the Huns. If space permitted, the whole story
might well be told, but in this place let one feat be cited as an
example. Siegfried, the Dragon-slayer, a demigod, invulnerable, like
Achilles, except in one place, and who could make himself invisible,
woos the sweet and lovely maid of Worms. As "invisible champion," he
assists her brother Gunther in his combat with the warlike Brunhilde,
Queen of the North, whom Gunther wishes to obtain to wife. After years
of happy married life the Queen of Worms fell to a quarrel with the
Queen of Xanten on a question of precedence, and the gallant Siegfried
falls a victim to Brunhilde's hatred, and her intrigue with Hagen. To
avenge his death, the disconsolate widow marries the powerful Attila,
and engages in a terrible battle with the Burgundians. In this battle
she and her own kindred were slain. Attila and Dietrich of Verona
(Theodoric the Great) are saved, however.
Aëtius gave to the Burgundians as a settlement Sabaudia (Savoy), on
condition that they should protect Gaul and Italy from the incursions of
the Alamanni. One-third of the lands and homesteads were made over to
them by the Romans, and later two-thirds were yielded. Gradually the
Burgundians advanced in the interior of Helvetia, Vaud, Valais, and
Fribourg, and into Southern Gaul. They occupied indeed all the territory
from the Vosges to the Alps and the Mediterranean. They lived on
friendly terms with the previous settlers, differing considerably in
character from the Alamanni. Less numerous, less vigorous, and more
pliant, they were unable to Germanize the West, as the Alamanni did the
East, yet were strong enough to infuse new vital force into the
enervated Roman populations. A readily cultivable race the Burgundians
availed themselves of the Roman civilization and advancement, and
gradually blended with the previous settlers--chiefly of Latin
origin--to form a new people. Thus through Roman influence and German
grafting--with two distinct German grafts--two nationalities sprang up
in Switzerland, and we find, as in our own day, the Germans in the
north-east, and the French in the south-west.
[Illustration: EIGER IN THE BERNESE OBERLAND.]
The Roman influence over the Burgundians was greatly increased by the
policy of King Gundobad (A.D. 500). He had visited Italy, and had been
greatly taken with Roman institutions. There is still extant a letter of
his in which he begs of Theodoric the Great a sun- or water-dial which
he had seen at his Court. Gundobad's code of laws was a blending of
Roman legislation with German jurisdiction. He introduced the Latin
speech and chronology officially, and gave the Romans equal rights and
an equal standing with the German population. Religious differences
arising--the Burgundians were Arians--and conflicts ensuing between king
and people, the Franks took advantage of the turmoils to bring the
subjects of Gundobad under their sway.
There was no love lost between the Alamanni and their neighbours, the
Burgundians; indeed the national antipathy for each other was great, but
the Frankish domination did more than anything else towards bringing
about a union between the hostile peoples. The reports they have left as
to the character of the Franks are not flattering. They said that the
Franks were capable of breaking an oath with a smiling face, and a
saying ran, "Take a Frank for a friend, but never for a neighbour."
Clovis, the Frankish king, had waded to the throne through the blood of
his own kin. He was, however, the first to take more extended views in
politics, and planned a united German kingdom after the type of the
Roman Empire. To his vast scheme the Alamanni fell the first victims. A
great battle was fought in which they suffered defeat. Clovis had vowed
that he would embrace Christianity if he should prevail against the
Alamannic Odin. Victory falling to his side, Clovis and his nobles were
baptized. His conversion was a great triumph for the Church, and
furnished the Merovingian kings with a pretext for the conquest of the
Arian Germans, who had been led astray from the orthodox faith. To crown
the work and enhance his greatness in the eyes of his Roman and German
subjects, the imperial purple, and the title of Roman Patricius was
bestowed on Clovis by the Greek emperor.
The subjection of Burgundy was brought about in the following reign,
under Sigismund, who had been guilty of the murder of his son by the
desire of the stepmother. He fled to St. Maurice, which he endowed so
richly that it gave shelter to upwards of five hundred monks. However,
his piety did not bring him victory, for the Burgundians were defeated
by the Franks at Autun in 532, and Sigismund and his family were hurled
down a well.
In the same year Chur-Rhætia was yielded to the Franks by the Goths, who
required their help against the East. Rhætia, which had escaped the
German invasion, had fallen to the share of the Goths of Italy, and had
enjoyed the protection and munificence of their glorious king, Theodoric
the Great. He defended her against her neighbours as a forepost of
Italy, but left intact the Roman institutions.
Thus had Helvetia been formed into a Frankish dependency; not a vestige
was left of the very name Helvetia. Yet the Frankish rule was more
nominal than real. Counts were appointed to govern shires and hundreds,
and, being royal governors, were elected by, and dependent on, the
Frankish kings. Jurisdiction, military command, summoning to war,
raising of taxes--fishing, hunting, coinage, had become royal
prerogatives--and the farmers kicked against the impositions--these were
the functions of the governing counts. None the less the Burgundians
retained their king or patricius, and the Alamanni remained under the
sway of their own duke, to whom alone they gave allegiance. Chur-Rhætia
was particularly privileged. It was ruled by a royal governor, who was
supreme judge, count, and _præses_, and the dignity remained for one
hundred and fifty years in one powerful and wealthy native family called
the Victoriden, who held likewise the ecclesiastical livings. On its
extinction in 766, Bishop Tello, the last of the family, bestowed the
immense wealth on the religious-houses of Disentis and Chur.
The promotion of Christianity, and the staunch support given by the
Merovingian kings to the Church, were perhaps the greatest benefits
resulting from the Frankish rule. Knowing the Church to be the sole
means by which in that benighted age culture could be spread and
civilization extended, those monarchs availed themselves of her
services, and bestowed upon her in return great wealth and high
prerogatives. Churches and religious-houses sprang up one could hardly
tell how. In French Switzerland there were founded the bishoprics of
Geneva, Lausanne, and Sion; and in the eastern half of the country those
of Basel, Vindonissa (removed to Constance in the sixth century), and
Chur. St. Maurice, benefited, as we have seen, by Sigismund, was a
flourishing abbey town. Yet many of the Alamanni held tenaciously to
their old gods, and their holy shrines and idols stood side by side with
the Cross; even Christians invoked Woden, for fear he should be offended
by their neglect.
The further amalgamation of heathenism and Christianity was most
effectually stopped by--curious to say--a caravan of Irish monks. In
fact, later tradition attributed to these monks the foundation of
religious-houses, to a number which modern investigation has shown to
have been greatly exaggerated. Ireland, which had so far escaped the
struggle with the great Teutonic race, had given all her energies to the
promotion of the new faith, and ever since the fourth century
Christianity had wonderfully flourished in the island. Filled with
missionary ardour, the Irish Columban conceived an intense desire to
conquer Gaul and Germany, and in 610 set out on his wanderings with a
staff of twelve companions. Equipped with "knotty sticks," a leather
vial, a travelling pouch, a relic case, and with a spare pair of boots
hung round the neck, "tatooed," wearing long waving hair,[14] the
adventurous band arrived in Gaul, and founded monasteries in the Vosges
district. However, they offended Queen Brunhilde by their frankness, and
had to depart. Proceeding to Eastern Helvetia, they arrived at Zurich,
but at length finding nothing more to do there, as we may suppose, they
proceeded to Tuggen, on the Upper Zurich lake. Here they saw people
engaged in an oblation of beer to the national gods. Moved with holy
anger, the monks upset the vessel, and flung the idols into the lake,
and won many to Christianity. We cannot here follow them in their
devoted labours. Columban passed on into Italy, but left his disciple
Gallus in the neighbourhood of Lake Constance. Hence sprang up the
famous monastery bearing his name.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] Green's "Smaller History of England," p. 42.
[12] Dahn, "Urgeschichte der Römanish-germanischen Völker."
[13] Dahn
[14] Professor Rahn.
V.
THE CAROLINGIANS--CHARLEMAGNE.
Under the last Merovingian kings, whose character is sufficiently
attested by the name of _Fainéants_--sluggards--Alamannia and Burgundy
struggled to shake off the Frankish yoke. Now the wealth and power of
those weak kings were passing from them to their "Mayors of the Palace."
Charles Martel, one of these "Mayors," defeated the Alamanni in a great
battle (A.D. 730), and Carlomann, Charlemagne's brother, had a number of
Alamannic grandees put to the sword, and their lands confiscated (A.D.
746).
Charles Martel remained simple "Mayor of the Palace," but Pepin le Bref
had himself crowned king, at St. Denis, by Stephen II., in 751,
rewarding the Pope for this great service by the gift of a tract of land
around the Holy City. By this _coup d'état_ were established both the
Carolingian dynasty and the temporal power of the Pope--well-nigh
convertible terms. The new dynasty greatly fostered religion, and
furthered the work begun by the Irish and Anglo-Saxon monks. St. Gall's
cell became an abbey church and monastic school; St. Leodegar's at
Lucerne was incorporated with the abbey of Murbach in Alsatia; and on
the bank of the Limmat at Zurich arose a college of prebends.
Pepin le Bref was succeeded by his son, Charles the Great, or
Charlemagne, as he is usually called (768-814). For nearly half a
century this talented, powerful, and lofty-minded sovereign swayed the
destinies of Europe with unflagging zeal, ever bearing in mind the
responsibilities of his exalted position. He ruled over a vast domain,
stretching from the Ebro in Spain to the Theiss in Hungary, and from
Denmark to the Tiber. Saxons, Sclavonians, Avars, Lombards, and Arabs,
were subject to his rule. His Court was a great intellectual centre,
whence enlightenment spread to every part of his dominions. Charlemagne
was great as a general, as a statesman, as a politician; he was a
painstaking economist, and his humanity, and his other virtues secured
for him the noble title of "Father of Europe." A brilliant figure in a
benighted age, which shed its light on after times. No wonder mediæval
fancy lingered fondly on his memory; and around his name gathered song
and saga and legend. Charlemagne is a special favourite with the Swiss;
indeed, of all the German rulers who have held sway over them, he is the
one whose memory is most dear; and Switzerland has done at least her
share in helping to swell the mass of legend and fiction respecting him.
The impulse he gave to education in this country was alone sufficient to
endear his memory to the Swiss. Basel, Geneva, Chur, and Sion, benefited
by his wise administration, and Zurich quite particularly exalts him,
calling him the "Fountain of her intellectual life," during the Middle
Ages. It is impossible as it is unnecessary to give at length in this
volume, the history of this long and brilliant reign. A few points may
suffice to indicate the character of Charlemagne, and to throw some
light on the times, and the condition of the country.
The ambition of the Franks to found an empire after the fashion of Rome
was practically realized when Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the
West by Hadrian in A.D. 800. Yet Charles aimed less at mere outward
grandeur than at the establishment of a spiritual kingdom on earth, and
a kingdom that should embrace all his people in one Christian Church,
upheld by a strong and well-organized state-commonwealth. The union of
Church and State, yet giving the preponderance to the latter, was
Charlemagne's leading idea, and well-nigh summed up his religious and
political creed. The strong religious bent of this "priestly king" was
revealed at the very beginning of his reign, when he took upon himself
the mission of "Defender of the Holy Church, and _Coadjutor of the
Apostolic See_"[15] thus claiming, with the concurrence of the Primate,
the spiritual guidance of his realm. Hadrian's congenial nature and
tendencies helped to bring about this union. Yet in this matter Charles
but conformed to the policy of his ancestors, and to the spirit of the
age, an age remarkable for acts of piety and devotion. And the history
of Switzerland is for that period rather a history of the religious
movements of the time than a political chronicle. For in those early
stages the Church was proportionally far more important than in our own
times. _Then_ she was the sole, or almost the sole, centre of intellect,
of art, of letters, and represented the ideal side of life in an
illiterate age. Despite her defects the Church was a blessing to
mankind.
Helvetian lands had entirely lost their political independence. During
this reign, the vigorous government of the monarch frustrated every
attempt at insurrection, and in the end both Alamanni and Burgundians
began to feel the benefits arising from the existence of a wise and firm
administration. To curb their power the sovereign abolished the
dignities of the mighty dukes, and parcelled out the land into smaller
shires (than the old county divisions), and placed over these counts as
royal governors with judicial power. The people no longer appeared _in
corpore_ at the shire-motes, but were represented at the lesser court by
_Schoeffen_, or reeves. These reeves had to bring in the verdict; if
they could not agree, trial-by-ordeal was resorted to. Twice a year
Charles assembled his nobles and bishops to receive their reports, and
to frame laws, which were, however, submitted to the people, that is,
the "freeholders" at the "real thing," when they met in May. For the
control of the shire administration, and to give the people a means of
appealing more directly to the king's justice, he appointed a special
commission of spiritual and temporal officers (_missi dominici_).
Charlemagne's legislation, it hardly needs to be said, was highly
favourable to the Church, and tended to increase her wealth largely. He
allotted to her tithes of the produce of the soil, and the people of
their own free will overwhelmed the ecclesiastical and monastic
institutions with offerings of lands and money. In the eighth century
the monastery of St. Gall already possessed 160,000 acres of land, which
had been bestowed by pious donors, whilst the twelve hundred
deeds-of-gift found amongst the old abbey documents testify to the zeal
of the givers. Religious establishments became the largest landowners in
the country, and vassalage and the feudal system sprang up.
Under the territorial subdivision Switzerland fell into the shires of
Thurgau, Aargau, Genevagau, Waldgau (Vaud), &c., far larger than at
present, whence are derived the names of various cantons as we have them
now. Some of the Swiss would seem to have shared in Charlemagne's
military glory. The "Monk of St. Gall,"[16] recently identified with
Notker Balbulus (the Stammerer), the popular biographer of Charlemagne,
tells in bombastic style the feats of an Alamannic hero from Thurgau.
This mediæval Hercules--Eishere the Giant by name--had accompanied the
emperor against the Avars, and after his return, reported that they had
"mowed down the enemy like grass," and that he himself had "strung on
his lance some six or eight pigmy toads of Bohemians as if they were
larks, then carried them hither and thither, not knowing what they were
grumbling out"! Notker, the chronicler, had in his youth heard the story
of the military exploits of Charlemagne, from an old Thurgau soldier who
had followed the emperor in his wars. And when Charles III. was on a
visit to St. Gall in 883, he was so delighted with the monk's lively
chat about the matchless emperor, that he requested him to write down
his recollections of his illustrious ancestor. To this monkish
chronicler we owe so many of the pleasant stories of Charlemagne current
among us.[17]
Interesting and touching are the traits we constantly meet with in the
glimpses we get of the Court and private life of the emperor. His
daughters were not allowed to marry because he could not bear separation
from them. Hatto of Basel, the most illustrious of his elder bishops,
often inveighed against the monarch's weaknesses, yet Charlemagne not
only bore the bishop's censures, but sent him on a highly honourable
mission to the Court of Constantinople, and chose him as one of the
witnesses to his last will. The emperor's friendship with Pope Hadrian
was quite remarkable, and, in spite of many differences, was deep and
lasting. On hearing the news of Hadrian's death, Charlemagne burst into
tears, and eulogized him in the most flattering terms. The emperor's
management of his royal estates was in the highest degree prudent,
skilful, energetic, and in every way admirable. To his property he gave
the closest and most constant inspection, down to the very eggs
produced on his farms.
He gathered round him scholars, artists, and teachers, from Italy and
Greece, and a Court school was opened by Alcuin, the Anglo-Saxon
scholar--the English were then the most cultured of the German
peoples--and a body of English pupils followed him to France. Alcuin
became the friend, and in matters educational the counsellor, of
Charlemagne, by whom he was entrusted with the revision of the Bible.
Warnfried Paulus Diaconus, the famous Lombard writer, was ordered to
compile a collection of homilies from the Fathers. Copies of both these
remarkable manuscripts--Bible and Homilies--were presented to the church
of Zurich, and one, the beautiful Alcuin Bible, is still extant and
among its literary treasures. Thronging the learned circle whose poetic
centre was Charles himself, with his wife and daughters, and two
sisters, were Einhard the German, the confidant and biographer of the
emperor; Augilhard, the knightly poet; the Goth Theobald, Bishop of
Orleans, a scholar and man of the world; as well as many another
illustrious man. Charlemagne's two sisters were nuns, and one of them,
Gisela, was the great friend of Alcuin.[18]
Charlemagne was fond of visiting and occasionally teaching in his Court
school. He took great interest in the progress of his scholars, praising
the diligent and admonishing the indolent. The "Monk" informs us that on
one occasion finding the compositions of the poorer boys praiseworthy,
whilst those of the young nobles were unsatisfactory, the emperor rose
up in anger and warned these latter youths that their high birth and
fine manners should not screen them from punishment if they did not get
rid of their laziness. Then, turning to the poor but meritorious youths,
he highly commended them, and exhorted them to be always thus diligent,
promising them rewards and preferment if they continued in their good
course. Charlemagne indeed gained imperishable glory by his educational
efforts, through which a foundation was laid for after ages. Full of the
conviction that religion and learning were essential to happiness, he
yearned to spread education amongst his people, and made it the chief
object of his later years. All parents ought, he says, "to send their
boys to school, and let them abide there till they are well informed," a
principle only imperfectly understood and acted upon even in our own
day. This ideal side of his complex activity lifts him far above the
other rulers of the Middle Ages. To our mind there is but one who bears
comparison with him for greatness of character and lofty aims--Alfred
the Great, of Wessex. Clerical colleges, and secular schools attached to
them, sprang up all over the country, and the knowledge of the
Scriptures, hitherto confined to the clergy, was freely placed before
the people.
The bishops were charged by the emperor to take care that the priests
were "well qualified as religious teachers." Theobald enjoins his clergy
to open schools and "teach the children with love, and to accept no fees
but what the parents choose to give." Such was the emperor's
educational zeal, that he ordains whipping and deprivation of food even
for men and women if they do not know by heart the Confession of Faith
and the Lord's Prayer, and are not able to repeat them in Latin to the
priests. Yet he makes allowances for the dunces who are permitted to
learn and repeat these exercises in their own illiterate language. He
admonishes the monks to learn better grammar, and get rid of their
uncouth modes of speech. He strongly reprimands a choirboy whose wrong
notes grate on his delicate ear.
Amongst the bishops of Switzerland, Hatto of Basel, and Remedius of
Chur-Rhætia, were Charlemagne's chief supporters and lawgivers in their
own dioceses. The latter prelate was a great friend of Alcuin, and held
a brilliant Court with many vassals. The power of these theocratic
governors was very great. It may be mentioned, as an example of this,
that Remedius decreed that persons guilty of sacrilege should be covered
with hot tar and made to ride thus on a donkey through the villages. The
emperor's protection to church and school foundations was exercised in
many cases in Switzerland. According to tradition, Sion was enriched
with landed property; and to St. Maurice was presented a fine onyx cup
adorned with beautiful Greek _relievi_, still amongst the treasures of
that church. Zurich attributes her oldest churches and schools to the
emperor's bounty. To him she is said to owe her minster, bearing his
name and statue; the Chorherrenstift, or College of Canons, and the
Carolinum, a clerical school for prebends or canons, which developed in
1832 into the University and Gymnasium respectively, and finally the
Wasserkirche, a chapel by the riverside, on the spot where the martyrs
Felix and Regula once suffered.
[Illustration: GREAT MINSTER AND WASSERKIRCHE, ZURICH.
(_Appenzeller, Zurich._)]
Zurich was indeed, according to tradition, a favourite residence of the
great monarch, and his mansion is said to have been the Haus zum Loch
(hole or cavern), standing on a steep incline near the minster.
Connected with this is a charming legend which reflects the character
for justice he had gained amongst the people. This story may also serve
as an example, the only one our space will permit us to give, of the
abundant store of legend collected around the memory of Charlemagne.
There was a chapel on the riverside where he had placed a bell for
people to ring if they wished to appeal to justice. One day as he was at
dinner with his queen this bell began to ring. None of the servants
could inform him what was the matter. The bell rang a second time, and
then a third. On this the emperor rose from the table, saying, "I am
sure there is some poor man you don't wish me to see." So saying, he
walked down the hill to the chapel, where, hanging to the bell rope, he
found a large snake. The reptile crept down, moved towards him, and
wagged her tail to pay her respects. Then going on in front she led
Charlemagne to a tuft of nettles, and his servants examining the spot
found a large toad sitting on the eggs in the serpent's nest. At once,
grasping the meaning of this appeal, he sat him down in his chair of
justice and passed sentence that the toad should be killed and
quartered. The next day at dinner time the snake appeared in the
passage, frightening the attendants grievously. However, Charles quieted
them, and said, "God is wonderful, and we cannot know the meaning of
this." The snake entered the hall, climbed on the table, and, beckoning
the emperor to remove the lid of his golden goblet, dropped into it a
beautiful jewel. Then, descending from the table, she bowed to the royal
couple, and disappeared. Charles held this to be a good omen, and
resolved never to part with the jewel. The moral is obvious. Charlemagne
was so just, and his reputation for equity so widespread, that even the
lower animals appealed to him, and not in vain.
According to another version, the stone exerted attraction like a
loadstone, for where it was dropped the emperor could not leave the
place. But Archbishop Turpin had dropped it into the springs of Aachen,
and hence Charlemagne no more quitted that royal residence.
It would be impossible in our space, even if it were interesting to the
general reader, to enter into the discussions respecting Charlemagne's
foundations in and visits to Zurich. Two things, however, come out
clearly; first (thanks to the labours of the learned historian,
Professor Georg von Wyss), that tradition is not entirely unworthy of
trust, as there is documentary evidence still extant to prove that
Charlemagne reformed the College (Chorherrenstift); second, that he kept
up a close connection with the city, whether he actually resided there
or not.
No doubt this exaltation of Charlemagne's merits is an expression of the
attachment felt for his person, and of the admiration for his
marvellous educational efforts. His grandson, Louis the German, founded
the Abbey of our Lady, in 853, on the site of an old convent erected to
the memory of the patron saints of Zurich. Louis erected this new abbey
in order to give a more brilliant church preferment to his daughter,
Hildgard, Lady Principal of a small convent at Wurzburg. This Princess
Abbess received the sole right of jurisdiction, and the convent rose
rapidly, and with it extended the city commonwealth. (We shall show in a
later chapter how this female government checked the growth of political
power in that city, and yet was the making of her.)
FOOTNOTES:
[15] See Büdinger, "Von den Anfangen des Schulzwanges," Zurich, 1865, p.
10.
[16] Professor Bächtold, "History of German Literature in Switzerland,"
Frauenfeld, 1887.
[17] Professor Bächtold, "History of German Literature in Switzerland,"
Frauenfeld, 1887.
[18] See Gustav Freytag's charming "Pictures of the Middle Ages."
VI.
THE KINGDOM OF BURGUNDY; THE DUCHY OF SWABIA; AND THE GERMAN EMPIRE.
(843-1100.)
The death of the great emperor brought this realm into utter confusion,
the whole fabric of his wise and firm administration falling to pieces.
All the heterogeneous and often refractory elements which his stern rule
had kept in check burst their bounds and gained full play during the
reigns of his descendants, who grew weaker and weaker, though with here
and there an exception. The pretensions of the Church, which
Charlemagne's own protection and fostering care had, so to speak,
ushered in and strengthened; the struggles of eminent families and
dynastic houses for sovereignty in the absence of one central and
undisputed power; the increase of the immunities and the growth of
feudalism--all these were serious difficulties for the coming rulers to
cope with.
Louis the Pious, the only surviving son of Charlemagne, and heir to his
crown, was clearly quite unfit to cope with these difficulties
satisfactorily. The untimely distribution of the crown lands insisted on
by the imperious Judith, his second wife, in favour of her own son, and
the protracted struggles between the imperial princes, steeped the realm
in intestine wars, and in the end led to its dissolution. It is
impossible in this short sketch to follow to his tragical end this
unworthy son of a great father. The treaty of Verdun (843) settled the
bloody conflicts, but split the empire into three new dominions; the
East Frankish realm devolving on Louis the German: the West Frankish
kingdom falling to Charles the Bald; and the middle district, including
Italy and the strip of land between the two first divisions just
mentioned, and comprising Provence, Burgundy, Lorraine, and the
Netherlands. This last realm fell to Lothair.
The treaty of Verdun, to which the French and German States trace their
origin, also effected the most sweeping changes in Helvetia, and altered
greatly its political aspect. The country was rent into two halves, East
Switzerland, forming the Aare, with Chur-Rhætia, being incorporated with
the East Frankish kingdom; and West Helvetia and the Valais with
Lorraine or the middle kingdom. This naturally tended to revive the
national antagonism between the two Helvetias.
Freed from the iron hand which had crushed all attempts at insurrection,
the peoples began again their struggles for the recovery of national
independence and separate rule, and thence came the restoration of the
kingdom of Burgundy and the Duchy of Alamannia, or Swabia.[19] Burgundy
was the first to make sure of her national freedom. On the death of
Lothair in 855 his kingdom fell to pieces. Count Boso, of Vienna, his
relative, founded the kingdom of Burgundy _without_ Helvetia, 879
(Provence or Arles--_Arelatisches Reich_). After fruitless attempts by
various Burgundian nobles to establish their sovereignty _within_
Helvetia, a renowned nobleman, Rudolf, of the illustrious house of the
Guelfs, set up as a pretender to Swiss Burgundy, after the precedent of
Count Boso. Rudolf possessed vast estates in Swabia, on Lake Constance.
He had sworn allegiance to Charles III. (the "Stout"), who, weak as he
was, had, strange to say, once more united the Empire under his sceptre.
On his death, in 888, Rudolf the Guelf was crowned king at St. Maurice,
the venerable abbey-town in the Low-Valais, by a large assembly of
Burgundian bishops and nobles. Thus was established the Helvetian
kingdom of Upper or New Burgundy (_Burgundia transjurans_), which seems
to have extended into Lorraine and Savoy. In 933 both Burgundies were
united.
Rudolf not only maintained his independence against the aggressive
spirit of intruding neighbours, but carried his victories into East
Helvetia, as far as Lake Zurich, and on his death in 912 his crown
passed without opposition to his son Rudolf II. This king had inherited
his father's great abilities and restless habits, which engaged him in
numerous wars. His greatest martial achievement was the defeat of the
Hungarians, who were making their fearful inroads into Europe. In East
Helvetia, however, his advance was checked by Burkhard I., Duke of
Alamannia, who routed him at Winterthur, near Zurich, in 919. Led no
doubt by their mutual admiration for each other's prowess, and by common
political interests, they made peace and contracted a lasting
friendship. To seal the union between the two Helvetias, Burkhard gave
his lovely daughter, Bertha, in marriage to the Burgundian king, and
gave her as dowry the land between the Aare and the Reuss, the district
for which he had been contending. He even followed Rudolf on his
expedition to Italy, and fell in a skirmish whilst succouring his
son-in-law. But Rudolf was unable to maintain the authority of his
Italian crown, and exchanged his claim to Lombardy for the kingdom of
Lower Burgundy (Provence) in 933; this arrangement was, however, much
contested.
When not engaged in wars he assisted his queen in her good works. The
Burgundian kings as yet had no fixed residence, and moved from place to
place on their royal estates--to Lausanne, Payerne, Yverdon, Solothurn,
or Lake Thun. When making these rounds Rudolf loved to do as the judges
of Israel of old--to seat himself under the shade of a fine oak and deal
out justice to whoever might come near and appeal to him. Yet the memory
of this good king is almost eclipsed by the glory of his wife, the
famous "Spinning Queen," and her wisdom and ministry amongst the poor.
Things went less pleasantly with the Alamanni. Their efforts to restore
separate or self-government--the passionate yearning for national
independence innate in the German tribes has done much to bring about
the division of the German Empire into its many kingdoms,
principalities, and duchies--met with far steadier and more violent
opposition than was the case with the Burgundians.
Under the pacific rule of Louis the German (843-876) the Alamanni
enjoyed the benefits of his peaceful tendencies, and we hear of no
attempts at insurrection. This sensible and practical monarch left to
East Helvetia the "remembrance of him in good works." Two things brought
him into close relations with this country--his founding of the Abbey of
our Lady at Zurich, where he installed his daughters Hildegard and
Bertha, as has been stated before; and his benefactions to St. Gall,
which he freed from the overlordship of Constance. Indeed, the
chronicler of this latter institution, Notker, _Monachus S. Gallensis_,
would seem to have been fascinated by his personal charms and affable
manners. Promoted to the position of an independent abbey, owing
allegiance to none but the king himself, and enriched by continual
grants of land on the part of pious donors, St. Gall developed into a
flourishing monastic commonwealth. The peaceful colony of thrifty and
studious monks--Benedictines they were--who, like their Irish founder,
combined manual labour with learned contemplation, earnest study, and
literary skill--form a society quite unique in its way. The holy men
"conjure into their cells the departed spirits of classical
antiquity,"[20] and hold free intercourse with them; given to
ecclesiastical learning, whilst not neglectful of profane studies, these
learned and high-bred scholars constitute a truly mediæval university.
Their life and character is vividly set before us by their chroniclers.
Arnulf of Kaernthen (887-899), grandson of Louis, kept up a close
connection with St. Gall, through his chaplain, Solomon III., its abbot.
He governed the East Frankish kingdom with firmness and great ability.
The military glory of the Carolingians seemed to be restored when he
defeated the Normans brilliantly at Loewen on the river Dyle.
Unfortunately this vigorous ruler died after a short reign, leaving his
crown to his only son, Louis "the Child," then only six years of age.
Through the reign of this sickly prince (900-911) the country was torn
by party struggles, and the invasions of the Hungarians increased the
distresses of the time. Contemporary writers seem hardly able to express
the horror they felt at the very sight of the Asiatics, who appeared
even loathsome to them. Arnulf was reproached with having launched them
upon Europe when he led them against his enemies, the Mæhren; whilst
Charlemagne's policy had been altogether opposed to this, he having shut
them in by raising gigantic walls on the Danube against the Avars. These
were followers of the Huns of the fifth century, and resembled them by
their savage warfare and indescribable habits.
"Woe to the realm whose king is a child," writes Solomon III. to a
befriended bishop; "all are at variance, count and vassals, shire and
boundary neighbours; the towns rise in rebellion, the laws are trampled
under foot, and we are at the mercy of the savage hordes." Such was the
condition of the country at the opening of the tenth century. Solomon,
who wrote these lamentations, was himself a powerful political ruler no
less than a Church potentate. Next to Archbishop Hatto, of Mayence, who
governed during the minority of Louis, Solomon was the most influential
man at the German Court, and wielded its destinies after Hatto's death.
This high-born Churchman, educated as a secular priest at St. Gall,
became secretary, chaplain, and chancellor, at the German Court, and
enjoyed the friendship of four successive monarchs. Promoted by Arnulf
to the Abbey of St. Gall in 890, and shortly afterwards to the see of
Constance, he thus combined the dignities of the two rival institutions.
Subtle, versatile, and indefatigable, this high ecclesiastic was the
most consummate courtier and man of the world. Handsome and magnificent,
he captivated his hearers in the council by the clearness of his
argument and his ready wit; and melted the people to tears by his
eloquence in the pulpit. His leadership at St. Gall promoted the
magnificence of the abbey, and formed it into a prominent literary and
political centre. It was, however, robbed of its ascetic character,
Solomon being wanting in genuine piety, for one thing.
The absolute rule of this powerful prelate greatly checked the national
risings of the Swabian leaders, for he strenuously maintained the
oneness of Church and State. Conrad I. (911-919), the last of the East
Frankish kings, gave all his energies to the one aim of strengthening
and solidifying his rule by the suppression or abolition of the
dukedoms, which he saw undermined the power of the sovereign. Relying on
the support of the clergy, he was strongly influenced by Solomon's
insinuations when he put forth his bloody measures against the Swabian
pretenders.
During the reign of Louis the Child the state of anarchy had begotten
numerous national risings, which led to the establishment of the
Bavarian, Frankish, and Saxon duchies. At its very close a similar
attempt was ventured upon in Alamannia. Burkhard, Marquis of
Chur-Rhætia, afterwards Graubünden, one of the most eminent of the
Swabian grandees, put forward claims to the duchy. His sons were
banished, and, it was whispered, by Solomon's machinations (911). Yet
all this was no check on the aspirations of the two brothers, Erchanger
and Bertold, brothers-in-law to the king, who aspired to the Duchy of
Swabia. They, too, fell victims to the policy of the prelate, whose
hatred was intensified when they laid hands on his person to arrest him.
Conrad called a Synod to assist him, and heavy punishment was awarded
the pretenders. However, the king had them beheaded, no doubt to please
his chancellor.
[Illustration: THE FURKA PASS.]
The cruel fate of the two made a deep impression on the people. Next
year, when Burkhard, son of the unfortunate marquis, returned to his
country whence he had fled--for he had joined in the rising of the two
brothers, and had been summoned before the Synod--he was unanimously
elected by the nobility and people (917). It was no small mortification
to both king and bishop to have their designs thus thwarted, the
principle they had so vigorously opposed being carried out. The annals
of St. Gall bear witness to the fact that Solomon was implicated in the
murders, for though usually exalting his merits, they report that the
mighty prelate repented of his cruel actions, since he wandered as a
pilgrim to Rome, contrite, weeping and lamenting, to do penance for his
sins.
Conrad I., at the close of his reign, acknowledged that his policy had
been a mistaken one by giving the crown to his most powerful antagonist,
the Saxon leader, Duke Henry, whose power he had striven to abrogate.
Henry I., called "the Fowler" and the "City Founder" (919-936), was the
first German ruler who erected a true German kingdom. With quick
discernment he founded the authority of the Crown on the union of the
tribes, by reconciling their leaders and enforcing their submission
through the ascendency of his own powerful Saxon tribe. Binding them by
oath of fealty without detracting from their honour, he met with no
opposition. His son, Otho I., the "Great," obtained the imperial crown
in Rome, and increased the greatness of his new kingdom. Thus we find
East Helvetia with Chur-Rhætia forming part of Alamannia, and presently
the whole country was absorbed into, and its destinies bound up with,
the vast empire.
Burkhard I., assuming the title of "Duke of Alamannia by Divine Right,"
bent to Henry's royal supremacy with little objection, no doubt feeling
it a safeguard to his own position. His successors likewise held to
Germany, and were faithful adherents of the emperors, who in their turn
strove to knit Swabia more closely with the empire. This alliance was
highly valued by them; they had to pass through Chur-Rhætia on their
expeditions to Italy; the Alamanni were famous for their prowess; and
their religious institutions, St. Gall, Rheinau, and Reichenau, were
famous centres of culture. Swabia became a highly valuable fief to be
granted at the pleasure of the emperors. On the death of Burkhard, who
fell in a skirmish whilst accompanying his son-in-law, Rudolf of
Burgundy, to the south, as we have seen above, the duchy devolved on the
son of Otho I., and then on Burkhard II. of Chur-Rhætia. He never
swerved from his policy of holding to the empire, and his marriage with
Otho's niece, whose beauty and courage and literary skill were
celebrated in ballad and chronicle, drew the union still closer. On her
husband's death, Hadwig inherited the title and his estates, but the
duchy was granted to a friend of Otho II. She retired to her favourite
residence, her manor on Mount Hohentwiel, near Lake Constance, where she
lived in deep seclusion till her death in 994. A good Greek scholar and
fond of learning, she invited young Ekkehard II. of St. Gall to her
castle, and made him her chaplain and her tutor in classical studies.
Hadwig is the central figure in Scheffel's brilliant novel "Ekkehard,"
which glows with life and sparkling humour, and is a fanciful rendering
of the amusing narratives contained in the St. Gall annals. The
chronicler and the poet combining have produced an immortal work, and
shed a lasting glory on the cloisters of St. Gall.
Another famous monastic institution that sprung up about this time,
_i.e._, under the Saxon emperor Otto, and obtained, like Loretto,
European fame as a place of pilgrimage, was that of Einsiedeln, in
Canton Schwyz.
In 1024 the Duchy of Swabia was vested in Ernest II., stepson of the
Emperor Conrad II. of the Salic dynasty. A fierce struggle arose on the
question of the succession to the Burgundian throne. Ernest claimed
through his mother, and Conrad through his wife, niece to Rudolf III.
Seeing his hopes frustrated Ernest, with his friend Werner of Kyburg,
and his party, fell upon the imperial troops, and bloody frays occurred.
Ernest was imprisoned, and the manor of Kyburg besieged; but both
friends escaped, and again combined in new opposition to Conrad. In
order to break their union, the emperor promised his son installation in
Burgundy if he would deliver up his friend. But this was indignantly
refused, the struggle began anew, and the gallant youths fell in a
skirmish in 1030. Ernest was long a chief figure in mediæval heroic
poetry.
GENEALOGICAL TABLES.
I. THE CARLOWINGIANS (so far as they concern this history).
Charles Martel, 741.
|
+-----------------+--------------+
| |
Carlomann. Pippin the Short, 768.
|
+-------------------------------+-------+
| |
Charlemagne, 814. Carlomann, 771.
|
+------+---------+----------------------------+
| | |
Charles, 811. Pippin, 810. Louis the Pious, 840=
(1) Irmengare. (2) Judith.
| |
+---------------------+------------------+-----+ Charles the Bald, 877.
| | |
Lothair I., 855. Pippin, 838. Louis the German, 876.
| |
+---+----------+--------------+ +----+---------+----------+
| | | | | |
Louis II. Lothair II. Charles of Provence. Carlomann, Louis, Charles III.,
875. 867. 880. 882. 888.
| |
Irmengard=Count Boso of Burgundy. Arnulf of Kaernthur, 899 (natural son).
|
Louis the Child, 911.
II. DESCENT OF THE SAXON EMPERORS.
Lindolf (made Duke of part of Savoy by Louis the German).
|
Duke Otto, 912.
|
Henry I., 936 (the "Fowler").
|
+-------------------------------------------+
| |
Otto I., 973. (the "Great"). Henry of Bavaria.
| |
+----------------------------+ Henry the Quarrelsome (of Bavaria), 995.
| | | |
Lindolf, Lintgarde. Otto II., |
Duke of Swabia. Emperor, 983. Henry II., Emperor, 1024.
|
Otto II., Emperor, 1002.
* * * * *
III. Salic (Frankish) Emperors.
Conrad II., 1038 (great grandson of Lintgarde).
|
Henry III., 1038-1056.
|
Henry IV., 1056-1106.
|
Henry V., 1106-1125.
(The Hohenstaufen follow.)
FOOTNOTES:
[19] It is perhaps preferable to use the word _Swabia_ instead of
_Alamannia_ so often. Freeman in his essay on the Holy Empire speaks of
the Swabian Emperors, the Hohenstaufen.
[20] Dierauer.
VII.
BURGUNDY AND SWABIA UNDER THE GERMAN EMPERORS.
To return to the kingdom of Burgundy. Rudolf had greatly extended his
dominions; in 919 he added to them the land between the Aare and the
Reuss, and in 933 Lower Burgundy, which he had obtained in exchange for
the Italian crown. The kingdom now comprised West Switzerland, Provence,
Dauphiné, and Franche Comté. During the king's absence on military
expeditions, and during the minority of Conrad, Bertha, the "Spinning
Queen," held the reins of government. She is represented on the seal of
the document founding the convent of Payerne--one of her authenticated
foundations--with the spinning wheel, and the words _Bertha humilis
regina_ below. This Alpine queen, called by the French Swiss the "Mother
of their liberties," was a model of industry and economy. Like
Charlemagne, she was an excellent housekeeper, and even knew how many
eggs had been laid on her estates. Humble in bearing, yet firm and
strong, this lady fortified the country against the invasions of the
Hungarians and Saracens. The gap between the Alps and Mount Jura was
strengthened by a line of towers still to be seen, though crumbling from
age, at Neuchâtel, La Molière, Moudon, Gourze. These towers were almost
inaccessible, and possessed thick walls, narrow windows, and doors
which, being ten feet above the ground, could only be got at by means of
ladders. At the first signal of alarm, seigneur and peasantry hurried to
these strongholds carrying with them whatever they were able; when they
had entered, the ladders were drawn in, and there the people remained
till the wild hurricane of savagery had blown over. Gradually the
Burgundians rallied as regular troops to meet the hordes in open battle.
Herself always busy, Bertha hated idleness, and wherever she went she
was to be found spinning, even on the road. Who has not heard of the
humble and graceful queen, riding on her palfrey, spindle in hand, going
from house to house, visiting castle, convent, farm, homestead, and hut,
doing deeds of piety and benevolence? Once, when the Queen of Payerne,
as she was often called, was on her circuits of inspection she met with
a peasant girl keeping her flocks, and spinning. Delighted with the
girl's industry, she gave her a handsome present. Next day all the
ladies of her suite appeared before her with spindles in their hands.
Smiling at the sight, she said, "My ladies, the young peasant girl, like
Jacob, has been the first to receive the blessing." Space will not allow
us to dwell longer on the memory of the "Spinning Queen" which is most
dear to the French Swiss. It should be added, however, that the
Burgundian traditions respecting this queen are doubtless mixed with
mythological elements. In the German religious myths, Bertha (_Berchta_,
_Perahta_,) means what is bright and pure and orderly: she is the
Goddess of Fertility, and the Mother of the Earth, and bestows rich
blessings on mankind.
On the death of his father, which had left him a mere child, Bertha's
son Conrad had been educated at the Court of Otho the Great. Fearing
that Burgundy might become the prey of aggressive neighbours, the
emperor stepped in and made himself protector of the queen, and tutor to
the children, and naturally exerted much influence on the country.
Conrad, coming of age, ruled wisely, and for more than half a century
(937-993), Burgundy flourished. His beautiful sister Adelheid was first
Queen of Italy, but after Lothair's untimely death, became Empress of
Germany, Otho I. wishing to unite Italy with his own empire, making her
his wife.
The reign of Rudolf III. (993-1032) was greatly harmful to the country,
which was fast declining in prestige and prosperity. Better fitted for
the cloister than for the throne, he lavished his wealth and estates on
the clergy, with the view of enlisting their help against the
encroaching feudal vassals. In the end, indeed, he was so reduced that
he was compelled to live on alms from his priests. His own incapacities
drove him to seek protection from the empire. Having no children, he
appointed his nephew, the Emperor Henry II., heir to his kingdom, and
even during his own lifetime he arranged to give up the reigns of
government to Henry. The opposition of the Burgundian nobles and the
emperor's death prevented this shameful arrangement from actually coming
into force. The next emperor, Conrad II., prosecuted the claim against
his stepson, Ernest II., as has been told above, and was crowned king at
the Cluniacensian convent, founded by Bertha at Payerne, (1033). His
elevation to the Burgundian throne was confirmed in the following year
by a brilliant assembly of Burgundian, German, and Italian bishops and
nobles, at Geneva. Shortly before his death in 1038, he had his son
Henry installed in the kingdom, and the oath of fealty to him was taken
by the Burgundian nobles at the Diet of Solothurn. Switzerland was thus
very closely allied with the empire; Henry III. holding the reins of
government as King of Burgundy and Duke of Alamannia or Swabia. This
third amalgamation with the empire told more lastingly and influentially
on the country than either the Roman or the Frankish rule had done; to a
great extent it stamped on the people the German character and spirit.
These external changes, these shifting scenes, these various masters and
systems of government, naturally affected the internal condition of the
country as well. Of the social life of the country, however, we know
very little. The chroniclers of the period are monks, or noble
ecclesiastics who wrote of, and for their own class, and the people did
not enter into their concerns. But the political changes were very
great. The Frankish county administrations fell into disuse through the
increase of immunities granted to royal and ecclesiastical foundations,
by which they were exempted from obedience to the county officers. The
counts themselves, who had formerly held office at the sovereign's
pleasure, gradually made their dignities into hereditary fiefs, which
became family property in wealthy and powerful houses. Thus, at the
close of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth century we already
find in Switzerland a number of counts, such as the Nellenburger, in
Zurichgau; the Lenzburger, in Aargau; the Burkharde, in Chur-Rhætia; the
Kyburger, at Winterthur, near Zurich. The greatest changes, however,
were effected by the growth of feudalism, which had arisen indeed under
Charlemagne, but had to some extent been checked by him. Feudalism
outgrew all other systems, and entirely disarranged the social scale.
The free peasantry shrank to a small number, and there sprang up a
martial nobility of high functionaries, who held offices in the army or
courts of justice, and exerted much influence. On the native soil, on
the very meeting-places where the old German people had assembled to
deal with civil and judicial matters, eminent men founded families which
grew into reigning houses. These men, combining political discernment
with military ability and experience, rose above their fellows, and
assumed the highest offices. The distresses, the dissensions, the
intestine wars, and particularly the invasions by savage hordes, drove
people to seek the protection of powerful lords, even at the risk of
losing their own independence. In most cases the people became "unfree,"
or serfs. Society thus was divided into distinct classes; the old
German democracy gave place to a highly aristocratic order, the nobility
ruling over the people. Thus, we find Switzerland, like other European
countries, struggling through her age of feudalism, and centuries must
yet pass before she succeeds in establishing a system of government
which alone will suit her peculiar character.
At that stage of history the welfare of the country depended to a great
extent on the personal character of the imperial sovereigns. They
visited Swabia and Burgundy, enforcing order and discipline, holding
diets at important places, and assigning prerogatives to secular and
religious foundations. In truth, these imperial visits promoted greatly
the development of rising cities. Of the German emperors none came so
often to Switzerland as the powerful Salic ruler, Henry III. When he
left Burgundy--he was often at Basel and Solothurn--the people felt,
says a contemporary writer, as if the sun had gone down. Henry II. and
Henry III. held imperial diets at Zurich, and the latter used to reside
there for weeks together, and lavished privileges and gifts on her
religious foundations. He promoted festivals in the royal palace
(Pfalz), in the Lindencourt; and Zurich was the meeting-place for his
Burgundian and Italian subjects, the capital of Swabia, and residence of
the Swabian dukes, where they here established their mint. His wise
administration tended greatly to destroy all political difference and
hostile feeling between the two Helvetias.
This national concord (1057-77) was still further strengthened by the
rule of Rudolf of Rheinfelden, who for twenty years swayed the destinies
of the country as "Rector of Burgundy" and Duke of Alamannia. The regal
and ducal power had been bestowed upon him by the Empress Agnes, on the
death of Henry III., whose son-in-law he was. Rudolf was from the manor
of Rheinfelden, near Basel, and was a distant connection of the
Burgundian royal family. He held vast estates on Geneva lake, and in
Swabia, and thus met with no opposition on the part of the nobility of
Burgundy. But this long period of peace was suddenly and sadly
interrupted by a terrible catastrophe which fell upon the empire; the
fierce antagonism which arose between Gregory VII. and Henry IV. The
emperor was unwilling to submit to the excessive encroachments of the
Church, or, rather the Pontiff, on his prerogatives, and like William I.
of England, entirely repudiated the Pope's claims, and tried to check
his encroachments. The "Conqueror" indeed had gained so much power that
the Pope could not issue excommunications against English subjects
except by William's permission, but Henry IV. fell a victim to the
Interdict. Never was sovereign more humiliated by the Papal power, nor
more humiliated himself to escape the terrible punishment, for
interdicts were fearful weapons in the hands of the Pontiffs of the
Middle Ages. The story of this long struggle--how the emperor failed to
carry his point--his wanderings across the Alps in the depth of
winter--his submission at Canossa--for all this, full of thrilling
interest as it is, the reader must be referred to the history of
Germany.
[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF LAUSANNE.]
On the deposition of Henry, our Rudolf of Rheinfelden was elected king
by the opposing party, and was thence called the Popish king
(Pfaffenkönig); thus Switzerland, it is almost needless to say, was
drawn into the struggle and convulsed by intestine wars. The bishops of
Lausanne, Geneva, and Basel; the seigneurs of Grandson and Neuchâtel,
clung to the emperor; the counts of Geneva and Toggenburg, the houses of
Habsburg, Kyburg, and Savoy, and the clergy of Alamannia and Chur-Rhætia
sided with the new king. St. Gall rallied round its valiant abbot,
Ulrich III., to uphold the cause of Henry. The wars were continued with
alternate successes and reverses on each side, till the death of Rudolf
in 1080 on the Grona, near Leipzig, it was said by the hand of Godefroi
de Bouillon, the famous crusader, who fought on the side of Henry. The
intensity of bitter feeling gradually abated. Henry even tried to
establish his royal authority in Burgundy, but in Alamannia new quarrels
broke out on the question of the succession to the duchy. Two native
Swabian dukes contended for the duchy, Frederick von Staufen,
grandfather of Frederick Barbarossa, the ancestor of the illustrious
dynasty, and Duke Bertold von Zaeringen, brother-in-law and heir to the
estates of the son of the late Rudolf of Rheinfelden, who died shortly
after his father. The differences were settled by a diet at Mayence, in
1097, and Frederick von Staufen, son-in-law to Henry, who had staunchly
upheld and fought for the imperial cause in the Popish quarrels, was
invested with the Swabian duchy. Yet his power on the Swiss side of the
Rhine was more nominal than real, and it was exerted by Bertold II. of
Zaeringen, who received in compensation for the loss of the duchy the
ducal title, and the _Reichsvogtei Zürich_ (a kind of prefecture),
together with the royal prerogatives over the secular and religious
institutions of the city. For Zurich was then the noblest and most
conspicuous town in Swabia, as Bishop Otto von Freysingen, the most
prominent historian of the Middle Ages, asserts. This severance of Swiss
Alamannia, and particularly of the imperial prefecture of Zurich, from
the empire tended greatly to bring about the gradual political
separation. Under the Zaeringer came again a long period of comparative
peace.
VIII.
THE REIGN OF THE HOUSE OF ZAERINGEN.
(1050-1218.)
The rule of the Dukes of Zaeringen ushered in a long period of
comparative peace (1100-1218), which improved the social and material
condition of the people. Yet this time of peace was every now and again
interrupted in the west by feuds with the Burgundian nobles. This
Swabian family took their name from the ancestral manor of Zaeringen,
near Freiburg, in the Breisgau (Black Forest). The vast estates they had
derived from the House of Rheinfelden on its extinction reached from
Lake Geneva to the rivers Aare and Emme, and gave them a dominant
position in the country at the opening of the twelfth century.
Burgundy had been slowly falling away from the empire during its
internal dissensions and its conflicts with the Papacy. But on the death
of Count William IV., who was assassinated by his own people in 1127,
the Emperor Lothair drew that province more closely to his realm, by
bestowing the regency of it on his adherent, Conrad of Zaeringen.
Conrad's position was, however, violently contested by Rainald III., a
relative of the murdered count. The Burgundian nobles rallied round him,
and made a desperate stand against German interference, and he
maintained his independence in the Franche Comté, as the district was
subsequently called. When Frederick Barbarossa married Beatrix, the
daughter and heiress of Rainald, he claimed the Burgundian territory,
and came into conflict with the Zaeringer. Berchtold IV. obtained the
position of suzerain over the sees of Geneva, Lausanne, and Sion, and by
this division Swiss Burgundy was being lopped off from its appendage
beyond Mount Jura. The insubordinate prelates joined with secular
princes to upset the German rule. To guard against these protracted
struggles, and to increase their own influence in the country, the
Zaeringer resorted to a means which does them great credit, and which
won for them the affection of the people. They began to found towns, as
they had done in Germany, or to raise settlements into fortified cities,
and granted them extensive liberties. The lesser nobles and the common
people found shelter in these walled towns against the over-bearing
amongst the high nobility; trade and industry began to thrive, and these
city commonwealths rose to a flourishing condition, and became a source
of wealth as well as a staunch support to their founders.
Bertold or Berchtold IV. (1152-1186) planned a whole strategical line of
strongholds in the west, as a check on the nobles; and in 1177 he
founded the free city of Freiburg on his own estates. The situation, on
a high plateau above the Saane, was on the line of demarcation between
the French and German tongues. To this new town he granted a charter of
liberties similar to that granted to its sister foundation of the same
name in the Breisgau.
Berchtold V. (1186-1218) followed in the steps of his father. He founded
and fortified Burgdorf, Moudon, Yverdon, Laupen, Murten, Gümminen, Thun.
These towns he founded to be not only places of military strength, but
also centres of industry and trade, which should increase the prosperity
of his people. But he had, however, to stand against the heavy
opposition of the Burgundian nobles. As he was preparing to set out on a
crusade with Frederick Barbarossa they rose in arms. Hastening back, he
defeated the refractory rebels, both at Avenches and in the Grindelwald
valley, in 1191, and immediately after his victories he resumed his
strategical projects. On a promontory washed by the Aare, and on
imperial crown lands, he raised a new citadel, to which he gave the name
of Bern, in memory of Dietrich of Berne (Verona), a favourite hero of
Alamannic mediæval poetry.[21] The lesser nobles of the neighbourhood,
as well as the humbler people, poured into Bern for shelter, and,
receiving a most liberal charter, these burgesses rapidly rose to wealth
and power. Being built on imperial land, Bern took from the first a
higher standing than the sister town, Freiburg.
These city foundations form a chief corner-stone in the fabric of Swiss
liberties. Attaining political independence, the towns held their own
against aggressors. To effect their deliverance from oppression, they
united with kindred communities or with powerful princes, and thus began
the system of offensive and defensive alliances.
A new enemy arose in the West, and Berchtold V. was defeated by Count
Thomas of Savoy (1211), who encroached on Vaud, and seized Moudon. Yet
the Zaeringer steadily and successfully strengthened their hold over the
country, and obtained the most complete independence. And, indeed, the
moment seemed drawing near when Switzerland was to be shaped into a
durable monarchical state. However, she was spared that fate--from which
no patriotic act of any national hero could probably have rescued
her--by a natural, yet providential, event, the extinction of the ducal
family. For in 1218 Berchtold V. died, leaving no issue.
This century is eminently an age of religious movements. And, although
our space will not permit us to enter into full details, yet it is
impossible to pass over the great religious revival which centred in the
Crusades, that is, so far as that movement touches Switzerland.
On the 10th of December, in the year 1146, a most touching scene might
have been witnessed in the minster of Schaffhausen. The Alamannic people
were thronging the church to listen to a glowing sermon from a French
Cistercian monk, Bernard de Clairvaux. Vividly depicting the distress
of the Christians in Palestine, he invited his hearers to join the
second crusade. France was ready, he said, but the House of Hohenstaufen
was still wavering. His captivating manner, his noble earnestness, and
the elegance and flow of his language--though it was but half understood
by the masses--stirred the audience to bursts of enthusiasm. "Your land
is fertile," were the concluding words of the monk, "and the world is
filled with the reputation of your valour. Ye soldiers of Christ, arise!
and hurl down the enemies of the Cross!" Laying his hands on the blind
and lame, says the half-legendary story, he restored to them eyesight or
the use of limbs, and, strewing crosses amongst the crowds, left the
church. The people, in a state of ecstatic fervour, beat their breasts,
and, shedding tears, broke into a shout of "Kyrie eleison, the saints
are with us!"[22] On the 15th of the same month Bernard preached at
Zurich, and on Christmas Day at Speyer, before Conrad III., whom he won
for the crusade. His fervent exhortations seem to have found willing
ears, too, in the country. Schaffhausen and Einsiedeln took an active
share in the work. We hear of almost countless numbers of spiritual and
secular princes, nobles, knights, and lesser people who joined in the
crusade. The counts of Montfort, Kyburg, Habsburg, Zaeringen, and
Neuchâtel, and bishops and abbots started for the East. Contemporary
writers bewail the loss of so many of the best and bravest of South
Germany who died in Palestine. The holy orders of the Knights of St.
John, of the Teutonic order, and the Knights-Templars raised their
aristocratic institutions in this country; new orders of monastic
foundations sprang up, which we cannot here dwell upon. Amongst these
new orders were that of Mendicant Friars, though it is worthy of note
that these played no such part in Switzerland as they did in England.
Yet the Burgundian or western portion of the country plunged more deeply
into the movement than did the eastern part. German enthusiasm was but
slowly won by French religious ecstasy, which had to a great extent
started the Crusades. Still the age was filled with religious and
romantic frenzy. Not the mere practical aims of conquest or gain it was
that stirred men's minds, but the mystical elements of the movement, and
the grand, novel, and indeed fabulous sights that were to be witnessed;
and the old love of wandering and adventure revived, and drove men to
the East. By a happy coincidence the effect of Bernard's sermons was
lessened to some extent in this country by the previous teachings of
another enthusiast of a far different stamp. The intrepid Italian
reformer, Arnold of Brescia, had for some time preached at Zurich and
Constance, sowing the seeds of heresy. Boldly attacking the abuses of
the Church, and advocating the return to the simplicity of the apostolic
teaching, he invited people to no longer lavish wealth on Church
institutions. Arnold fell a victim to his advanced religious and
political views, but his teachings took hold of the people of the Alpine
districts. To his influence may safely be attributed the staunch
resistance to Papal aggressiveness shown in the thirteenth century by
the people of Zurich and of the Forest Cantons.
FOOTNOTES:
[21] See Nibelungen.
[22] Prof. Bächtold, "Sermon Literature in Switzerland."
IX.
THE HOUSES OF KYBURG, SAVOY, AND HABSBURG.
(1218-1273.)
We are nearing the period of their history most dear to the Swiss, the
period when the Eidgenossenschaft is forming, but before reaching it we
have still to make our way as best we can through a short era of chaotic
feudalism and political confusion generally, preceding the great
struggle for Swiss independence. On the extinction of the House of
Zaeringen Switzerland fell a prey to the designs of vassal princes who
had started into eminence on her soil, and now contended for supremacy
over her. The realm of the Zaeringen sovereigns fell to pieces, the
Swiss portions with Freiburg, Burgdorf, Thun, going to a native prince,
Ulrich, Count of Kyburg, brother-in-law of Berchtold V.; the Swabian
portions to a German relative. Thus Switzerland was cut off from Swabia.
The crown lands he had held in Swiss Burgundy, and likewise the royal
prerogative, fell to the empire, and the Vice-regency, being vested by
Frederick II. in his younger son, Henry, became gradually nominal and at
length died out. In this way all vassal princes in the west, and all the
territorial lordships and free cities, such as Bern, Solothurn, Morat,
Laupen, Gümminen, which were built on crown lands, and had been
subjected to the Zaerings, were now held directly from the emperor.
Zurich was likewise restored to the empire. By this time most of these
places had become virtually independent.
[Illustration: CHÂTEAU DE VUFFLENS, VAUD. (_Fourteenth Century._)]
Switzerland reflects most faithfully the feudal and political condition
of the empire at large. It was torn into an almost countless number of
spiritual and secular territorial sovereignties. Taking advantage of the
state of distraction prevailing throughout the realm, Church prelates,
religious foundations, the greater and lesser nobles, and even the
thriving burgesses of great city commonwealths, all strove to erect
their lands into petty independent dominions. The bishops assumed
temporal power in their own dioceses; the religious-houses, owing to
their "rich immunities," enjoyed almost perfect freedom. The peasantry
had dwindled into small bodies of men, and in the place of the Frankish
county-officers (counts) a martial nobility had sprung up, and, grasping
the public functions and dignities, had turned these offices into
freeholds independent of the sovereign. Henceforward they assumed the
names of the feudal manors they held, and began to raise
_chateaux-forts_ on commanding or picturesque spots. As many as two
hundred territorial rulers held their feudal sway in Switzerland. To
give even the names of these would be not only useless but absurd, yet
they had their share in the political development of the country.
In the Low Valais the counts of Savoy had obtained a footing, and were
moreover advancing into Vaud. Vaud was at that time governed by a host
of more or less important nobles, such as the barons of Grandson,
Cossonay, Blonay, &c., and was contended for by the bishops of Lausanne
and Geneva, and the counts of the latter town, whilst the counts of
Greyerz governed in the districts of the Saane, and those of Neuchâtel
in the lake districts of the Jura. Little Burgundy, with Solothurn as
capital, fell to the counts of Buchegg. One of the wealthiest and most
ancient of the native families was that of Lenzburg, whose counts held
sway in Aargau, Zurichgau, and the Forest Cantons, and were governors of
famous religious-houses. One of the counts of Lenzburg, Ulrich IX., was
an intimate friend and a minister of Frederick Barbarossa, and on the
extinction of the rule of these counts, their heritage fell to the
Habsburgs, and gave that family a great lift in the early days of their
rise. In the east we meet with the famous House of Kyburg, to which
belonged young Werner, the friend of Ernest II. of Swabia. Their
ancestral manor house near Winterthur is still in good condition. They
had numerous vassals and followers. In Zurichgau the barons of
Regensberg and others, and the counts of Rapperswyl were harassing the
people. The most powerful nobles in the east were the abbots of St.
Gall, who governed part of St. Gall and Appenzell, and the counts of
Toggenburg, and in Chur-Rhætia and the Rhine districts the counts of
Montfort and Werdenberg. This sufficiently shows how feudalism had grown
apace in Switzerland, and what a hard struggle the people had to hold
their own against the impositions of princes and nobles. How feudalism
had arisen has been already shown in the previous chapter.
To find some explanation of this rapid growth and the distracted state
that followed in its train we must turn for a moment to the empire.
Owing no doubt to the loftiness of the imperial dignity--for the
emperors were indisputably the greatest of the civilized monarchs--the
vassal princes rose to far greater independence in the empire than in
other countries. Yet the possession of the imperial crown was in the end
the weakening of royalty. Henry III. had raised the empire to its
pinnacle of greatness, and the imperial dignity increased the prestige
of the German name, and surrounded the German monarch with a halo of
glory and even reverence. But the engagements abroad, the campaigns in
Italy, the struggles with the Pontiffs, and the close attention required
to be paid to Italian affairs, kept the emperors away from duties and
cares nearer home. The Italian claims and titles, in fact, proved in the
long run injurious to German interests. Frederick I., Barbarossa, had
indeed, by his just and powerful rule, forced his insubordinate vassals
into submission, but it was far different with his grandson, the
brilliant Frederick II. (1215-50). Born in Italy and brought up to love
the land of his birth, Naples and Sicily, more than his fatherland,
Frederick II. was more Southerner than Teuton. He gave Southern Italy a
model administration, but allowed Germany to be weakened by a divided
internal government. And though we cannot but admire the unflinching
spirit with which this "wonder of the world" carried on his unequal
struggle with the Papacy, yet it is clear that the conflict which sealed
the doom of his own family was equally ruinous to the empire.[23]
[Illustration: BRONZE FIGURES FROM THE MAXIMILIAN MONUMENT AT
INNSBRUCK.]
During the interregnum (1254-73) Germany was without an actual ruler,
although two foreign princes had been elected as its sovereigns. One of
these never even showed his face in Germany, and the other, Richard of
Cornwall, could not make sure his ascendency in the country,
notwithstanding all the money he lavished in the attempt. This was the
unhappy time of the _Faustrecht_--the name indicates its character--when
the right of the strong hand (fist) alone was of avail. The empire lost
its prestige, and it slowly dissolved into a loose confederacy of some
five thousand larger or smaller states and fragments of states, each
struggling for independence.
Most eminent amongst the crowd of nobles on Swiss soil aiming at their
personal exaltation were the counts of the great Houses of Kyburg,
Savoy, and Habsburg. Taking advantage of the general state of
misgovernment or want of government, they systematically planned the
aggrandisement of their own families, whether by conquest, purchase, or
unjust encroachment. Yet there was opposition from the city burgesses,
who, seeing their liberties in danger, felt the love of freedom roused
in their breasts.
The powerful Kyburger, the mightiest Swiss nobles, were the first to
threaten the liberties of the people. Count Ulrich was reckoned one of
the wealthiest princes throughout Swabia. By clever policy he had
arranged the union of his son Hartmann (the elder) with Margaretha of
Savoy. Ulrich's daughter, too, was married to Albrecht of Habsburg, and
became the mother of Rudolf, the German king. He upheld the cause of
Frederick II., and his elder son, Werner, went with him on his crusade
where he was carried off by the plague, leaving one son, Hartmann the
Younger. Their territories, after they had inherited the Zaeringen
estates, reached from Lake Constance to Swiss Burgundy. Both the elder
and the younger Hartmann encroached without scruple on the crown lands
adjoining their estates, whilst Frederick II. was engaged in his
struggle with the Church. In this emergency Bern and Murten, whose
independence was at stake, followed suit, and resorted to means which
would be a precedent in the future struggles for Swiss freedom. They
joined in an offensive and defensive union with the Kyburg city,
Freiburg, with Lucerne and the Bishop of Sion (1243). Bern had always
adhered closely to the Hohenstaufen, and when Hartmann ventured on an
open attack in 1255, that city applied to the empire for help. Unable to
obtain support, however, both Bern and Murten placed themselves under
the patronage of Count Peter of Savoy, who was already at variance with
Kyburg, and a peace was arranged.
Peter of Savoy, "the second Charlemagne" as he was styled, was a most
remarkable man, and a striking figure amongst the Savoy princes. Being
the fourth of seven brothers he had been placed in the Church by his
father, Count Thomas. However, on the death of the father Peter doffed
his priestly robes, married the heiress of Faucigny, and added that
province and Chablais to his territories, and set up as guardian of his
brothers. Like his father he had constantly his mind on Vaud, and the
daily feuds amongst its leaderless swarm of nobles facilitated the
conquest. Castles were erected to further his object; and Chillon, which
to-day gives us an excellent idea of what a fine feudal castle was in
mediæval days, became his princely residence, having indeed been, to a
great extent, built by him. Invited to the Court of England by his niece
Eleanor, he spent the greater part of his life abroad, gathering in the
service of Henry III. men and money. These he used to achieve the
acquisition of Vaud, to which he every now and then returned to
overthrow his enemies. In England he occupied a high position in the
Council, was knighted, and had titles and honours lavished on him; the
palace of the Savoy in the Strand bears witness to his magnificence.
Many of the nobles in his train, such as De la Porte, Grandson,
Flechère, married Englishwomen, and hence arose the family names of
Porter, Grandison, Fletcher. Possessing an iron will, and thoroughly
versed in diplomacy, Peter of Savoy finally annexed Vaud, partly by
conquest and partly by agreement. In truth, the whole nobility lay at
his feet ready to do him homage and acknowledge him as lord paramount.
The German government sanctioned his protectorate of Bern and Morat, and
Richard of Cornwall his conquests in the Bernese Highlands. Thus West
Switzerland became the portion of a Savoy prince, and in the place of
the ancient kingdom of Upper Burgundy arose a feudal sovereignty.
However, order, discipline, and wise organization were the fruits of
Peter's rule. And his generous nature, his chivalrous spirit, and his
love of justice and good government, won for him the affection of his
people, and the title of Le Petit, or Le Second, Charlemagne.
Presently the Kyburg domains in Eastern Switzerland devolved on him, the
male line having died out in 1264--the elder Hartmann leaving no
children, and the younger but one daughter, Anna, a minor. But when
Peter attempted to take possession of the inheritance in the name of his
sister, Margaretha of Savoy, he found himself in conflict with a rival
claimant of superior strength, Rudolf, of Habsburg. This prince
confiscated the whole of the lands of Hartmann the Elder, regardless of
the claims of the widow, Margaretha. There was no mistaking the meaning
of this, and war broke out between Savoy and Habsburg. Rudolf invited
the whole of the nobles of the west to rise against Count Peter. He was
engaged in East Switzerland when the Burgundian lords proceeded to
besiege Chillon, in 1266. Peter himself was at war in the Valais. He
suddenly returned, and at dead of night fell upon the enemy. He found
them asleep, and some eighty nobles, barons, counts, seigneurs, and
followers fell into his hands. These he conducted into the castle of
Chillon, but instead of treating them as prisoners, entertained them at
a banquet. Thus Peter became once more master of the west. Bern by a
"writ of submission" regained from the House of Savoy the freedom it
had forfeited on a previous occasion.[24] Rudolf signed a peace at
Morat, and obtained the Kyburg heritage with the exception of the lands
settled on the Dowager Countess. On the death of the "Conqueror of
Vaud," which occurred soon after, the sovereignty passed to his brother
Philip, a man of far inferior stamp. French Switzerland, save Geneva,
gradually became a loose confederation of petty states, and their
languishing political life led to their gradual amalgamation with the
Eastern Republics.
The most dangerous champion enters the lists when the great Habsburg
prince seizes on the reins of government in Switzerland. In its early
stages the rule of the Habsburger is closely linked with, and is indeed
the incitement to, the national movement or rising, if such a word may
be applied in the case of a people just forming. The famous Habsburg
family was of right noble and ancient lineage. Whether they sprang from
Swiss soil (Aargau), or had their origin in Alsacia, is not quite
settled. As a matter of fact, they were a Swabian family who possessed
vast estates in both those countries. Their estates, ("Eigen," allods or
freeholds) with Windisch, Brugg Nurri, lay at the junction of the Aare
and Reuss, in Aargau. Originally they dwelt in the castle of Altenburg,
near Brugg, and subsequently in their manor of Habsburg, on the
Wülpelsberg,[25] a little hill overlooking the ancient Vindonissa.
Numerous other castles they held as time went on.
[Illustration: THE OLD HABSBURG CASTLE (CANTON AARGAU).]
Rudolf der Alte (the Old) is the first of the ancestors of whom we know
much. He accompanied Frederick II. on his campaigns, and that great
emperor stood godfather to his son Rudolf, who was later on to wear his
royal crown. On his death the dynasty split into two branches,
Habsburg-Austria (senior), and Habsburg-Laufenburg Aargau (junior), the
heads being respectively Albrecht the Wise and Rudolf the Silent, his
sons. Each of these branches followed its own separate policy, the
junior holding to the Papacy. Albrecht cleverly contrived to marry
Heilwig of Kyburg, hoping thus to inherit the estates of her childless
brother, Hartmann the elder. He died, it was rumoured, whilst engaged in
one of the crusades, and his estates passed to his sons, of whom,
however, but one survived, our Rudolf of Habsburg. This man within the
space of thirty years made his family one of the mightiest in the
empire. Rudolf inherited from his father the family estate on the Aare,
with Habsburg Castle. Besides this, he succeeded to various titles and
lands, to the lordship of several towns in the Aargau, to the prefecture
(_Vogtei_) over the religious-houses of Säckingen and Muri, to the
landgraviate of Alsacia, and so forth.
Though but one-and-twenty when his father died, Rudolf at once
displayed great energy, as well as firmness and caution. In the struggle
with the Papacy he held to the Staufen. It mattered little to him that
his estates were under an interdict, and himself excommunicated. He held
faithfully to the illustrious dynasty, and accompanied its last
representative, Conradin, across the Alps, to Verona, in 1267. On the
death of Conradin on the scaffold at Naples, and the consequent
extinction of the Staufen line, Rudolf veered gradually round to the
side of the Pope.
Rudolf was highly popular with the peasantry, winning their hearts by
his affability, simple habits, and kindly good-nature. His tall and
slender person, thin face, and aquiline nose, were striking features,
and not easily forgotten when once seen. He had been known to mend with
his own hands, after a campaign, the old grey coat he usually wore, and
this was but a typical act of his. And the proud opposition he offered
to a plundering nobility quite won for him the confidence of the people.
The great cities stood on good terms with him, and sought his friendship
and aid. Thus did the Alsacian towns seek his help against the bishops
of Strasburg; Zurich against the barons of Regensberg and Toggenburg. On
many an occasion did he render remarkable service in this way, of which
one instance must suffice. The barons of Regensberg had a castle on the
Uto, a mountain towering above Zurich, and from thence often sent men to
waylay and rob the citizens who chanced to pass that way. Rudolf hit on
a crafty device. Riding up the Uetliberg with thirty men of Zurich, he
placed behind each man a companion, and so came to the gate of the
castle. The garrison despising a band apparently so small, rushed out of
the gates upon them. But great was their terror when suddenly the men
riding behind appeared in sight, and, taking to flight, they left the
castle at the mercy of the strange attacking party. The place was
levelled with the ground. Rudolf was asked by a body of free men of Uri
to be their umpire in a dispute, and he actually sat in judgment on the
matter, under the linden at Altorf, a fact which bears witness to his
popularity amongst the people. Yet, with many amiable qualities, Rudolf
was covetous, ambitious, and violent. Bent on raising his family to
greatness, he reveals a most mercenary spirit, and shows himself
unscrupulous in the pursuit of gain. It has been shown above, how he had
seized the Kyburg lands; he also made himself guardian of Anna of
Kyburg, and when she came of age, united her to his cousin, Eberhard of
Habsburg. Thus was founded the new House of Kyburg-Burgdorf. He obtained
from them Anna's heritage in the Aargau, besides Zug, Art, Willisan,
Sempach, &c., as well as lands in the Forest Cantons. He was one of
those chieftains who profited immensely by the distraction during the
interregnum.
Whilst engaged in storming Basel, whose bishop had encroached on the
Alsacian territories, the news was brought to Rudolf (October 1, 1273)
that he had been elected King of Germany, at Frankfort, and, raising the
siege, he at once proceeded to his coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle.
Rudolf's influence greatly altered the policy of Germany. He made his
peace with Gregory X. at Lausanne in 1275, and entered into a close
alliance with him. Thus an end was put to the unfortunate quarrels with
the Papal power, and the German king was set at liberty to follow his
own ambitions, aims, and plans. He resigned all claim to Italy, and so
far also to the imperial dignity, which had once been of such splendour,
and had indeed been almost equivalent to the government of the whole
world. Sober, cautious, and matter-of-fact as he was, Rudolf cared not
for merely ideal greatness, and devoted himself to following more
practical aims. The empire had been impoverished by the late crisis, and
by the different calamities which had befallen it; and the German
princes had risen to positions of defiant independence. Seeing
beforehand that the authority of the crown must be founded on the wealth
and hereditary possessions of the sovereign, Rudolf made the
aggrandisement of his family the chief object of his career. Fortune's
favourite he seemed indeed to be, and gained a great victory over his
opponent to the throne, Ottokar of Bohemia (1278), and secured from him
the Duchy of Austria, with Steyermark. This he vested as a new
possession in his own family.
Notwithstanding the extension of his power eastward, he likewise
continued his aggressive policy in Switzerland. He forced from Philip of
Savoy the cession of Payerne, Murten, &c., and waged war with Bern,
which held to Savoy, refusing to pay the royal taxes (1279). Making
ample use of his exalted position and unlimited power, he lost no
opportunity of buying up princes and religious-houses in pecuniary
difficulties. He compelled the Abbots of St. Gall, Alrich of Güttingen,
and William of Montfort, to cede to him lands and farms, forcing on them
as steward a worthless fellow who was a devoted adherent of the
Habsburgs. When the male line of Rapperswyl died out, the fiefs which
should have passed to the Abbey of St. Gall, he gave to his own sons.
And, taking advantage of the pecuniary straits of the monastery of
Nurbach, he obtained by one means or another Lucerne, which belonged to
the abbey, as well as numerous farms reaching into the Forest Cantons.
The stewardship of Einsiedeln and Pfäffers likewise fell to his share.
Many more instances might be given to show how Rudolf's clever and
unscrupulous scheming extended his power all over the midlands and the
eastern districts, and how grievously his heavy hand was felt throughout
the country. Yet the famous Habsburgs, able, warlike, and energetic as
they were, met with one obstacle to their progress which they were
unable to remove, and against which all their plans came to nought---the
love of freedom innate in the Swiss peoples.
FOOTNOTES:
[23] For more complete account of the Hohenstaufen see Freeman's "Holy
Roman Empire," Frederick I., II.
[24] The story runs that Peter allowed the town to ask a favour in
return for past services, and the witty men of Bern at once begged for
the restitution of their lost liberty. Henceforth Peter was regarded as
the benefactor and second founder of the city.
[25] Tradition says that one of their ancestors, Radbot, hunting in the
Aargau, lost his favourite hawk, and found it sitting on the ridge of
the Wülpelsberg. Being delighted with the view, Radbot built a castle
there, and called it _Hawk Castle_, Habichtsburg, or Habsburg.
X.
THE CONFEDERATION, OR EIDGENOSSENSCHAFT.
(1231-1291.)
In the present chapter we have to attempt the task of separating truth
from fiction, at all times, perhaps, a difficult, and often an
impossible, undertaking, in matters of history. This chapter indeed
splits itself naturally into _Wahrheit_ and _Dichtung_. Fortunately the
stories of Tell and the three Eidgenossen are everywhere well known, and
will need but little description at our hands.
A lake of exquisite beauty extends between the Forest Cantons, and, so
to speak, links them together, the whole forming a singularly
picturesque stretch of country. Separated from the sister cantons and
from the outside world, each of these little states formed a world of
its own. The lake was the common outlet, and the rallying-point for the
peoples of the secluded valleys. The various armlets into which it
branches, like the districts which lie about them, have each their
peculiar charm. Of these cantons Unterwalden has a pastoral character,
and attracts attention by its beautiful verdure--velvety slopes, green
meads, clusters of nut-trees in the lower parts, orchards of fruit
trees, the country dotted everywhere with sunburnt huts, forming a _tout
ensemble_ truly idyllic. Schwyz is a canton of similar natural
appearance, with green pastures and somewhat gentler slopes, but broad
terraces with their red cottages line the valley. Above the chief town
of the same name, which nestles at the head of the dale it commands,
shining, dazzlingly white with its snug whitewashed houses, rise to the
sky the torn but imposing pyramids of the two Myten. Uri is _par
excellence_ the highland district amongst the three little states.
Towering mountains and inaccessible rocks hem in a strip of water, and
give that wondrous hue which makes the charm of Uri lake.
The inhabitants are of the Alpine mould. Sinewy, robust, quick, shrewd,
they are persevering, fearless, bold, and self-reliant; they are yet
simple in their habits, artless in manner, pious, and strongly
conservative, each people having however its own characteristic points
of difference. Ever exposed to danger, their struggles with nature for
the supply of their daily wants have increased their strength of body,
brought out their mettle, and quickened their natural intelligence. Thus
it was not the love of innovation, or even of reform, that led them to
form their "League of Perpetual Alliance," in 1291. They entered into
the Confederation but to check the aggressions of the Habsburgers.
Such is the district and such the race from which arose the three famed
Eidgenossen, Walter Fürst von Attinghausen, Werner Staufacher, and
Arnold von Melchthal, who, on the "Rütli," swore a solemn oath to save
their country from rulers shameless as they were cruel.
[Illustration: THALER OF THREE CANTONS--URI, SCHWYZ, AND UNTERWALDEN
[SANCTUS MARTINUS EPISCOPUS].
(_By Dr. Imhoof._)]
Tradition reports that King Albrecht, son of Rudolf (1298-1308), greatly
oppressed the three Waldstätten, doing his best to reduce the people to
the condition of bondmen. To the various stewards or bailiffs whom he
set over them, he gave strict orders to keep well in check the people of
the Forest Cantons. These overseers grew into covetous and cruel
tyrants, who taxed, fined, imprisoned, and reviled the unfortunate
inhabitants. To complain to the monarch was useless, as he refused to
listen. One of these stewards, or lieutenant-governors, was Gessler, and
a particularly haughty and spiteful governor he was. Passing on one
occasion through Steinen (Schwyz), he was struck by the sight of a fine
stone-built house, and filled with envy he inquired of Werner
Staufacher, who happened to be the owner, whose it was. Fearing the
governor's anger the wealthy proprietor replied cautiously, "The holding
is the king's, your grace's, and mine." "Can we suffer the peasantry to
live in such fine houses?" exclaimed Gessler, scornfully, as he rode
away. Landenberg, another of these "unjust stewards," at Sarnen, being
informed that a rich farmer in the Melchi (Unterwalden), had a fine pair
of oxen, sent his man for them. Young Arnold, of Melchthal, the son of
the farmer, was standing by when the animals were being unyoked, and,
enraged at the sight, raised his stick, and struck the governor's
servant a blow, breaking one of his fingers. But being afraid of the
governor's wrath, young Arnold fled. So Landenberg seized the old
father, brought him to his castle, and had his eyes put out.
Werner Staufacher was consumed by secret grief, and his wife, guessing
what was on his mind, gave him such counsel that, nerving himself to
action, he went over to Uri and Unterwalden to look for kindred spirits
and fellow-sufferers. At the house of Walter Fürst, of Attinghausen
(Uri), he met with the young man from the Melchi, to whom he was able to
tell the sad news that the old father had been blinded by Landenberg.
Here the three patriots unburdened to each other their sorrowing hearts,
and vowed a vow to free their country from oppressors, and restore its
ancient liberties. Gradually opening their plans to their kindred and
friends, they arranged nightly meetings on the Rütli, a secluded Alpine
mead above the Mytenstein, on Uri lake. Meeting in small bands so as
not to excite suspicion, they deliberated as to how best their
deliverance might be effected. On the night of the 17th of November,
1307, Walter Fürst, Arnold of Melchthal, and Werner Staufacher, met on
the Rütli, each taking with him ten intimate associates. Their hearts
swelling with love for their country and hatred against tyranny, these
three-and-thirty men solemnly pledged their lives for each other and for
their fatherland.
Raising their right hands towards heaven the three leaders took God and
the saints to witness that their solemn alliance was made in the
spirit--"One for all, and all for one." At that moment the sun shot his
first rays across the mountain-tops, kindling in the hearts of these
earnest men the hopes of success.
In the meantime a very remarkable event had happened at the town of
Altorf in Uri. Gessler had placed a hat on a pole in the market-place,
with strict orders that passers-by should do it reverence, for he wished
to test their obedience. William Tell scorned this piece of over-bearing
tyranny, and proudly marched past without making obeisance to the hat.
He was seized, and Gessler riding up, demanded why he had disobeyed the
order. "From thoughtlessness," he replied, "for if I were witty my name
were not Tell." The governor, in a fury, ordered Tell to shoot an apple
from the head of his son, for Gessler knew Tell to be a most skilful
archer, and, moreover, to have fine children. Tell's entreaties that
some other form of punishment should be substituted, for this were of no
avail. Pierced to the heart the archer took two arrows, and, placing
one in his quiver, took aim with the other, and cleft the apple. Foiled
in his design, Gessler inquired the meaning of the second arrow. Tell
hesitated, but on being assured that his life would be spared, instantly
replied, "Had I injured my child, this second shaft should not have
missed thy heart." "Good!" exclaimed the enraged governor, "I have
promised thee thy life, but I will throw thee into a dungeon where
neither sun nor moon shall shine on thee." Tell was chained, and placed
in a barge, his bow and arrow being put at his back. As they rowed
towards Axenstein, suddenly their arose a fearful storm, and the crew
fearing they would be lost, suggested that Tell, an expert boatman,
should save them. Gessler had him unbound, and he steered towards
Axenberg, where there was a natural landing-stage formed by a flat
rock--_Tellenplatte_. Seizing his bow and arrows he flung the boat
against the rock, and leapt ashore, leaving its occupants to their fate.
Woe betide him, however, should the governor escape death on the lake!
Tell hurried on to Schwyz, and thence to the "hollow way" near Kusnach,
through which Gessler must come if he returned to his castle. Hiding in
the thicket lining the road, Tell waited, and presently seeing the
tyrant riding past, took aim, and shot him through the heart. Gessler's
last words were, "This is Tell's shaft."
Thus runs the old story. The question naturally arises, What of all this
is truth, and what fiction? just as it will in the case of Winkelried
and others. The question is easier to ask than to answer, at least in
the very limited space at our disposal. The truth is, this question has
been for half a century the subject of controversy always lively, often
passionate and violent. Some authorities are for making a clean sweep of
all traditional annals, and all semi-mythical national heroes. Others,
no less able and conscientious, and no less learned, have re-admitted
tradition to investigation, and have made it their special care to pick
out the historical grain from the chaff of fiction. It is impossible
within the limits of our space to discuss the merits of the numerous
chronicles, and popular songs and plays, in which the traditions of the
Tell period are preserved. Suffice it to say, that the "White Book of
Sarnen" (1470), naïve and artless as is its tone, is the most
trustworthy; that of the "Swiss Herodotus," the patriotic Tschudi
(1570), the most fascinating and most skilfully penned. The work of the
latter is mainly a series of gleanings from the "White Book," together
with additional pictures from Tschudi's own pencil. He combined and
supplied dates and minor details, and cast the whole in a mould
apparently so historical that it became an authority for Joh von Müller,
the great Swiss historian of the eighteenth century. And the immortal
Schiller deeply stirred by the grand epic, produced his magnificent
drama, "William Tell."
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 Waldstätten 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 Faënza 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 Rütli, &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
Waldstätten, 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 Rütli to
swear the solemn oath which was to bind them into a confederation, _à
perpetuité_. 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
Waldstätten 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 Waldstätten 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
Lützelburg 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 Königsfelden (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 Brünig
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 Ægeri, 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 _cortège_ 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 _mêlée_ 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 Thermopylæ,
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
Waldstätten. 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.
[Illustration: MAP OF OLD SWITZERLAND.]
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 Waldstätten,[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 Waldstätten 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 Waldstätten. 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 Königsfelden, 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
Tätwil, 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
_protégés_ (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 Waldstätten, 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 Waldstätten. 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 Nürnberg, 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 Küsnacht. 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 Waldstätten,
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 Königsfelden. 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 _Vierwaldstättersee_, 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 mediæval
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 Vögte. 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 _Reichsfürstin_, 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 mediæval 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 Waldstätten 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 _régime_ 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 Dornbühl, 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.
[Illustration: THE STANDARD-BEARERS OF SCHWYZ, URI, UNTERWALDEN AND
ZÜRICH.]
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 Gümminen had
been demolished, as well as many Kyburg castles. Gümminen belonged to
her rival, and was a place of singular strategical importance.
But these were mere preliminary episodes, and more serious warfare
followed. Many of the surrounding nobles had outlived their time of
prosperity and greatness, and yet clung to the prerogatives of their
class without possessing any longer the means to maintain them. Bern
took advantage of all this to secure her own aggrandisement, and gain
for herself more territory, for originally she had possessed no lands
beyond her walls. The Bernese Oberland was the first district on which
she set her eyes. Here the counts of Greyerz,[32] the dynasts of Turn
(Valisian nobles), and the barons of Weipenburg, held the chief
territorial lordships, and formed a strong Alpine coalition with
Austrian sympathies, as against the rising city of Bern. With the last
mentioned Bern strove for the supremacy, and stormed their stronghold,
Wimmis, in the Simmenthal, both town and castle, and demolished the
_Letzinen_,[33] or fortifications in the valley. The old baron and his
nephew had no means to fight out the quarrel, and were compelled to
accept the terms dictated by the victors. They were bound to render
military service, and were required to pledge their castles for their
submission, and so forth. But what most nearly touched them was the loss
of Hasle. That beautiful valley, stretching from Brienz lake to the
Grimsel pass, with romantic Meiringen as its central place, has had a
strange history. The inhabitants were at first free Alamannic farmers,
owing allegiance to no sovereign, or lord, except the German monarch,
and they chose their Ammann from amongst themselves, or had him chosen
by the king. They had allied themselves as equals with Bern, in 1275,
but in 1310 their subjection was sealed. Henry VII. wanting money for
his coronation at Rome, mortgaged Hasle to the barons of Weipenburg, for
340 marks. In 1334 Bern bought up the mortgage, and the valley thus came
under Bernese rule. Bern now appeared likely enough to stretch her power
even up to the snow-clad mountain lands, and laid the foundation of her
future pre-eminence amongst the western cantons. But she stirred up
fierce opposition, especially on the part of the Burgundian nobles.
Fearing for their very existence, the counts of Greyerz, Valangin,
Aarberg, Nidan, Neuchâtel, Vaud, Kyburg, headed by Freiburg, encouraged,
though not actually assisted, by Louis of Bavaria, rose in arms. Bern
called for help from Hasle, Weipenburg, and the Forest Cantons, but
found it a difficult matter to get together the scattered forces. On the
10th of June, 1339, an army of fifteen thousand foot and three thousand
horse marched against Laupen, whose defence devolved upon some four
hundred Bernese. On the 21st of the same month there arrived at the town
the forces of the Eidgenossen, amounting to barely six thousand men.
They wore a white cross of cloth, and marched to the relief of the
beleaguered city animated by the stirring words of Theobald, a priest of
the Teutonic order. The battle actually took place, however, on a
plateau a little more than two miles east of the town. During the day
the besiegers had amused themselves with various sports, mocking the
preparations of their opponents, and it was not till vespers that Count
Valangin commenced hostilities. It was a desperate struggle that
followed--a second Morgarten. The Waldstätter had begged to be allowed
to engage the cavalry, and a hard task they found it. Yet within two
hours the enemy was completely routed, and took to flight. No fewer than
fifteen hundred men lay dead upon the field, and amongst them the counts
of Valangin, Greyerz, Nidan, the last count of Vaud, and others. Seventy
full suits of armour, and twenty-seven banners had been taken. Their
hearts overflowing with joy and thankfulness the victors sank on their
knees at nightfall, when all was over, and thanked God for His mercy. It
would be uninteresting to a foreign reader to give an account of the
discussions which have taken place as to the leadership of the Bernese
force. But it may be mentioned that two distinguished generals, Rudolf
von Erlach and Hans von Bubenberg, have by different authorities been
credited with the honour.
[Illustration: PORCH OF BERN MINSTER, WITH STATUE OF RUDOLF VON
ERLACH.]
The war was not yet concluded, but degenerated into one of simple
devastation. The Freiburg forces were defeated at the very gates of
their town by Rudolf von Erlach, according to some records, which would
seem to show at any rate that he is no mere fictitious personage. Bern
added victory to victory, and the saying ran that, "God Himself had
turned citizen of that town to fight for her just cause." In July, 1340,
a truce was agreed upon, and Bern resumed her old alliances with Kyburg,
the Forest, Vaud, and even Geneva. The diplomatic Lady of Königsfelden,
Agnes, anxious to secure so staunch an ally, drew Bern into a league
with Austria, which lasted for ten years, and strongly influenced the
politics of the town. It was not till after the expiration of this
league, and after the peace of Brandenburg, that she could enter into an
alliance with the league of the seven states. This closed the list of
the eight Orte, and the league proved to be perpetual. Though Bern was a
great check on the feudal nobility, she yet herself possessed a
thoroughly aristocratic form of government, in which the lesser people
and craftsmen had no share whatever.
The mad schemes of Rudolf of Kyburg, who hoped to mend his fortunes by
conquering Solothurn and other towns, gave rise to protracted warfare,
in which Burgdorf and Thun fell to the share of Bern, by purchase, in
1384. To dwell on this is impossible, within the limits of our space,
but it may be mentioned that a first siege proved a failure. Retaliation
was made by the siege of Burgdorf, which likewise miscarried, through
the intervention of Leopold. The doom of the house of Kyburg was,
however, sealed, and it fell beneath the sway of Bern. The treachery of
the Habsburgs in breaking their promise to the Eidgenossen was one of
the chief causes leading to the battle of Sempach, the most famous of
all Swiss battles.
FOOTNOTES:
[32] Von Greyerz still occurs amongst the Bernese aristocracy.
[33] Letzinen are walls constructed across a valley, and are peculiar to
Switzerland.
XV.
THE BATTLES OF SEMPACH, 1386, AND NAEFELS, 1388.
Seldom, if ever, has Switzerland seen a more eventful month than that of
July, 1386, for in that month she fought and won the ever-memorable
battle of Sempach. To set down all the petty details as to the causes
which led to this engagement would be tedious indeed. It is sufficient
to point out--what is but a truism--that there is seldom much love lost
between oppressor and oppressed, and Austria and the Swiss Confederation
had for some time held that relation to each other. A ten years' peace
had indeed been concluded between the two powers, but it was a sham
peace, and the interval had been used by both to prepare for new
conflicts.
Austria was secretly assisting the impoverished house of Kyburg in her
ravishing expeditions against the towns of the Confederation.
Ruthlessness was met by ruthlessness; Zurich laid siege to Rapperswyl
with the intent to destroy the odious Austrian toll-house; Lucerne
levelled with the ground the Austrian fort Rothenburg, and entered into
alliances with Entlebuch and Sempach to overthrow the Austrian
supremacy. This was equal to a declaration of war, and war was indeed
imminent.
Duke Leopold III., of Austria, was most anxious to bring the quarrel to
an issue, and to chastise the insolent Swiss citizens and peasantry. The
Swiss cities had joined in league with the Southern German towns, which
like themselves professed the policy of resisting the encroaching
tendencies of princes and nobles. Mutual help in case of need had been
pledged amongst themselves by this league of cities, but the burghers of
the German towns were mere puppets in the hand of Austria. She, dreading
the rising of wealthy towns, cajoled them by fine promises, and they
pleaded for submission, and sought to compose the differences between
the Swiss and the Austrians. Of very different mettle, however, were the
towns on this side the Rhine; they objected to the weak and wavering
policy of their more northerly neighbours, and determined on fighting,
if necessary, alone and unaided.
Leopold III., a descendant of that Leopold so disastrously defeated at
Morgarten, possessed most of the virtues held of account in his day. He
was manly, chivalrous, dauntless; he was possessed of dexterity and
adroitness in both sports and the more serious business of war. His
indomitable spirit and personal daring knew no bounds. He had once, clad
in full armour, forded the Rhine at flood-time, and in the sight of the
enemy, to escape being made prisoner. Like Rudolf of Habsburg he was
vastly ambitious, and bent on securing wealth and greatness for the
house of Austria. A clever manager of his estates and a generous master,
he was yet neither politician nor tactician; as a man of action, and
filled with hatred of the refractory towns, he spared no pains to check
their struggles for independence. No wonder then that the nobles of
Southern Germany rallied round the gallant swordsman, and made him their
leader in the expeditions against the _bourgeoisie_ and peasantry. And
no sooner had the truce expired (June, 1386), than they directed their
first attack on the bold Confederation; no fewer than one hundred and
fifty nobles sending letters of refusal (= a challenge) to the summons
to war sent out by the Swiss Government.
Leopold's plan was to make Lucerne the centre of his military
operations, but in order to draw away attention from his real object, he
sent a division of five thousand men to Zurich to simulate an attack on
that town. Whilst the unsuspecting Confederates lay idle within the
walls of Zurich, he gathered reinforcements from Burgundy, Swabia, and
the Austro-Helvetian Cantons, the total force being variously estimated
at from twelve thousand to twenty-four thousand men. He marched his army
in the direction of Lucerne, but by a round-about way, and seized upon
Willisan, which he set on fire, intending to punish Sempach _en passant_
for her desertion. But the Confederates getting knowledge of his
stratagem left Zurich to defend herself, and struck straight across the
country in pursuit of the enemy. Climbing the heights of Sempach on the
side of Hiltisrieden, overlooking the town and lake of that name, they
encamped at Meyersholz, a wood fringing the hilltop. The Austrians
leaving Sursee, for want of some more practicable road towards Sempach,
made their way slowly and painfully along the path which leads from
Sursee to the heights, and then turns suddenly down upon Sempach. Great
was their surprise and consternation when at the junction of the Sursee
and Hiltisrieden roads they came suddenly upon the Swiss force, which
they had imagined to be idling away the time at Zurich. The steep
hillsides crossed by brooks and hedges looked a battlefield
impracticable enough for cavalry evolutions, yet the young nobles in
high glee at the prospect of winning their spurs in such a spot pleaded
for the place against the better reason of all men.
[Illustration]
The Swiss, confident of success, and trusting in the help of God and the
saints, as of old, drew up in battle order, their force taking a kind of
wedge-shaped mass [Drawing of trapezoid] the shorter edge foremost
and the bravest men occupying the front positions. The Austrians, on the
other hand, relying proudly on the superiority of their high-born
knights and nobles, looked disdainfully on what they believed to be a
mere rabble of herdsmen. And, in truth, the handful of fifteen hundred
men, inadequately armed with short weapons or clubs, battle-axes or
halberds, seemed but a sorry match for that steel-clad army of six
thousand well-trained lancers, cavalry, and foot. But the possession of
cavalry in such a spot could not in itself give any advantage to the
Austrians, and their knights dismounted and handed their horses to the
care of attendants. To avoid getting their feet entangled in the long
grass of a meadow close by the noble cavaliers cut off the beaks or
points of their shoes--then the fashion--and the spot is to this day
called the "beak-meadow" (Schnabelweide). Claiming for themselves the
right to win honour that day, they ordered their infantry to the rear.
According to another account, however their infantry were still at
Sursee, the noble horsemen declining their aid. After ancient custom,
the Austrians formed themselves into a compact phalanx, the noblest
occupying the front ranks, the preparations being necessarily hurriedly
and somewhat indefinitely made.
The onset was furious, and the Austrian Hotspurs, each eager to outstrip
his fellows in the race for honour, rushed on the Swiss, drove them back
a little, and then tried to encompass them and crush them in their
midst. The Swiss quickly fell back, but some sixty of their men were cut
down before the Austrians lost a single soldier. The banner of Lucerne
was captured; the Austrian phalanx was as yet unbroken, and all the
fortune of the battle seemed against the Swiss, for their short weapons
could not reach a foe guarded by long lances. But suddenly the scene
changed. "A good and pious man," says the old chronicler, deeply
mortified by the misfortune of his country, stepped forward from the
ranks of the Swiss--_Arnold von Winkelried_! Shouting to his comrades
in arms, "I will cut a road for you; take care of my wife and children!"
he dashed on the enemy, and, catching hold of as many spears as his arms
could encompass, he bore them to the ground with the whole weight of his
body. His comrades rushed over his corpse, burst through the gap made in
the Austrian ranks, and began a fierce hand-to-hand encounter. Fearful
havoc was made by the Swiss clubs and battle-axes in the wavering ranks
of the panic-stricken enemy, whose heavy armour and long lances indeed
greatly impeded their movements. Nevertheless the Austrians made a brave
stand, and Leopold, who had been watching the issue, now rushed into the
_mêlée_, and fell one of the bravest in the desperate struggle. The
nobles and knights, calling for their horses, found that the attendants
had fled with them. Seeing that all was lost, the knights became
panic-stricken, and rushed hither and thither in the greatest disorder.
There still remained the infantry, however, and these attempted to stay
the flight of the hapless cavaliers, and restore order, but it was all
in vain. A fearful carnage followed, in which no mercy was shown, and
there fell of the common soldiers two thousand men, and no fewer than
seven hundred of the nobility. The Swiss lost but one hundred and twenty
men. Rich spoils--arms, jewellery, and eighteen banners--fell into the
hands of the victors.
This defeat of a brilliant army of horse and foot, of knights and
noblemen, all well-trained, by a mere handful of irregulars--citizen and
peasant soldiers--was a brilliant military achievement, and attracted
the attention and admiration of the civilized world. It brought to the
front the _bourgeoisie_ and peasantry and their interests, and struck
terror into the hearts of their oppressors. This great victory gained by
the Swiss not only widened and established more firmly the career of
military glory commenced at Morgarten, but it gave to the Confederation
independence, and far greater military and political eminence. What
Platæa had been of old to the Greeks, that Sempach was to the Swiss; it
struck a deadly blow against an ancient and relentless foe. Austria, her
rule on this side of the Rhine thus rudely shaken, was compelled to
waive all rights of supremacy over the Confederation. Not that she
relinquished those rights readily; it needed an equal disaster to her
forces at Naefels, in 1388, before she would really and avowedly
renounce her pretensions to rule the Swiss.
The story of Winkelried's heroic action has given rise to much fruitless
but interesting discussion. The truth of the tale, in fact, can neither
be confirmed nor denied, in the absence of any sufficient proof. But
Winkelried is no _myth_, whatever may be the case with the other great
Swiss hero, Tell. There is proof that a family of the name of Winkelried
lived at Unterwalden at the time of the battle. But no Swiss annals
referring to the encounter at Sempach were written till nearly a century
later. The Austrian chronicle gives no account of Winkelried's exploit,
and for good reason, say the Swiss: all the men of the Austrian front
ranks, who alone could have witnessed the exploit, were killed, and the
rear ranks fled at the very first signs of disaster in front of them. A
fifteenth-century chronicle of Zurich, and the numerous songs and annals
of the sixteenth century, are full of praise of Winkelried and his
deeds. But whatever may be the real truth of the matter it is certain
that the grand old story of Winkelried and his splendid self-sacrifice
is indelibly written on grateful Swiss hearts. Whether it was a single
man or a whole body of men that offered up life itself for their
country, it clearly proves a dauntless spirit of independence, a hatred
of wrong and tyranny to have been innate in the breasts of the old
Switzers, and to have led to the deliverance of their country from
foreign oppression. And in spite of the many and often bitter
controversies of the past twenty years the memory of Winkelried will
ever remain an inspiration and a rallying-point whenever the little
fatherland and its liberties are threatened.
[Illustration: Winkelried's monument at Stanz (_From photograph by
Appenzeller, Zurich._)]
The victory of Naefels forms a worthy pendant to that of Sempach, and as
such cannot be passed over in silence. The Austrians, having recovered
their spirits after the terrible disaster, and the "foul peace" (_faule
Friede_) hastily arranged having expired, they carried the game to its
conclusion. Despite all prohibitions, Glarus had kept up its friendship
with the Eidgenossen, and in conjunction with them had, in 1386,
captured Wesen, the key to the district. To Glarus, therefore, Albrecht
III. now gave his whole attention. But Glarus itself, feeling much more
free after Sempach, assembled its inhabitants, in the spring of 1387,
for the first time as a Landsgemeinde, and drew up for itself a
constitution. Wesen on Walensee was recaptured by the Austrians on
their way to Glarus. This happened through the treachery of the
inhabitants of the town, who, siding with their old masters, opened
their gates. The federal garrison was surprised as they slept, and put
to the sword (February, 1388). The Austrians assembled at Wesen a force
of six thousand horse and foot, and on the 9th of April set out in two
divisions. Count Hans von Werdenberg, the chief mover in the enterprise,
climbed the opposite heights, with the intention of forming a junction
at Mollis, whilst Count Donat von Toggenburg and other nobles led the
main force along the river Lint. Reaching Naefels, at the entrance of
the Glarus valley they found their passage barred by an Alpine
fortification--a _Letzi_, as it is called--consisting of rampart and
ditch. This, however, was stormed without difficulty, as the guard was
insufficient for its defence. In truth, the Glarner were unaware of the
Austrian movements, and though Ambühl and his two hundred men fought
with the utmost bravery, they were no match for the far superior numbers
against them. Like a torrent the Austrians rushed into the open and
defenceless valley, and, fancying no doubt there was no further
opposition or danger to fear, dispersed in all directions, pillaging
property, firing houses, driving cattle. Plunder and destruction seemed
indeed to be now their sole aim; but meanwhile the tocsin was sounding
through the valley to call the villagers to arms in defence of their
country. Fast they flocked to the standard of Ambühl, who had posted
himself with his troops on the steep declivity of Rautiberg, waving
high the banner of St. Fridolin to attract his friends. Here, six
hundred men all told, including a handful of men from Schwyz, awaited
the foe. At last, in straggling and disorderly fashion, the Austrians
appeared in sight, many lingering behind for the sake of plunder. Their
attempt to ascend the eminence occupied by the foe was met by a shower
of stones, which threw the horses into confusion. With true Alpine
agility the mountaineers now dashed down the slopes and fell on the
cavalry. A fierce encounter followed, and then a terrible chase, during
which the Austrians are said to have ten times stopped in their flight
and attempted to hurl back their Swiss pursuers, but ten times were
compelled to give way again before the terrible strokes which met them.
Darkness set in, and with it came on fog, and a sudden fall of snow. A
superstitious panic seized on the Austrians, and they fled in the utmost
confusion to Naefels, and thence sought to regain their faithful Wesen.
But here a fresh catastrophe awaited them. Thronging the bridge spanning
the outlet of the lake their weight broke down the structure, and
hundreds of fugitives dragged down by their heavy armour sank with it,
and were drowned. Count Werdenburg, who was watching the disaster from
his eminence, fled as fast as he could. This disaster explains the loss
by the Austrians of so disproportionate a number of men, viz., seventeen
hundred, as against the fifty-four who fell of the Glarus force. The
latter fell chiefly in defence of the Letzi.
Year after year the people of Glarus, rich and poor alike, Protestant
and Catholic, still commemorate this great victory. On the first
Thursday in April, in solemn procession, they revisit the battlefield,
and on the spot the Landammann tells the fine old story of their
deliverance from foreign rule, whilst priest and minister offer
thanksgiving. The 5th of April, 1888, was a memorable date in the annals
of the canton, being the five-hundredth anniversary of the day on which
the people achieved freedom. From all parts of Switzerland people
flocked to Naefels to participate in the patriotic and religious
ceremonies. A right stirring scene it was when the Landammann presented
to the vast assembly the banner of St. Fridolin--the same which Ambühl
had raised high--and thousands of voices joined in the national anthem,
_Rufst du mein Vaterland_, which, by the way, has the same melody as
_God save the Queen_. If the Switzer has no monarch to love and revere,
he has still his national heroes and his glorious ancestors, who sealed
the freedom of their country with their blood.
In 1389 a seven years' peace was arranged, and Glarus returned to the
Confederation. This peace was first prolonged for twenty years, and
afterwards, in 1412, for fifty years. Finally, after a strife of more
than one hundred years, Austria renounced her claims to rule over the
Forest, and all her rights in Zug, Lucerne, and Glarus. In process of
time the various dues were paid off in ordinary form.
XVI.
HOW SWITZERLAND CAME TO HAVE SUBJECT LANDS.
(1400-1450.)
In the fourteenth century the Eidgenossen established a _ménage
politique_ of their own, and fixed its independence; in the fifteenth
they raised it to power and eminence, and obtained for it an important
military position in Europe. Yet though their family hearth was
established, all was not done. The allied states could not stop there.
They were still surrounded by lands ruled by Austria, by Italy, by
Savoy; lands which could and did threaten the independence of the little
infant republic. In fact, at a very early stage, the acquisition of
additional territory became a vital question. This was to be done by
means of new alliances, or by purchase or conquest. Zurich, for
instance, had already, between 1358 and 1408, spent some two million
francs in the buying of land. The struggles for independence had kindled
a like desire for emancipation amongst the neighbouring Alpine states.
But the efforts resulting were not all equally successful. Some of the
states drifted from monarchical subjection to that of the federation or
canton as subject lands (_Unterthanen laender_); others became
"connections" (_Zugewandte_), or allies of inferior rank; others, again,
took the position of _Schirmverwandte_, or _protégés_. One might indeed
go thus through a whole graduated scale of relationships developed
amongst the crowd of candidates seeking admission into the league. And
though as yet kept outside they received a helping hand from the
Eidgenossen. But it is not till the opening of the nineteenth century
that we find the list of twenty-two cantons made up. Thanks to the
mediation of Napoleon Bonaparte (1803), St. Gall, Thurgau, Grisons,
Aargau, Vaud, and Ticino were added to the confederation of states. And
by the Congress of Vienna, in 1814-15, were also added Valais, Geneva,
and Neuchâtel. The latter, however, still continued under the sway of
Prussia, although partly a free state, till 1857. The reader will
clearly see into what a complicated fabric of unions the league is
growing, and that the Swiss fatherland did not spring at once into life
as a _fait accompli_. Each canton had its separate birth to freedom, as
was the case with the free states of ancient Greece, which joined into
confederations for a similar end--protection against a common foe. Each
little state has its own separate history, even before it amalgamates
with the general league. We shall, however, notice only the leading
features.
Appenzell opens the series of _Zugewandte_, or "connections." The
shepherds and peasants scattered around the foot of Mount Säntis,
oppressed by the abbots of St. Gall, began a rising that partook of a
revolutionary character. A succession of heroic feats followed--the
battle of Vogelinseck in 1403, that of Am Stoss in 1405, and
others[34]--and the prelate and his ally, Frederick IV. of Austria
("Empty Pocket"), were completely defeated. Somewhat curiously we find
Graf Rudolf von Werdenberg throwing in his lot with that of the humble
peasants, and stooping to the humiliating terms they insisted upon. He
had been robbed of his lands by the Habsburgs, and hoped to recover them
by the help of the Alpestrians, and actually did so. But the peasantry
were somewhat diffident concerning him, and would not entrust him with
command. So the noble knight of St. George put aside his fine armour and
his magnificent horse, and donned the peasant's garb to be admitted into
their ranks. Elated by their succession of triumphs the hardy
Appenzeller rushed on to new victories. Bursting their bounds, like an
impetuous mountain torrent, they spread into neighbouring lands, and
even penetrated to the distant Tyrol. Serf and bondsman hailed them as
deliverers, and whole towns and valleys along the Upper Rhine and the
Inn came into alliance with them--_Bund ob dem See_, above Lake
Constance--that was to be a safeguard in the East. At last the Swabian
knighthood plucked up courage enough to oppose this mountain hurricane.
At the siege of Bregenz in 1407, they were, through carelessness, put
to flight. The Bund collapsed, and its prestige departed, but the men
had secured their object, viz., independence from control by the Abbey
of St. Gall. By and by they bought off some of the taxes, and they met
at their Landsgemeinde to consult respecting the weal of their country.
Down to our own days this institution remains famous. Their application
in 1411 for admission into the league was granted, but quite
conditionally. Bern kept aloof from them, and Zurich found it necessary
to checkmate their revolutionary tendencies, and they were received as
_Zugewandte_, or allies of second rank. It was not till 1513 that the
new-comer rose to the position of full member of the league. St. Gall,
too, became "a connection"--and no more--in 1412.
The emancipation of the Valais (Wallis) is but one succession of feuds
between the native nobility and Savoy, the owner of Low Valais, on the
one hand, and the bishops of Sion and the people, on the other. It was,
in fact, a contest between the Romance and the German populations, the
latter of whom the French had driven into a corner. The dynasts Von Turn
had Bishop Tavelli seized in his castle and hurled from its very windows
down a precipice. This foul murder was avenged in the great battle of
Visp, where Savoy is said to have left four thousand dead (1388). The
barons of Raron sustained a defeat at Ulrichen, in 1414, though assisted
by Bern (of which town they were citizens) and Savoy. These powerful
nobles left the country, and the Valisians gradually secured autonomy,
and, being helped in their quarrels by the Forest men, they finally drew
nearer to the Confederation, as _Zugewandte_ (1488).
We must not pass over a singular custom which prevailed amongst the
Valais folk. It was a custom observed as a preliminary to serious
warfare. If a tyrant was to fall, he was attainted and doomed by the
Mazze. This was a huge club on which was carved a distressed-looking
face as a symbol of oppression, the club being wound round with bramble.
It was carried from village to village, and hamlet to hamlet, even to
the remotest spots, and set up at public places to attract the attention
of the people. One of the malcontents would then step forward and
denounce the oppressor to the figure, and promise help. It was said that
when the name of Raron was pronounced the figure bowed deeply in token
of assent, and the insurgents drove nails into the face as a declaration
of hostility, and the instrument was deposited at the gate of the
baron's castle.
Graubünden (Grisons), the land of ancient and mediæval memories, of
crumbling and picturesque castles, was, on account of its rugged surface
and its almost countless dales, split up into numberless territorial
lordships. Here in this rocky seclusion held sway the Belmonts, the
Montforts, the Aspermonts, the Sax-Misox, and many others whose sonorous
names tell of their origin. Here also were found the families of
Haldenstein, Werdenberg, Toggenburg, and many more--Italian, Romansch,
and German mingling closely. Yet the lord-paramount of them all was the
Bishop of Chur, who had attained the rank of _Reichsfürst_ or duke, who
had a suite of nobles attached to his quasi-royal household, and who
held lands even in Italy. Quite contrary to the usual rule, noble and
peasant in general lived amicably together. The political freedom of the
state was due rather to remarkable coalitions than to acts of war or
insurrection. In the fourteenth century, when the bishops of Chur
revealed a strong leaning towards Austria-Tyrol, the Gotteshausbund
sprang into existence as a check on the alien tendencies of the
prince-bishops. This league was formed in 1367 by the _Domstift_
(chapter of clergy), the nobles, and the common people. The bishops
themselves ruled over people of three different nationalities. A glance
at the place-names on the map of Bünden shows how the old Latin race
(Romansch), the Italians, and the migrated German race, were mixed up
pell-mell in the district. Yet the Walchen Romansch (Welsh) were slowly
retreating before the Valser, or Germans of the Valais, who had a strong
bent for colonization and culture. In 1397 the _Graue Bund_ (Grey
League) was started in the valleys of the Vorder-Rhine by the Abbot of
Disentis, some of the nobles, and the people at large. On the death of
the last of the Toggenburgs in 1436 his various domains of Malans,
Davos, Prättigau, &c., dreading Austrian interference, united into a
league known as the ten _Gerichte Bund_ (Jurisdictions), so called
because each of the districts had its own place of execution. Gradually
the three leagues formed a federal union (1471), and held their diets at
one centre, Vazerol. Thus Bünden, developing after the manner of the
Forest Cantons, grew into a triple and yet federal democracy which,
threatened by the Austrian invasion during the Swabian wars, turned to
the Eidgenossen for help, and joined with them in 1497 as "connections."
In 1414 met the famous Council convoked by the Emperor Sigismund to
remedy the evils which galled the Church, that Council which by a
strange irony of fate sentenced to death by fire John Huss, the staunch
opponent of the very abuses which the Council was called to redress. The
Council proved fatal to the Habsburg interests in Swiss lands. Frederick
IV. of Austria--the enemy of Appenzell--refused his homage to the German
monarch, and for material reasons espoused the cause of John XXIII., one
of the three deposed popes. John gave a tournament to cover his
departure, and during the spectacle fled in a shabby postillion's dress
to the Austrian town, Schaffhausen, whither Frederick followed.
Excommunicated and outlawed--within a few days no fewer than four
hundred nobles sent challenges to him--Duke Friedel, as he was
familiarly called by his faithful Tyrolese peasantry, who alone stood by
him, was driven from his lands and from his people. On all sides German
contingents fell upon his provinces. Sigismund called on the Eidgenossen
in the name of the empire to march on Aargau, his ancestral land,
promising them the province for themselves. As they had just renewed
their peace with Austria, the Eidgenossen were unwilling to break it,
but it was urged by the emperor that their promise to Frederick was not
binding. Bern, ever bent on self-aggrandisement, and determined to
secure the lion's share if possible, threw away her scruples, and within
seventeen days took as many towns and castles.[35] Zurich, consulting
with the Eidgenossen, followed suit and seized Knonau. Lucerne took some
fragment, and the Forest did likewise. Aargau, the retreat of the
Habsburg nobles, offered no serious resistance; but Baden, which was
seized by the Eidgenossen conjointly, the castle of Stein, the royal
residence of the Habsburgs, was being stormed, when Sigismund tried to
stop the siege; for Frederick in despair had in the meantime made an
abject submission, and most of the confiscated lands were restored to
him. However, the Eidgenossen were unwilling, because of the emperor's
wavering policy, to relinquish so good a chance of adding to their
territory. Matters were settled by their paying over a sum of money to
Sigismund, who was ever in financial straits. Henceforth Friedel was
nicknamed "With-the-empty-pocket."[36] Aargau was divided amongst the
Eidgenossen as subject land, what they had seized separately becoming
cantonal, and what conjointly federal, property. Baden and some other
places became federal domains _(gemeine Herrschaften)_, over which each
of the eight states in turn set a governor for two years. With this
precedent we enter upon the curious period in which the Swiss cantons
split into two sets, the governing and the governed.
Whilst the republics vied with each other in extending their borders,
two, Uri and Unterwalden, were unable to increase their territory, being
hemmed in by lofty mountains. They turned their eyes towards the sunny
south, beyond St. Gothard, where they might find additional lands. Like
the Rhætians of old they had often descended into the Lombard plains,
though for far more peaceful ends. When the St. Gothard pass was thrown
open in the thirteenth century, there was a lively interchange of
traffic between the two peoples--the cismontanes and the transmontanes.
The men of the Forest sold their cheese, butter, cattle, and other
Alpine produce at the marts in the Lombardian towns, and got from thence
their supply of corn and other necessaries. And they of the Forest acted
as guides across the mountains, as they did down to the railway era.
Their youths, too, enlisted amongst the Italians soldiers, induced
either by the prospect of gaining a living, or by a mere desire for
amusement. Thus the Swiss associated on friendly terms with the
southerners. But all this pleasant social intercourse was suddenly cut
off. Whilst the Eidgenossen under the ægis of a weakened empire secured
independence, the mighty Lombard cities, which had objected to imperial
fetters, however light, by a singular contrast sank beneath the
tyrannies of ambitious native dynasts, and under the Visconti the duchy
of Milan sprang up from these free Italian towns. Quarrels that broke
out between the Milanese and the people of the Forest prepared the way
for the acquisition of Ticino by the Swiss. In 1403 Uri and Unterwalden
were robbed of their herds of cattle at the mart of Varese by the
officials of the Visconti, on what pretext is not clear. Failing to get
redress, they at once decided on resorting to force. They seized the
Livinenthal or Leventina, which willingly accepted the new masters.
Fresh robberies in 1410 were revenged by the annexation of the
Eschenthal, with Domo d'Ossola, which greatly preferred Swiss supremacy
to that of the Duke of Milan. This is not much to be wondered at, seeing
that Gian Maria Visconti was a second Nero for cruelty. The human beings
who fell victims to his suspicion or revenge he had torn to pieces by
huge dogs, which were fed on human blood. To strengthen their Italian
acquisitions the Eidgenossen bought Bellinzona (1418) from the barons of
Sax-Misox or Misocco of Graubünden. But the Milanese dukes would not
brook the loss of these lands, and a long-protracted war ensued with
varying success. Most of the more distant cantons being opposed to these
Italian conquests declined to send help, but hearing that Bellinzona had
been captured by the Visconti, some three thousand Eidgenossen marched
to its relief in 1422. They were, however, no match for the twenty-four
thousand troops gathered by the famous general Carmagnola. Lying in
ambush for the Swiss he succeeded in completely shutting them in at
Arbedo, with the exception of six hundred who had escaped into the
valley of Misox. For six hours the small Swiss band fought to the
utmost, refusing to give way, though opposed by a force of ten times
their number, and well trained. Suddenly their brethren came to their
relief, or they would have been crushed. The Swiss loss was two hundred,
that of the enemy nine hundred. But the conquests were forfeited for
the present. Yet the Swiss pushed on to new war to redeem their
misfortunes under the Sforza. A brilliant victory was that of Giornico
(Leventina), 1478, where six hundred Swiss under Theiling from Lucerne
defeated a force of fifteen thousand Milanese soldiers. This tended
greatly to spread Swiss military fame in Italy.
[Illustration: ARMS OF URI.]
FOOTNOTES:
[34] It is related that Uli Rotach kept at bay with his halbert twelve
Austrians, giving way only when the hut against which he leant was set
on fire.
[35] To Bern fell the classic spots Habsburg and Königsfelden.
[36] As a retort to those who thus nicknamed him this extravagant prince
built a balcony at Innsbruck whose roof was covered with gold, at the
cost of thirty thousand florins--it would be twenty times more money
now. Every visitor to that romantic city will be struck by the quaint
_Haus zum goldenen Dachere_ (House with the golden roof).
XVII.
WAR BETWEEN ZURICH AND SCHWYZ.
(1436-1450.)
A gloomy picture in Swiss history do these civil wars present, marking
as they do the chasm separating the Confederates, who were each swayed
by a spirit of jealous antagonism. Yet it was clear that the town and
the country commonwealths--citizens and peasants--formed such strong
contrasts that they would not always pull together. Indeed, the
smouldering discontent was suddenly fanned into flame by questions
respecting hereditary succession that threatened to consume the whole
Confederation. Feudalism was tottering to its fall in Switzerland, but
it seemed as if the famous counts of Toggenburg were for a while to stay
its ruin in the eastern portion of the country. Frederick III.
(1400-1436) possessed what would come up to the present canton of St.
Gall, the Ten Gerichte, a large portion of Graubünden, Voralberg (which
he had wrenched from Friedel "of the Empty Pocket"), and other
districts. Despite the popular struggles for freedom he managed to
maintain his authority by adroit and designing policy and by alliance
with Zurich and Schwyz, which stood by him against foes domestic and
foreign. Having no children Frederick promised that on his death the two
cantons should receive his domains south of Zurich lake, which
acquisition would round off their territory. He died in 1436, but left
no will--intentionally, as was thought by some, with the view of
entangling the Confederates in quarrels--"tying their tails together,"
as the expressive but not very polished phrase had it. Be that as it
may, the apple of discord was soon in the midst, and there set up as
claimants numerous seigneurs of Graubünden, barons from the Valais, near
relatives, as well as Austria and the empire. Zurich and Schwyz also
contended for the promised stretch of land. To penetrate into the maze
of petty conflicts which followed would be ridiculous as it would be
impossible. In accordance with her more aristocratic inclinations Zurich
paid court to the dowager countess whilst Schwyz humoured rather the
subjects as the future masters, and the three latter proved in the end
to have had the better judgment. The strife, indeed, fell into one of
emulation between the two most energetic and talented statesmen of the
two commonwealths. One of these leading men was burgomaster Stüssi, of
Zurich, and the other was Ital von Reding, from Schwyz, both highly
gifted and energetic men. Even from their youth they had been rivals,
incited by the Emperor Sigismund whose favour they enjoyed.
Save the battle of St. Jacques on the Birse, the war brought forth no
great military exploits, and as it effected no material changes it may
be very briefly passed over. It splits naturally into three periods. The
first of these (1436-1442) is simply a series of wasteful feuds waged by
the Confederates alone. Schwyz had taken for itself the whole heritage
in question, with the exception of one fragmentary portion left to its
rival. Zurich, thus deprived of her portion, and disappointed in her
scheme of planning a direct commercial road to Italy through Graubünden,
retaliated by shutting her market against Schwyz and Glarus, causing a
famine in the two districts. The Confederates did not act with
impartiality in the matter, but, laying all blame on Zurich, drove her
to arms. She was, however, again a loser, for her territory to the east
of the lake, which was the theatre of war, was terribly wasted. This
portion of the land Schwyz wished to annex, but was prevented by order
of the federal Diet. Nevertheless Zurich lost to Schwyz and Glarus three
villages on the upper lake, and the island Ufenau which she had governed
for half a century, and she was compelled to re-open her roads and
market.
Deeply wounded by the position of the Confederates in the opposition
ranks, and still more by the humiliation inflicted on her by the rustics
of Schwyz, the proud, free city of Zurich thirsted for revenge. Thus the
second period of conflict began, and in June, 1442, Zurich sought a
foreign alliance. Stüssi, or his secretary, who was his right hand,
taking advantage of her old leanings towards Austria, conceived the
Machiavelian plan of joining in union with the deadly foe of the
Confederates. Despite the firm opposition of a strong party of noble and
eminent patriots, the coalition was arranged. The plea was put forward
that the "imperial city," by virtue of her exceptional position, and the
treaty concluded under the auspices of Brun, in 1351, was allowed to
make any alliances she chose. Disloyalty was thus coloured by a show of
truth. The Emperor Frederick III. and his brother, Albrecht of Austria,
proceeded to Zurich to receive the homage and allegiance of the
enthusiastic population. The Confederates guessing the meaning of this
move tried to convince the renegade member of her perfidy. But their
efforts failing, all, Bern included--though she took no prominent or
active part, being chiefly occupied by her Burgundian politics--sent
their challenge to Austria and Zurich. The war, though fiercer and
bloodier than the first, was just as luckless, owing to dissensions
arising amongst the allies, the men of Zurich being unwilling to submit
to a many-headed Austrian lordship. The struggle was carried on by fits
and starts, the Confederates returning home on one occasion for the
annual haymaking. Having laid waste the Zurich territory the
Confederates proceeded to attack the capital itself. During a sally to
St. Jacques on the Sihl, Stüssi fell in defence of the bridge over that
river, whilst endeavouring to keep back the foe and stay the flight of
the fugitives. His heroic death makes one almost forget his ambitious
and misguided policy. At last the Zurich forces drew up their guns on
the Lindenhof, an eminence within the town. A single ball worked
wonders, for, piercing the walls of a barn, it upset the table at which
were sitting a party of Glarner, and carried off the head of the topmost
man at the table. Greatly impressed by this result the besiegers rushed
from the premises, stopped the siege, and began negotiations for a
truce. But the Austrians objected to the truce, fearing a reconciliation
between Zurich and the Confederates, and they incited the mob to make a
set against the patriotic councillors who were believed to be the prime
movers in the peace negotiations. A state of terrorism set in, five of
the leading men were demanded by the populace, and were publicly
beheaded; and ten more suffered the same fate. Thus powerless had Zurich
grown in the hands of Austria. The truce being thus prevented the
Eidgenossen proceeded to besiege Greifensee, a strong fortress in the
Zurich midlands. For four weeks the garrison of eighty men held out,
but, being at last betrayed by a peasant, were compelled to surrender at
discretion. Sentence of death was passed on the brave defenders by a
majority of the Confederates, and the cruel sentence was carried out in
a meadow at hand. Ital von Reding stood by to see that the imperial
custom of passing over every tenth man should not be followed in this
case. However when sixty had fallen he turned away, and the rest were
spared. Strange stories attach to that bloody spot, and indeed Nemesis
soon avenged the cruel deed. A second siege of the capital was
undertaken by the Confederates, but proved a failure like the first. The
men of Zurich, in fact, made light of the siege, and a band of young men
even sallied forth and captured wine and other provisions.
[Illustration: St. Jacques Monument, Basel, by Schlöth. (_From
Photograph by Appenzeller, Zurich._)]
[Illustration: Arms of Schwyz.]
Wishful to bring matters to an issue, Austria turned to France for
assistance, well knowing that she herself was no match for the
Eidgenossen in open field. She was, besides, tired of the profitless and
resultless kind of war which had hitherto been carried on. Charles VII.
was anxious to get rid of his mercenary troops, the savage Armagnacs,
which he had led against England, and was glad to launch them on Swiss
lands. This combination of Austrian and French arms--the Zurcher
remained at home to defend their still beleaguered city--introduces the
third and last portion of the war. The Dauphin (Louis XI.), with an army
of thirty thousand men, marched against Basel, and the Eidgenossen,
unacquainted with the numbers of the enemy, set out to meet them. When
they came within sight of the foe, they crossed the river Birse in the
most exuberant spirits. Soon, however, they were split into two
divisions by the heavy fire of the French, and one of these being
surrounded on an island in the river was completely annihilated by the
overwhelming numbers, though fighting with marvellous bravery. The other
division took up a position behind the garden walls of the infirmary of
St. Jacques, on the river (August 26, 1444). Here for six hours a small
body of some five or six hundred men held their ground. Twice they
withstood the assault of a foe twenty or thirty times their number, and
twice themselves rushed on in attack. But at last the walls gave way,
pierced through and through, and the foe rushed through the breach. A
hand-to-hand fight followed, till the hospital being fired the Swiss
were compelled to succumb. Yet, though failing, each man died a hero.
Some drew arrows from their wounds, and hurled them at the enemy; others
who had lost one hand swung their halberts with the other. The
Armagnacs, who had fought in many a bloody battle, confessed that never
before had they met with a foe so dauntless, so regardless of death. The
Austrians, however, denied the Swiss such testimony. On the day
following the battle a German knight was riding over the field wading in
blood, and boasted to his comrades, "To-day we seem to be bathing in
roses." "There, eat thy roses!" yelled a dying Uri soldier, flinging at
his head a large stone which struck him dead from his horse. Louis, who
had lost some four thousand men in the fight, was greatly impressed by
such show of bravery on the part of the Swiss, and concluded an
honourable peace with them at Ensisheim, on the 28th of October, 1444.
St. Jacques is a second Swiss Thermopylæ, and sheds immortal honour on
the combatants. Though beaten the Confederates were not dishonoured.
Like the brave Spartans under Leonidas they preferred death to servitude
and dishonour. This battle was also the turning-point of the federal
war; it rendered the Confederates more pliant. And though desultory
feuds still showed themselves, peace was at last concluded, in 1450, by
which Zurich was forced to give up her Austrian alliance. The federal
league was knit more closely together than ever before; old injuries
were soon forgotten, and the Eidgenossen accepted an invitation to
Zurich to join in the carnival festivities got up to celebrate the
reconciliation, 1454. A deplorable incident took place during the
festivities, the seizure by the Eidgenossen, at the minster, of the
famous savant, Felix Malleolus, a canon of the Church. Born of an
ancient family at Zurich, he was educated first at the Carolinum in his
native city, and afterwards at the university of Bologna, which was the
glory of the Middle Ages. Bold, and of an unbending will, early
acquainted with the corruptions of the Church and clergy, he hurled
bitter invectives against the guilty, and raised for himself a host of
enemies amongst the priesthood. And during the early years of the war he
had likewise attacked the Eidgenossen as enemies of his native town, and
called them an illiterate, uncouth, and belligerent race. His own
chapter had objected to so stern a man as provost, and he had
consequently contented himself with the position of canon, a position
which left him ample time for study, and the composition of learned
pamphlets. When the Eidgenossen seized him he was bending over his
beloved books. He was hurried to Constance, and was there, by the
bishop, thrown into the same prison as that occupied by the martyr Huss.
The higher clergy as a rule connived at the deed, and, though promised
release, he was handed over a prisoner to the monks at Lucerne. Here the
lofty words of Cellano, _"Dies irae, dies illa,"_ so well known from
their use in Mozart's Requiem Mass, seem to have been a great
consolation to the unfortunate canon. It is not known exactly when he
died.
XVIII.
BURGUNDIAN WARS.
(1474-1477.)
These wars raised to its height the military glory of the Eidgenossen,
and instead of the limited sphere occupied by most of the previous wars,
we find ourselves now watching a scene of world-wide interest and
importance. Three Great Powers--France, Germany, and Austria--if such a
term is applicable in the fifteenth century, are striving for the
downfall of a fourth great realm, Burgundy, in some respects the
mightiest of them all. The Swiss League, no less interested in the
issue, is made the instrument for bringing about that tragical ending
which strikes Burgundy for ever from the list of future kingdoms.
[Illustration: Elizabeth, wife of Albert II.; Maria of Burgundy; Eleanor
of Portugal; Kunigunde, sister of Maximilian.
(_From Maximilian Monument at Innsbruck._)]
Charles the Bold aimed at the re-establishment of the ancient kingdom of
Lorraine, such as it was created by the treaty of Verdun in 843.[37]
This was to be a middle kingdom between French and German territory--a
kingdom which, stretching from the North Sea through to the
Mediterranean, would absorb the Swiss Confederation, and what of other
territory we cannot tell. A striking scheme, and one which, if it had
succeeded, would have greatly changed the face of modern politics.
Charles's deadliest foe was Louis of France, who was unswervingly bent
on his destruction. Politically, the two men were the very antipodes of
each other. The romantic duke is the embodiment of mediæval chivalry;
the sober Louis that of modern absolutism. His reign seals the fate of
dying feudalism. Louis is like an immovable rock against which the
effete Middle Ages dash themselves in vain. He stands, indeed, between
two great historical epochs. Charles is doomed to fall; for pitilessly
Louis crushes his unruly vassals, and feudatory France is by his power
welded into a mighty and absolute monarchy. The ambitious hotspur, the
warlike duke, believes himself a second Alexander. And, indeed, in all
Christendom there is no court so splendid as his, no treasury so vast.
His magnificence is more than royal, more even than imperial, and he
grapples with numberless intricate problems. To carry out his plans he
stakes realm and life, but lacking patience and sound political judgment
he fails in his chief enterprises.[38]
The preliminary steps leading to the war are a diplomatic maze,
revealing the double-dealing of the actors, and likewise showing the
uncertain position held by the Swiss League in the empire. The
destruction of this league, and the overthrow of Charles the Bold were
chiefly aimed at. The maze of intrigue is, indeed, well-nigh
impenetrable; yet, because the preliminaries are far less known than the
wars which followed, and the actual facts have been often distorted,
they will, no doubt, command general interest, and we shall try to
disentangle the skeins as best we can. The battle of St. Jacques had
secured for the Confederates, not only the sympathies of Louis, but also
the alliance of his father, Philip the Good, of Burgundy, the Sforzas of
Milan, and others. Since those times of prowess the young republic had
been growing into a prosperous and powerful nation, not without its
influence on continental military affairs. Admired, envied, and feared,
by turns, its friendship was greatly appreciated, and it lent protection
to all who sought it. So strong was its love of warfare, that it was at
all times ready to avenge any wrong or fancied wrong done to itself or
its friends. Thus, Zurich, in 1456, laid waste the lands of the Austrian
knight-robbers who had plundered some Strasburg merchants on a Swiss
round. Despite the distance between them, the two towns of Strasburg and
Zurich were on terms of close friendship.[39] At the bidding of Pius
II., the elegant Latin writer commonly known as Æneas Sylvius, who had
fallen out with his literary friend, Duke Sigmund of Austria, the
Eidgenossen conquered Thurgau, which had remained still an Austrian
province, and placed it amongst their subject lands. The quarrels of
Mulhausen and Schaffhausen with Austria entangled their friends of the
league into a war with Sigmund (1468), who, to secure peace, agreed to
pay over the sum of ten thousand florins, guaranteeing them their recent
conquests. This feud of Waldshut (Black Forest) led to the Burgundian
wars.
Extravagant but poor, Sigmund failed to find even that modest sum, and
applied to Louis of France for help, but was by him referred to Charles
of Burgundy. The astute Louis saw that a quarrel between the dukes would
be injurious and possibly fatal to Charles, who, all unaware of the
pitfall prepared for him, readily fell in with the proposals of Sigmund.
He was anxious to join together Alsace, Breisgau, the Aargau towns on
the Rhine, &c., and advanced fifty thousand florins as mortgage on the
dominions of Sigmund, expecting they would soon fall to him entirely. By
the treaty of St Omer, in 1469, their mutual terms of agreement were
thus fixed:--Charles to give help in case of need against the Swiss, and
Sigmund to promote the long-planned marriage between the son of his
cousin and Maria of Burgundy. Rejoicing at this turn of fortune, the
emperor at once disannulled the treaty of Waldshut, and the new lands
were by Charles the Bold entrusted to the management of his favourite,
Peter von Hagenbach.[40] A tyrant and a libertine, his acts of violence,
and those of his foreign soldiery, exasperated the German populations
of Alsace, Basel, Bern, and Solothurn. Their merchants being robbed on
the Rhine, their envoys imprisoned--one Bernese man was killed in a
fray--they complained to the duke, but without result for the cruelties
and oppression continued.
Artful and ever on the watch, Louis found that the Eidgenossen,
disgusted by the grasping tendencies of Charles, were fast drifting away
from their good understanding with Burgundy, and strove to draw them to
his own side. Anxious to secure a friend, the Swiss lent willing ears to
the flattery and insinuations of the crafty Louis. He actually succeeded
in effecting a reconciliation between the Eidgenossen and Austria. It
was a cleverly calculated bit of diplomacy, that secured for the Swiss
their recent conquests, isolated Charles, and strengthened the
opposition against him. Louis fixed a pension on Sigmund, and urged him
to pay off the mortgage on his lands, whilst the Alsacian towns likewise
leagued themselves with the Swiss, and actually advanced Sigmund the sum
of money required. Charles, however, disappointed in his plans, refused
to receive the money. A popular rising took place at Breisach, and
Hagenbach was seized, imprisoned, and brought before a tribunal, at
which some of the Eidgenossen assisted. He was condemned to death, and
publicly beheaded, as a sort of popular judgment. Enraged beyond measure
though he was, yet Charles deferred vengeance for the death of his
favourite, being, indeed, at the time, otherwise engaged. Taking
advantage of this delay, Louis won over to his side Frederick, also
lavishing flatteries on the Swiss, and pensions on Nicolas von Diesbach
and his followers. This Nicolas was a Bernese nobleman and a skilled
politician, and was a fit instrument in the hands of a king who
calculated his schemes rather on men's _mauvaises passions_ than on
their virtues. Louis hastened on the outbreak of war, and on October 9,
1474, Frederick called on the Eidgenossen to take their part in the
attack on Charles. They hesitated, but the pensioner and creature of
France, Diesbach, notwithstanding the resistance offered by Adrian von
Bubenberg, a Bernese noble of far loftier character, in hot haste
declared war against Charles in the name of the empire, and with the
consent of the Confederation. But war once actually afoot the Swiss were
made a mere catspaw by their partners, and left to their own devices.
In a short story like this it is impossible to discuss the merits or
demerits of the various factions, or those of Hagenbach or Diesbach,[41]
yet we must dwell for a moment on the federal policy, and more
especially on that of Bern. The position of the Swiss League at the
outbreak of the war was very similar to that of "Sweden, under Gustavus
Adolphus, in the Thirty Years' War." Threatened by the preponderating
power of Austria, she would not take up arms till France, equally
interested in the downfall of Habsburg, under Richelieu, drove her to
war by sending subsidies. But French gold was by no means the actual and
moving cause of the war. Many things concurred to give rise to it, not
the least being Bern's extraordinary bent for aggrandisement and
conquest. Her aggressiveness and her far-sightedness were quite
remarkable for that age, and her policy was conceived on so large a
scale that she has been not inaptly compared to ancient Rome. Bordering
on Swiss Burgundy, Bern had strong western leanings, if one may so
speak, and very early set her eyes on Vaud and Geneva. She considered
Mount Jura as the true western boundary, for French Switzerland still
lay without the pale of the Confederation, and belonged for the most
part to Savoy, or the vassals of Savoy. However selfish the policy of
Bern may appear at this distance of time, yet she has the unquestionable
merit of having brought Swiss Burgundy into the federation, thus
connecting the French with the German portions of Helvetia. The
political views of Bern are clearly evidenced by her foreign relations
at the time. Her nobility sent their sons to foreign courts to be
educated and trained for a military or a diplomatic career--Bubenberg,
for instance, spent his youth at the Court of Burgundy. Her leading men
were well-trained military officers or skilled politicians, and the
aristocracy which formed the governing body of the town clung
obstinately to the prerogatives still left them in those moribund Middle
Ages.
The country cantons were less interested in Burgundian troubles, well
knowing that Bern would take the lion's share of any conquests. Bern and
Zurich were rivals, and, like Athens and Sparta of old, followed each
its separate ends. Yet when the safety of either, or that of the
fatherland, was at stake, private aims and private animosities were
dropped, and the Confederates rallied to the common standard, displaying
that wonderful heroism which strong love of fatherland seems ever to
inspire.
The first event of the war was the siege of Héricourt, near Belfort, at
the bidding of Frederick III. This was in November, 1474, and there
followed wasteful inroads into Vaud, by Bern, Freiburg, and Solothurn,
on the pretext of punishing Savoy for siding with Charles (1475). Place
after place fell to the victors, and with the help of Bern, Lower Valais
was wrenched from Savoy, and restored to Upper Valais. But when once the
Swiss were fairly launched on the war all their partners withdrew from
the stage, and made their peace with Charles. The Burgundian prince thus
having his hands more free pushed on alone his expedition against Duke
René, the minstrel poet of Lorraine, in November, 1475. In the January
of the following year he opened his campaign against the Swiss.
With an enormous army of fifty thousand of the best-trained soldiers in
Europe, besides heavy artillery, he started in high spirits across the
Jura, resolved on crushing the Swiss peasants, and levelling Bern with
the ground. Count Romont was sent on in advance, with instructions to
re-conquer Vaud. This he effected within a fortnight, the district being
inefficiently garrisoned. Charles then marched on Grandson, whither the
main Bernese force had retired. The odds were desperate, five hundred
men against so vast an army, and, after a resistance of ten days, the
garrison was allured into a surrender by vain promises of safety, and
by impudent forgeries. The fate of Dinant (Belgium) awaited the body of
412 men who surrendered. They were bound with ropes and drowned in the
lake, or hanged from the trees lining the roads (February 28, 1476). In
great straits Bern summoned the assistance of the other cantons, and, on
March 2nd, the federal army of eighteen thousand horse and foot, well
trained and equipped, assembled at Neuchâtel, and Charles went to meet
this force. A large division of the Swiss having gone on in front
suddenly noticed from the vineyard slopes the Burgundian troops in the
plain beneath. As was their wont in warfare--they were very religious,
almost superstitiously so, at that time--the Swiss knelt down, and
extended their hands in prayer. To the enemy it seemed as if they were
begging for mercy, and Charles exclaimed, "These cowards are ours!" and
ordered his men to fire. His artillery swept down whole files, but,
though their ranks were broken, the Swiss stoutly held their ground
against the oncoming foe. Suddenly Charles ordered his forces to fall
back, with the double intention of getting more room, and of alluring
his foe into descending from the higher ground. But his men unapprised
of their leader's intentions mistook the movement for an actual flight,
and their ranks began to show signs of falling into disorder. At this
most critical moment the chief body of the Swiss appeared on the
heights, their armour glittering in the sun. The deafening noise of
their war-cries and war-horns (Uristier of Uri, Harsthörner of Lucerne)
"struck such terror into the Burgundians," reports an old chronicler of
Neuchâtel, "that they took to their heels, and disappeared from sight,
as if a whirlwind had swept them from the earth." Not far, however, did
the Eidgenossen pursue, for, "with indescribable joy," they dropped on
their knees to render thanks for the great victory. When they neared the
camp of Charles the terrible sight they saw stirred up still more their
desire for revenge. Their brethren were still suspended by dozens from
the trees by the wayside.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF GRANDSON--SKETCH MAP.
Scale 1 in 150,000.
MAP OF GRANDSON DISTRICT.]
The battle of Grandson is remarkable for the immense quantity of spoil
that fell to the victors. For Charles and his nobles were wont to carry
the splendour of their court even into their camps. Four hundred silk
tents came into the hands of the Swiss, as well as the arras carpets,
and Charles's sets of gold plate and dishes, the admiration of the
sovereigns of the time. His Flemish lace and fine linen were cut up like
homespun, and divided amongst the rough soldiers; his money dealt out in
helmets; his artillery, his beautiful swords and hand-guns; and, most
precious of all, his jewellery, were shared amongst the victorious
Swiss. Of his three famous diamonds the finest passed finally to Pope
Julius II., another to Henry VIII., of England, and thence to Philip of
Spain, and the third to the kings of Portugal. It would require pages to
give even a bare list of the spoils.[42]
Despite this great disaster, Charles did not lose heart, and within a
fortnight began to reassemble his scattered forces. His movements were
closely watched by the Bernese, who strongly fortified Morat, their
strongest outpost, sending Adrian von Bubenberg with fifteen hundred men
to hold it against the duke. On the 9th of June, 1476, Charles appeared
before the town with twenty-five thousand men, and his artillery soon
made terrible havoc amongst the weak fortifications. Von Bubenberg,
however, vowed that he would not surrender so long as a drop of living
blood remained in his veins. The Eidgenossen forces, which had returned
home after the last engagement, did not reach Morat till the 21st of
June, but determined to give battle on the 22nd, that day being the
anniversary of the ever-memorable Laupen. Charles had drawn up his
troops on the plateaux of Munchwiler, Courlevon, and Cressier, opposite
Morat, and had strengthened his front with a ditch and a barricade of
trees, having also lined the hedges with his artillery, and flanked it
with his horse. It was raining in torrents; to weary the foe the Swiss
spent the morning in dubbing knights; Duke René of Lorraine, who had
joined the Swiss ranks as simple spearman, and Hans Waldmann having that
honour bestowed upon them. Towards noon the sun unexpectedly broke
forth, and Hans von Hallwyl, a Bernese nobleman, brandishing his sword,
exclaimed, "Onward! brave men. God lights up our path. Do not leave your
wives and children to the stranger!" Leading his van in a wide circle to
avoid the hedge he fell on the right wing of Charles. Seeing him thus
engaged Hans Waldmann of Zurich, with his ten thousand troops occupying
a central position in the field, marched up, sprang on the intrenchment,
and trampled down the hedge. Carrying their guns across their shoulders,
they rushed on the artillery, who were keeping up a deadly fire, and,
thrusting back the enemy, soon silenced their guns. Then the Swiss force
advanced in a close phalanx to the hostile centre, where stood Charles
with the Prince of Orange, and other distinguished officers, and where,
too, were placed the English archers under Somerset. A murderous
engagement ensued, Charles fought like a lion, and soon fifteen hundred
nobles lay at his feet. Suddenly Bubenberg sallied forth with his force,
and attacked the Burgundian left wing, stationed between Munchwiler and
Morat, whilst Hertenstein of Lucerne attacked Charles's centre in the
rear. A terrible panic seized Charles, and his army became suddenly
disorganized, and fled in wild haste, the Swiss closely following in
pursuit. For the whole distance from Morat to Avenches there were
terrible hand-to-hand conflicts, for the Burgundians resisted stoutly,
and the Swiss gave no quarter. Countless numbers were driven into the
lake, and altogether twelve thousand of the foe fell that day, the Swiss
themselves losing three thousand men. Charles escaped with a few
horsemen to Morges, but quite dazed with despair, and the Eidgenossen
turned homewards laden with rich spoils. All over the country the bells
were set ringing to welcome the heroic men who had saved Switzerland
from becoming a subject-province of Burgundy. The great battle of
Murten, a purely defensive engagement so far as the Swiss were
concerned, still exerts on them the same spell as Morgarten and
Sempach.
[Illustration: OLD WEAPONS AND ARMOUR PRESERVED IN THE ARSENAL,
ZURICH.]
Luckless Duke Charles had shut himself up in his castle near Pontarlier,
a prey to a morbid despair, but hearing that René was reconquering
Lorraine, he was spurred into taking up arms once more, and started for
Nancy with a new force. René went back to Switzerland, and even with
tears implored the Federal Diet to help him. The Diet would not
themselves organize a new army, but permitted men to enlist of their own
will under René's banner. Some eight thousand soldiers enlisted, and,
under Hans Waldmann, retook Nancy, on January 15, 1477. The fate of the
unhappy Charles is well known; his corpse was found in a bog embedded in
ice and snow. A popular rhyme thus characterizes Charles's triple
misfortune:--
"Zü Grandson das Gut,
Zü Murten den Mut,
Zü Nancy das Blut."
The acquisition of the victors were in no way adequate to the labour
expended. Franche Comté, to which the Eidgenossen had a title, and which
the cities wished to annex, was sold to Louis for a sum of money, which
he never paid, however. The Swiss merely retained the protectorate over
the province, whose envoys had begged on their knees that they might be
admitted to the Swiss Federation, to prevent their falling into the
hands of France or Austria, a fate which was, however, to be theirs.
Grandson Murten, Bex, &c., remained with Bern and Freiburg, but the
greater part of Vaud fell back to Savoy, for a ransom of fifty thousand
florins. Geneva had to pay half that sum as a war contribution; yet the
way was paved for the annexation of Vaud. Freiburg and Low-Valais were
entirely rescued from the grasp of Savoy.
FOOTNOTES:
[37] See Chap. VI.
[38] One curious instance of his failures may be given. The Burgundian
crown was ready for him, and he proceeded to Trier (1473) to have it
placed on his brow by the (Roman) emperor, and push his imperial claims.
However, Frederick III., becoming alarmed at the presumption of the
future Welsh-German sovereign, broke off negotiations, and fled at night
with his son Max, who was to have married the daughter of Charles.
[39] A pleasant story is related to the effect that, on one occasion,
some young Zurich men started off in a boat by way of the Limmat and the
Rhine, taking a dish of hot lentils with them. Reaching Strasburg in the
evening they placed the dish, still hot, on the mayor's dinner table. A
famous poem, "Glückhaft Schiff," describes the event.
[40] Well known from Scott's "Anne of Geierstein."
[41] For these matters the reader is directed to Freeman's admirable
essay on Charles the Bold.
[42] The suits of armour, guns, and banners--the suit belonging to
Charles's court jester who fell at Morat, is at Soleure--are stored up
in the museums of various capitals. The golden seal of Burgundy is at
Lucerne, whilst the town library of Zurich possesses the seal of the
Great Bastard, brother of Charles.
XIX.
MEETING AT STANZ, 1481, &C.
Grandson, Morat, and Nancy stamped the Eidgenossen as the _enfants
gâtés_ of Europe, and as a nation of the highest military standing on
the Continent, nay, even as an umpire in continental politics, and a
guardian of the peace. Everybody lavished flattering praises on the
prowess of the Swiss. Nation after nation made overtures to them--France
foremost, Italy, the Pontiff, the Emperor, distant Hungary, and even
England, this last desirous of breaking the French alliance. The
meetings of the Federal Diet often became brilliant congresses, lasting
for weeks, where princes and ambassadors vied with each other in
bestowing bounties and favours on the Swiss leaders, in order to secure
their aid, deeming themselves invincible if the Swiss fought on their
side. The period 1476-1512--from Morat to Marignano--a noble victory and
a scarcely less noble defeat, adds another glorious page to the military
history of the Swiss League, but the _revers de la medaille_ shows
bitter contention and moral decline. In truth, the Burgundian wars
closed a glorious epoch, but brought about a baleful change in the face
of more noble warfare, for Nancy is linked with that period of mercenary
service and foreign pay which became the curse of Switzerland, and which
could not be checked even by the grand efforts of the Reformation
period.
Leaving the foreign wars for the moment let us cast a glance at home
matters. It is not necessary to dwell at length on the excesses indulged
in by the disbanded soldiers, unoccupied and unaccustomed to regular
labour after the Burgundian wars. These things nearly always result from
long-continued struggles.
More serious danger threatened the League, through the cropping up again
of the old antagonism between the country commonwealths and the city
states. Disputes arose concerning the distribution of the Burgundian
conquests, and the admission of Freiburg and Solothurn, which had
solicited the favour, into the federal fold. In the fifteenth century
the balance of political power was gradually inclining towards the
cities. Zurich, Bern, and Lucerne, had far outstripped the "Länder" in
population, wealth, influence, and culture, and in 1481 their forces
amounted to 35,000 as against the 15,500 of the other five cantons. They
advocated the division of the spoil in proportion to their soldiery, and
the reception of their two helpmates in the previous wars by way of
reward. But the three Forest States, presuming on their prestige as the
primary stock and foundation of the league, and anxious to maintain
their position, resisted measures that would throw the weight of power
entirely on the opposite side. Their narrow and selfish views and their
obstinacy placed the Confederation in jeopardy. Meetings, held to settle
differences, only deepened the bitterness. A final Diet was fixed for
the 18th of December, 1481, at Stanz (Unterwalden), and the foremost men
met to arrange, if possible, a compromise. But high words were
exchanged, and when the excitement had reached its height, the pastor of
that place, Im Grund, stole away, and proceeded at dead of night to the
cave Zum Ranft, in a wilderness near Sachseln. Here he took counsel with
Nicholas von der Flüe, the famous hermit, who had dwelt there for the
space of twenty years. Mild words and deep thoughts proceeded from the
good man, whose love for his country had always been of the strongest.
In his earlier days he had served as a soldier and a magistrate, had
married, and had had several children born to him. But always given to
meditation, he was at the age of fifty-one suddenly filled with
religious enthusiasm, and, unable to appease his yearning soul, took
leave of his family, and retired into deep seclusion. His commune built
him a cell and chapel--still to be seen near Sachseln--on a rock called
die Flüe, hence his name. A few planks formed his bed, and his pillow
was a log of wood. Stores he needed not, for he lived on roots and wild
berries, and the saying went abroad amongst the country folk that he was
sustained by the bread of the holy sacrament alone, and ate no other
food. The peasants regarded his person with wonder and awe, and though
he was seen at times worshipping at Einsiedeln, no man ever saw him on
his way to or from that place. The fame of his wisdom spread beyond the
boundaries of his own land, and many were the high personages who came
to consult his oracle--from all parts of the empire and Italy, envoys
from Sigmund and Frederick. But into subtle discussions he never
entered, leaving them rather to his priests. "Pure water does not flow
through golden pipes, but through pipes of lead," he used to say to
those who complained of the dissolute and degenerate lives of the
clergy. To this man, then, the good pastor unburdened his mind, and from
him received solace and wise words. Then he toiled back to Stanz,
December 22nd. Finding the Diet broken up, and the envoys on the point
of leaving for their respective homes, he ran to the various hostelries,
and with tearful eyes begged the men to return once more. All opposition
melted at the name of Bruder Klaus, the envoys reassembled, and listened
with thrilled hearts to the profound truths uttered by him. Their jars
and differences were settled within the hour, and Freiburg and Solothurn
were unanimously admitted into the league. Blessing the memory of the
"Peacemaker," the delegates returned home, and the glad tidings of the
establishment of concord were everywhere celebrated by the ringing of
bells.
[Illustration: INNER COURT OF THE ABBEY OF OUR LADY. LUTH CHAPTER OF
ZURICH.]
Another feature of this memorable day was the signing of the Covenant of
Stanz, a series of measures prepared beforehand, but in which Nicholas
had no hand. They were levelled chiefly against the excesses and
tumultuous risings that were continually taking place in the country
cantons, their object being to re-establish order and prevent a
repetition of the insubordination, and to set bounds to "the too much
freedom in the Länder." Despite the resistance of Schwyz the agreement
was ratified, and gradually became part and parcel of the judicial
enactments of the Confederation. Breathing as they do the vigorous
spirit of Hans Waldmann, the most influential Swiss statesman of his
time, these measures were, though wrongly, attributed to him.
This Waldmann is indeed the most conspicuous figure in Switzerland in
the fifteenth century, and forms a singular contrast to the humble
recluse Zum Ranft, for he shared in all the vicissitudes of his times.
Full of vital energy, teeming with lofty schemes, his life is a bright
picture, darkened however, here and there, by deep shadows thrown by
that stirring, luxurious, fast-living epoch, an epoch itself coloured by
the Burgundian wars. The career of this remarkable man is a piece of
moral, social, and political history, quite worthy of a few moments'
notice.
A poor peasant boy Waldmann had raised himself to the highest position
in the country, that of Burgomaster of Zurich, and head, or king, as he
pleased to call it, of the Eidgenossen. The mobile and passionate
Zurcher, more than any other members of the league, lend themselves to
infatuations, and never do things by halves, whether for good or for
evil, to-day hurl down their idol of yesterday, and hand him over to the
executioner, so it has been said. A strange career was that of Waldmann.
Born in the canton of Zug, about 1436, he wandered in early youth to
Zurich to seek his fortune, and at the age of sixteen bought the
citizenship there. Apprenticed in various callings he turned at length
to the iron trade, but his restless mind being unalterably bent on the
battlefield he enlisted as a soldier at the first beat of the drums, and
plunged into the impending struggles as captain of the Zurich men, and
condottière of German princes. In the intervals of peace he turned again
to business, giving himself up at the same time to the pleasures of the
town. Young, fiery, handsome, with an intelligent face and winsome
manners, he fascinated the women, whilst his eloquence and joviality
made him a general favourite with the men, and especially with the
masses. Many stories were current as to his adventurous life, and the
excesses in which he indulged in company with other young men of the
town caused him to be lodged in the Wellenberg, a state prison built in
the lake. Yet in that age of dissoluteness such failings did not detract
from his personal charm and credit. He married a gay and handsome young
widow of good family, and called himself the squire of Dübelstein, from
the manor he acquired. This union raised his position in society, and
with the help of the Constafel, the body of aristocracy with which he
became connected, he hoped to get a position in the Government. But the
Junker, or young nobles, treated with disdain the pretensions of a man
who had once been a tanner, and accordingly he turned his attention to
the craftsmen and guilds, and was returned as councillor by them in
1473. Beneath his exuberant spirits and brawling temper lay the superior
gifts of the general and the politician, gifts which the Burgundian wars
were to exhibit to the world. From first to last he shared in the
campaigns. At Morat we have seen him knighted, and leading the principal
charge against Charles the Bold; the recovery of Nancy was chiefly his
doing, for he it was who advocated the continuation of the war and the
appeal to arms by René of Lorraine, at the Federal Diet. At the
council-board and in the federal assemblies he rose to eminence by his
political and diplomatic talents, and showed himself to be an astute
ambassador. Sent to the French Court to negotiate with Louis XI.
respecting Franche Comté, he lent himself to French influences, for his
moral principles were by no means equal to his intellectual gifts. He
became a pensioner of that same king, who was thus the first to corrupt
the Swiss leaders with his gold. In his own city of Zurich, Waldmann
filled a series of public offices; as edile he built the fine
Wasserkirche, the Pantheon for war trophies, &c. In 1480 we find him
occupying a high position as tribune, and head of the guilds, and, three
years later, he was chosen Burgomaster. To obtain this last position,
however, he had ousted the powerful Chevalier Goldein. He ruled Zurich
as a veritable sovereign, head of the republic, and swayed also the
foreign policy of the Federation. He dictated terms of peace; to him
foreign princes applied for alliance or troops; and on him they showered
their favours. He was made Hofrath of Milan, and, becoming a pensioner
of Austria, began to lean more towards that country than to France, and
rightly so, perhaps. Waldmann rapidly became, in fact, the most
influential statesman, and, notwithstanding his extravagant habits, and
boundless generosity, the wealthiest of the Eidgenossen. Thanks to his
great ascendency Zurich was restored to that pre-eminence in the state
which she had forfeited in the civil strife, and which Bern had gained
in the time of the Burgundian troubles.
Ambitious, and readily bribed, Waldmann still professed lofty views in
his home policy and in his administration, and these views he proposed
to put into practice by the help of a political club he had founded.
This club he placed under the care of twelve influential citizens, who
followed his guidance. There was, in truth, a singular charm about his
person, and his intellectual gifts commanded the admiration of his whole
circle. He intended making some sweeping reforms that were to change the
face of the Zurich republic. And he addressed himself first to the
nobility, of whom he was no friend.
Hitherto the aristocracy and the craftsmen had been equally represented
in the government (Kleiner Rath, see Zurich), each having twelve seats
(one having dropped away). Waldmann, however, did away with half that
number, and supplied their places by men from the Zünfte, or Guilds, who
were almost to a man on his side. This not only strengthened his power
as dictator, but increased the importance of the democracy generally,
whilst it lessened that of the nobility. Nor did he spare the clergy. In
1486 he issued a series of orders against abuses, and compelled Innocent
VIII. to give his sanction to them. Waldmann would at times
good-humouredly style himself pope and emperor at Zurich. In one of his
writs he laments the evil consequences of the Burgundian wars, and of
the Reislaufen, mercenary service. Foreign influence was indeed
spreading fast; the rich contracted expensive foreign tastes, French
and Spanish dress became fashionable, public amusements increased in
number, and magnificent family feasts--weddings, baptisms, and the
like--grew general among the people of Zurich. Waldmann began to take
steps to regulate these extravagant tastes, although he himself did not
practise what he preached--going so far as to fix the number of guests
to be invited, and the cost of the presents to be given. Public
amusements were checked or suppressed, even when of an altogether
innocent character. Reding of Schwyz advocated Reislaufen in full.
The indefatigable Waldmann extended his writs and orders to the country
districts, and, anticipating the views of the sixteenth century, strove
for the centralization of power. This was with the hope of strengthening
his government, and bringing the detached portions of the country under
one general code of laws. For each village had so far its own distinct
judicature. Regensberg, for instance, jealously maintained its curious
right of indulging in ear-boxing at the cost of five shillings in each
case, whereas the same doubtful amusement cost elsewhere double and
treble the money. The city Waldmann considered to be the head of the
republic, whilst the country parts he looked upon as the less honourable
or subject portion of the body politic. The trade and manufacturing
industry he monopolized for the town, limiting the country districts to
agriculture and the cultivation of the vine. Numberless were the
measures of improvement which the bold reformer showered on his country,
but many of them were inadvisedly introduced, and the severity with
which he carried out his plans alienated all classes, and none more than
the nobles. Consequently a conspiracy was formed by the Junker (the
Göldli, the Escher, the Meyer von Knonau, &c.), against the Burgomaster,
whose manifest opulence gave the lie to his affectation of republican
simplicity. But blinded by the flatteries of the crowd and by his own
power Waldmann did not see the storm which was rising fast.
The ill-advised execution of Theiling of Lucerne, the hero of Giornio,
by the orders of Waldmann, whom and whose banner he had insulted in that
campaign, turned the tide of popular favour against the ruler of Zurich,
although Lucerne, overawed by the powerful Burgomaster did not dare to
accuse him. But a more absurd if less iniquitous order was issued by
him, and at length caused the tempest to burst forth against him. He
seems however to have been urged on by his enemies, who wished to hasten
his ruin, and he issued the order most reluctantly. It was to the effect
that the country folk were to kill all their large dogs, his plea being
that the animals did injury to the vineyards and hunting grounds. The
consternation was as great as if Charles the Bold had once more come to
life. Some obeyed, but at Knonau five hundred peasants met, and resisted
the messengers who had been sent to effect the slaughter. With this
example the whole district rose in arms, and, marching on Zurich,
demanded admittance, March 4, 1489. It would occupy too much space to
give the story of this outbreak; it was stopped for a time, but broke
out again on April 1st. Waldmann bent on amusement had actually returned
to Baden, a gay watering-place near Zurich, and the rendezvous of the
_grand-monde_ of various nations, but he at once rode back to the town
with his troop of horses, hoping to check the revolt by his personal
influence. But the majority was too strong for him, and surrendering, he
was with his adherents rowed off to the Wellenberg tower, where he was
placed on the rack, however without anything worthy of death being
discovered. Meanwhile the burgesses held a town's meeting in the
Wasserkirche; passed sentence of death on him, and hurriedly instituted
a government to confirm the verdict. In his last hours Waldmann revealed
his nobleness of soul; no bitter accusation against his enemies ever
passed his lips; and he never lost heart, for he knew within himself
that he had ever aimed at promoting the greatness of the town, and at
that only. Had he appealed to the crowds he might have been saved, but
he had promised to his confessor that he would make no such appeal, and
on his way to the block he merely begged the thousands who had flocked
to the bloody spectacle to forgive him and pray with him. The people
were moved to tears, but just then a false alarm was spread that an
Austrian army was coming to his rescue. This hurried on his doom. He was
executed in a meadow on an eminence outside the walls, so that the armed
men might be kept out of the town, April 6, 1489. "May God protect thee,
my beloved Zurich, and keep thee from all evil!" were the last words of
the dying man, as he turned his eyes towards his loved city for a
moment before the fatal blow fell. The new government, called the
"Horned Council," on account of its incapacity, was for a while unable
to stop the revolts, and more executions followed. The "Compromise of
Waldmann" (_Waldmann's Spruch_) secured to the city the supremacy over
the country districts, whilst it restored to the city itself its old
liberties. To ask to be represented on the council had as yet not
entered the mind of the country folk. It may perhaps be added that the
question is frequently being ventilated in Zurich whether or no a
monument shall be erected to Waldmann's memory. Opinion is divided on
the subject.
[Illustration: ARMS OF UNTERWALDEN.]
XX.
THE LEAGUE OF THE THIRTEEN CANTONS COMPLETED.
(1513.)
No traveller visiting the picturesque town of Innsbruck should miss
turning into the Hofkirche to inspect one of the most remarkable
masterpieces of German art, the imposing monument erected by Maximilian,
of Austria to himself. Amongst the numerous magnificent bronze effigies
adorning this monument, we find those of Rudolf of Habsburg, Leopold
III., who fell at Sempach, Charles the Bold, and many others whose names
are familiar to the reader of the "Story of Switzerland." But the
grandest figure there is that of Maximilian himself, a personage hardly
less interesting to the Switzer, from the part played by that ruler in
the separation of Switzerland from the empire.[43]
[Illustration: MAXIMILIAN'S MONUMENT AT INNSBRUCK, MARBLE RELIEVI.
(_From a Photograph of the Original._)]
Maximilian, the son of Frederick III., is the first of a long series of
monarchs who regarded their high vocation as a serious trust, and
earnestly desired the well-being of the people whom they ruled; and of
an empire sadly torn by the dissensions amongst the various factions of
prelates, princes, and cities, each of which followed its own special
ends, regardless of the welfare of the empire as a whole. Desirous of
drawing more closely together the various members of his kingdom, he
sought to lighten his hold over the Swiss Confederation, the bonds
between which and the empire lapse of time had loosened. He was at the
same time hopeful that he might win Switzerland over for his Italian
schemes. He first invited, and then ordered the Eidgenossen to acquiesce
in the new constitution (1495), and to join the Swabian Bund, a league
formed by the nobility and the great cities, under the ægis of Austria.
But this sacrifice of their freedom and independence did not at all suit
the Swiss, and they flatly refused. They quite realized by this time
that their own federal union was a much better guarantee of safety for
them than the dubious assistance of party-torn Germany. Moreover they
felt that the Reichstag, composed only of aristocratic elements, would
ever fail to really represent and promote their republican and
democratic interests. And besides, their strongest feelings were arrayed
against Austria. The imperial crown had become almost hereditary in the
Habsburg family, and to submit to imperial rule meant to the Swiss the
loss of all the political freedom and advantages they had gained. Last,
but not least, after the double-dealing of Frederick III. in the
Burgundian wars, the Swiss could have but little confidence in imperial
rulers. The position of the Eidgenossen was indeed much like that of the
Americans three hundred years later. They refused allegiance to a
government which placed burdens upon them, but in which they had little
or no share. Maximilian threatened the Swiss with invasion, whilst his
chancellor proposed to bring his pen to bear upon them. But a Swiss
envoy replied to the monarch that he would be very ill-advised to start
on such a venture, whilst to the chancellor he said, "Why, sir, should
we fear your goose quills? We are known not to have feared your Austrian
lances." For the first time, perhaps, the Swiss truly realized that they
were in a singularly independent position, and needed no foreign support
for their protection. The truant child had grown strong and
self-reliant, and would certainly decline to give up his dearly-bought
and much-cherished freedom.
This stout refusal, the great friendship of the Swiss for France--for
since the days of St. Jacques they had been slowly drifting to the
French side--and their independent bearing, nettled beyond measure their
Swabian neighbours. Mutual recriminations and accusations followed, and
the desire of both sides for war was intensified by vexatious lawsuits,
and by serious troubles in the Grisons. At last the flame burst forth.
That "Rocky Island" where three Swiss nationalities mingle peacefully
together, afraid of falling beneath the Habsburg sway--for the Austrian
and Rhætian lands were still inextricably mixed together--sought shelter
with the Eidgenossen as Zugewandte connections (1497 and 1498), the
Zehngerichte excepted. The Tyrolese Government, seizing on this
occurrence as a pretext, summoned the Swabian League to its aid, and
sent troops into the Münsterthal in the absence of the monarch. The
Bündner replied by calling in the Confederates, and war was soon raging
along the whole line of the Rhine, from Basel to the borders of
Voralberg and the Grisons. The deliverance of Rhætia (Graubünden) thus
went step by step with the separation of the Swiss League from the
empire. This war, called the Swabian war, from the people who took the
most prominent part in it, glorious though it was in many ways, cannot
be described in detail here. Maximilian was drawn into the struggle, but
his troops never entered into the spirit of the enterprise, and were
completely routed. No Swiss war has been more fruitful in glorious deeds
and acts of self-sacrifice. As an example we may just allude to the
noble courage of Benedict Fontana, the chieftain of the Gotteshausbund.
He led the charge on the strong fortress deemed impregnable in the
narrow valley, An der Calven (Chialavaina), on the Tyrolean frontier.
Lacerated by a bullet he nevertheless covered his wounds with one hand,
fighting with the other till he fell exhausted, calling to his troops,
"Onward, comrades! I count but for one man; to-day we are Rhætians and
allies, or nevermore!" Fired by his example, Von Planta and other noble
leaders sacrificed themselves; the fort was taken, and the two leagues
were rescued from the Austrian grip. The Swabian war had lasted for six
months, the Swabians themselves had suffered reverses on ten occasions,
whilst in only two cases had the Swiss been repulsed; the German
territory beyond the Rhine had been wasted; two thousand villages and
castles having been reduced, and twenty thousand of their soldiery
killed. No wonder both the contending parties longed for peace, and this
was secured by a treaty at Basel, September 22, 1499. The effect was the
separation of the Swiss League from the empire, but this was understood
rather than officially expressed. The Eidgenossen were released by the
emperor from the Reichskamergericht, a step tantamount to acknowledging
their independence. One hundred and fifty years later this independence
was formally declared at the Peace of Westphalia. For a time, however,
many curious anomalies continued; the Swiss still submitted their
charters for the sovereign's approval, accepted patents of nobility, and
so forth. But the late wars had again won for them the respect and
admiration of many of their neighbours.
[Illustration: CITY WALLS OF MURTEN.]
Admission into the league was now requested by Basel and Schaffhausen,
and their request was granted in 1501. Basel ranked as the ninth link of
the federal chain, and thus took precedence of Freiburg and Solothurn,
in acknowledgment of its high position and great merits. Basel had
indeed advanced greatly in prosperity. She had opened her University in
1460; her importance as an emporium was great; and she formed a fitting
corner-stone in the West. She gloried in her union with the league and
the protection it afforded her; and to show the perfect trust she felt,
she dismissed all the guards at her gates, and placed in their stead an
old woman with a distaff who, much to the annoyance of the neighbours,
used to receive the tolls. Henceforward the Swabians and the Swiss were
looked upon as distinct nationalities. Wurtemburg and Bavaria joined in
union with the Swiss the very next year, and even Maximilian himself
renewed his friendship with the Swiss states. "Could there be a greater
compliment paid to the excellence of the Swiss Union," says a German
historian, Uhlmann, "than this mark of confidence on the part of
Maximilian?" After various refusals, and only after having qualified
itself for taking its position, Appenzell was admitted into the federal
fold December, 1513, despite the resistance of the Prince Abbot of St.
Gall, as a member on equal terms, and the list of the XIII. Orte, or
cantons, was complete, and remained closed for three centuries.
The Italian wars which follow bear more or less the stamp of mercenary
wars, and are interesting chiefly from a military point of view, only
the essential points of their story will therefore be touched upon here.
It has been shown how the league got a footing in Ticino under the
Visconti;[44] and later on the Swiss not only strove to increase their
acquisitions in Italy, but played a prominent part in the wars waged by
foreign princes and powers which set up pretensions to Naples, Milan,
&c.
The period of the French invasion of Italy opened in 1494 when the Swiss
assisted Charles VIII. of France in the conquest of Naples, which he
claimed from the house of Aragon. His successor, Louis XII., took Milan
from Ludovico Sforza, surnamed Il Moro, with the aid of the Swiss,
promising to cede Bellinzona to the Swiss as a reward for their
services. Of the numerous enemies he raised up against himself the
bitterest was Pope Julius II., who counted on the help of the
Eidgenossen in the task of driving the French from Italy, and the more
so as he discovered amongst them a fit instrument for carrying out his
schemes. Matthæus Schinner, a priest, was a most remarkable man. Born of
the poorest of parents, in the Upper Valais, he had in early life sung
in the streets for bread. From this humble origin he had raised himself
to the position of Cardinal, and had become an intimate friend of the
Pontiff. Having money, indulgences, and power liberally at command, he
brought about a five years' alliance between the Papal See and
Switzerland. The Swiss readily entered into this agreement, as they had
been slighted by Louis, and, moreover, their contract with France had
expired in 1510. Spain, England, and other powers, had likewise entered
into league with Pope Julius, but his chief supporters were the Swiss.
In their march through Lombardy, against the French (1512), Pavia
surrendered, and Milan also fell to the victors. Zwingli, the reformer,
who had been present in the campaign as camp-preacher, reports that it
was curious to see the ambassadors of great powers appearing at the
Tagsatzung held at Baden to decide on the fate of Milan, and pleading
with the Eidgenossen for a greater or less share of the duchy.[45]
Despite all flatteries, the Swiss envoys reinstated Maximilian Sforza in
his heritage, and in return for this they received Lugano, Locarno, &c.
The attempt of Louis to re-conquer Milan miscarried. His fine army,
commanded by the greatest generals of the age, Trémouille and Trivulzio,
was defeated at Novara in 1513. This siege surpassed all the Swiss had
yet gone through, yet they left open the gates, and in derision hung
linen before the breaches. Foreign historians compared this battle with
the greatest victories of the Greeks and Romans. The historian,
Machiavelli, prophesied that the Swiss would one day acquire the
leadership of Italy, but that was not to be, however.
[Illustration: FREIBURG CUSTOM-HOUSE.]
On the accession of Francis I., that youthful and ambitious prince
wished to signalize the opening of his reign by the recovery of Milan.
Anxious to have Switzerland neutral he made overtures, which were
rejected. But intrigues amongst the Swiss and dissensions among their
allies worked in his favour, and Bern, Freiburg, and Solothurn, accepted
a peace against the interests of Switzerland, and their men returned
home. Cardinal Schinner, strongly averse to the French, by a false
report that the enemy was at the gate, brought up in wild haste the
Eidgenossen, who had been wavering hitherto. The Swiss followed their
leader who was mounted on his horse, his purple cloak streaming in the
wind, and came up with the enemy at Marignano (the modern Malegnano)
September 13, 1515. A terrific struggle ensued, abating only when the
moon went down at midnight. Trivulzio had cut his way through the force
with his sword. Bayard, the "Chevalier _sans peur et sans reproche_,"
for the first time in his life fled. At dawn the Swiss renewed to the
attack. Their fortunes fluctuated till noon, when the cries of "San
Marco!" announced the approach of the Venetians. These appeared to be
about to cut off retreat, and the plain on which the Swiss stood being
now under water--for the French had broken down the dykes of the
Lambro--the Eidgenossen were compelled to retire. This they did in
perfect order, carrying with them their wounded, and retaining their
guns and banners. They were, indeed, rather foiled than defeated, and
Francis, full of admiration for the Swiss, forbade his troops to pursue.
Trivulzio declared that the eighteen battles he had previously witnessed
were but child's play to that of Marignano.
In the November of the following year (1516) an "eternal peace" was
concluded between France and the Swiss, and this drew Switzerland closer
to her powerful neighbour. The material results of the war were the
acquisition of Ticino (which was admitted a canton in 1805), and of
Valtellina and Chiavenna. This defeat was a turning-point in Swiss
history, establishing as it did the supremacy of France. The part they
had hitherto played in European politics had come to an end, and the
ascendency they had so long maintained as a leading military power had
been strangely shattered. A decline was clearly inevitable.
A few words may be given here respecting the famous monastery of St.
Gall. The cloisters of St. Gall shed a bright lustre on Swabian lands
during its best period, from 800 to 1050 A.D. This famous
religious-house was a centre of art and high culture, and was a blessing
to the whole country. We can but allude to some of its famous monks,
such as the Notkers, Ekkehard, Rabbert, and so forth; many famous as
poets, musicians, savants, historians, and teachers of the very highest
rank. In the noted school attached to the monastery there resided and
were educated some three hundred sons of the German and Helvetic
nobility. The discipline kept up was most severe. A story runs that King
Conrad I., on a visit to the institution, wished to put this to the
test, and caused to be scattered under the school benches a basketful of
fine apples. Not a single scholar touched the fruit, and, to reward them
for this very remarkable self-restraint, Conrad gave the youths three
holidays. But the number of anecdotes attaching to this magnificent
institution is endless.
FOOTNOTES:
[43] Maximilian, however, lies buried at Wiener (Vienna) Neustadt. The
monument at Innsbruck was planned by the emperor himself, though it took
some generations to execute the work (1509-83). Twenty of the relievi
were the work of Colin of Mecheln, and excited the admiration of
Thorwaldsen even. The whole monument is highly interesting from both an
artistic and an historical point of view. Among the bronze figures that
of King Arthur is the most exquisite, and is by the famous Peter
Vischer.
[44] See p. 187.
[45] "Here you might observe men's disposition," he writes, "caution,
and cunning. They strive to puzzle one another with the view of drawing
advantage from the confusion. They pretend to one thing, but hope to get
another."
XXI.
THE GREAT COUNCILS; THE LANDSGEMEINDE AND TAGSATZUNG, OR DIET;
LITERATURE IN THE HEROIC AGE.
Perhaps no better place than this can be found for discussing the
constitutional affairs of the enlarged Bund. A description of the
_rouage administratif_ of each of the thirteen republics would be far
too tedious to the reader, and we shall therefore treat them
collectively as far as possible. The cantons naturally split into two
divisions, those _à Grand Conseil_, and the cantons _à Landsgemeinde_,
the latter including the country republics, the three Waldstätten,
Glarus, Appenzell, and Zug.
[Illustration: SARNEN, BERN.]
We have seen in the case of Zurich how her council sprang into existence
and became the chief corner-stone of her constitutional freedom, after
she had been for generations dependent on an abbey. In this latter
respect Zurich but resembles Lucerne, Solothurn, Geneva, and others,
which went through similar phases of development. Bern, however,
received the stamp of independence at her very birth--in the very
charter of liberties involved in her foundation--and her history ran
more smoothly. Her government at once took an aristocratic tinge, a
close corporation of dominant families ruling; and in this respect she
resembled somewhat mighty Venice. In the eighteenth century these ruling
families numbered 360, and kept at arm's length, as it were, the
craftsmen, who, however, were not entirely excluded from a share in the
government. Vast personal property and additional domains acquired by
conquest formed the chief source of the power of Bern, and brought in a
great income to the patricians. Rule, domination, statecraft, became the
chief concern of the Bernese aristocracy, whilst in Lucerne, Solothurn,
and Freiburg, the government was, if possible, still more aristocratic
than that of Bern, and in all these cases was presided over by a
Schultheiss, or Mayor. In the Zurich republic a more democratic spirit
was found, and the inhabitants were given to industrial and intellectual
pursuits rather than to rule and conquest. Her trade was considerable,
and her constitution had done away with the prerogatives of the
nobility. Owing to these things the way was opened for her burghers into
the government, and there sprang up an ambition among the craftsmen to
rise in the social scale. Zurich is the prototype of the Geneva of the
eighteenth century, the two cities greatly resembling each other in
their tendencies and movements, religious and political. At Geneva the
craftsmen, occupying the _bas de la ville_, by their energy struggled to
the _haut de la ville_, or quarter of the privileged classes. All
authority was vested in the two councils--the "Grosse Rath," a sort of
legislative body numbering one hundred or two hundred members; and the
"Kleine Rath," a select committee of the former, consisting of from
twenty-five to thirty-six members, in whom rested the executive and
judicial power. In the liberal cantons the Burgomaster presided. The
Council, however, encroached upon the rights of the people at large, and
deprived them of direct influence in the management of affairs. Basel
and Schaffhausen followed in the track of Zurich. Genuine democracies
represent the cantons _à Landsgemeinde_. The government embodied the
will of a sovereign people, and from its very antiquity commands our
veneration and deserves special attention. To time immemorial the
ancient custom goes back. It was known amongst the Greeks, and we meet
with it in the "Volksversammlung" of the early German tribes--the
gathering of a whole people around their king to administer justice or
decide issues of peace or war. These assemblies sprang up again in the
thirteenth century, in the Forest Cantons, but now became political
meetings, from the necessity of guarding against a common foe. The rule
by Landsgemeinde was adopted by eleven Alpine districts, of which two,
Gersau and Urseren, were almost microscopical. Five of these were swept
away, Schwyz amongst the number. Of these we shall not speak. Yet the
hoary and patriarchal custom still lingers on in some of the secluded
Alpine nooks, favoured by the isolation of the place, and the _génie
conservateur_ innate in the Alpine folk. Unable, however, to clearly
understand the ancient Landsgemeinde except by reference to the present
age, we prefer to draw the reader's attention to the living spring, the
sacred spot where he can "look face to face on freedom in its purest and
most ancient form"--to quote Freeman's fine words--a heart-stirring
sight to witness.
[Illustration: CITY WALLS OF LUCERNE.]
The last Sunday in April is the date usually fixed for the holding of
the Landsgemeinde. The gatherings all bear a general resemblance to each
other, yet each shows the influence of the locality, the religion, or
the industrial pursuits of the people. But whether we see the meeting in
Protestant and manufacturing Glarus, in Catholic and conservative
Unterwalden, or in picturesque Sarnen, the scene is one never to be
forgotten. Dressed in their Sunday best, and wearing the sword, the
badge of freedom--so orders the ancient ritual--the ardent burghers
flock to the national ring, or forum, to discharge their civic duties.
After early morning service, and a grand parade of Landammann and staff,
halberdiers, troops, and bands of music, the Landsgemeinde opens at
eleven with a religious ceremony. At Trogen the hymn, "All life flows
from Thee," is sung by ten thousand voices, and, at the call of the
Landammann, the vast crowd falls down in silent prayer. The effect is
grand and solemn. An address by the Landammann follows, and then the
business of the day is entered upon. The inspection of the yearly
accounts, the election of magistrates and officials, amendment of
existing laws and the promulgation of new ones, are the chief items on
the agenda list. All the officers, from the Landammann himself down to
the humblest public servant, are subject to yearly election, though in
the case of the chief man re-election usually takes place for many
years. There are indeed regular dynasties of Landammanns, so to speak,
for the office may remain in the same family for many generations.
Assent to a proposal is given by holding up the right hand, and this the
crowd does with great eagerness. The list of candidates is drawn up by
the Landsgemeinde, but, strange to say, free discussion on proposed
reforms and new laws is permitted only at Glarus. The question is
discussed beforehand by the Landrath, a legislative body elected by the
parish. "De minoribus rebus principes consultant, de majoribus omnes,"
writes Tacitus of the German Volksgemeinde, and the words apply almost
equally well here. The Landsgemeinde is, in fact, the supreme court,
which approves or annuls. So recently as the spring of 1888, for
instance, Urseren was deprived of its autonomy and joined to the Canton
of Uri, by order of the Landsgemeinde. And at Sarnen the revision of the
constitution was agreed to at the open and general meeting. The election
of the Waibel, or Summoner, gives rise to much amusement, for in him the
chief requisite is strength of lungs, he being the mouthpiece of the
Landammann. The installation of the Landammann himself is the closing
scene, and the most impressive one. Slowly and solemnly he takes the
oath of fidelity to the constitution, and the people in return pledge
themselves to stand by the leader. With hands uplifted the vast crowd
repeats the phrases word by word as they are spoken by the Landammann.
This mutual engagement between leader and people--their hearts filled
with the sacredness of the moment, and their voices swelling into one
grand roll--is almost overwhelming in its touching simplicity and
fervour. That the custom has maintained itself with but minor changes
through so many centuries answers for the admirable stability of the
people, and the suitableness of the _régime_ itself.
The common tie that bound together the thirteen autonomous states into
one was the Diet or Tagsatzung. It met at one or other of the chief
towns--Zurich, Lucerne, Bern, Baden, and so forth. Each canton was, as a
rule, allowed one representative, and any one of the cantons could
summon a meeting, though this was generally done by the Vorort or
_canton directeur_--a position usually held by Zurich--whose member
likewise presided. The various cantons joined in the discussions
according to their rank and the order of their admission to the league.
This will be made clearer by the accompanying list. The Boten, or
envoys, not being plenipotentiaries, would post to and fro between their
governments and the Diet, to report progress and receive instructions.
As the proceedings were in later times committed to writing, we have
extant a most valuable series of records called Abschiede (= leave or
_congé_). Held at first but once a year, the Diet occasionally met as
many as fifty times in the course of the twelvemonth, whilst a single
session would last sometimes for several weeks. At one period the
meetings became international congresses, at which the most important
questions were deliberated. But, in truth, the Diet, down to its
extinction in 1848, never again during its long existence exerted the
vast influence it had in its brilliant fifteenth-century period. Yet
despite its many defects, and its slow and round-about way of doing
business, the Tagsatzung worked successfully--far more so indeed than
did the German Government.
A short sketch of the intellectual and literary life of the heroic
period may here be given. It is clear at the outset that an epoch so
largely given over to warfare and political progress would not be likely
to produce much meditative or reflective poetry. "The clash of arms
frightens the Muses," says an old proverb. (An exception must, however,
be usually made in the case of the peaceful and sheltered cloister.) Yet
this active and stirring period brought forth much national literature.
Throughout we find singers who in verse or prose chant the national
glory, and no episode of importance is without its poetic chronicle or
interpretation; the national enthusiasm vents itself in war-song, in
satire, in mock-heroics, or in rhyming chronicle. Wandering poets living
on the scanty proceeds of their _lieder_; craftsmen who have taken up
the sword; soldiers by profession--these are the bards of the time.
Rugged and unpolished sometimes are their verses, for the Middle German
is in a transition state, and poetry has long since left courts and
descended among the people. In Germany, as everybody knows, had formed
the body of the _Meistersinger_. The historical "Folk songs"
(_Volkslieder_) are the overflowing of a nation's heart stirred to its
depths by the thrilling scenes around it, and they are the true
expression of the temper of the time. We need only allude to the songs
inspired by Sempach and Naefels, and the fiery song of Morat by Veit
Weber, an Alsacian, who fought in the Swiss ranks filled with patriotic
enthusiasm. Lucerne, too, has brought forth many poets--Auer, Wick,
Viol, Birkes, and others--who sang the glory of the great wars. A song
and a play dealing with Tell appeared about this time.
Along with the poet the chronicler springs up, and numerous instances of
this class are met with. At Bern we find Justinger (1420), the first to
draw historical knowledge from the _Volkslieder_, Diebold Schilling
(1484), and Anshelm; at Schwyz, John Fründ; at Lucerne, Melchior Russ,
Diebold Schilling, the chaplain, whose account of the meeting at Stanz
is most trustworthy, Petermann Etterlin, and Nicolas Schradin; at
Zurich, Gerold Edlibach, the noble knights Strettlinger of Bern, who
wrote the chronicles bearing their name, and the author of the "White
Book of Sarnen," complete the list. The "White Book" is much referred to
by modern writers. The most brilliant annalist perhaps is Tschudi, of
whom mention was made in the chapter on the foundation of the league.
Biassed as the writers often are--nothing else can be expected from the
times--their records bear witness to the national spirit of the Swiss,
and to the intellectual revival taking place. The first Helvetian
typography was produced by Albert von Bonnstetten, a Zurich nobleman,
and Dean of Einsiedeln, and one of the chief scholars of his age. He
gave a trustworthy account of Nicolas von der Flüe, and the Burgundian
wars. Another great scholar was his friend Nicolas von Wyl, a nobleman
of Aargau.
The revival of letters introduced into the subtle scholasticism of the
time a world of new thoughts, learning, and refined literary
tastes--_humanismus_ as the Germans so expressively call it. Nicolas von
Wyl is one of the oldest German-Swiss humanists. He extended the Italian
Renaissance to his native soil by his masterly translations of Petrarch,
Boccaccio, Poggio, and others. Æneas Sylvius, the elegant poet,
novelist, and orator, who rose to the Papal dignity as Pius II., would
have had the world forget his fascinating but worldly writings.
"Rejicite Æneam, suscipite Pium," was his request. For twenty years
Æneas had laboured to bring classical culture to barbarian Germany. His
earliest pupil, Von Wyl,[46] became a great favourite at the German
courts, and with the literary circle which the highly-cultivated Duchess
of Wurtemberg gathered around her. Von Wyl translated some of the Latin
works of Felix Malleolus, his friend and benefactor; for instance, his
biting satire on the idle Lollards and "Beghards." He died at Zurich.
But if the courts and the nobles promoted the growth of the New
Learning, the universities were its chief support. That of Basel was
opened in 1460, under the auspices of Pius II. (Æneas Sylvius), who
granted its foundation charter. It rapidly gathered within its walls
some of the brightest minds of the day, amongst whom we need only
mention the world-famed Erasmus and Zwingli the reformer.
FOOTNOTES:
[46] Prof. Bächtold's "Swiss-German Literature."
XXII.
THE REFORMATION IN GERMAN SWITZERLAND.
(1484-1531.)
The age of the Renaissance ushered in a century of intellectual
revolution, and wrought remarkable changes in art, in science, in
literature, in religion, and in every department of human life and
energy. The space at our disposal will permit us to touch only on one of
these developments, the religious. But the varying history of religious
movement well-nigh fills up the sixteenth century. The revival of
learning quickened the spirit of the Reformation, though most of the
savants disapproved of the movement, as in the case of Erasmus and
Glarean, a famous Swiss scholar. But whilst Luther's training was
monastic rather than scholarly, and whilst he was, if anything, opposed
to the New Learning, the great Swiss reformer was a scholar of the first
order, who drew his profound and liberal ideas from his study of the
classics. And it is a curious and noteworthy fact that with the spread
of letters in Switzerland, there started up on its soil a host of men
of parts[47] who, forming a school of disciples, as it were, espoused
the cause of their great leader, Zwingli, and promoted it, each in his
own canton. This is one peculiarity of the Swiss Reformation.
The degeneracy of the Church passed all belief, and was, as every one
knows, the primary and chief cause of the Reformation on the Continent;
but in Switzerland there was yet another cause, quite as important,
which gave an impulse to the movement--the calamitous consequences of
the mercenary wars, touched upon in previous chapters. Foreign pay had
irresistible attractions for captain and man alike, and the country was
constantly being drained of its stoutest arms and bravest hearts. It was
difficult to over-estimate the baneful effects of this practice on the
national welfare, and, of all the noble men who deplored these results,
none felt it like Ulrich Zwingli. An enthusiastic scholar, a gifted
preacher, a zealous patriot, and a remarkably able politician, he
devoted his life to the work of rescuing his people and country from
their moral decline. This he proposed to effect by the working of the
Divine Word. Luther left the knotty skein of politics to his princely
friends to unravel, but Zwingli, on the contrary, shrank from no
political difficulties, encumbrances, or complications. To his clear and
far-seeing mind social and political reform was inseparably bound up
with religious change and progress. The one would be of but little avail
without the other, and the great object of his life became the total
regeneration of the commonwealth--church and state both.
[Illustration: ULRICH ZWINGLI.
(_After Asper._)]
Ulrich Zwingli was born at Wildhaus, among the song-loving Toggenburger,
in the canton of St. Gall, January 1, 1484. The talented youth was
destined for the Church by his father, a highly-respected magistrate,
and was sent to school at Basel, and afterwards studied at Bern. Here
sprang up his enthusiasm for classical studies under the famous Lupulus,
whilst the friars were so struck with his musical talents that they
tried hard to keep him in the cloisters. However, in 1500 he left for
the University of Vienna, and two years later we find him established as
Latin teacher at Basel and a student of the university there. Steeped in
the New Learning his attention was now drawn to scriptural studies by
the enlightened Wittenbach. At Basel, too, he formed a friendship with
the famed Erasmus. Obtaining the degree of _magister philosophiæ_, in
1506, he was nominated pastor at Glarus, and with regret tore himself
away from that seat of learning. During his ten years' ministry at
Glarus (a Landsgemeinde canton) his natural taste and talent for
politics were brought into play. And though he founded a Latin school
for clever youths, and pursued his own studies vigorously, and kept up a
vast correspondence with Erasmus, Glarean, and other noted scholars, he
was no mere pedant or bookworm, but took a profound interest in the
political life of that stirring age. Twice he accompanied the men of
Glarus on their Italian expedition as field chaplain, but though he
naturally rejoiced at the glory their arms acquired, yet his eyes became
fully opened to the disastrous results of the mercenary wars. His direct
and unsparing attacks on the _Reislaufen_ and foreign pension system
roused such a storm against him that he was forced to take refuge at
Einsiedeln, 1516. His two years' quiet retreat in the famous abbey
afforded him a glimpse of the flagrant abuses rife in the Church. At
first he appealed to the dignitaries of the Church to remedy the evils,
but at length, driven no doubt by the sight of the superstitions around
him, he introduced those sweeping measures of reform which did away with
every vestige of Romanism that remained in the evangelical church.
Preaching to the thousands who flocked to the wonder-working image of
the Virgin, his sermons, full of force, novelty, and pithy eloquence,
rapidly spread abroad his fame. He became friendly with other scholars
and religious reformers. Rome made him tempting offers with the view of
drawing him away from Switzerland and his life-work, but resisting all
her persuasion, he accepted a call to Zurich, as _plebanus_ at the
Minster, December, 1518. Zurich was the foremost town of the
Confederation, but was justly reputed a dissolute city, not unlike the
then Geneva. Its enlightened Council saw in Zwingli a spirited leader.
His opening sermon, on New Year's Day, 1519, stirred his hearers in a
marvellous way, and at once stamped him as an evangelical reformer of no
common type. He briefly sketched out the plan by which he proposed to be
guided in his future sermons. His subjects would be drawn from the
Bible only,[48] especially from the New Testament, and he would follow
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and not human direction. So profound
was the impression made by his impassioned and eloquent words that some
of the listeners declared him to be a "new Moses who had arisen to save
his people from spiritual bondage." The learned Platter writes that
during the sermon he "felt himself lifted off the ground by his hair."
The very first year of Zwingli's ministry at Zurich, two thousand souls
were "saved by the milk of the Holy Gospel." And his practical goodness
of heart was attested by his assiduous attention to the sick during the
plague of 1519, in which he was himself stricken and brought very near
to death. Three hymns composed during this trying time reveal his entire
resignation and calm trust in God. Although he fiercely opposed the sale
of indulgences there were no thunderings against him from the Vatican,
such as were hurled against Luther.[49] The Eidgenossen, being useful to
the Papal See, was rather indulged; it was even intimated to the Diet
that they should send back from Bern Friar Bernhard Samson, who was
preaching with great effect there, should he prove obnoxious. With
unflagging zeal and courage Zwingli followed his ideal in politics,
viz., to rear a republic on the type of the Greek free states of old,
with perfect national independence. Thanks to his influence Zurich in
1521 abolished _Reislaufen_, and the system of foreign pay. This step,
however, brought down on the head of Zurich the wrath of the twelve
sister republics, which had just signed a military contract with Francis
I. Zwingli addressed to Schwyz a "Holy Exhortation" to serve neither
Pope nor Emperor; his exhortation, however, served only to increase the
number of his political foes.[50] Relying rather on reason than on
force, he prepared the way for his reforms with singular moderation and
forbearance.
It was only in 1522 that he began to launch pamphlets against the abuses
in the Church-fasting, celibacy of the clergy, and the like. On the 29th
of January, 1523, Zwingli obtained from the Council of Zurich the
opening of a public religious discussion in presence of the whole of the
clergy of the canton, and representatives of the Bishop of Constance,
whose assistance in the debate the Council had invited. In sixty-seven
theses remarkable for their penetration and clearness he sketched out
his confession of faith and plan of reform, and utterly confounded all
objections of his opponents by showing the conformity of his theses with
the Holy Scriptures. On the 25th of October, 1523, a second discussion
initiated the practical consequences of the reformed doctrine--the
abrogation of the mass and image worship. Zwingli's system was virtually
that of Calvin, but was conceived in a broader spirit, and carried out
later on in a far milder manner by Bullinger. To enter into a full
comparison of the two systems would, however, be out of place here. The
Council gave the fullest approval to the Reformation.
In 1524 Zwingli married Anne Reinhard, the widow of a Zurich nobleman
(Meyer von Knonau), and so discarded the practice of celibacy obtaining
amongst priests. She made him an excellent wife and help-mate, and bore
him four children. The reformer's skill in music was often brought to
bear on his children when they were inclined to be unruly; he would
soothe them into peace and quietness by his performances on the lute or
other instrument. To his stepson Gerald Meyer he was an excellent
father. Tall, with grave but winning features, with a kind and generous
heart and winning manner, Zwingli's personality was most fascinating. A
scholar but no pedant, a plain but vigorous speaker, of sound and
practical judgment, with vast stores of learning, and an unusual
elevation of mind, he was also broadminded and compassionate. It may be
mentioned that he provided on Ufenau Island in Zurich lake a last asylum
for Ulrich von Hutten, who had been rejected by Erasmus and driven from
Germany.
In 1524 Zwingli began to effect the most sweeping changes with the view
of overthrowing the whole fabric of mediæval superstition. In the
direction of reform he went far beyond Luther, who had retained oral
confession, altar pictures, &c. The introduction of his reforms in
Zurich called forth but little opposition. True, there were the risings
of the Anabaptists but these were the same everywhere, and the revolt
of the peasants was a general feature of the time.[51] Pictures and
images were removed from the churches, under government direction, and
nothing was left to distract men's attention, for Zwingli aimed at the
re-establishment of the primitive Christianity in its pure, simple, and
biblical form. The Holy Scriptures, expounded by the elect ministers of
God, were to be men's highest guide and support. At the
Landgemeinden,[52] called for the purpose, the people gave an
enthusiastic assent to his doctrines, and declared themselves ready "to
die for the gospel truth." Thus a national Church was established,
severed from the diocese of Constance, and placed under the control of
the Council of Zurich and a clerical synod. The convents were turned
into schools, hospitals, and poor-houses. The famous Chorherrenstift,
founded by the Carolingians, was turned into a University College,
continuing to be called the Carolinum. This lasted till 1832, when it
was formed into the University and Gymnasium of our own days. Zwingli
was elected rector, and lectured on theology. He was also devoted to the
study of Greek, and on New Year's Day, 1531, had a splendid performance
of one of the plays of Aristophanes, for which he himself wrote the
accompanying music, grave statesmen joining the professors and students
in the representation. Zwingli was now, indeed, the idol of the people,
and wielded the sceptre in his little state. Under him Zurich became a
centre of learning and religious enlightenment, and its influence spread
over other Swiss lands, South Germany and elsewhere.
The reformed faith penetrated, but only gradually, into the northern and
eastern cantons. Bern was reached in 1528, after a brilliant disputation
held in that city. Basel and Schaffhausen followed in 1529, and then St.
Gall, Appenzell, Graubünden, and Solothurn, though some of them had
serious struggles within themselves and fell in only partly with the
reforms. But in the Central or Forest Cantons it was that the fiercest
opposition was encountered. Many things combined to produce this result.
In the first place, the district was a very stronghold of Catholic and
Conservative feeling, and religion was entwined with the fond memories
of a glorious past. From the very simplicity of their lives the people
ignored the degeneracy of the priesthood, and amongst these pastoral
peoples the priests were of simpler manners and more moral life than
those in the cities; they disliked learning and enlightenment.
Then there was the old feeling of antipathy to the cities, coupled with
a strong dislike for the reforms which had abolished _Reislaufen_, that
standing source of income to the cantons. Lucerne, bought with French
gold, struggled with Zurich for the lead. So far was the opposition
carried that the Catholic districts by a majority of votes insisted (at
the Diet) on a measure for suppressing heresy in Zurich, whilst some
were for expelling that canton from the league. The Forest Cantons
issued orders that Zwingli should be seized should he be found within
their territories; consequently he kept away from the great convocation
at Baden, 1526. Serious collisions arose, but it is impossible to dwell
on them here.
Wider and wider grew the chasm between the two religious parties, and
Zwingli at length formed a "Christian League" between the Swiss
Protestants and some of the German cities and the Elector of Hesse. On
the other hand, the Catholics entered into an alliance with Ferdinand of
Austria, a determined enemy to the reformed religion. At last the
Protestant party was exasperated beyond bearing, and Zurich declared war
on the Forest Cantons, Zwingli himself joining in the vicissitudes of
the campaign. His camp presented the "picture of a well-organized,
God-fearing army of a truly Puritan stamp." The encounter at Kappel, in
June, 1529, however, took a peaceful turn, thanks to the mediation of
Landammann Aebli, of Glarus, greatly to the disgust of Zwingli, who
prophetically exclaimed that some day the Catholics would be the
stronger party, and then they would not show so much moderation. All
ill-feeling, indeed, subsided when the two armies came within sight of
each other. The curious and touching episode known as the _Kappeler
Milchsuppe_ took place here. A band of jolly Catholics had got hold of a
large bowl of milk, but lacking bread they placed it on the boundary
line between Zug and Zurich. At once a group of Zurich men turned up
with some loaves, and presently the whole party fell to eating the
_Milchsuppe_ right merrily. A peace was concluded on the 29th of June,
1529, by which the Austrian League was dissolved, and freedom of
worship granted to all.
Zwingli's closing years were devoted to vast schemes of European policy.
With the view of forming a strong alliance of the Swiss Protestants with
foreign powers favouring the reformed faith, and in opposition to the
emperor Charles V., he entered into negotiations with France, with some
of the German states, with the Venetian republic, and others. His plans
were too bold and sweeping to be practical, and came to nought. His
relations with Luther claim special attention, however. By his treatise,
"De verâ et falsâ religione" (1525), Zwingli had, though unwillingly,
thrown the gauntlet into the Wittenberg camp. The work was
intended to be a scientific refutation of the Catholic doctrine of
transubstantiation, and a war of words arose. The contest was by each
disputant carried on _suo more_ by Luther with his usual authoritative
and tempestuous vehemence, by Zwingli in his own cool reasoning,
dignified, and courteous style and republican frankness. Presently there
came a strong desire for a union between the German _Protestants_, and
the Swiss _Reformers_--the two were thus distinguished--the impulse to
it being given by Charles V.'s "Protest" against the Protestants.
Landgrave Philip of Hesse, the political leader of the German reformers,
invited Luther and Zwingli to meet at his castle of Marburg, with the
view of reconciling the two sections. The religious _colloquium_ was
attended by many savants, princes, nobles, and all the chief leaders of
the Reformation, and might have done great things, but came to grief
through the obstinacy of Luther, as is well known, or rather through his
determination to approve of no man's views except they should agree
exactly with his own. Luther insisted on a literal interpretation of the
words "This is my body," whilst Zwingli saw in them only a metaphorical
or symbolical signification. Zwingli's logic and cool, clear reasoning
were acknowledged to be superior to those of his opponent, but Luther
demanded complete submission. The conference, in short, resulted in
nothing, and nearly ended in an open rupture between the two leaders.
Zwingli extended his hand in token of friendship and goodwill, but
Luther refused it. The truth was the two men looked at the matter from
quite different points of view. With Luther religion was almost wholly a
thing of a mystic basis, a creed of the heart--of feeling--whilst
Zwingli, required his reason to be satisfied. The one wrestled in agony
of soul with the spirits of darkness; the other looked to the Divine,
all-embracing love under which all creation rests in trust and
happiness, and under which all men are brothers, children of one
all-kind Father.
To return for a moment to home politics. The peace of 1529 was a
short-lived one. Zwingli anxious only to spread the reformed faith over
the whole republic did not realize clearly the hatred of the Forest
district against the new creed. Then there were faults on both
sides--the Zwinglian party and the Waldstätten--but the history of them
is too long and too trifling to be given here. Not the least of the
mistakes, however, was made by Zwingli himself, in claiming well-nigh
absolute power for the two chief reformed cities, Zurich and Bern.
Again, the refusal of the Waldstätten to assist Graubünden against an
Italian invasion was looked upon with grave suspicion, and caused much
ill-feeling against them. War was imminent, and was indeed eagerly
desired on _both_ sides. Bern, finding that war was likely to be
injurious to her private ends insisted on a stoppage of mercantile
traffic between the opposing districts,[53] but Zwingli scorned to use
such a means to hunger the enemy and so bring them to submit. However
Zurich was outvoted in the Christian League (May 16th), and the Forest
was excluded from the markets of that city and Bern. The rest may be
easily guessed. On Zurich was turned all the fury of the famished Forest
men, and they sent a challenge in October, 1531. A second time the
hostile armies met at Kappel, but the positions were reversed. Zurich
was unprepared to meet a foe four times as numerous as her own, and Bern
hesitated to come to her aid. However Göldlin, the captain of the little
force, recklessly engaged with the opposing army, whether from treachery
or incapacity is not known, but he was certainly opposed to the reformed
faith. Zwingli had taken leave of his friend Bullinger, as though
foreseeing his own death in the coming struggle, and had joined the
Zurich force. He was with the chief banner, and, with some five hundred
of his overmatched comrades, fell in the thickest of the battle. Amongst
the slain were most of the foremost men of the city, councillors,
clergy, Zwingli's friends and relations. Amongst these last was his
beloved stepson who had been fighting by his side. A canon of Zug,
seeing Zwingli's body, burst into tears, crying, "Whatever thy faith, I
know thou hast been a brave Eidgenosse." According to the barbarous
custom of the time the body was quartered, then burnt, and scattered to
the winds. And the terrible disaster which befell Zurich was followed
soon after by another.
But the reformation was far too deeply rooted to be thus destroyed.
Bullinger, the friend of Zwingli, and, later on, of Calvin, worthily
succeeded to the headship of the Zurich reformers. Keeping clear of
politics, for which he had no propensity, he concentrated his attention
on the perfecting of the Zwinglian ecclesiastical system; working for
strict morality without narrowness of mind, for national independence,
for inquiring after light and truth, and for true piety combined with
benevolence and charity. Zwingli had made mistakes of policy, but his
devotion to his cause, his self-abnegation, and his tragic death, made
full reparation for them.
At Solothurn Catholicism again got the upper hand, and the reformers had
to leave. Intestine feuds were breaking out, and indeed the first shot
had actually been fired, when the noble-minded Schultheiss, Nicolas von
Wengi, a Catholic, threw himself before the mouth of a cannon, and
exclaimed, "If the blood of the burghers is to be spent, let mine be the
first!" Wengi's party at once desisted from the attack, and matters were
settled amicably.
FOOTNOTES:
[47] A mere list of names must suffice:--Lupulus, Wittenbach,
Oecolompad, Vadian, Oeconomius, Collin, Myconius, Pellikan Platter,
Glarean (the poet laureate crowned with the wreath by the Emperor Max).
The savants at that time were wont to latinize their names in their
enthusiasm for the classics.
[48] It is necessary to bear in mind that at that time the Bible was
well-nigh an unknown book to the common people. There were even to be
found priests who neither possessed a copy of the Scriptures nor could
have read it if they had.
[49] On such good terms with the Pontiff was Zwingli that one of the
Papal Legates sent his own doctor to attend him.
[50] "It is meet that cardinals should wear red cloaks and hats," to
quote one passage from the Exhortation; "if you shake them they drop
crowns and ducats, but if you wring them there flows forth the blood of
your fathers, your sons, and your brothers."
[51] In Germany similar revolts took place, but Luther took no pains to
appease the peasantry.
[52] Landgemeinden or gatherings of the parishes, a mode of appealing to
the people which became the prototype of the modern Referendum.
[53] Traffic absolutely necessary to the Forest Cantons for supplying
provisions.
XXIII.
THE REFORMATION IN WEST SWITZERLAND.
(1530-1536.)
The history of French Switzerland has not yet been touched upon, and
that for good reasons. It is difficult to realize that down even to the
sixteenth century the French Swiss were still languishing under the
ancient forms of feudalism, and this at a time when their German
brethren had long been enjoying the blessings of national independence,
and had filled the world with their military renown. But, in truth, the
French were slow to awaken to republican freedom, and looked to East
Switzerland rather than to themselves for deliverance from political
bondage. It is a remarkable fact that the Reformation was made but with
the assistance of those skilled statesmen, the Bernese, the connecting
link between the eastern portions of Switzerland and the isolated west.
That Bern rightly calculated on benefiting by this junction is well
known.
[Illustration: MINSTER, BERN.
(_From a Photograph._)]
Before passing to the Reformation itself, however, we must give a slight
sketch of the political condition at that time of Vaud and Geneva, with
which alone we have here any concern. Neuchâtel still remained in
reality a separate principality, though temporarily (1512-1529) under
Swiss rule. Vaud had in its time seen many masters which may perhaps
account for its backwardness in adopting home rule. Its natural beauty
and enjoyable climate have made it coveted at all times, in ancient, in
mediæval, and, as we shall see, even in modern times. At first a scene
of turmoil and tumult caused by the quarrels of its powerful nobles, it
sank beneath the sceptre of Savoy, Peter, the eminent prince of
Savoy--surnamed the "Petit Charlemagne"--having succeeded in
establishing his authority over the native nobility. Once joined to
Savoy, the fortunes of Vaud naturally depended on those of the Savoy
dynasty. Peter attempted to annex the bishopric of Lausanne, but
failing, Vaud was torn asunder, and there existed side by side a
spiritual and a temporal lordship. Of the two portions that under
ecclesiastical sway enjoyed the less liberty. Lausanne was a place much
frequented by pilgrims, and was a mart for indulgences, but it possessed
not a vestige of autonomy. It lay "dormant at the base of its many
churches." When in the fifteenth century the power of the House of Savoy
declined, the Vaud country speedily fell into a condition of anarchy,
the nobility at daggers drawn against the burghers, and the
mountain-dwellers at deadly variance with the vine-tillers of the plain.
But early in the sixteenth century Lausanne was stirred from its
lethargy by the attempts of Charles III. of Savoy to obtain the
overlordship of the city. Thus threatened, and torn by intestine
quarrels, Vaud in its helplessness seemed to invite the interference of
Bern in this affair, and that city on its part was only too glad of an
occasion of interfering.
Geneva was Vaud's companion in trouble, threatened by similar dangers,
and torn by similar struggles. Here also the bishop was lord-paramount,
but in this case the stout-hearted burghers had wrested from him a
considerable amount of self-rule. Its inveterate enemy, too, was the
Duke of Savoy. But the men of Geneva loved independence far too much to
submit quietly to hostile aggressiveness and encroachment; for centuries
even they had kept at bay the designing nobility. Yet at one time the
Duke of Savoy had arrogated to himself the rights of vicedom, that is,
temporal justice of the bishop as his vassal. Possessing thus temporal
jurisdiction, _nomine episcopi_, over the city, he was anxious to annex
it altogether. Geneva was almost entirely surrounded by Savoy territory.
In the end Savoy arrogated to itself the right of appointing to the see,
and its nominees were, it is needless to say, always members of its own
house. Boys of twelve or fourteen, bastard sons even, were not
unfrequently raised to the episcopal dignity. This did not add to the
peacefulness of the district, and the adherents of the respective Savoy
and Geneva factions went about armed to the teeth.
The accession of Charles III. in 1504 opened for Geneva a period of
struggle. Anxious to maintain its freedom against a crafty and malignant
prince, and his creature, the base-born bishop, the city split into two
parties, the patriotic _Eidguenots_, so called from their relying for
assistance on the Swiss Confederation, and the Savoyards, who were
nicknamed the Mamelukes (knaves). Something like half the population
were Savoyards by birth. Among the patriot party we find the "Children
of Geneva," a gay and somewhat noisy band of patriotic enthusiasts, who
loved fighting and did not fear death. At the head stood Thilibert the
witty hotspur, François Bonivard, Prior of St. Victor, and a noteworthy
Geneva chronicler, and Hugues Besançon, a clever statesman, and the
father and deliverer of his country. When Charles required the Genevans
to do homage they refused, answering sturdily that "Geneva would rather
go begging and be free." In 1519, during his sojourn in the city,
Charles punished with terrible rigour this bold stand for freedom; all
were cowed into submission except Berthelier, who scorned to "bend to a
man who was not his master." His head was one of the first to fall. But
executions of one kind or another were soon of almost daily occurrence
during Charles's stay. Four years later Charles and his beautiful bride,
Beatrix entered Geneva with great pomp, and the princess even remained
for the birth of her first-born. Charles desired the city to become
accustomed to royal splendour, and to feel real sympathy for a native
sovereign. But all his plans failed. By his eloquence and patriotism
Hugues melted the hearts of the men of Freiburg, and succeeded in
persuading them as well as the people of Bern to make an alliance with
his own city. This alliance checkmated the plans of Savoy. But the
success of the Genevans excited the jealousy of the "Ladle Squires."
This curious nickname was given to an extraordinary band of the gentry
and nobility living around Geneva. They met at a most frugal supper, and
vowed the destruction of the city. A dish of rice was being served by
the duke with a large spoon or ladle when one of the guests suddenly
brandishing the implement fiercely exclaimed, "With this I shall swallow
Geneva!" By an oath the men assembled bound themselves to seek the
destruction of the obnoxious city, and hung their ladles round their
necks in token of adherence. These "Seigneurs de la Cuiller," though
unable to carry out their design, were yet able to work much mischief to
Geneva, by cutting it off from the necessaries of life, and by keeping
up a desultory but none the less harassing warfare against it. More than
this, Bonivard was by order of the duke ousted from his living, and
thrown into the castle of Chillon, in 1530.[54] In this same year,
however, a new attack on the part of Savoy was checked by Bern and
Freiburg, and Charles was forced to sign the treaty of St. Julien,
guaranteeing the independence and freedom from molestation of Geneva. It
was stipulated that should the treaty be violated by Savoy it should
forfeit Vaud to Bern.
About this time Bern ventured on the introduction of the reformed faith
into French Switzerland, hoping thereby to deepen her interest in that
quarter. She found a suitable instrument in the person of Guillaume
Farel, a fiery Frenchman from Dauphiné. The most intrepid and daring of
champions of the gospel, he had fled from his native soil to Switzerland
to avoid religious persecution, and had been expelled from Basel for his
fanaticism. Supported by "Leurs excellences les Messieurs de Berne," as
the government of that city was styled, he wandered about as an
itinerant reformer, visiting Vaud and Neuchâtel. Through his efforts the
latter canton adopted Zwingli's doctrines, in 1530, Vaud obstinately
refusing the reformation, except in that portion of the district subject
to Bern. Farel's preaching always excited the mob, and his harangues
generally ended in a scuffle. He would often stop a priest on the road
and fling into the river the host or the relics he carried. He had even
been known to burst into a church during mass, and inveigh against
Antichrist from the pulpit. Buffetings and prison alike failed to stop
his efforts, for rough though his manner of controversy was, he was yet
deeply in earnest. Going to Geneva, in 1532, his very name so stirred
the Catholics there that he was obliged to flee for his life. The
Protestant party in the city were strong and well organised, and they
counted on the assistance of Bern, and that important state, anxious to
convert the whole west, if possible, threatened Geneva with her
displeasure should Farel not be favourably received. Thus Geneva was
suddenly called upon to decide between the friendship of Bern, and that
of Freiburg, where the Catholic party was dominant. Fear of Savoy
decided Geneva in favour of Bern, which certainly was a more powerful
ally than Freiburg. Furbity, an eloquent priest, who had been chosen to
controvert the reformers' teachings, was to be discharged, and Farel,
Fromment (another Frenchman), and Viret, a very able Vaudois, one of
Farel's disciples, were established at Geneva, in 1534, by the desire of
Bern. The new faith rapidly spread, and fresh attacks on the part of
Savoy against Geneva only served to promote its extension. A religious
discussion arranged by Bern, and conducted (on the reformed side) by
Farel, took place at Geneva, in 1535, and resulted in the full
establishment of the Zwinglian doctrine in that city. During the
disputations an embassy from the Bernese attended the city council to
make known the will of the ruling state, much after the manner of the
proud and austere Roman senators of old.
But neither the ousted Catholics nor Savoy was inclined to submit tamely
to this state of things. Geneva was a perfect hotbed of dissension. Duke
Charles laid siege to the city, both by land and by water. A sudden
change in French politics prompted Bern to show more active energy than
it had lately shown. Two claimants for the Duchy of Milan appeared,
Francis I. and the Emperor Charles V. To facilitate its conquest the
former also planned the annexation of Savoy, intending to include Geneva
as the key to Rhone valley. Bern thus seeing threatened the safety of a
city which it was itself coveting, declared war on Savoy, and marched
six thousand men into the Vaud country. The pretext set up by Bern was
that Savoy had violated the treaty of St. Julien. Vaud was seized
without striking a blow, and portions of Savoy, Gex, and Chablais, were
annexed. In great triumph the Bernese army entered Geneva, but fear of
France, and the proud and noble bearing of the Genevese, prevented the
Bernese from attempting to put into execution any plans they might have
had for annexing the republic. It was in this campaign that Bonivard was
rescued.
Great was the disappointment of Vaud to find that it had only changed
masters; had been rescued from the grasp of Savoy to fall beneath the
sway of Bern, though the latter master was certainly in every way
superior to the former. It will be well understood that this treatment
on the part of Bern would later on give rise to serious troubles. Indeed
to this day Vaud bears a grudge against her former master. However the
powerful canton set up order and discipline in the disorganized district
of Vaud, and gave it the _cachet_ of its exemplary administration. It
was divided into governmental districts and managed by eight Bernese
landvögte. It agrees with the laws of Bern though its local
administration was left it. Every effort was made to establish the
reformed faith, and a disputation was held at Lausanne. In this Calvin
took a part, but not a prominent one. The result was, however, the
downfall of Catholicism in the district, deeply-rooted though it had
been. Schools were established, and the Academy was founded by Bern. In
this way the French position of the country was cemented to the eastern
half. It was not till the Great Revolution that the prerogatives of the
governing cantons were shaken, the immense wealth of the cathedral of
Lausanne went to fill the state coffers of Bern, and the funds of the
various churches were left to provide schools.
FOOTNOTES:
[54] For a fuller account of Bonivard the reader is referred to
Marc-Monnier's "Genève et ses poètes." It is of course well known that
though Bonivard's adventures suggested the idea of Byron's beautiful
"Prisoner of Chillon," the story in the poem is almost entirely
fictitious. In truth, Bonivard was liberated by Bern in 1536, and set
himself to write the annals of his city of Geneva. He was married no
fewer than four times. He seems to have been frequently cited before the
Consistory for gambling and other like offences.
XXIV.
GENEVA AND CALVIN.
(1536-1564.)
Political and religious changes had brought about in Geneva a confusion
which Farel felt himself incapable of lessening. By vehement intreaties,
therefore, and even by threats, he induced Calvin to join him in his
missionary work, Calvin being already known to the world as the author
of "Institutio Christianæ Religionis," a work that fell on men like a
revelation. John Calvin, or Cauvin, was born at Noyon, in Picardy, in
1509, and was a northern Frenchman of superior intelligence and
learning, but of a gloomy, austere disposition, with a large admixture
of fatalism in his views. Destined for the Church, he studied in Paris
at the early age of thirteen, but by his father's wish he changed his
intention, and applied himself to the study of law, at Orleans and
Bourges. To these latter studies he owed that wonderful facility in
systematic reasoning which is so noticeable in his writings. But the
death of his parent in 1531 brought Calvin once more to Paris, where he
speedily found himself drawn into the new religious movement which was
winning its way in France. Profound theological researches and severe
inward struggles caused his conversion to the reformed faith, in the
following year. In 1535 we find him at Basel, whither he had retired to
escape further persecution on account of his extreme views. Here he
published his "Christianæ Religionis Institutio," which is his most
celebrated work, and which has shed undying lustre on his name.
Fascinating by its profound learning, its unflinching logic, and its
wonderful fervour, the book became at once a general favourite, and was
translated into all the civilized tongues. It is not necessary to do
more than place before the reader one or two essential features of this
great work. It is of mathematical exactness, and is the very base and
foundation of his remarkable religious system, while it likewise maps
out his scheme of reformation. This scheme was based on the doctrine of
predestination, a doctrine Calvin had embraced with eagerness.
Predestination was indeed with him a religious axiom, a self-evident
truth which neither needed proof nor admitted of dispute, and he made it
the corner-stone of his new religious system. His theory was that, of
men all equally guilty _a priori_, some had from the beginning of the
world been destined by God for eternal happiness, others for eternal
perdition. Who were the elect and who the rejected was left an open
question. However incompatible with humane feeling, however
irreconcilable with the doctrine of the redemption, this belief might
be thought by many, it yet sufficed for the eager minds of the sixteenth
century, earnestly seeking as they were some practicable and, as it
were, palpable, faith. Whatever the objections to the doctrine, it was
on this that the Calvinistic Church was built, and by its spirit that
that Church was swayed.
It was in 1536 that Calvin settled in Geneva. With Farel he undertook
the reorganization of the Church on the lines marked out in his
"Institutes," entirely sweeping away previous reforms. A "confession of
faith" was drawn up and subscribed to by the people, and a new Church
constitution was adopted which involved the establishment of a Church
censorship, or rather a Church police. The rigorous discipline enforced,
however, clashed with the Genevans' notions of present freedom, and the
civil magistrates stoutly contested the right of the pulpit to find
fault with the secular government, or interfere in the public
administration. For the Genevese were a gay and pleasure-loving people,
and they were moreover boisterous, undisciplined, and fond of
disputation. A bold stand was made against the "Popery on Leman Lake,"
by the national party. The spirit of opposition was quickened by the
disappointment of Bern at the overthrow of her reformation movement and
ritual,[55] and the immigration of French refugees who strengthened
Calvin's party. Bickerings, disorderly scenes, riots, both inside and
outside the churches, followed, and the direct disobedience of Calvin
and Farel to a civil decree of suspension prompted the government to
pass sentence of banishment against them in 1538. Amidst the revilings
and hootings of the mob they quitted Geneva, Farel going to Neuchâtel,
where he remained till his death in 1565, and Calvin to Strasburg.
In this more tolerant German city he came into daily contact with the
workings of the Lutheran and Zwinglian professions. He attempted to
mediate between them with the view of reconciling their opposing views
on the Eucharist, but failed. He admired Melanchthon, but considered
that his temporizing measures resulted in laxity of discipline. He was
grieved, too, by the little regard shown to the clergy, and by their
dependence on the courts, and the contemplation of all this served to
confirm him in his own views. He never lost sight of the aim of his
life--to make the Genevan Church, which he loved as his own soul, the
rallying point for his persecuted countrymen. His plans were greatly
favoured by several circumstances: the quarrels convulsing Geneva during
his exile, and the incapacity of the new ministry there; above all, the
well-founded dread of Bern's supremacy. This fear brought into existence
the party nicknamed the Guillermins, from Guillaume Farel, which
literally drove the Genevans into the fold of Calvinism. Yet Calvin at
first hesitated to return. "Why should I replunge into that yawning
gulf," he writes to Farel, "seeing that I dislike the temper of the
Genevese, and that they cannot get used to me?" But believing himself
called by God, he yielded, and, amidst acclamations and rejoicings, he
was welcomed back to the city in 1541.
Speaking roughly Calvin began his reforms where Luther and Zwingli had
stopped; they had broken the ice for him, and shown him the way. He
demanded implicit and unquestioning obedience to the Divine Word, for
human reason, he said, was "as smoke in the sight of God." His aim was
to found a kingdom of God in the spirit of the ancient prophets, and
ruled by equally rigorous laws. Excluding the people from direct control
in church matters, he lodged the chief authority in the clergy, a class
which was also to have the preponderance in the state. By skilful
organization he established a theocracy with strong aristocratic
leanings, the democratic element being almost entirely excluded. Geneva
became indeed "the city of the spirit of stoicism, built on the rock of
predestination." But the most curious institution of the Calvinistic
Church was the _Consistoire_, a body of twelve chosen from the oldest
councillors and the city clergy, Calvin himself being usually at the
head. This tribunal was 01 authority in spiritual and moral, and in
public and private, matters alike. Calvin's intention was to change the
sinful city into a sanctified city--a "city of God." The members of the
Consistoire had power to enter private houses, and to regulate even the
smallest concerns of life, and they admonished or punished offenders as
they thought fit. Even the most trivial matters came within its ken; it
prescribed the fashions, even down to the colour of a dress, and fixed
the _menus_ of the table, not less than it enforced attendance at
religious worship. The table was by no means profusely supplied either,
only one dish of meat and one of vegetables being allowed, and no
pastry, and only native wine. We find girls cited before the Consistoire
for skating, a man for sniffing in church, two others for talking
business when leaving church. Every now and then Bonivard was brought up
for card playing, and other disorderly deeds. A hairdresser adorning a
lady's hair, together with the friends present, was sent to gaol. To the
Genevans theatre-going was the chief occupation in life, but
nevertheless theatrical performances were suspended, and remained so
till shortly before the advent of Voltaire, who, indeed, gloried in
leading back the strait-laced Genevans to worldliness and pleasure. But
not only was the theatre forbidden, but likewise dancing, games, and
music, except psalm-singing. No wonder the Muses left Geneva! Objects of
art, and even those of home comfort, were objected to by iconoclasts
like Calvin. The once gay Geneva sank into a dull, narrow-minded city of
the true Puritan type. Indeed, as is well known, she furnished the
pattern for later Puritanism. The Consistoire reserved to itself the
right of excommunication, that is, of exclusion from the Communion,
though secular or physical punishments were left to the Council.
The criminal history of the Genevan Republic reflects the temper of the
time, and the spirit of the ecclesiastical leaders. Vice was mercilessly
punished, and drunkenness, blasphemy, and unbelief were put in the same
category with murder. One reads with dismay of the state of terrorism
prevailing during the plague raging about the middle of the century.
Superstition was rife and increasing, and every kind of torture was used
to extort confessions from accused persons. Whilst the plague was at its
worst the sword, the gallows, the stake were equally busy. The jailor
asserted that his prisons were filled to excess, and the executioner
complained that his arms were tired. Within a period of three years
there were passed fifty-eight sentences of death, seventy-six of
banishment, and eight to nine thousand of imprisonment, on those whose
crime was infringement of the Church statutes. Offences against himself
personally Calvin treated as blasphemy, as he identified himself with
the prophets of old. Strange as this assertion is, it can be supported.
A single instance will suffice. One Pierre Amieaux, a councillor, had
once in company spoken of Calvin as a bad man. This the reformer
declared to be blasphemy, and refused to preach again till satisfaction
was done to him.[56]
In such manner was Geneva forced into obedience. However, there was one
powerful check on Calvin's progress, viz., the efforts of the national
party, the "Children of Geneva," as they called themselves, or the
"Libertines," as their opponents nicknamed them.[57] An excellent way of
neutralizing the influence of these, Calvin tells his friend Bullinger,
at Zurich, was to expel the natives and admit French _emigrés_ to the
Genevan citizenship. "The dogs are barking at me on all sides," he
complains to the same friend, and now and then he made a clean sweep of
his adversaries. The Genevans naturally looked with disfavour on
Calvin's policy, objecting to the French refugees not so much from ill
will as from a natural dislike to leaving a city to which they were so
devotedly attached, and seeing the positions of honour and influence
taken up by the strangers. At last, exasperated beyond measure by the
admission of a fresh batch of refugees, the Libertines attempted a _coup
de main_ on the Calvin government, May, 1555. The attempt miscarried,
and the ringleaders were put to death or imprisoned, and most of the
rank and file expelled from the city. To fill the great gaps thus
caused, three hundred and fifty-nine French families were admitted
gradually to the citizenship, and in this way within a few years the
population increased from thirteen thousand to twenty thousand. Such
high-handed proceedings--wholesale proscriptions one might call
them--caused the wheels to run smoothly enough, and Calvin was now
completely master of the situation. The imprisonment and burning of
Servetus for denying the doctrine of the Trinity once more ruffled the
smooth surface of affairs, yet helped if possible to increase Calvin's
prestige and influence. Every one knows of the endless discussions that
have since taken place as to Calvin's part in putting to death the
learned and unfortunate Spaniard. But Calvin's own defence would seem
to show that it was he who was chiefly the leader in the matter.[58]
His pre-eminence now fully established and acknowledged, Calvin founded
the Academy, in 1559, in order to provide ministers for the reformed
churches generally. Learned French _emigrés_ were appointed to the
professorships, and Theodore de Bèze (Beza) was made rector, and the
institution became the glory of the city. From all parts sympathizers
flocked to Geneva--Italians, English,[59] Spanish, Germans, mostly
French and Italians, however--and churches to suit the different
nationalities sprang up. On Leman Lake they found another Rome, and
another inspired and infallible Pope, albeit a Protestant Pope. At the
first view of the sacred city they sank on their knees and sang songs of
joy and praise, as if they had sighted a new Jerusalem. Wittenberg had
witnessed similar scenes. No fewer than thirteen hundred French and
three hundred Italian families had made Geneva their second home, and
men of the greatest mark had settled there temporarily or for good.
Missionaries went to France to rally and strengthen the Huguenots, and
some two thousand communes were converted to the new faith. Religious
champions, like the intrepid John Knox, Peter Martyr, Marnix (de St.
Aldegonde), went to Scotland, England, or the Netherlands, to advance
the cause of Calvinism. To Geneva as their mother church may look
Puritans and Presbyterians.
Calvinism but little affected Switzerland at large during the lifetime
of its founder. Its absolutism and narrowness clashed with the milder
and more advanced, and, if one may say so, more ideal views of the
Zwinglian system. It was due to the conciliatory spirit of Bullinger and
to his noble efforts that the Churches of Zurich and Geneva--while other
countries were distracted with religious differences--drew together as
friends, and that their doctrines were blended in official "confessions"
of faith. Viret's attempts to plant Calvinism in Vaud failed, as did
those of Farel in Neuchâtel.
And if Geneva did not regard her great master with affection, she bowed
before him in profound veneration. Without him the ancient, frivolous,
and quarrelsome city could hardly have kept at bay her many foes. But
trained in the school of Calvinism she gathered moral strength, and
became the "abode of an intellectual light that has shone for three
centuries, and that, though growing pale, is not yet extinguished."
[Illustration: THALER OF 1564.
(_Laus et gloria soli Deo optimo maximo._)]
[Illustration: THALER OF 1564.
(_Moneta nova Civitatis San Gallensis, 1564._)]
Calvin was a prodigious worker, a profound theologian, an accomplished
linguist, a statesman and organizer of consummate skill, and a most
excellent correspondent. Twenty-four printing-presses were kept at work
day and night multiplying his writings in different languages. No fewer
than 2,025 sermons of his have been collected, and 4,721 letters. For
the French language Calvin did much what Luther did for the German. His
frame, at all times weak, became still more enfeebled by continued
illness, and it seemed impossible that he should be physically fit to
labour as he did, but his religious enthusiasm was able to triumph over
bodily ailments. Bright, sparkling eyes lit up his pale and emaciated
features. Averse to earthly pleasures, careless of popular applause, of
strong and unbending will--though not devoid of deep feeling--he
commanded men's awe rather than their affection. His near personal
friends were devotedly attached to him, and on the death of his wife,
who sank when bereaved of her children, his tenderness breaks forth in
letters to his friends. "If I did not make a strong effort to moderate
my grief," he writes to Viret, "I should succumb." He died in May, 1564,
and even in his last moments had words of censure for those who had come
to take leave of him. His death is registered in these curious terms:
"Aujourd'hui spectable Jean Calvin s'en est allé à Dieu, sain et entier,
grâce à Dieu, de sens et entendement." Beza was elected his successor;
and, less severe and more conciliating than his friend and predecessor,
he exerted great influence, both at Geneva and in the reformed countries
generally. Beza's death occurred in 1603.
FOOTNOTES:
[55] The Bern, that is, the Zwinglian, ritual preserved several things
which the French reformers rejected, amongst others, the four high fête
days, the baptismal font, and the use of unleavened bread in the
Communion.
[56] Amieaux was led in his shirt through the city, with a lighted torch
in his hand, and was required to confess his fault in three different
public squares.
[57] These "Lovers of Freedom" were stigmatized by the opposite party as
"men of loose morals," but of such there were not a few amongst the
Calvinists themselves.
[58] The Swiss churches under the ægis of Bullinger acquiesced, not so
much from a spirit of intolerance, as from a fear that the influence of
Servetus might undermine French Protestantism. Rome envied Calvin the
honour of having condemned Servetus to the flames.
[59] Amongst the English we find the names of Spencer, Coxe, Chambers,
Bishop Hooper, and the Bishops of Exeter, Norwich, Durham, and
Salisbury.
XXV.
THE CATHOLIC REACTION.
The benefits conferred by the Reformation on Switzerland were
counterbalanced by a religious schism which divided the land into two
antagonistic moieties, and paralyzed political progress. The religious
enthusiasm in Europe had spent itself in the first half of the sixteenth
century, and the energy it had displayed had roused amongst the
Catholics a corresponding activity. They were led by the famous Philip
II. of Spain, but fortunately Queen Elizabeth of England was able to
withstand the attack directed against her country. But the new order of
Jesuits, lately launched on the world to undo the work of the religious
reformers, took the field with united ranks; whilst, on the other hand,
the Protestants, split as they were into sections, and stumbling over
questions of dogma, lacked the unity of aim and purpose necessary to
stand successfully an attack so formidable. The wars of Schmalkalden
(1547-49) were as injurious to Protestant Germany as the catastrophe of
Kappel had been to Reformed Switzerland. The tide of Reformation rolled
back in Germany, and the men of Zurich beheld with grief and indignation
the fall of their strong ally in the work of religious reform,
Constance, after its desperate stand against the Emperor, Charles V.
Zurich was prevented by internal dissension and Catholic intolerance
from assisting Constance, and, moreover, was compelled to release
Mulhausen and Strasburg from their evangelical union with her. Thus
Geneva, which the Papists threatened to level with the ground, was
forced into an isolated position, and was near becoming the prey of
invading Savoy. Considering the internal condition of the Confederation,
we may well ask what it was that saved the little republic from complete
destruction in the terrible storm of the reaction which swept over
Europe, if it was not the very strength of the Federal union, and the
common possession of the different Swiss bailiwicks, which bound the
parts so strongly together, and which triumphed over both party feelings
and private interests. Thanks to the moderation of the Protestants, war
was avoided, and the country settled into a state of comparative repose.
Through Zwingli's efforts Switzerland extended the _droit d'asile_ to
all, and she henceforward followed out her mission as a neutral power.
It is the protection so freely given to refugees by Geneva, Zurich, and
other Swiss cities that brightens the history of this gloomy reaction
period.
Henry II., anxious to win over Switzerland to the Catholic cause,
requested the Swiss to stand as sponsors to his daughter, Claudia, and
received their embassy with marked distinction. Bern and Zurich,
however, were not coaxed into an alliance with France by these
blandishments. France wished for the preservation of peace from
self-interest. But she extolled greatly the prowess of the Swiss, and
called them the very "marrow" of her army. The Swiss excelled in single
feats of arms, and amongst the Catholic captains stands out
conspicuously the valiant Ludwig von Pfyffer, of Lucerne, who played a
part, as regards political influence, not unlike that of Waldmann, and
was nicknamed the "Swiss King." The wealth he had hoarded up during his
French service he freely spent in the Catholic cause.
Pre-eminent amongst those who worked for the Catholic revival was the
famous Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, and nephew of Pius IV. He
lived the life of a saint, and in due time was canonized. To his see
belonged the Swiss bailliages in the Ticino and Valtellina.
Indefatigable in his labours, constantly visiting every part of his
diocese, toiling up to the Alpine huts, he gathered the scattered flocks
into the Papal fold, whether by mildness or by force. Shocked at the
state of religious matters in the Forest Cantons, he founded a seminary
for priests, to which Pfyffer at once gave a very large sum of money.
For the spread of Catholic doctrines he hit upon three different means.
He called into being the Collegium Helveticum in 1579 at Milan,[60]
where the Swiss priests were educated free. He sent the Jesuits into the
country, and placed a nuncio at Lucerne, in 1580. In 1586 was signed,
between the seven Catholic cantons, the Borromean or Golden League,
directed against the reformers, and in the following year a coalition
was, by the same cantons, excepting Solothurn, entered into with Philip
of Spain and with Savoy. The Jesuits settled themselves in Lucerne and
Freiburg, and soon gained influence amongst the rich and the educated,
whilst the Capuchins, who fixed themselves at Altorf, Stanz, Appenzell,
and elsewhere, won the hearts of the masses by their lowliness and
devotion. In this way did Rome seek to regain her influence over the
Swiss peoples, and the effect of her policy was soon felt in the
semi-Protestant and subject lands. To the impression made by the efforts
of the Capuchins the great dissension in Appenzell bears witness, the
canton actually breaking up into two hostile divisions. The Catholics
removed to Inner, and the Reformers to Outer Rhoden, and each managed
its own affairs independently of the other; the latter, however, soon
began to prosper more than the former. In the Valais, the Protestant
party, though strong, was quite swept out by the Jesuits, before 1630,
and fled to Vaud and Bern. The history of lacerated Graubünden will
occupy the next chapter.
It is painful to read of an act of violence committed by the Papists in
the expulsion of the Evangelians from Locarno, in the winter of 1555,
where a little band of two hundred adherents of the Zwinglian Church had
formed round Beccaria. Zurich supported them, notwithstanding the
opposition of France, and even of some of the Protestant cantons, and
Bullinger was their comfort and strength in all transactions. However,
Beccaria was compelled to flee to Misox valley, whence he ministered by
stealth to his flock. In January, 1555, stronger measures were taken,
and men and women were driven over the snowy heights to Misox, a sorry
substitute for the luxurious homes some of them had left in Locarno. But
they were soon moved on by the Papal legate, and in May some 120 of the
band arrived at Zurich, where Bullinger had arranged for them a
hospitable welcome. These new-comers revived the old trade with
Lombardy, and reintroduced the silk manufacture, which, being a
monopoly, became a source of great wealth to Zurich. Thus the town was
rewarded for its hospitality. Some of the aristocratic Zurich families
of to-day trace their origin to these Locarno refugees.
The city of Zurich was indeed at this time a general asylum for
religious refugees from all quarters. Germans, Italians, and English
fled there, and especially the Marian exiles from England. We find Peter
Martyr from Oxford established as a professor at the Carolinum; and
Occhino as minister to the Italian congregation in Zurich; Socinus and
other famous Italians.[61] Martyr and Socinus both died at Zurich, and
lie buried in its minster. For several years Peter Martyr and Bullinger
had lived on terms of the closest friendship with each other, and their
letters show how close was the tie between them. Their respective
religious views naturally tended to greater mutual resemblance.
Bullinger, like Calvin, kept up an immense correspondence with the
reformed churches, and was in frequent communication with monarchs,
princes, powerful nobles, and learned doctors. The readers of the
present story will naturally feel most interest in the relation between
the Swiss and the English Churches, and it will perhaps be better to
leave on one side the tangled skein of religious dissensions which
agitated Europe, and show from authentic sources[62]--letters
chiefly--how the Swiss Churches and Swiss divines influenced the
Reformed Church of England.
Though the English Reformation under Henry VIII. was greatly influenced
by Luther, under Edward VI. the Church veered round more to the Swiss
views, Cranmer especially leaning strongly towards Zwinglianism. Since
1536 the prelate had been on most friendly terms with Bullinger, and in
this same year some young Englishmen, Butler, Udrof, and Partridge, by
Cranmer's desire, settled in Zurich, to study its religious aspect and
enjoy intercourse with the distinguished Bullinger. In the following
year Eliot and others arrived with similar intent, and a great
attachment sprang up between the young men and their spiritual guide.
At the request of the students, Bullinger addressed to Henry two
treatises on the "Authority of the Scriptures," and on the "Dignity and
Office of Bishops," respectively, and was afterwards told that the
treatises greatly interested both the king and the archbishop. "It is
incredible what fame you acquire in England by your writings," says
Eliot in his letter to Bullinger in 1539; "the booksellers are growing
rich through you." Under Edward VI., Bullinger's relations with Cranmer
and Hooper, with Warwick and Dorset, and with Coxe and Cheke, grew
closer and closer, and the Church of Zurich regained its ascendency. At
Bullinger's house Hooper passed his second exile, and he says he was
received with delight, "being a true Christian," and he states that his
faith was greatly quickened by the writings of the famous Zurich divine.
The friendship between the two men was most intimate. At Hooper's
desire, Bullinger dedicated a series of his sermons on the "Christian
Faith" to Edward, who was greatly delighted with them, and had them
translated into English. During his imprisonment Hooper composed a
remarkable treatise addressed to Parliament in defence of the Zwinglian
teaching with regard to the Lord's Supper, and Traheron states (1548)
that England at large was inclined towards the Zwinglian view. In 1550
King Edward sent an envoy to ask the state of Zurich to unite with
England with regard to a Church Council, and, curiously enough, with
regard to reconciling that country with France.[63]
A charming episode in the life of Bullinger was the springing up of the
friendship with Lady Jane Grey, then a young and studious girl of
fourteen. Three letters written by her hand, and still treasured up at
Zurich, bear witness to this friendship. Of the treatise on "Christian
Marriage" dedicated to her, she translated a portion into Greek, and
presented it as a Christmas present to her father. Bullinger's sermons
and letters were a delight to her, and were to her "as most precious
flowers from a garden." She asked his advice as to the best method of
learning Hebrew, and regarded him as particularly favoured by the grace
of God. He it was whose teaching quickened her love for Christ, and gave
her and her family such support in their great trials later on. Even at
her last hour her thoughts were of him, for at the block she took off
her gloves and desired that they should be sent on to her Swiss
friends.[64]
It was on the Continent, among the Reformed Churches, that Hooper and
others gained their taste for a simple form of religious worship. When
Hooper was made Bishop of Gloucester, in 1550, he refused both the oath
and the episcopal vestments, and was sent to prison for his refusal. His
opposition, indeed, sowed the germs of that religious development which
so strongly agitated the Church under Elizabeth, and which, breaking
into open schism, resulted in the rise of Puritanism, and, later on, of
the dissenting movements generally. And, as is well known, the Puritans
fled to New England rather than give up their religious liberty. Hooper
was exempted from taking the oath, but had to give way in the matter of
the vestments. During his episcopacy Bullinger was ever his faithful and
wise counsellor, and when the martyr's death overtook him, he
recommended his persecuted country to his Swiss friends. "Of all men
attached to thee," he assures Bullinger in 1554, "none has been more
devoted than myself, nor have I ever had a more sincere friend than
thee."
Many other Marian exiles settled in Zurich, to whom, however, only a
passing word can be devoted. Bullinger alone accommodated often as many
as twenty guests at a time, and both ministers and magistrates--Gualter,
Lavater, and others--received the English exiles "with a tenderness and
affection that engaged them to the end of their lives to make the
greatest possible acknowledgment for it," to quote the words of one
Englishman. The correspondence between the Swiss hosts and their English
guests proves how close were the friendships formed between them.
Amongst these correspondents we find the English archbishops, Grindal
and Sandys, Bishop Pilkington, the Earl of Bedford, and other notable
men. Other proofs without number might be given of the close connection
between Switzerland and England in religious matters in the sixteenth
century, but what has been said must suffice.
Enough has been said to show how the influence of the Reformed Swiss
Churches was brought to bear on English Protestantism; on the Anglican
Church in respect of doctrine; and on the dissenting Church, that is,
Puritanism, in respect of both doctrine and form of worship. The
Reformed Church is the result of an amalgamation between the two mother
Churches of Geneva and Zurich, the union being brought about by the
desire of the leaders Calvin, Farel, Beza, Bullinger, who, anxious for
peace and concord, made mutual concessions.[65] Thus in Switzerland the
narrowness of Calvinism has been tempered by an admixture of the broader
and more enlightened teachings of Zwinglius, or rather the basis of the
teaching is Zwingli's, and Calvin has confirmed, intensified, and
completed it. Over France, England, Scotland, Holland, and North America
the reformed faith spread its roots "to grow up to trees of the same
family, but of different shape and size according to the soil from which
they started up." That Switzerland, with the exception of Geneva,
inclined strongly to Zwinglianism we have already shown. To deal
adequately with the question of the religious influence of Switzerland
on other European countries would be impossible within the limits of
this work. But that its influence was very great needs no saying. And
not in Europe alone, for the Puritan spirit was carried beyond the
ocean, and the reformers of Switzerland had their disciples in far-away
New England. Even modern Unitarianism is, in a sense, the direct
descendant of the reformation of Zurich, and its apostles--Williams,
Channing, Parker--are so far the successors of Zwingli and Bullinger.
The revival of learning witnessed by the sixteenth century had its full
effect in Switzerland. The thirst for knowledge was so great that men
would undergo almost any privations in their pursuit of it. Thomas
Platter--to cite but one instance out of many--rose from the humble
position of goatherd to be a prominent master of Hebrew and the classics
at Basel. In early life he laboured at rope-making, or turned
serving-man, or even begged in the streets. His son Felix was a notable
physician. The great reformers have already been spoken of. Besides the
above,[66] we may just mention among the Catholics, Glarean, the
foremost classical scholar of his country, crowned poet-laureate by the
Emperor Max. I.; and Tschudi, of Glarus, the brilliant narrator, author
of the national epic, Tell, and for centuries the first authority on
Swiss history; Paracelsus of Einsiedeln: of Protestants, Manuel (Bern),
the satirical poet, and painter of the _Todten Tänze à la Holbein_; and,
above all, Gessner, of Zurich, scholar, philosopher, naturalist, the
"Pliny of Germany."
_Kleinkunst_, lesser or practical art, also made brilliant progress in
Switzerland. Painting on glass, wood-carving, manufacture of
painted-tile stoves developed into industries almost peculiar to the
country in their excellence. This is shown by an inspection of the
magnificent specimens of these arts with which the country
abounds--splendid painted windows, beautiful wainscots, exquisite
relievi, beautiful tiled stoves, and so forth.
A few words respecting affairs in Geneva must close our account of the
sixteenth century. The Dukes of Savoy, unwilling to renounce their
claims, continued to harass the city. Henry IV., of France, came forward
as a protector, and Elizabeth, of England, addressed to the Swiss
cantons and reformed cities letters remarkable for the noble sentiments
and clear judgment displayed in them.[67] She urged them not to throw
away the key of Switzerland. However, on the night of the 21st of
December, 1602, Duke Charles Emmanuel ventured on a treacherous _coup de
main_ on the city known as the famous "Escalade." Eight thousand men had
been drawn up before her gates, and some three hundred had already
scaled her walls, when the sudden firing by a watchful guard roused the
citizens to a sense of their danger. A fierce conflict took place in the
streets, and the intruders were fortunately overpowered. This event
caused the greatest indignation throughout Europe, but it sealed the
independence of the Republic. The anniversary of the victory is still
regarded by the Genevans.
FOOTNOTES:
[60] This still exists in connection with the episcopal seminary.
[61] Faustus Socinus, the nephew of this Laelius Socinus, formed into a
regular system the ideas of his uncle, and really prepared the way for
modern Unitarianism.
[62] The Zurich archives are remarkably rich in materials relating to
the Reformation period. The Simmler collection contains copies of
eighteen thousand authentic letters. The "Epistolæ Tigurinæ," published
by the Parker Society, London, in 1842, contain copies of original
letters from the Marian exiles to Zurich divines. At Zurich are
preserved original letters from Erasmus, Henry the Fourth of France,
Lady Jane Grey, &c.
[63] Pestalozzi's "Life of Bullinger," Zurich.
[64] Pestalozzi's "Life of Bullinger."
[65] In England the general name Calvinistic is applied to certain
doctrines of the Reformed Churches, but not altogether appropriately,
seeing that Calvin was only one of the teachers of these doctrines.
[66] Glarean and Tschudi were Catholics, Manuel a Protestant.
[67] Copies are preserved among the Zurich letters.
XXVI.
THE ARISTOCRATIC PERIOD.
(1600-1712.)
In the life of nations no less than of individuals there are
vicissitudes, alternations of prosperity and adversity. If the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries witnessed the glorious rise of the
Swiss people, the seventeenth and eighteenth saw the political decline
of the Republic. Even the Reformation itself led the way to this decline
by lodging all power--political, fiscal, moral, and educational--in the
Protestant cantons in the hands of the governments. Patriotism was on
the wane, and the old mania for foreign service as a means of securing
foreign gold was again breaking out. Even Zurich, which for well-nigh a
century had steadfastly borne in mind the patriotic maxims of Zwingli,
now yielded to the persuasions of France. Indeed the Swiss Commonwealth
was rapidly becoming a mere vassalate of that country, under the
despotic Louis XIV. Swiss rule was taking that tinge of absolutism which
was colouring the governments of almost all European states. Louis, the
personification of absolute rule, had stamped the century with his
_cachet_, and aristocracies and oligarchies were taking the place of the
old democratic governments. This seems incompatible with the old Swiss
republican tenets. Yet, drawn within the influence of the monarchical
states, how could Switzerland escape the effects of that influence any
more than Venice or Genoa?
The political and religious passions and animosities of the previous
century now found vent in the terrible Thirty Years' War, which from
1618 to 1648 convulsed Europe. Thanks to its good fortune and
far-sightedness, Switzerland was not drawn into the conflict, save as to
its south-eastern corner, close as it was to the theatre of the great
struggle. Most anxiously was the neutrality of the country maintained,
yet its territory was not unfrequently violated. To give one instance,
General Horn led his Swedes into Swiss territory to besiege Constance.
Germany and Sweden--Gustavus Adolphus especially[68]--did all they could
to draw Switzerland to their side, but the Swiss had the good sense to
resist all blandishments, and bear patiently with vexatious intrusions.
The terrible scenes that were taking place across the Rhine were enough
to quell all intestine disputes in Switzerland itself, and the
comparative peace and prosperity found within its borders was the envy
of the neighbouring lands. A German traveller chronicles his surprise at
finding in Switzerland neither rapine nor murder, but security and
content. However rough and rugged its surface, the little republic
seemed to him an earthly Paradise.
[Illustration: HIGH ALTAR, CHUR CATHEDRAL.
(_From a Photograph._)]
Different, however, was the experience of Graubünden, then a separate
free state, and a connection only of the Confederation. In truth, the
history of that old Rhætian land at that time forms a striking pendant
as it were to the great drama of the European struggle. The Latin-German
inhabitants, combining northern prudence with southern passion, had
since the middle of the sixteenth century been steeped in internal
dissension, owing to the religious divisions caused by the Reformation.
The Protestant party under Von Salis, and the Catholics headed by Von
Planta, were at deadly enmity with each other, and sided with France and
Venice, and with Austria and Spain respectively. John von Planta, head
of his clan, and solicitor-general of the Papal see, was suspected of
intending to reintroduce Popery into the Grisons. The mountaineers
accordingly descended from their Alps in crowds, and flocked to Chur.
There they brought to trial Planta and sentenced him to death, and his
fall struck the keynote to the tragedy that followed. With the opening
of the seventeenth century the conflict grew fiercer, national interests
and foreign policy being now inextricably mixed. Mistress of the
beautiful Italian Signory Valtellina, Bormio, Chiavenna, and the Alpine
passes commanding the entrance into the Tyrol and Italy, Graubünden
became the apple of contention between the southern states of Europe.
Austria and Spain possessing Milan were not without hopes of joining
hands across Graubünden, and France was sanguine of her success in
preventing it. This latter state with Venice had effected an alliance
with Protestant Bünden, and that party strongly opposed the Spanish
union for which the energetic but headstrong Rudolf von Planta was
working. Fuentes, a Spaniard, Governor of Milan, furious at the
resistance offered, erected a chain of strong forts on Lake Como, with
the view of cutting off the Valtellines. Before long, George Jenatsch
from the Engadine, Tschusch, and other high-minded and patriotic
Protestants, began to decry the Spanish scheme, and tumults arose. An
attack on Planta's manor, Zernez (1618), having failed through the
escape of Rudolf, Zambra, Landammann in Bregaglia, and Rusca, a priest
in the Valtellina, both greyheaded old men, were seized. They were
sentenced to death by a new court which had been set up at Thusis, a
court which raged against popery and spread terrorism for some months.
In the Engadine a strange thing happened. The respective chiefs of the
hostile clans were the two brothers Von Travers, and a hand-to-hand
fight between the opposing parties having begun, suddenly the wives,
daughters, and sisters of the combatants rushed amongst them like the
Sabine women of old, and checked them. Foremost amongst these noble
women was the spirited Anna Juvalta. The Plantas were now in exile, and
were conspiring with Austria. Their cousin Robustello (Valtellina) at a
given signal broke into the houses of the Protestants, and, with the
help of hired assassins, put the inmates to the sword. This was on the
19th of July, 1620, and throughout the whole valley no quarter was
given. Zurich and Bern on hearing of this shocking massacre--the "St.
Bartholomew of the Valtellina"--sent troops, but they were defeated at
Tirano by the Spanish forces and adherents. The Plantas returned from
exile and asked the Forest Cantons to give their countenance to their
party, and these were not unwilling; but the plot itself was opposed by
the Protestant Grisons with scorn and fury. Jenatsch penetrated to the
castle of the Plantas at Rietberg, and Pompejus fell by his hands
(1621). The Catholics were defeated at Valendas, and the country was
cleared of the troops of the Forest Cantons and of Spaniards. However,
Jenatsch failed to take Valtellina.
The Austrians still claimed supremacy over part of the
_Zehngerichte_,[69] and we find them, from 1620 to 1629, twice invading
and occupying Graubünden. The most dreadful cruelties marked the passage
of their general, Baldiron, and Catholicism was reintroduced by force.
In 1629, the Emperor Ferdinand had reached the height of his success and
greatness, and Bünden with all its dependencies lay prostrate at his
feet. France came to the rescue. Richelieu pursued the policy of Henry
IV. to re-establish the balance of power by breaking down the prestige
of the Habsburgs. With the view of gaining supremacy for France, he had
drawn Sweden into the Thirty Years' War; and on the death of Gustavus
Adolphus, when the zeal was somewhat flagging, he revived it by sending
French troops into Alsace, South Germany, and the Grisons. The command
of the Franco-Grison army was entrusted to Duke Henry de Rohan, godson
of Henry IV. of France (and godfather to Charles I. of England), one of
the noblest characters of his age. De Rohan was also appointed
ambassador to the Eidgenossen states in 1631. He had been leader of the
Huguenots, and had supported the Edict of Nantes in opposition to Louis
XIII. Becoming obnoxious to the king in consequence, he withdrew to
Venice. There he wrote a treatise on the strategical importance of the
Grisons, as if he foresaw his future mission.[70] During his residence
in Switzerland he watched zealously over its interests, smoothing over
difficulties in the Diet to avoid war. Richelieu sent him neither money
nor help, but left him to extricate himself as best he could from his
position in that isolated mountain fastness; yet Rohan was the idol of
his soldiers and of the people of the Grisons, and was always spoken of
by them as the "good duke." In 1635, when France was doing its utmost to
oust Austria, open war broke out, and Rohan gained four brilliant
victories in succession--Jenatsch serving as local guide and combatant
in advance, his superior tactics proving too much for the Austro-Spanish
forces. Yet the "good duke" was soon to fall a victim to the perfidious
policy of Richelieu, and the treachery of Jenatsch. This latter was a
strange mixture of the noble and the vile--fierce, and ambitious, a
seeker of gain, yet a man of honour, full of a wild patriotism and
thirst for freedom. Eager to free his country from the grasp of the
stranger, he and the hot-tempered Bündner, at whose head he was,
suddenly found that they were but exchanging masters. Sticking at
nothing to gain his ends Jenatsch entered into a secret understanding
with Austria and Spain, and even turned Catholic to win more favour with
them. Then, forgetting the many kindnesses he had received from his
friend Rohan, he betrayed him to his enemies. It should be observed,
parenthetically, that the question in dispute was that of the
Valtellina, and Rohan had had no instructions from Richelieu to return
that territory. Suddenly the French general found himself surrounded by
hostile troops from the Grisons, and was compelled to capitulate (1637).
Unable to bear the sight of France again, he fought for her under the
banner of Bernhard von Weimar, and fell at Rheinfelden, in Aargovy,
seeking rather than fearing death. Jenatsch, however, did not long enjoy
the fruits of his guilty action. Two years later he was stabbed at an
officers' banquet, during the carnival, by some masked figure. Rudolf
Planta, son of Pompejus, was said by some to have done the deed, whilst
another story has it that the avenger was Rudolf's sister, Lucretia, who
was burning for vengeance on the slayer of her father.[71] One of the
first German novelists of our time, Ferdinand Meyer, of Zurich, has
worked these thrilling episodes into his fine story, "Jenatsch." The
hero was buried with pomp at Chur, but his murderer remained
unpunished. Thus Graubünden, after a struggle of nearly a hundred years,
recovered both its independence and its lost territory.
That memorable event of the seventeenth century, the signing of the
Peace of Westphalia, which concluded the Thirty Years' War, whilst, on
the one hand, it sanctioned the dismemberment of the German Empire, yet
ratified the independence and autonomy of the Swiss republics. This
result was chiefly due to the noble efforts of two men--Wettstein,
Burgomaster of Basel, who most effectively championed Swiss interests at
the Congress; and Henry d'Orleans Longueville, count and reigning prince
of Neuchâtel, the French representative at the same conference, who
supported the Swiss claims.
The religious strife of Villmergen in 1656, which ended in the defeat of
the Protestants, cannot be gone into here. Suffice it to note that this
defeat was fully repaired by the second war of that name in 1712. A more
important matter was the Peasants' Revolt, in 1653. It promised to grow
to alarming dimensions, but was put down by the Government. This rising,
however, is noteworthy, as marking the vast chasm which had formed
between the labouring and the governing classes. The peasantry were now
in a state of complete subjection, and patiently awaited the dawn of a
brighter day, which nevertheless came only with the French Revolution.
What they claimed was the restoration of their old liberties, relief
from the excessive taxation, and the general improvement of their
material interests. But many of the governing classes, councillors,
_landvögte_, and others, had served abroad at foreign courts, and had
drunk in the spirit of absolutism, and were as much imbued as any James
I. or Louis XIV. with notions as to the "divine right" of the privileged
classes to govern. They claimed seats on the administration as a right.
From their superior positions they looked down on the labouring classes,
and had little or no sympathy with them. Except in name the Swiss
cantons were as absolutely governed by aristocracies as France was by
Louis XIV. Nothing is more ludicrous, or more clearly shows the
affectations and narrow pedantries of the age, than the childish delight
in long or high-flown titles, by which the Swiss "regents," as they were
called, were wont to address each other, and be addressed even by
foreigners. "Leurs excellences," "noble-born," and so forth, were as
common amongst Swiss republicans as in any monarchy.[72] Nor were they
behindhand in the adoption of court fashions, wigs, frills, and the
like; whilst they hunted eagerly for patents of nobility, and placed the
"von" so unblushingly before their names that the higher classes, and
really well-born for the most part dropped it for a time.
The Eidgenossen, however, were eminently useful soldiers, and Louis XIV.
in 1663 wheedled or tricked them into the renewal of the alliance with
France, an alliance into which Le Barde had tried in vain for thirteen
years to coax them. The wily Louis invited a Swiss embassy to his Court,
and for a whole week amused and flattered his guests with a succession
of banquets, ceremonies, and entertainments. Molière played before them
by royal command. The ambassadors were thus beguiled into admitting some
of the most important points in the treaty, the neutrality of Burgundy,
the liquidation of the old debt, &c. On the 18th of November, in the
presence of the whole French Court, at Notre Dame, the Swiss
representatives agreed to a disgraceful and humiliating bargain with
Louis. The king was not, however, inclined to lavish money on them like
his predecessors had done. One day Louvois complained to him that his
Swiss troops stood him dear, that for the money they had cost him and
his predecessors the road could be paved with crown-pieces from Paris to
Basel. Stuppa from the Grisons, overhearing this, quickly retorted,
"Sir, you forget that with the Swiss blood spilt in the French service
you might fill a canal from Basel to Paris."
Despite the engagements to France which Switzerland had entered into, it
never ceased to give shelter to the French refugees who fled to escape
the persecutions of Louis--to the Waldenses and the Huguenots. After the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, sixty-six thousand emigrants are said
to have found shelter in Switzerland. Amongst the Swiss cities Geneva
stands out conspicuously and honourably by her great benevolence. Not to
speak of the vast amount of private assistance given, the municipality
spent on the relief of the religious refugees no less a sum than five
million florins between 1685 and 1726. Gradually the Eidgenossen became
alive to the real character of Louis and his negotiations with them,
and ashamed of their own lack of patriotism. As early as 1689, indeed,
we find Swiss envoys from Bern and Zurich at Paris, rejecting his
bribes, his golden chains, and what not. And on their return home they
received the eulogies of their people for their integrity and
independence. Gradually the league with France was set aside, or
ignored. Nevertheless, the system of mercenary service remained an
evil--one may say a cancerous evil--in the Swiss policy of the later
centuries.
FOOTNOTES:
[68] Appealing to the absurd pretended national relationship between
Swedes and Switzers, an etymology of the Middle Ages.
[69] See the chapter on the Swabian wars.
[70] Rohan was a great friend to Zurich, and presented to its city
library which was then forming his "Parfait Capitaine," a Hebrew Bible,
and his portrait. He was by his own request buried at Geneva, and his
death was greatly regretted by the reformed cities. The letters written
by his family in reply to the "Condolence of Zurich" are still preserved
in the library. See pamphlet on Rohan by Professor von Wyss.
[71] In Meyer's novel, Lucretia is betrothed to Jenatsch and takes the
veil after the murder of Jenatsch, but this story has no foundation in
fact.
[72] A few of these magnificent titles, or epithets, may be noted:
"Hoch," "Wohlgeachtete," "Edle," "Fromme," "Fürsichtige," "Fürnehme,"
"Weise Herren," and many more such like.
XXVII.
POLITICAL MATTERS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Politically Switzerland presents much the same aspect in the eighteenth
as in the previous century, and it needs here only a few words to
indicate more clearly the temper of the times. In Swiss lands, as
elsewhere, we have the inevitable division into the two classes of
governor and governed. The rank and file of the "reigning families,"
_regiments-fähig_, patricians or plutocrats, rigorously kept all power
to themselves, and held sway over the ordinary burghers and common folk.
Unchecked rule and superiority and a life of ease and luxury on the one
side; blind submission and toil on the other, especially in the rural
districts. Even in the professedly democratic cantons the same despotism
is met with; chieftains and family "dynasts" seizing the reins of
government, and overruling the _landsgemeinde_, whilst they contend with
each other for supremacy. Just as in the case of the oligarchies, the
_laender_ make the most of their "divine right" to govern. No wonder
risings took place, as that of the Leventines against the harsh
_landvögte_ of Uri, and that of the Werdenberger (St. Gall) against
Glarus, though these revolts were in vain. In Zurich, Schaffhausen, and
Basel, there was less oppression, the guilds keeping the nobility at
bay, though this guild system itself was not without blemish. The chief
cities or cantonal _chefs-lieux_ one and all held sovereign sway over
the country districts attaching to them, but, like the old nobility of
France, shifted off their own shoulders nearly all taxation, whilst they
monopolized trade and industry. Thus the peasantry were crushed with the
weight of taxes, imposts, tithes, and what not.
Religious differences had deepened since the second war of Villmergen
(1712), which had brought the Protestants to the fore, and had
established the principle of religious equality. The Catholics, having
lost their supremacy in certain bailiwicks or subject districts, began
to dream of regaining their lost position. To this end they entered into
a secret agreement (_ligue à la cassette_) with Louis XIV. of France
shortly before that monarch's death. It was not till 1777, however, that
France really gained her point. In that year the common fear of Austria
induced both Protestants and Catholics to enter into a league with Louis
XVI. Thus, for the first time since the Reformation, the Confederates
were a united body, or at any rate were agreed as to their joint plan of
action.
Interesting though the task might be, it is here impossible to
investigate the various conditions of the government in the subject
lands--Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, part of St. Gall, portions gained
by conquest, or fragments acquired by purchase. We should meet with
curious remnants of feudalism, and strange mixtures of the mediæval and
the modern. But our space will permit of only a glance. The subject
lands were deprived of all self-government, and the _landvögte_ ruled
them as an Eastern satrap might rule his satrapy. A somewhat strange
arrangement for a republic to make and allow; but yet, on the whole, the
government was excellent, and this state of things continued for a long
period. Abuses, bribery, extortions, and the like of course crept in,
but it is to be remembered that the _landvögte_ were strictly controlled
by the central government.[73] Many of them, especially at Bern, kept up
much state; possessed horses, carriages, and livery-servants, and kept
open house. In their lordships they ruled as veritable sovereigns, but
they cared for their people, as good sovereigns should. They were,
indeed, more like the patriarchs of old, rewarding or admonishing their
peoples as circumstances required. One specimen of the class was greatly
admired by Goethe, viz., Landvogt Landolt von Greifensee (Zurich). A few
traits will serve to mark the man and the system. This governor was of
the old school, and hated enlightened peasants and modern revolutionary
ideas. He advocated compulsory attendance at church, and firmly believed
in flogging as the most rational form of punishment. On the other hand,
he was both benevolent and humane, and watched over his people with a
fatherly care. He was equally anxious to improve their farms and their
morals. He was wont to go about _incognito_--generally dressed as a
Tyrolese--and visited the printshops to find out the gamblers and the
drunkards. The latter he had put into a revolving cage till they got
sober. Quarrelling couples he shut up together, and forced them to eat
_with the same spoon_![74] But among many subject lands the system had
greatly changed.
The greatest holder of subject territory was Bern, with its forty-four
lordships or bailiwicks, Zurich coming next with twenty-nine. The
largest subject district was Vaud, and, thanks to its thriving
agriculture, and the wise, though harsh, administration of Bern, it
flourished greatly. The Vaudois had on the whole submitted quietly to
Bernese rule, though the upper classes amongst them did not relish their
exclusion from the conduct of State affairs. However, bowing to the
inevitable, they gave themselves up to the enjoyment of a life of
pleasure and to intellectual pursuits. About this time Lausanne, their
capital, had become the resort of men like Gibbon, Fox, Raynal,
Voltaire, and many men of lesser mark. They were attracted by the beauty
of the scenery and by the high repute of the Vaud gentry for good
breeding and affability. These noble families opened their salons to the
distinguished foreigners who resided among them, and Gibbon seems to
have particularly appreciated their good qualities.[75] The historian
spent much of his life at Lausanne. An unlucky attempt had been made by
Major Davel, in 1723, to rescue Vaud from the grasp of Bern. This
enthusiastic patriot had himself concocted the plot, and attempted to
carry out his plans without informing a single person of his intentions.
Mustering his men, Davel, on some pretence, led them to Lausanne, where
the council were then sitting, the _landvögte_ being up at Bern, and
informed the board what he proposed to do. But the members of the
council were not yet prepared to seek emancipation, and, simulating an
understanding, betrayed the luckless patriot to the Bernese authorities.
"Leurs Excellences"--such was the official title of the Bernese
rulers--made use of the rack, with the object of extorting from him the
names of his accomplices, but in vain, and he was beheaded.
Amongst the leading cities of the Confederation, Zurich was conspicuous
as the centre of Liberal tendencies and intellectual progress, whilst
Bern was the political centre, and the leading financial focus.[76] Like
a modern Rothschild, Bern then lent to various European states. Part of
her treasure went towards paying the cost of Napoleon's expedition to
Egypt. Among her sister cities, Freiburg, Solothurn, and Lucerne, Bern
presented the most perfect example of an oligarchy, admired by
Montesquieu, Napoleon, and even Rousseau. Her decided bent was for
diplomacy, and she was completely absorbed in rule and administration,
and she had few other tastes. Trade and industry she considered beneath
her dignity; even literary pursuits to a great extent. The Bernese
aristocrats were politicians from birth, so to speak, and the young men
had a curious society amongst themselves, "Äusserer Stand," a society
formed for the purpose of cultivating the diplomatic art and practising
parliamentary oratory and tactics, especially their more formal outward
side. Thus trained in bearing and ceremonial they acquired their
much-admired political _aplomb_. Bern was French in fashion, in manners,
and in language, and the German tongue was as little appreciated amongst
the Bernese patricians as at the Court of Frederick the Great. The
constitution presents some features quite unique in their way. There was
an exclusiveness which has lasted in all its force even down to our own
days; and three classes of society sprang up, as widely separated from
each other as the different castes in India. All power was vested in the
360 "reigning families"; the number of these was at length, by death and
clever manipulating, reduced to eighty, and even fewer. From these
families alone were the councils selected, and to the members of these
only were governorships assigned. If male heirs were wanting, then the
seats on the council were given to the daughters as dowries. So
exclusive was this governing body, that even Haller, the great poet, was
not allowed to enter it. The class next lower in rank was that of the
burghers, _ewige habitanten_, with no political rights, and with not a
vestige of power in the commonwealth. They were not allowed to hold
officerships abroad, but trade, industry, and the schools and churches
were theirs. Lastly came the Ansässige (settlers), the proletariat,
including the country labourers, foreigners, refugees, and commoner folk
generally. Many were their disabilities; they were not permitted to buy
houses, to have their children baptised in the city, to have tombstones
set up over the graves of members of their family.[77] They might not
even appear in the market till their betters had done their business,
viz., 11 a.m., and they were strictly forbidden to carry baskets in the
archways (_les arcades de la ville_), in order that these should not
damage the hooped petticoats of the patrician ladies.[78] Bern has often
been compared with ancient Rome, and certainly its stern council
somewhat resembles in its austerity, solemnity, and pomp the august
Roman Senate. It is not surprising that many attempts should have been
made to induce the Government to relax its severity. In 1744 certain
citizens petitioned the council to that effect, but were banished for
their pains. Five years later a famous man named Henzi, with several
associates, formed a plot against the council, but they were detected
and executed.
But in truth there were risings in almost every one of the cantons. Of
these only the most remarkable can be touched on here, those of Geneva.
These are real constitutional struggles, and, indeed, form the
preliminaries in their way to the French Revolution, on which indeed
their history sheds no little light. These troubles in Geneva are not
unlike those of the Gracchi period in Roman history. By the Constitution
of 1536 Geneva had been granted the right of a "Conseil Général," but
this council had never been allowed to act or meet. The patricians who
occupied the _haut de la cité_ had arrogated to themselves well-nigh all
power. But as early as 1707, the burghers, ever on the alert to regain
their liberties, rose with the view of re-establishing the General
Council of 1536. The movement was headed by the generous and
noble-minded Pierre Fatio, himself a patrician. In fiery speeches, made
in the open places of the town, he championed the popular rights,
asserting with vehemence that the rulers were not the masters and tutors
of the people, but the executors of its sovereign will. The attempt to
gain popular liberty miscarried, Fatio was shot in prison, and his
followers were exiled. Yet Fatio's idea lived on amongst the working
classes, and later were again advocated in the pamphlets of Micheli du
Crêst. In the years 1734 and 1737 the insurrections burst out afresh,
and resulted in the establishment of the Constitution of 1738, which
secured for a quarter of a century a happiness it had never before
known.
However, the second half of the century witnessed new troubles between
the burghers and the patricians. These latter were called, by way of
nickname, "Négatifs," because they denied the people reform, whilst the
burghers were styled "Représentants," because they presented petitions
for political liberty. The artizan class were nicknamed "Natifs." It is
impossible here to follow closely these "tea-cup squabbles," as Voltaire
called them, but the philosopher's sympathies were with the _haut de la
ville_, while Rousseau, on the contrary, sided with the _bas de la
ville_.
Of all the Swiss lands the most equitable and righteous government was
that enjoyed by Neuchâtel, under Frederick the Great (1740-1786). This
state had of its own free will in 1707 accepted the ducal sway of the
kings of Prussia, in order to escape the grasp of Louis XIV. At one
time, however, Frederick II. so far forgot himself as to infringe the
"states'" right of taxation, and the semi-republican duchy at once rose
in rebellion. Gaudot, the vice-governor, Frederick's devoted minister,
was shot in the fray (1768). Yet, thanks to the monarch's wise
moderation, and the intervention of the Swiss Confederation, the storm
was calmed, and Neuchâtel continued in her peaceful and happy condition.
It is clear that there was in Switzerland plenty of combustible matter,
needing only the French Revolution to raise a conflagration.
FOOTNOTES:
[73] The unrighteous and cruel Landvogt Tscharner was punished with
death by the Bernese Government in 1612.
[74] For further particulars about this original man the reader is
referred to the charming novel bearing his name, by Keller (Keller's
"Zurcher Novellen").
[75] Madame de la Charrière, the novelist, writes: "Nous vivons avec
eux, nous leur plaisons, quelquefois nous les formons, et ils nous
gâtent."
[76] The Bernese peasantry had attained unusual wealth by its excellent
management and the strict administration of its government.
[77] Prof. Vögelin, "Schweizergeschichte," p. 344.
[78] See "Die Patrizierin," a recent fascinating novel by Widmann, a
Bernese writer.
XXVIII.
SWITZERLAND AND THE RENAISSANCE. INFLUENCE OF VOLTAIRE AND ROUSSEAU.
Barren and uninviting is the waste of politics in Switzerland at this
period of our story, and it seemed as if the republic was quietly
crumbling out of active existence. But the literary and scientific
renaissance runs through it all like a fertilizing stream, and saves it
from utter sterility. Feeble though it was politically, Switzerland yet
produced on all sides men of mark in science, in literature, in
philosophy. Time would fail to tell of them all, and we must be content
to follow briefly the three great currents of the movement, which
centred respectively around Geneva, Zurich, and the Helvetic Society.
The two former of these may indeed be said to form a part (and an
important part) of the great general awakening of the eighteenth
century, an awakening beginning with the French "period of
enlightenment," and crowned by the era of German classicism. Yet the
French movement itself was based on English influence. Just as, at the
Restoration, England had copied the France of Louis Quatorze, so France
in return drew intellectual strength from the England of the second half
of the eighteenth century--England was then vastly ahead of the
Continent--and brought forth the "_siècle de la philosophie_." Of the
great Frenchmen who learned in the school of English thought,
Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire stand foremost, and of these again
Voltaire occupies indisputably the highest place. Voltaire was not only
the founder, but the very heart of the philosophic school which reared
its front against the statutes and traditions and pretensions of the
Church. He had drunk deeply of the spirit of Newton and of Locke during
his exile in England, and spread abroad their views and discoveries,
assisted by his genius, his sparkling wit, his lashing satire, and his
graceful style. None equally with him naturalized on the Continent
English free thought and English rationalism. Voltaire and Rousseau were
as two great beacons planted in the century guiding as they would the
course of philosophy. Both were champions of personal freedom and
religious tolerance in a benighted and down-trodden age. But the
influence of the two men worked in very different ways, for in the one
it was based on the head, in the other on the heart. Voltaire, the
realist, by his venomous and even reckless satires on the Church and on
Christianity, dealt a severe blow to religion at large. Rousseau, the
idealist, plunged into the mystery of good and evil, and was wrecked by
the very impracticability of his system.
Voltaire, as is well known, spent the last twenty years of his life--his
"_verte vieillesse_"--almost at the gates of Geneva, and Rousseau,
actually one of its citizens, passed the greater part of his life
wandering abroad, though he loved Geneva so dearly that he once fainted
with emotion on leaving it. Yet while both did battle so to speak from
Geneva, neither of them was reckoned as a prophet in that city. After
Voltaire had spent a couple of years at "Les Délices"--this was
subsequent to his break with the great Frederick--he bought Tournay and
Ferney, close to Geneva, to "keep aloof from monarchs and bishops, of
whom he was afraid." Ferney, with its _parc à la Versailles_, and its
fine castle, he made his residence; and there his niece did the honours
of the house to the countless visitors who came from all parts to do
homage to the illustrious "Aubergiste del' Europe," as he pleasantly
styled himself. It was not the salons of Ferney that induced him to
reside there, but care for his health and a wish to be free from all
fear of bastilles.
Geneva was not inclined to bow in admiration before her famous
neighbour, as has been already stated. She had by this time become a
great intellectual centre. Men of science, naturalists, and philosophers
there congregated, and a reaction against the everlasting study of
theology, of which the fashion had been introduced by the Huguenot
refugees, having come about, the study of nature had taken its place.
Whilst France was being governed by the Pompadours, Geneva was ruled by
a society of savants, inclined, it is true, to absolutism and narrow
Calvinism, but still savants. It is a common error to suppose that
Voltaire's influence took deep root in Geneva. Voltaire set the current
running for the world at large indeed, but Geneva was not specially
affected. In truth, most of her learned men were disinclined to do more
than follow Voltaire half way, as it were, into his philosophy, whilst
some of them, as, for instance, Charles Bonnet, were particularly narrow
in their views, and were even heretic hunters.[79] Voltaire's contest
with the city authorities respecting the establishing of a theatre is a
good illustration of his want of real authority and influence there. It
greatly tickled his fancy to seduce the "pedantic city still holding to
her old reformers, and submitting to the tyrannical laws of Calvin" from
the ancient path, and to make war on her orthodoxy. And as part of his
plan he determined to introduce theatrical performances into the city.
The ball was set rolling by an article in the "Encyclopédie" by
D'Alembert, but the arguments there adduced in favour of the theatre
proved of no avail. Rousseau made a furious reply, and averred that a
theatre was injurious to the morals of a small town. In a large city,
where the morals were already corrupt, it did not signify. The
Consistoire was in a flutter, for it had pretended that the Genevans had
a prodigious love for light amusements. However, one day Voltaire
invited the city authorities to "Les Délices," and there treated them to
a representation of his "Zaïre," and it was no little triumph to the
wily old schemer that his audience were overcome with emotion. "We have
moved to tears almost the whole council--Consistory and magistrates; I
have never seen more tears," he delightedly reports; "never have the
Calvinists been more tender! God be blessed! I have corrupted Geneva and
the Republic." Nevertheless he was not to triumph. The theatre at "Les
Délices" had to be closed. He opened his theatre several times elsewhere
in Genevan territory, and began to draw crowds, but in every instance
was compelled to close again. In truth, it was not till 1766 that Geneva
had a theatre of its own, and even then it lasted but two years. The
building was set on fire by some Puritans, and, being only of wood, was
rapidly consumed. Crowds ran to the conflagration, but finding that it
was only the theatre that was on fire, they emptied their buckets,
shouting, "Let those who wanted a theatre put out the fire!"
"_Perruques_ or _tignasses_," exclaimed Voltaire, with irritation, "it
is all the same with Geneva. If you think you have caught her, she
escapes."
Rousseau (1712-1778) was the son of a Genevan watchmaker, and received
but a very desultory education in his early days. Whilst yet but a boy
he had drunk in the republican and Calvinistic spirit of his native
town, hence his democratic leanings. He was a lover of nature, and fond
of solitude, and was possessed of a deep religious feeling, even though
his religion was based on sentiment. He witnessed the revolt of 1735-37,
and, _enfant du peuple_ as he was, rebelled against the tyranny of the
patricians, and gave vent to his indignation in his writings. He thus
became the mouthpiece of a down-trodden people craving for liberty, of a
society satiated with culture. His prize essay on "Arts and Sciences" is
an answer in the negative to the question propounded by the Dijon
Academy, Whether the New Learning had resulted in an improvement to
morals. His next essay on "L'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité"
is a sally against the state of society. In it he advocates a return to
the condition of nature, on which Voltaire sarcastically retorted, "I
felt a great desire to go on all fours." "Emile" (1762), which Goethe
calls the "gospel of education," declares against the hollowness of our
distorted and over-refined civilization, and advocates a more rational
training based on nature. And Pestalozzi, pedagogue and philanthropist,
though he styled "Emile" a "book of dreams," was yet nourished on
Rousseau's ideas. "Emile" is opposed to deism and materialism on the one
hand, whilst on the other it objects to revelation and miracles, and
declares that existing religion is one-sided and unable to save mankind
from intellectual slavery. The excitement the book created was immense
on both sides, and it was publicly burnt both at Paris and Geneva. Its
author was compelled to flee.
[Illustration: ROUSSEAU.]
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF PESTALOZZI.
(_From a photograph of the statue, at Yverdon, by Lanz._)]
A similar untoward fate befel the same author's famous "Contrat Social,"
perhaps the most important political work of the eighteenth century. In
this Rousseau advances much further than Montesquieu. Indeed the former
was a strong Radical, whilst the latter might be more fittingly
described as a Whig. Rousseau advocates republicanism, or rather a
democracy, as the best form of government; whilst Montesquieu points to
the constitutional government of England as his model, insisting on the
right to equality of all before the law. The "Contrat Social," as is
well known, did much to advance the revolutionary cause, and became
indeed the textbook of the democracy, and formed the principal basis of
the Constitution of 1793. But Rousseau himself was no agitator. On the
contrary, when the burghers of Geneva rose on his behalf, to save
"Emile" and the "Contrat" from the flames, he hesitated hardly a moment,
but begged them to submit to order, as he disliked disorder and
bloodshed.
His novel, "La Nouvelle Heloïse" (1761), introduced the romantic
element, and opened a new era in literature. It was, in fact, a
manifesto against a bewigged and bepowdered civilization. Poetry was
invited to withdraw from the salons and come once more to live with
nature. But this sudden onslaught on the stiff conventionalism and
narrowness of the time was too much, and there ensued an outburst of
excitement and feeling such as we in our day can scarcely realize. A
great stream of sentiment poured into literature, and gave rise to that
tumultuous "storm and stress" (_Sturm und Drang_) period in Germany, out
of which sprang Schiller's "Räuber" (Robbers). Goethe caught up the
prevailing tone of sentimentality and supersensitiveness in his
"Werther" (1774). This tearful, boisterous period is but the outrush of
a nation's pent-up feelings on its sudden emancipation from the thraldom
of conventionalism. And it led the way to the golden era in German
literature, the era of Schiller and Goethe.
The brilliant literary court of Madame de Staël at Coppet succeeded that
of Voltaire at Ferney. Though born in Geneva she was in heart a
Frenchwoman, and her native country but little affected her character.
"I would rather go miles to hear a clever man talk than open the windows
of my rooms at Naples to see the beauties of the Gulf," is a
characteristic speech of hers. Yet amongst women-writers Madame de Staël
is perhaps the most generous, the most lofty, and the grandest figure.
Her spirited opposition to Napoleon, her exile, her brilliant _coterie_
at Coppet, and her famous literary productions, are topics of the
greatest interest, but as they do not specially concern Switzerland,
they cannot be more than hinted at here.
[Illustration: HALLER.]
From the very depression, political and social, prevailing in Swiss
lands arose the yearning for and proficiency in letters and scientific
culture which in the period now before us produced so prolific a
literature in the country. And it was not in West Switzerland alone
that this revival of letters showed itself. Basel prided herself on her
naturalists and mathematicians, Merian, Bernoulli, and Euler; while
Zurich could boast of her botanists, Scheuchzer and John Gessner. Bern
produced that most distinguished naturalist, Haller, who was also a
poet; Schaffhausen claims Johannes von Müller, the brilliant historian;
and Brugg (Aargau) Zimmermann, philosopher and royal physician at
Hanover. Bodmer and Breitinger formed an æsthetic critical forum at
Zurich. And no country of similar area had so many of its sons occupying
positions of honour in foreign universities. A whole colony of Swiss
savants had settled at Berlin, drawn thither by the great Frederick;
others were to be found at Halle. Haller, who had lived at Göttingen
ever since 1736, likewise received an invitation from Frederick, but
found himself unable to accept it, being greatly averse to Voltaire and
his influence. A perfect stream of Swiss intellect poured into Germany,
and by its southern originality, greater power of expression, and its
true German instinct, quickened German nationality, and witnesses to the
fact that there is ever passing between the two countries an
intellectual current.[80] It is impossible within the limits of the
present volume to do more than touch upon the most characteristic
literary movements of the period.
Amongst the upper classes in Switzerland, French culture reigned
supreme, just as did French fashions, French manners, and it may almost
be said, the French language. Nevertheless, the Swiss were the first to
throw off the French supremacy in literature, turning rather to England
as a more congenial guide and pattern. Bodmer speaks of Shakespeare and
Milton "as the highest manifestations of Germanic genius." As for German
literature itself, it was still in a state of helplessness--what with
the Thirty Years' War, and the German nobility given over to French
tastes and French influence--and fashioned itself in foreign modes till
the close of the Seven Years' War, in 1763, when it took the leading
position it has ever since maintained.
Bern and Zurich, which had both risen to wealth and independence, were
stout opponents of the French policy. Both cities were homes of the
_belles lettres_, and Zurich was a veritable "poets' corner." The chief
figure there was Bodmer, who wielded the literary sceptre in Switzerland
and Germany for well-nigh half a century. A fellow-worker with him, and
his well-nigh inseparable companion, was Breitinger, and these two more
than any others helped to break the French spell. Bodmer (1698-1783),
was the son of a pastor of Greifensee, and had himself been at first
destined for the church, though he was at length put to the silk trade.
But neither calling could keep him from his beloved letters, and in 1725
he became professor of history and political science at the Zurich
Carolinum. His aim was to raise literature from its lifeless condition.
As far back as 1721, he had joined with Breitinger and others, in
establishing a weekly journal on the model of Addison's
_Spectator_--"Discurse der Maler." Breitinger was professor of Hebrew,
and later on, canon of the minster of Zurich, and was a man of profound
learning and refined taste. The new paper treated not only of social
matters, but discussed poetry and _belles lettres_ generally. Gottsched
(1700-1766), who occupied the chair of rhetoric at Leipzig, was supreme
as a literary critic. His tastes were French, and he held up the French
classics as models. In his "Critical Art of Poetry" (1730), he tries to
teach what may be called the _mechanics_ of poetry based on reason, and
pretends that it is in the power of any really clever man to produce
masterpieces in poetry. In 1732, appeared Bodmer's translation of
"Paradise Lost," to the chagrin of Gottsched, who, feeling that he was
losing ground, furiously attacked the Miltonian following. His mockery
of the blind poet roused Bodmer's anger, and he replied with his work
the "Wonderful in Poetry." A fierce controversy raged for ten years. In
the name of Milton the young men of talent took the side of Zurich, that
is, of the German, as opposed to the French influence in literature. The
result was that by the efforts of such men as Haller, Klopstock,
Wieland, and Kleist, the French influence was ousted and the national
German influence came to the front.
Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777), whom Goethe calls "the father of
national poetry," was the first representative of the new school of
poets which began to turn to nature for inspiration and illustration
rather than to mere dead forms. His poems on the Alps (1732) paint the
majestic beauty of the Bernese highlands, and contrast the humble and
peaceful but natural life of the shepherd with the luxurious and
artificial life of the patrician, and the dweller in cities. Haller's
writings made a great impression on the polite world.[81] Klopstock it
was, however, whom Bodmer welcomed as the harbinger of a new era, as the
German Milton. Klopstock had been trained in the Swiss school of
thought, and regarded Breitinger's "Critical Art" as his æsthetic bible,
whilst Bodmer's translation of "Paradise Lost" inspired his epic,
"Messiah." The first three cantos appeared in the "Bremer Beiträge" in
1748, and created such a _furore_ that he was declared to be an immortal
poet. Wieland's first poems were, in 1751, published in the "Swiss
Critic," and met with a reception hardly less favourable if somewhat
less enthusiastic. A strong friendship springing up between Bodmer and
the young Klopstock, the former offered the poet a temporary home at his
Tusculum (still standing) on the slopes of Zurichberg, that he might go
on with his great epic. The fine view of the lake and mountains, the
"highly cultivated city beneath," was greatly prized by Goethe who
sounds its praises in "Wahrheit und Dichtung." However, Bodmer was
disappointed with his young guest, for Klopstock loved the society of
the young men and young women of his own age, and the progress made with
the "Messiah" was well-nigh _nil_. However, it is to Klopstock's sojourn
there, that we owe some of his fine odes, especially that on Zurich
lake. But meanwhile Bodmer's friendship had cooled, and Klopstock went
to the house (in Zurich itself) of Hartmann Rahn, who later on married
the poet's sister. With this same Rahn was some years afterwards
associated the philosopher Fichte, when he lived at Zurich (1788).
Fichte in fact married Rahn's daughter, Johanna. In 1752, Wieland[82]
repaid Bodmer for his previous disappointments, by staying with him for
some two years.
Bodmer's zeal for the advance of literature was unremitting. Though he
could not himself boast of much poetic genius, he was a prolific writer
in both prose and verse. His great merit is his bringing to light again
the fine old mediæval poetry long since forgotten. The manuscript of the
"Minnesänger" and the famous "Nibelungen" he had dug up from the
lumber-room of Hohenems Castle. He moved heaven and earth to obtain
royal protection and patronage for German literature. But little did he
gain at the court of the great Frederick. To Müller, who presented the
"Nibelungen," his majesty replied in characteristic fashion that the
piece was not worth a single "charge of powder." Not less characteristic
was Voltaire's reply when a request was made for the royal favour to
Klopstock. "A new 'Messiah' is too much of a good thing, the old one has
not been read yet."
Bodmer's influence on the young man of parts is noticeable. He gathered
round him a large following of young Zürcher who had a taste for
letters. Crowds of them would accompany him in his evening walks in the
avenue Platzspitz, drinking in his words of wit and wisdom. Of the
disciples thus gathered round "Father" Bodmer--for so he was
affectionately styled--some attained no little eminence in later life.
Amongst them we may mention Sulzer, who became art professor at Berlin,
and stood in high favour with the king; and Solomon Gessner, the painter
poet, whose word pictures are hardly less beautiful than the productions
of his brush. His "Idylls," published in 1756, gave him a European
reputation. The work was translated into all the literary languages, and
in France and Italy was read with great eagerness, a first edition in
French being sold out within a fortnight. Another important work is
Hirzel's "Kleinjogg," or the "Socrates of the Fields." In this Hirzel,
who was a physician and a philanthropist, brings to the fore the
despised peasantry. "Kleinjogg" is not a work of fiction solely, but an
account of Jakob Gujer who lived in a small Zurich village. Jakob was a
man of great intelligence, indomitable resolution, and practical wisdom,
who by his admirable management raised a wretched country home into a
model farm. Goethe, who on a visit ate at his table, was delighted with
the philosophic peasant, and called him "one of the most delicious
creatures earth ever produced."
Heinrich Pestalozzi, the philanthropist, but better known for his
efforts in the cause of education, was also a Zurich man. His principles
of education are embodied in his novel of rural life, "Lienhard and
Gertrude" (1781). His ideas are partly borrowed from Rousseau, but he
failed to realize them in practice. The work at once won for Pestalozzi
European fame. Ludwig Meyer von Knonau, a country magnate, was a poet
and a painter, and wrote "Fables." Johannes Casper Lavater, Bodmer's
favourite pupil, stirred to their depth the patriotic feelings of his
countrymen by his famous "Schweizerlieder," which he composed for the
Helvetic Society, in 1767. Indeed literary tastes seem to have been very
prevalent amongst the Swiss at that time. More of Winkelmann's great
work on Æsthetics were sold in Zurich and Basel then would in our own
day probably be sold in such cities as Berlin and Vienna. And Solothurn,
we find, produced thrice as many subscribers to Goethe's works as the
great cities just mentioned.
[Illustration: LAVATER.]
After Bodmer Lavater became the chief attraction at Zurich, and
strangers flocked thither in great numbers to see him. He was the
founder of the study of physiognomy, and his works on it were very
largely read at the time. Goethe himself joined with Lavater in his
"Essays on Physiognomy." The philosopher's personality being singularly
charming and fascinating, he was one of the most influential men of his
time. He was the pastor of St. Peter's church, and was full of high
religious enthusiasm. He desired to take Christianity from its lifeless
condition and make it a living thing, and was strongly opposed to
rationalism--Anglo-French deism--then slowly creeping in,
notwithstanding severe repressive measures against it. Goethe was for
many years the close friend of Lavater, and carried on with him a
brilliant correspondence. The great poet, it may be stated, paid no
fewer than three visits to Zurich, viz., in 1775, 1779, and 1797. He
considered his intercourse with Lavater the "seal and crown" of the
whole trip to Switzerland in 1779, and calls the divine the "crown of
mankind," "the best among the best," and compares his friendship with
"pastureland on heaven's border." Lavater's later years were marked by
many eccentricities, and he fell into religious mysticism. But his
sterling merits will not readily be forgotten by the Swiss.
A word respecting the Helvetic Society must close the present chapter.
This society was founded in 1762, with the view of gathering together
those who were stirred by political aspiration. It gradually united all
those who desired the political regeneration of their fatherland, and
the most prominent men of both East and West Switzerland, and of both
confessions, joined the new society. The young patriots regularly met to
discuss methods of improving the country and its institutions, and this
in spite of the prohibitions of a narrow-minded executive, and the close
control of the press. Stockar's scheme for amalgamating the free states
into one republic mightily swelled the hearts of both Catholic and
Protestant, and their efforts gave rise to many practical reforms. The
most prominent result of these efforts was the rise of national
education. Zurich with its higher schools occupied a leading position in
the work of reform, and Pestalozzi established on his own estate a
school for the poor. Unfortunately this admirable institution failed for
want of a proper manager. Later on, after the Revolution, when the soil
was better prepared for it, Pestalozzi's system took vigorous root.
FOOTNOTES:
[79] Hettner's "French Literature in the Eighteenth Century."
[80] Switzerland was the cradle of the German drama in the sixteenth
century; even the Oberammergau Passion play can be traced to a Swiss
origin (Bächtold).
[81] Haller, anxious to return to his native land, accepted an inferior
post as director of salt-mines at Bex (Vaud), Bern, his native town,
disregarding his great merits, declining to offer him either a
professorship or a seat on the governing board.
[82] A daughter of Wieland was also married to the son of his great
friend Gessner, the poet.
XXXI.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND SWITZERLAND.
(1790-1798.)
None of our readers will need to be told the story of the French
Revolution, nor shown that it was the natural outcome of previous
misgovernment and oppression. Every one has read of the miseries of the
lower classes--intolerable beyond description; of the marvellous
inability of the nobles and clergy to see that amidst all their
selfishness and pleasures they were living on the very edge of a
frightful volcano; of the _tiers-état_ and its emancipatory movement,
which, outgrowing its primary intention, brought about a series of
stupendous changes; of Napoleon, how he stopped this disorder and how he
made all Europe into one vast theatre of war. All this, in so far as it
is the history of France, can only be alluded to here, but, inasmuch as
Switzerland was dragged into the whirlpool of changes, we must dwell
upon some of the effects of the great Revolution. Not less clearly than
in France itself did the cry of "_Liberté, and égalité!_" resound
through the Swiss lands, filling the hearts of the unfree and the
oppressed with high hopes. Yet it was only after terrible sufferings and
endless vicissitudes that the liberal principles of the Revolution came
to the front, and admitted of that practical realization which was to
lead up to a nobler and happier life for men.
[Illustration: THE LION OF LUCERNE.
(_From a photograph of the original._)]
Of the many popular risings in Switzerland due to the influence of
France, we may briefly touch on those which precede the Bern catastrophe
in 1798. In September, 1791, Lower Valais rose against the _landvögte_
of Upper Valais, but the intervention of Bern checked the revolt. In the
April of the following year, Pruntrut (in the Bernese Jura) renounced
its allegiance to the prince-bishops of Basel, and set up as an
independent territory, under the style of the "Rauracian Republic," and
three months later the widely-extended bishopric itself was amalgamated
with France as the "Department Mont Terrible." It was on August 10th of
this same year (1792) that the Swiss Guards defending the Tuileries
against the Paris mob were massacred. Every one knows the story. "We are
Swiss, and the Swiss never surrender their arms but with their lives,"
were the proud words of Sergeant Blaser to the crowds furious against
the protectors of royalty, and claiming that their arms should be put
down. When Louis was in safety, the Swiss Guards were withdrawn. But on
leaving the palace they were suddenly attacked by thousands of the mob.
Resistance was plainly useless, yet the Swiss would not fly, and were
ruthlessly slaughtered. Of the 760 men and twenty-two officers, but few
escaped that terrible onslaught. The beautiful and far-famed
Thorwaldsen monument--the "Lion of Lucerne"--with its inscription,
"Helvetiorum fidei ac virtuti," still keeps up the memory of the heroic
courage of the Swiss Guards.[83] The outrage aroused intense indignation
at home, but could not be avenged. The subjects of the prince-abbot
Beda, of St. Gall, secured under his mild rule the abolition of serfdom.
His successor, Forster, however, refusing the measure his sanction, was
driven from his see--till he returned under Austrian auspices--and a
large rural district of St. Gall gained autonomy and freedom from the
rule of the abbey in 1797. Geneva saw almost every possible change. At
one time she was rescued by Bern at Zurich, but was, in 1798, absorbed
by France. The singularly harsh bearing of Zurich towards the country
districts brought about the widespread insurrection of Stäfa, in 1795;
an insurrection vigorously suppressed however. The Italian lordships,
severely treated by Graubünden, desired to be included in the Cis-alpine
republic Bonaparte was forming, and the general advised that free state
that it should be admitted into their pale as a fourth member of equal
rank. Finding that his advice was not taken, he suddenly proclaimed the
memorable maxim, "that no people can be subject to another people
without a violation of the laws of nature," and joined Valtellina,
Bormio, and Chiavenna to Lombardy. This arrangement he had ratified by
the treaty of Campo Formio, in 1797, which destroyed the Venetian
republic, handing it over, indeed, to Austria, France taking the
Netherlands and Milan as her share of the plunder.
Few things served to draw the attention of France to Swiss lands more
than the Helvetic Club at Paris. This famous club was founded in 1790,
by malcontents, chiefly from Vaud, Geneva, and Freiburg. They were bent
on the liberation of Switzerland from aristocratic domination, and
desirous of assimilating the form of government with that of France.
This suited the French Directory exactly, their aim being to girdle
France with a strong belt of vassal states. Among these Switzerland was
to serve as a bulwark, or at any rate as a battle-ground, against
Austria; and France was not without hope of filling her _coffres-forts_
with Swiss treasure, now grown, after long years of peace, to great
dimensions. Amongst the band of patriots two men stand out as leaders.
One was César de La Harpe, a noble-minded and enthusiastic Vaudois, who,
however, was more concerned for his own canton than for Switzerland at
large. The other was Peter Ochs, of Basel, a shrewd and able man, but
ambitious, and a creature of France. La Harpe had once been taunted by a
Bernese noble, who reminded him that Vaud was subject to Bern, and this
he never forgot. Even at the Court of Catherine II. of Russia, to which
he had been called as tutor to the imperial grandchildren, he never
forgot his republican principles. In 1797, returning from Russia, and
being forbidden to enter Vaud, he joined the Helvetic Club at Paris, and
thence launched forth his pamphlets against Bern. And in the Directory
things were making against that hapless canton, Reubel, a declared
enemy, gaining a seat. Napoleon too was no lover of Bern. On his way to
the Congress of Rastatt, in 1797, he passed through Switzerland, and,
while accepting the enthusiastic welcome offered by Basel and Vaud, he
declined altogether to respond to that of Bern and Solothurn. Peter Ochs
enjoyed Napoleon's full confidence, and was by him summoned to Paris,
and charged with the drafting of a new constitution for Switzerland, on
the lines of the Directory. La Harpe and Ochs thus worked towards the
same end, though the motives of the two men differed greatly.
[Illustration: LA HARPE.]
Vaud hailed with delight the French Revolution, and celebrated the fall
of Bastille in the most ostentatious manner; Bern, on the other hand,
looked with dismay on the march of events, and, in Jan. 1798, sent
Colonel Weiss with troops into the province. France replied by
immediately sending men to occupy the southern shore of Lake Geneva.
This was done at the request of the Helvetic Club, which gave as a
pretext an old treaty of 1564, by which France guaranteed her support to
Vaud. In vain did Weiss issue manifestoes; Bern was irresolute, and
Vaud, feeling herself safe under the ægis of France, proclaimed the
establishment of the "Lemanic Republic," with the seat of government at
Lausanne (Jan. 24, 1798). A simple accident which resulted in the death
of a couple of French soldiers was by their general magnified into an
_attentât_ of the "Bernese tyrants" against a "great nation." The French
troops marched on Weiss, ousted him without the necessity of striking a
blow, and then charged Vaud with a sum of £28,000 for services rendered.
Such proceedings struck terror into the hearts of the Swiss, and many of
the cantons--Basel, Schaffhausen, Lucerne, &c.--set about reforming
their governments. With matters at this pass the Diet ordered that the
national federal oath should be sworn to, a proceeding which had been
neglected for three hundred years. But this pretence of unity was a mere
sham, as indeed were all these hasty attempts at reform. They failed to
avert the coming storm, as the rulers failed to read aright the signs of
the times. The Tagsatzung distracted and helpless dissolved on Feb. 1st.
In the operations which followed, the chief command of the French forces
in Switzerland was transferred from Mengaud to Brune, a Jacobite of the
school of Danton. Brune directed his main attack on Bern, which, torn by
dissensions, was wavering between peace and war. With Machiavellian
astuteness Brune enticed the city into a truce. This truce, which was to
last till the 1st of March, was most injurious to the interests of Bern,
as it allowed time both for Brune to increase his own forces, and for
Schauenburg to join him with a body of troops from Alsace. The Bernese
were well-nigh paralyzed, and not unnaturally suspected treason amongst
their own adherents. Unluckily, too, for her, Bern was far from popular
amongst her sister cantons, and was well-nigh left to her own resources.
Her chief allies were Solothurn and Freiburg, but these surrendered to
Schauenburg and Brune at the first shock, on March 2nd. The French
troops next marched to Bern, destroying on the way the national monument
at Morat. But Von Grafenried secured a decided victory against Brune at
Neueneck. On the other hand, Ludwig von Erlach, who attempted a stand
against Schauenburg at Fraubrunnen, quite failed to hold his own, and
was driven back on Grauholz, a few miles from Bern. A life-and-death
struggle followed, even women and children seizing whatever weapons they
could and fighting desperately, many of them even unto death. For three
hours the combat lasted, and the Bernese fighting with their old
bravery, maintained their honour as soldiers. Old Schultheiss von
Steiger, "trembling in body, but stout in heart," cheered on his men
regardless of the hail of bullets falling, but harmlessly, around him.
Four times did the Swiss stand against the terrible onslaught of the
French, but were at length compelled to yield to a force so superior in
numbers and tactics to their own. And even whilst the clash of arms was
still sounding the news came that Bern had surrendered. Erlach and
Steiger fled to the Oberland, intending there to resume the combat; but
the troops, mad with suspicion that the capitulation was the result of
treason, murdered the former, Steiger narrowly escaping a similar fate.
On the 5th of March, 1798, the French entered Bern in triumph, Brune,
however, cautiously keeping up strict discipline. On the 22nd of the
previous month at Lausaune, Brune had caused it to be proclaimed that
the French came as friends and bearers of freedom, and would respect the
property of the Swiss citizens. Notwithstanding this he emptied the
treasuries and magazines of Bern, and on the 10th and 11th of March,
sent off eleven four-horse waggons full of booty, nineteen banners, and
the three bears--which they nicknamed respectively Erlach, Steiger, and
Weiss--the French carried off in triumph.
Thus fell Bern, the stronghold of the aristocracy, and with its fall the
doom of Switzerland was sealed, though more work remained to be done
before it would be complete. The Directory now abolished the old
Confederation, and proclaimed in its stead the "one and undivided
Helvetic Republic," forcing on it a new constitution elaborated from the
draft by Peter Ochs. Brune himself had had a scheme for a triple
division of the territory, but a preference was given to a united
republic, as more easily manageable from Paris. The thirteen old
cantons, together with the various subject lands and connections were
formed into twenty-two divisions. After the failure of the _laender_ the
number was reduced to nineteen, the three Forest Cantons with Zug being
thrown into one, as a punishment. Some of the rearrangements and
partitions were very curious. A few may be cited. Oberland Canton was
lopped off from Bern, and Baden from Aargau proper. Säntis included
Appenzell and the northern portion of St. Gall, and Linth comprised the
rest of St. Gall and Glarus; Tessin was split into Bellinzona and
Lugano; Vaud, Valais, and Bünden were added intact. Geneva and Neuchâtel
were left outside. In this manner the united Helvetic commonwealth was
formed, the central government being fixed at Aarau, Lucerne, and Bern
in succession. The passing of laws was vested in a senate and great
council. There was a Directory of five members to whom were added four
ministers of state--for war, justice, finance, and art and science. A
supreme court of justice was made up of nineteen representatives, one
from each canton. These were sweeping changes, and the unadvised manner
in which they were forced on the people prevented their meeting with
general approval. And then France gained the hearty dislike of the Swiss
generally by her treatment of the country. Switzerland was regarded as
a conquered and subject land, and was ruthlessly despoiled by the
French. A contribution of sixteen million francs was imposed on the
Swiss aristocracy--besides the eight million francs carried off from
Bern at her fall.[84]
Ten cantons, notably Bern, Zurich, Lucerne, and Vaud, _i.e._, the city
cantons, feeling that resistance was impossible, and reform was
necessary, acquiesced in the new arrangement; but the _laender_, except
Obwalden, stirred up by the priests and local patriots, and fearing that
religion and liberty would die together, offered a most uncompromising
resistance. They preferred, they said, "to be burnt beneath their
blazing roofs, rather than submit to the dictates of the foreigner."
Very noble was the defence made by the Forest folk, but we can only
touch briefly upon it. After a brave resistance Glarus was defeated at
Rapperswyl, on the 30th of April, 1798, and then Schauenburg proceeded
with his whole strength against Schwyz. In its defence a band of some
four thousand stout-hearted men was collected under the command of
Reding, a young and handsome officer, who had just returned from Spanish
service. Reding was an enthusiastic patriot of the old stamp, deeply
imbued with conservative principles. Men rallied to his standard
eagerly, and swore a solemn oath, "not to flee, but conquer." Reding
and his little army gained three brilliant victories, at Schindellegi,
Arth, and Morgarten, respectively, showing themselves worthy descendants
of the old heroes of 1315. However, the French effected an entrance by
way of Mount Etzel, through the failure of the priest Herzog to hold his
own against them, and poured through the gap in overwhelming numbers.
For the moment they were thrust back at Rothenthurm, but Schwyz was too
exhausted to continue the unequal struggle, and Reding was forced to
enter into negotiations, though negotiations of an honourable character,
with Schauenburg.
[Illustration: REDING.]
Then followed the gloomy 9th of September, written down as "doomsday" in
the annals of Midwalden,[85] a day that well-nigh blotted that
semi-canton out of existence. Having set up a wild opposition to the
"Helvetic," this district drew down upon itself the wrath of France.
Animated by the spirit of Winkelried, one and all--its worthy sons, its
women and children even--the little band--they were but two thousand as
against sixteen thousand--for some days kept up the unequal struggle.
The little bay of Alpnach (Alpnacher See) and the Wood of Kerns
(Kernserwald) were red with the blood of the enemy. But this state of
things could not last long. Suddenly the French broke through, and
poured in from all sides. Terrible conflicts took place at Rotzloch and
Drachenried, and a rush was made on Stanz, the chief place of the
district. By noon this town was really taken, but notwithstanding this
the combat continued in furious fashion till evening. This was the 9th
of September, 1798, a day which Schauenburg called the hottest of his
life. "Like furies," the report says, "the black legion of the French
galley-slaves slew and raged the district through." When night set in
Stanz looked a devastated, smoking city of blood and death. Europe
looked with amazement, yet with admiration and sympathy, on this heroic
spot of earth. Both England and Germany sent provisions and money, and
even Schauenburg was moved with compassion towards the poor
Midwaldeners, and had food distributed to them. It may perhaps here be
noted that Stanz shortly figures again in Swiss history, but this time
in a far more peaceful and humane manner. It was here that Pestalozzi
resumed his noble work of education. To heal the wounds of his noble
country as far as was in his power the minister Stapfer founded an
educational establishment for the orphan children of the district. And
here it was that Pestalozzi ruled, not so much as a mere pedagogue, but
as a veritable father, the little unfortunates committed to his care.
FOOTNOTES:
[83] This grand work of art is carved out of and on the face of an
immense rock, after a model by Thorwaldsen--a wounded lion with a broken
spear, representing hapless but noble courage. The work was executed in
1821.
[84] The exact sum paid by Bern is not known, but probably it reached
seven or eight million francs. The Bernese losses, up to 1813, were
estimated at seventeen million francs. One hundred and sixty cannon, and
sixty thousand muskets were also captured. Bern had kept three bears (in
the Bärangraben of the town) ever since the battle of Novara, in 1513.
Strangely enough the bears carried off in that battle were French
trophies.
[85] The mountain range, running from Titlis north-west and then
north-east to Stanzer Horn, with the Kernwald at its centre, separates
Unterwalden into Obwalden (above the wood) and Midwalden (below the
wood).
XXX.
THE "ONE AND UNDIVIDED HELVETIC REPUBLIC."
(1798-1803.)
The day of the "one and undivided Helvetic Republic" was a period of
"storm and stress," short-lived, full of creative ideas and vast
schemes, with much struggling for what was most noble in the principles
of the Revolution. Yet Helvetia was torn by inner dissensions, and its
energies paralysed by civil and foreign war, by its position of
dependence, and by financial difficulties. The Helvetic scheme of
pounding the various members of the Confederation into one state wiping
out the cantons--a scheme often planned since then, but to this day
unrealized, and as yet unrealizable--by its inevitable levelling
tendencies, roused intense disgust and hatred amongst the more
conservative of the Swiss. In truth, it went too fast, and too far in
the direction of centralization. The _laender_ were robbed of their
_landsgemeinde_, the city cantons of their councils, and the independent
states of their sovereignty. Everything seemed to be turned
topsy-turvy. Cantons became mere administrative districts.[86] The
barriers between them, and likewise between the various classes of
society, were broken down. Subject lands were recognized as equal in
status to the rest, and the inhabitants given full rights of
citizenship. Amongst the many beneficent measures brought forward the
principal may be mentioned. All restrictions on trade and industry were
removed, tithes, bondservice, and land taxes could be redeemed at a
small cost; freedom in religious matters, freedom of the press, and the
right to petition were guaranteed, and torture was suppressed. That
child of the Revolution, "the Helvetic," indeed, advocated many reforms
and gave birth to many new ideas which required time and thought and
peace to bring to maturity and usefulness. But the time was not yet
ripe, and peace was lacking, and many things were suggested rather than
put into practice. Yet we look back with interest on many of the ideas
of the time, for they paved the way for and led up to much of our modern
progress.
Excellent men, men of parts, wise and moderate, watched over the early
days of the young republic; amongst them Usteri, Escher (of Zurich),
Secretan and Carrard (Vaud), and Mayer (Bern). But gradually French
partisans, nominated from Paris, were returned to the Swiss Directory,
and Ochs and La Harpe were promoted to the leadership of Helvetic
affairs. Soon a "reign of terror"--of a milder form, perhaps, but none
the less a rule of terrorism--was set up, with the view of dragooning
the country into submission to the "_grande nation_." A levy was
enforced in order to make up a total of eighteen thousand men, a number
the Swiss were loth to produce for the foreigner. They objected to this
forced service, and took up arms abroad, whilst men like Lavater and
Reding, who defied both French tyranny and "Helvetic" despotism, were
transported, or thrust into the filthy dungeons of the fortress of
Aarburg. On the 19th of August, 1798, was concluded the fatal
Franco-Helvetic Alliance--offensive and defensive--despite the
supplications and warnings of the more far-seeing patriots, such as
Escher (von der Linth) for instance. Swiss neutrality being thus
abandoned, the door was opened to the Austro-Russian invasion, planned
by the second European coalition with the view of ousting France from
Swiss territory. Hating the new _régime_ exasperated at French supremacy
and French extortion, and desirous that the _status quo ante_ of 1798
should be re-established, the reactionists hailed with delight the
coming of the Austrians, quite as much as the "Patriots" had before
welcomed the interference of France. A legion of Swiss _emigrés_ abroad
collected by Roverea, at Vaudois, who had sided with Bern in the
previous struggle, joined the Austrian army. The foreign occupation
which took place and turned Switzerland into one military camp cannot be
followed in all its details here. Yet one or two points must be noted,
above all, those remarkable Alpine marches carried out, though against
his own will, by Suwarow. These marches are quite unique in military
history.
After the defeat of the French in Southern Germany, the Tyrol, and
Italy, by the Archduke Charles, Hotze, and Suwarow, they were to be
driven out of Switzerland. Marshal Massena, who had succeeded
Schauenburg in the command of the French troops, had at the commencement
of the war seized Graubünden, and forced it, free state though it was,
to join the Helvetic Republic to which it so strongly objected. But in
May, 1799, it was recaptured by Hotze, a gallant swordsman of Swiss
birth;[87] who had risen to the rank of field-marshal in the Austrian
army. Hotze drove the French from the central highlands, Roverea
likewise taking a prominent part in the expedition. About this time the
Archduke Charles entered Switzerland at Schaffhausen, and, carrying all
before him, advanced to Zurich. This city, after various skirmishes in
its neighbourhood, he seized on the 4th of June, forcing Massena to
retire to the heights beyond the Limmat river. But now a cessation of
hostilities intervened for some months, owing to differences between
Austria and Russia, and with this came a change of tactics. Archduke
Charles withdrew, and his place was taken by Korsakow with a Russian
army forty thousand strong. A plan was now agreed upon under which
Suwarow should join Korsakow from Italy, and they should then combine
their forces in a grand attack on the French, on September 26th. This
Massena was determined to prevent. By admirable manoeuvring he
disposed his eight divisions about Eastern and Central Switzerland, his
force amounting to no fewer than seventy-five thousand men. The
highlands of Schwyz, Uri, and Glarus, were held by Lecourbe, a skilled
strategist, thoroughly at home in the Alps, and the entrance to the St.
Gothard pass was blocked. Marshal Soult gave battle to Hotze in the
marshy district between Lake Zurich and Walensee, on the 25th of
September, with the result that Hotze was slain, and the Austrian force
retired from Swiss soil. Wherever the Austrians had gained a footing,
the reactionists had taken advantage of it to re-establish the _status
quo_. On the 25th and 26th of September, Massena attacked the Russian
forces under Korsakow, at Zurich. This second battle of Zurich--the
fighting was continued (from outside) into the very streets--resulted in
the complete defeat of Korsakow. Fortunately the city itself, having
remained neutral, escaped violent treatment, but Lavater was unfortunate
enough to be struck by a shot during the engagement, whilst carrying
help to some wounded soldiers.[88]
[Illustration: DILIGENCE CROSSING THE SIMPLON PASS.]
Quite unaware of what was being done in Switzerland, Suwarow reached the
heights of St. Gothard on the 24th of September, and, finding the pass
occupied by the enemy, cut his way through in brilliant style. Whilst
some of the Russians--at Teufelsbrüche, for instance--held in check the
French, the larger portion of their army scrambled down the steep rocks
lining the Reuss, amidst the French fire. Wading across the rapid
torrent they hurried down the valley to Flüelen, intending to push on to
Lucerne and Zurich. But to their great dismay they found no road
skirting Uri lake, and all the boats removed. They were thus locked up
in a labyrinth of mountain fastnesses, the outlets from which were
blocked by their foes. In this desperate strait there was nothing for it
but to proceed over the mountains as best they might, by any rough path
which might present itself. In reality, however, these passes were no
highroads for armies, but only narrow paths used by occasional shepherds
or huntsmen. Devoted to their leader, the Russian troops toiled up from
the sombre Schächenthal, and along the rugged Kinzig pass, pursued by
their enemies. On reaching Muotta they learned the disheartening news
that Korsakow had been defeated. No wonder that down the weather-beaten
face of the brave old general, the tears rolled as he gave the order to
retreat. But Suwarow was not inclined to sit still and repine, and
undaunted by his recent terrible struggle against nature, at once
resumed his march across the toilsome Pragel pass into the canton of
Glarus, where he had good hopes of finding Austrian friends. But on his
arrival he learnt that the Austrians had left the neighbourhood. Thus
baffled once more, and unable to get to the plains at Naefels on account
of the enemy, he was compelled to retreat again, and again attempt the
terrible passage across the mountains. Striking across the Panixer pass,
which rises to the height of eight thousand feet, he found himself
confronted by greater difficulties than before. Snow had lately fallen,
and all traces of the path had disappeared. For five terrible days the
force decimated, dying with cold, hunger, and fatigue, unshod--their
boots were entirely worn out--struggled along those wintry regions,
creeping like caterpillars up walls of snow and over icy peaks. Hundreds
of men and horses fell into the hidden crevices, down which also many a
piece of artillery fell with sudden crash. Fully one-third of the
gallant band perished during that fearful passage. The worn and famished
survivors reached Graubünden on the 10th of October, and thence made
their way into Austrian territory. Suwarow had failed, but immortal
glory attaches to the memory of the dauntless and resolute old general.
The non-success of the foreign invasions meant also the failure of the
reactionists in their attempt to overthrow the "Helvetic Republic."
Indescribable misery was the consequence of the foreign wars, and it was
intensified by the French occupation, and especially by the disgraceful
system of spoliation practised by the French generals and agents,
Mengaud, Lecarlier, Rapinat, &c. A few examples of the treatment
Switzerland received at the hands of the French "liberators" may be
given. Urserenthal, one of the Uri valleys, was called upon during the
year Oct. 1798 to Oct. 1799, to provide food for a total of 861,700 men,
and a pretty hamlet in Freiburg for twenty-five thousand, within half a
year. During four months, Thurgau spent one and a half million francs,
and the Baden district well-nigh five millions, in provisioning French
troops within a year. All protestations of inability on the part of the
inhabitants were useless; Rapinat[89] and others, like vampires, sucked
the very life-blood out of the unfortunate Swiss. The "Helvetic
Republic" had its noble side, it is true, but the French occupation, by
which it was maintained, and which indeed was the outcome of it, caused
the Helvetic scheme to be regarded by the people at large with disgust
and hatred.
The brightest side of the "Helvetic Republic" was seen in the remarkable
efforts of noble patriots--foremost amongst them Rengger and Stapfer--to
mitigate the effects of all these calamities by promoting, in spite of
all difficulties, or against all odds of the time, the material and
ideal interests of the people. Both Rengger and Stapfer were highly
cultivated men, and both were ministers of state, the former holding the
portfolio of finance, the latter that of arts and sciences. Rengger
directed his efforts to the improvement of trade and agriculture; one of
his practical efforts being the introduction of English cotton-spinning
machines. Stapfer, on the other hand, worked for the spread of popular
education. "Spiritual and intellectual freedom alone makes free," he
maintained. He himself had been born in one of the new enfranchised
subject lands, it may be noted parenthetically. He drew up a remarkable
scheme of national education, a scheme embracing the child in the
primary school, and the young man in the National University. This dream
of a national university, by the way, is still unrealized,[90] but
Stapfer intended that it should crown his whole system of national
education, and should combine German depth with French versatility and
Italian taste. Most of Stapfer's grand scheme remained untried through
want of means and time, but it was a very remarkable scheme for that
day. Yet much was done. Numerous schools sprang up, and every canton had
its educational council and its inspector of schools. Lucerne, which had
hitherto been quite behindhand in these matters, now founded schools in
all its communes (by 1801), and Aarau established a gymnasium. Some four
thousand children from the wasted and ruined country districts were
brought into the towns and educated; whilst numerous journals were
started, and many literary and art societies founded. Perhaps Stapfer's
chief title to honourable remembrance is his appreciation of, and his
assistance to, Pestalozzi. Leaving Stanz on account of confessional
differences, the great philanthropist established his famous school at
Burgdorf, winning for himself by it European renown.
These noble efforts towards national advancement intellectually are the
more admirable as the country was convulsed with constitutional
struggles. From the first days of the Revolution, there had sprung up
two political schools, the Centralists, who[91] wished to see one single
state with one central government; and the Federalists, who clung to
the historical traditions of their fatherland, and to the _status quo
ante_ of 1798. These latter desired to see cantonal self-government
preponderating over the central authority. It was a struggle to the
death between advanced Liberals and stout Conservatives. Within the
short space of five years, the country saw no fewer than four _coups
d'état_, complete overthrowings of government and constitution. We can
notice only the chief points in the history of these changes. The first
shock came with the change in France from the Directory to the
Consulate, and the return of Napoleon from Egypt, on the 9th of
November, 1798. Ochs, detested as the tool of France by nearly all the
Swiss, was hurled from his eminence; and La Harpe following suit, the
Swiss Directory was replaced by an executive committee. The Peace of
Luneville, February, 1801, left the Swiss free to chose their own form
of government, but Napoleon himself gradually went over to the
Federalist view. Drafts of new constitutions followed each other in
quick succession, each in its turn being upset by that which followed.
The sketch of La Malmaison, drawn up by the Federalists, restored the
Tagsatzung, and the independence of the cantons, May, 1801. Another
overthrow, and then Alois Reding rose to the position of first
Landammann, and head of the Conservative government (Oct. 28, 1801).
Chivalrous and of unflinching resolve, Reding lacked the pliancy
necessary for a statesman, and desired to see Vaud again placed under
the rule of Bern. "Sooner shall the sun turn from west to east,"
fiercely exclaimed Napoleon, "than Vaud shall go back to Bern." Reding
was deprived of his office, and shut up at Aarburg, a fate that befell
him on several other occasions under Bonaparte. In July, 1802, Napoleon
withdrew the French troops from Swiss territory, with the view
ostensibly of complying with the treaty of Amiens, but in reality to
show the Swiss how powerless they were without his help. This was the
signal for a general outbreak of civil war, humorously called
_Stecklikrieg_, or _Guerre aux bâtons_, in allusion to the indifferent
equipment of the soldiery. The Helvetic Government which was then in
power fled from Bern, and took up its quarters at Lausanne. Its small
force was defeated at Avenches by the Federalists, who pushed on to the
Leman city, when an order to lay down their arms reached them from
Paris. Through the medium of General Rapp, Napoleon offered his services
as "mediator" in the civil troubles of Switzerland, and at his heels
followed Marshal Ney, with an army of forty thousand men to enforce
order.
FOOTNOTES:
[86] The utter failure clearly shows how little such a centralization of
government, leaving the cantons no scope for action, could suit the
separate states of the Confederation at any time. The name "canton" was
first used in French treaties with Switzerland, and became thenceforward
the general term. It had not come into use even so late as the Helvetic.
[87] He was a native of a large village in the Zurich district.
[88] He lingered on suffering from his wound for a whole year, and then
died, distinguished to the very last by his love for all mankind, and
for his country especially.
[89] The following lines, common in men's mouths afterwards, tell their
own tale:--
"La Suisse qu'on pille et qu'on ruine
Voudrait bien que l'on decidât
Si Rapinat vient de rapine,
Ou rapine de Rapinat."
[90] And not very likely to be realized, as the respective cantons cling
to their four universities and two academies, which are their pride.
[91] In German, _Centralisten_ or _Unitarier_.
XXXI.
THE MEDIATION ACT AND NAPOLEON.
(1803-15.)
From a constitutional point of view this period--the mediation period
(1803-13)--is the most satisfactory portion of the epoch between the
French revolutions of 1789 and 1830. It suited Napoleon's fancy to
assume the position of a directing providence to the Alpine lands. And,
finding that the federalists and the centralists of Switzerland--the
_laudatores temporis acti_ and the progressivists--were quite unable to
agree upon a compromise, it pleased him to give the country a new
constitution. He stopped their squabbles by summoning the "Helvetic
Consulta" to Paris. Sixty-three deputies, of whom but fifteen were
federalists, obeyed the call, many of the foremost statesmen among them.
Those who disobeyed the summons, like Reding and his party, were
arrested (Nov., 1803). In the official gazette Napoleon was pleased to
speak of the Swiss nation as one that had "always stood out in history
as a model of strength, courage, and good manners," and he expressed a
wish that the Swiss should "aim at good government, and should sacrifice
their party feelings to their real interests, to glory, and
independence." Thus complimentary was his language, and the painstaking
care and thoughtful consideration he brought to bear on the
reorganization of Swiss affairs presents the great despot under a
singularly amiable aspect; and the Mediation Act which he drew up would,
but for the selfish _arrière pensée_ running through it, be one of his
noblest and most beneficent political acts.
From the drafts and data presented by the Conference Napoleon, in two
months (Nov. 25th-Jan. 24th), drew up his famous scheme. Laying it first
before the whole assembly, he then had selected an inner committee of
ten for a further and final consultation. This took place on Jan. 29th
at the Tuileries, the sitting lasting from one o'clock to eight in the
evening. The French commissioners[92] afterwards stated that they had
never witnessed such a scene, and that "never had the First Consul
devoted such close attention, even to the most important matters of
European politics." The Swiss party, representing both the political
sections, and the four French Commissioners, sat round the table,
Napoleon himself in the middle of them, beaming with graceful
amiability. The proposals respecting the three classes of cantons were
read out, and two of the delegates, Stapfer of whom we have heard
before, and Hans von Reinhard,[93] were called upon to express their
respective views. A general discussion followed, the Consul giving the
closest attention to every detail. His own speeches showed an intimate
acquaintance with Swiss matters, and whilst full of practical wisdom,
also evidenced his real interest and sympathy with the little republic.
He pointed out that Switzerland was quite unlike any other country in
its history, its geographical position, in its inclusion of three
nationalities and three tongues. The characteristics and the advancement
of three nations had, in fact, to be considered and maintained. Nature
itself had clearly intended that it should be a federal state. To the
Forest Cantons, to which he avowed the whole republic owes its
characteristic hue, he restored the time-honoured _landsgemeinde_, "so
rich in memories of the past"; to the city cantons he gave back their
ancient councils, re-fashioned in accordance with modern ideas; and to
the subject lands he gave autonomy. The position of these last in the
past was, he averred, incompatible with the modern character of a
republic, and his elevation of them into new cantons is the special
merit of his scheme. Meeting the views of the federalists by giving
independence or home-rule to each canton, he also met those of the
centralists by planning a well-organized central government in the form
of a _Tagsatzung_ with enlarged powers. At the head of this he placed a
Swiss Landammann with almost _plein pouvoir_. Napoleon selected as
first Landammann a man he highly esteemed--Louis d'Affry, of Freiburg,
son of Count d'Affry. Both father and son had served in France as
officers and statesmen, and Louis was one of the few who had escaped the
massacre at Paris in 1792. He was a perfect courtier, mild and
conservative in his views. It is worth mentioning that during the
_intermezzo_, which occurred at five o'clock, when refreshments were
handed round, the Consul, standing by the mantelpiece, with a circle of
delegates round him, talked incessantly on Swiss politics and spared no
pains to impress on his hearers how much Swiss interests were bound up
with those of France. There was no mistaking his meaning, which, to do
him justice, he did not attempt to conceal. The members of the
Conference, whom Napoleon treated all through with marked distinction,
were quite alive to the danger threatening their country, but trusted
that some turn of the wheel might avert it. After this parley the Consul
redrafted the Mediation Act, and presented it in person on the 19th of
February for signature, afterwards taking leave of the whole deputation.
La Harpe gained for the Swiss the countenance of the Emperor Alexander,
and Prussia and Austria were engaged in a territorial squabble, and no
interference took place. An epoch of peace and prosperity followed the
general amnesty (April 15, 1803) granted by the Mediation Act. The
period of quiet was broken only by the Bockenkrieg in 1804, a rising in
which an attempt was made by the country folk of the Zurich Canton to
stand against the unredeemed land rents and tithes still due to the
city.[94] The insurrection was put down by force.[95] Six new cantons
were formed by the new Act--Bünden, St. Gall, Thurgau, Aargau, Vaud, and
Ticino; and these were added as equals to the thirteen _Alte Orte_, the
management of its own affairs being granted to each. The liberal
principles inaugurated by the "Helvetic" were to a great extent borne in
mind, though the lower orders were still excluded from direct political
representation. Mercenary wars, military movements, and leagues between
separate cantons, were strictly forbidden; but so, also, was forbidden
the maintenance of a federal army, save a small force to maintain order,
and thus the country was robbed of adequate means of defence. Freiburg,
Bern, Soleure, Basel, Zurich, and Lucerne, became in their turns
managing or dictatorial cantons for one year at a time. That is, they
were the seats of the Diet, and their chief magistrate--schultheiss or
burgomaster, as the case might be--became Landammann. To the larger
cantons, _i.e._, those having not less than one hundred thousand
inhabitants, two votes at the Diet were assigned, to the smaller, one
vote. It is not necessary to go into more minute details here, as there
are numerous constitutional changes to be noted between that period and
the year 1874.
Thus, whatever may be thought of Napoleon's ultimate aims, it was owing
to him that Switzerland enjoyed quiet, prosperity, and perfect
self-government at a time when Europe generally was torn by quarrels and
steeped in war. The Swiss people gave their whole attention to home
affairs, and to the striving after intellectual and material progress,
as they had done in the Helvetic days, but now with more success.
Benevolent societies were founded, high schools established, and
institutions for the advancement of letters, science, and art, sprang
up. Many men of note mightily stirred the ideal side of life; amongst
them we may mention the novelist, Zschokke,[96] of Aargau; Martin
Usteri, the poet-artist; and George Nägeli, the Sängervater, or "Father
of Song." Both these latter were of Zurich, and Nägeli gave a great
impulse to the founding of musical societies, and did much to spread the
art of singing so common in the German districts, and especially
cultivated at Basel and Zurich. Pestalozzi established a new school at
Yverdon in Vaud; and his friend and former pupil, Von Fellenberg, of
Bern, the superior of his master in practical management, founded his
famous institution at Hofwil. This comprised a whole series of schools,
high schools, schools for the middle class, agricultural schools, and
elementary schools for the poor. Pater Girard, a friend of Pestalozzi,
at Freiburg, did for the Catholics much what these men did for the
Protestants. Another noble and devoted man was Escher, who, though of
aristocratic birth himself, was yet an ardent worker for the benefit of
the poorer classes. His chief work was the canalization of the Linth
between Walensee and the Lake of Zurich, by means of which some
twenty-eight thousand acres of unhealthy swamp became valuable
agricultural land. For this labour of love, to which he sacrificed his
health, the Diet decreed to him and his family the honourable addition
of "Von der Linth."[97] The introduction of machinery gave a great
impetus to trade and industry. In 1800 the cloisters of St. Gall were
turned into the first Swiss spinning mill, and during the following
decade four more mills were started in the canton. In 1808 Heinrich
Kunz, the "King of spinners on the Continent," laid the foundations
(Zurich) of the first of his numerous mills. In 1812 the great firm of
Rieter and Co., whose machines soon gained a world-wide reputation,
started business at Winterthur.
Yet all was not smooth in the little Swiss state. Switzerland was
compelled not only to enter into a close defensive alliance with France,
but to keep the French army constantly supplied with sixteen thousand
Swiss soldiers. So great was the drain of this "blood-tax," that in
some cantons even the prisons had to be opened to enable the levy to be
made up. Switzerland was made an _entrepôt_ for English contraband
goods; and the decree of Trianon, in 1810, ordered the confiscation of
these, and placed a tax on English goods of half their value. All this
weighed heavily on Switzerland, and the Landammann's touching
representation to Napoleon, that twenty thousand families were rapidly
becoming breadless, passed unheeded. In 1806 the despot gave Neuchâtel
to his favourite general, Berthier, and in 1810 he handed over Ticino to
Italy, on the pretext that that district was harbouring English
contraband goods. The same year he joined to France the Valais district,
where he had a few years earlier (1802) constructed the famous Simplon
road into Italy. The Swiss naturally protested against these
mutilations, but he threatened to annex the whole country, and D'Affry
and Reinhard, who stood in favour with him, had much ado to calm his
temper. When, however, the impetuous Sidler, of Zug, and the heroic
Reding, defied him, and advised an armed resistance at the Diet,
Napoleon sent word to Reinhard that he would march fifty thousand men
into the country, and compel the Swiss to unite with France.
But the tide was beginning to turn; Napoleon had passed his zenith. The
fatal Russian expedition, into which his pride and reckless ambition
tempted him in 1812, was followed by the terrible disaster of Leipsic,
"the battle of the nations." The allied armies marched to Paris, and
compelled the abdication of the emperor. This turn of events naturally
affected the position of the Swiss very greatly, but, quite content with
their new constitution, they declined to join the allied states. At the
command of the Landammann, Von Reinhard, General von Wattenwil placed
his scanty forces, numbering some fifteen thousand men, along the
frontier to enforce neutrality if possible. But on the approach of the
allied forces Wattenwil saw that resistance would be madness, and gave
orders to his men to withdraw, and be careful not to provoke
hostilities. About Christmas time in 1813, the combined Austrian and
German troops--Alexander was for sparing the Swiss--to the number of one
hundred and seventy thousand, marched right across the country on their
way to the French capital. On the whole little material injury was done
to the country, but the Mediation Act, by the very reason of its origin,
was bound to fall. On the 29th of December the Diet was compelled to
decree its own extinction. The Peace of Paris, on the 31st of May in the
following year, guaranteed Switzerland its independence. A new
constitution was to come later on.
The overthrow of the Mediation Act plunged Switzerland into fresh
troubles. All the reactionary elements came to the surface. Bern revived
her old pretensions to the overlordship of Vaud and Aargau; and
Freiburg, Solothurn, Lucerne, and the Forest Cantons, acting on the same
lines, supported Bern in her claims. Zurich, on the other hand, stood
out for the nineteen cantons, and headed the opposition to Bern. Again
there was seen the deplorable spectacle of a divided state, with two
confederations and two diets. One of these, with its headquarters at
Lucerne, was, however, forced to dissolve, by foreign pressure, chiefly
through to the influence of D'Istria, the Russian ambassador at Zurich.
All the cantons now sent representatives to the Diet held in this
last-named city, with the view of drawing up a new federal pact. But
party strife was very bitter, and the session lasted from April 6, 1814,
to the the 31st of August, 1815, an extraordinary length of time hence
it was called the "Long Diet." The protracted proceedings were caused
chiefly by Bern, which obstinately refused to abate her pretensions to
the two districts (Vaud and Aargau). There were, however, many minor
points of difference, all tending to embitter and prolong the session.
It was clear that a settlement could only be brought about by a
compromise, and great concessions on the part of some of the members. As
a matter of fact several things were left unsettled. This Zurich
constitution was to be laid before the Vienna Congress, which opened on
the 3rd of November, 1814, and which was to disentangle many knots in
European politics.
Monarchs, princes, ambassadors, ministers, and generals, from all the
states, met at the gay city on the Danube, to rearrange the map of
Europe. The story of this strange international gathering is well known,
with its Vanity Fair of fine ladies and gentlemen, its magnificent
fêtes, balls, masquerades, steeplechases, and gaities innumerable. It is
said that Francis I. spent no less than thirty millions of florins on
entertaining his guests, and the gay scene and high spirits formed a
strange contrast with the previous despondency prevailing on the
Continent generally. The "_Congrès danse, mais ne marche pas_," was the
saying that went abroad. Yet it was not strange that men felt glad. The
weight of Napoleon's hand was now removed, and the world breathed more
freely. All the sufferings of the last quarter of a century were
forgotten, and, it is to be feared, the lesson to be learnt from them
was not learnt. The changes were too many, too sudden, and too sweeping
to permit anything to take root. But the seeds left behind by the
revolutions and wars will blossom and bear fruit later on. Every sound
movement must develop gradually. In this way only can we account for the
reactions, the return to the old lines of constitution and social life,
after the fall of Bonaparte.
Switzerland had many points to settle at the Congress, and, indeed, to
the despair of the members, seemed inclined to bring forward all her
domestic squabbles. On the whole, the commissioners showed much goodwill
towards Switzerland, and took great pains to make that country a strong
outpost against French extensions. Von Reinhard, the first Swiss
representative at the Congress, gained much praise by his dignity and
astuteness, and the Emperor Alexander entered fully into his liberal
views and aspirations, coinciding with those of La Harpe. Bern and her
pretensions, which were as strong as ever, gave most trouble, Vaud and
Aargau naturally insisting on retaining their independence. At length a
compromise was arranged, and the larger portion of the see of Basel
(Bernese Jura, &c.), and Bienne being given to Bern. The bailiwicks of
the _laender_ redeemed their freedom by purchase; the rest of the
cantons, more generous, required no compensation. Subject lands were set
free for good, and the country received its present boundaries. Ticino
had been restored by Napoleon, and Valais, Geneva, and Neuchâtel, were
admitted as cantons on an equality with the rest, and thus we get the
now familiar number of twenty-two cantons. The list was closed, though
by a strange anomaly Neuchâtel still continued to be not only a Swiss
canton, but a Prussian duchy. Geneva was, as it were, rounded off by the
addition of Versoix (Gex), and some Savoy communes.[98] Geneva had long
wished to be received into the Federation, and great was her rejoicing
now that her dream was realized. Thus Switzerland received the great
boon of independence, and was placed under the protection of the Great
Powers. Bünden lost her appendages, Valtellina, Chiavenna, and Bormio,
which went to Austria, but gained in return the district of Räzuns. The
new constitution assigned to Switzerland is decidedly inferior to the
"Mediation Act." There was a revival of the old system of narrow
prerogatives; the several cantons gaining _plein pouvoir_ as against the
federal authorities; the cities retaining their preponderance over the
rural districts, and the wealthy and the aristocracy their power over
their poorer brethren. Military matters alone were better provided for.
Thus we shall presently find that Revolution had to begin her work over
again. Bern, Zurich, and Lucerne became in turn the seat of the Diet,
and one vote only was allotted to each canton. Midwalden offered a
fanatical opposition to the new constitution, but was compelled to give
way, and had to forfeit Engelberg, with its famous cloister and the
whole valley, which was given to Obwalden.
FOOTNOTES:
[92] Barthélemy, Röderer, Fouché, and Desmeunier.
[93] This Hans von Reinhard was burgomaster of Zurich and Landammann; he
belonged to one of the old aristocratic families of his native city.
[94] The liquidation of this territorial debt was a most complicated
matter, and plays an important part in the risings of the rural
districts, yet the rightly cautious city had to consider various other
interests besides those of the country folks. Many benevolent city
institutions for the sick and poor were maintained by the income drawn
from country dues.
[95] "It is meet that the country districts should cease their antipathy
to the city, or they deserve to fall again under its authority,"
Napoleon had remarked, during the Paris Conference, to the Zurich
representatives, Reinhard and Paul Usteri. He added that the personal
character of the representatives was a guarantee that they would
reconcile the two parties they represented.
[96] A German by birth.
[97] Escher died soon after the completion of the Linth Canal (1822),
and the Diet erected to his memory a monument in Glarus Canton. A
characteristic story respecting him is worth repeating. Some poor man
seeing him standing hard at work up to his waist in water exclaimed,
"Why, sir, if I were as rich as you, I shouldn't work at all." "That's
just why God has given you no wealth," was Escher's quiet reply.
[98] She objected to receiving the larger strip of Savoy and French land
(on the lake and the Rhone), which the Congress wished to assign her,
for fear of being absorbed by Catholicism, and, moreover, she was
anxious not to alarm her old friends. The facts were and are often
misrepresented. Chablais and Faucigny, once temporarily held by Bern,
were declared neutral, and placed under the guarantee of the Powers.
That is, in case of war, Swiss troops quarter the district, as in
1870-71.
XXXII.
SWITZERLAND UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1815-48.
The history of the thirty-three years following 1815 may, so far as
Switzerland is concerned, be summed up in this description--it was a
protest, latent at first and afterwards open and declared, of the Swiss
people against the decrees of the Vienna Congress, which tended to stop
the wheel of progress. The Swiss struggled onwards through the conflicts
of political development, and battled against all that was a hindrance
to them in the constitution of 1815, the Powers looking on with
misgiving if not with dismay the while not understanding the signs of
the times. Yet, by 1848, when the thrones of Europe were again shaken by
revolutions, Switzerland had gained that for which it had been
struggling, and had settled down into a peaceful and regenerated
_Bundestaat_. We have shown how the settlement of 1815 was in many ways
a return to old lines in both Church and State. Speaking generally, the
Church gained greatly by the new constitution, the return of the
Jesuits was favoured, the religious establishments were still maintained
at a rate which really exceeded the financial possibilities of the
state, and the clergy were given a free hand. Then the old power of the
aristocracy was largely re-established, and the cities were given their
former great preponderance over the country districts. Bern, for
instance, receiving two hundred seats in the Council, as against
ninety-nine. The reactionary _régime_ from 1815 to 1830, was, in fact,
politically a blank, though towards its close some of the cantons began
to carry measures of reform. Amongst these was Ticino, into which some
fatal abuses had crept. To make up for their political deficiencies, and
to rekindle their smouldering patriotism, the Swiss, as they had done
before, turned to the past history of their country. They founded
patriotic and literary clubs, and established liberal and benevolent
institutions. Monuments were erected at classical spots--Morat, St.
Jacques, the lion monument, and so forth. Eminent painters like Vogel
and Didary chose national historical events for their canvas; and Rudolf
Wyp composed the fine national anthem, "_Rufst Du mein Vaterland_."[99]
A naturalists' club at Geneva, a students' association at Zofingen, and
a society of marksmen--still in existence--were started, whilst the old
Helvetic Society of the eighteenth century left behind its mere
theorizings and discussions, and became an active political club. All
these things tended greatly to spread and promote Swiss liberalism, of
which many noble champions had sprung up, now and in the previous
period, like the veteran trio--Victor von Bonstetten, the friend of
Madame de Staël, La Harpe, and Usteri; like Troxler, Zschokke, Monnard,
Von Orelli and others, far too numerous even to name here. Under such
men Switzerland moved on. "No human efforts can succeed in permanently
leading back mankind to the old lines of a past and less enlightened
age. To struggle onwards, and to reach the end aimed at is the
quickening stimulus in every thinking being." Such were the encouraging
words of Usteri, a champion whom the party of progress regarded as an
oracle. Military matters received a great impetus by the formation of a
central school for officers at Thun, and the increase of the army from
fifteen thousand to thirty thousand men. It hardly needs to be said that
when the struggle of the Greeks for independence began they had the
hearty sympathy and support of the Swiss.[100]
In 1830 the revolution of July hurled from his throne Charles X., and
raised to his place Louis Philippe. Strangely enough the effects of this
movement were felt almost more abroad than in France itself. Certainly
its influence on Switzerland was very considerable, and it hurried on
various changes of a sweeping character in that country, changes,
however, which had been long preparing. Constitutional struggles, both
federal and cantonal, crowded the next few years, and confessional
difficulties tended not a little to quicken them. With nearly all the
states, excepting some of the _laender_, the chief object now became the
revision of their charters, so as to make them more consistent with the
principles of popular rights and equality. Glarus, Uri, and Unterwalden
were as yet averse to making changes, however justifiable and desirable
they might seem to the rest of the country. The reforms were for the
most part quietly carried out, but there were popular oppositions and
stormy disputes in places. Bern was at first inclined to be
conservative, but once embarked on the sea of reformation, sided
strongly with the more progressive Zurich. Freiburg returned a crowd of
fifty-seven priests and seventeen professors, all of the Jesuit order,
and these ousted Girard, the Catholic Pestalozzi, from his noble work at
St. Michael's College. Zurich proceeded in a peaceful and interesting
fashion. Here as in other cases the city had a great preponderance of
political power over the country districts of the canton. The fourteen
thousand citizens elected one hundred and thirty representatives, as
against the eighty-six assigned to the two hundred thousand rural
inhabitants. The cause of the country folk was ably and without
bitterness championed by two eloquent speakers, Guyer and
Hegetschweiler; and a motion was carried which allotted to the rural
districts two-thirds of the seats on the council board. This "day of
Uster," as it was called, proved a great landmark in political
development. The sovereignty of the people was now the basis on which
reforms were made. The foundation was laid for better administration,
and social improvement and provision was made for necessary revisions of
the constitution. To safeguard their constitutions against the
influence of reactionists, seven cantons entered into a
league--_Siebner-Concordat_--March, 1832. They were Bern, Zurich,
Lucerne, Solothurn, St. Gall, Aargau, and Thurgau.
[Illustration: INTERLAKEN, FROM THE FELSENEGG.]
Less satisfactory was the course of events in Schwyz, Basel, and
Neuchâtel. In Schwyz a temporary separation into the two semi-cantons of
Inner and Outer Schwyz was caused by the refusal of the former to grant
equal rights to the latter, which had been formerly subject or purchased
land mainly. Basel, the city of millionaires and manufactures, was able
by her overwhelming importance to hold her supremacy over the rural
districts, and thus arose the division into Baselstadt, and Baselland,
which latter had Liestal as its _chef lieu_. But all this after a civil
strife of three years. Basel city joined the Catholic League formed at
Sarnen, in November, 1832, as a counterblast to the _Siebner-Concordat_.
Uri, Inner-Schwyz, Unterwalden, Valais, and Freiburg also joined this
league. The inhabitants of Neuchâtel had a double object, the
reformation of their constitution, and their separation, if possible,
from Prussia, the double _régime_ being greatly disliked. An attempt was
made on the castle, but it failed, and the Federation re-established
order, and the old _status quo_. The royalist party in Neuchâtel now
aimed at a severance from Switzerland.
But the natural consequence of constitutional revision in the separate
cantons was the revision of the federal pact, with the view of
strengthening the bonds which joined the states. The draft of a new
constitution for Switzerland was presented at Lucerne in July, 1832, by
the moderate party, but it failed, as so many other attempts have done
which clashed with the selfishness of those cantons, that thought more
of the question of cantonal home-rule than of the weal of the country as
a whole. A far-seeing policy required that the central government should
be strengthened, that the Diet should be made thoroughly capable of
protecting Swiss interests, both in the country itself and abroad. That
the Diet was quite incapable of enforcing its decrees for the general
good was plainly shown by the condition of things in Basel, alluded to
above.
With all these drawbacks, however, the period from 1830-1848 witnessed a
true regeneration--social, political, intellectual. Never had education
made such marvellous progress. It is to this period that the country
owes that revival of educational zeal and that improvement in schools
and methods of teaching, which are the great glory of modern
Switzerland. Canton vied with canton, and authority with authority, in
their noble enthusiasm for education. Zurich, Bern, Thurgau, Solothurn,
Vaud--all these founded excellent teachers' seminaries. Primary schools
were improved, and secondary schools established in every canton, and in
all the more important cities gymnasiums were founded. At Zurich these
time-honoured institutions, the Chorherrenstift and the Carolinum, were
in 1832 converted into the present gymnasium and university, and Bern
made similar establishments in the following year. Thus were being
gradually realized the noble aspirations of the "Helvetic" period, those
of Stapfer particularly.
Unfortunate conflicts with foreign powers, however, not seldom arose.
Fugitives from other countries then as now made Switzerland their abode,
and many of them abused her hospitality, and entangled her in
dissensions with foreign governments, exactly as we find happening at
the present moment. Many of the political _emigrés_ were men of great
note, but space will permit of our noticing only two, Louis Philippe,
and Louis Napoleon, afterwards Napoleon III. The Prince de Chartres
lived for some years in Graubünden, occupying under the name of Chabaud,
the position of mathematical master in an educational establishment of
repute at Reichenau. Singularly enough he afterwards refused to the man
who was to succeed him on the throne of France, the privilege of shelter
in Swiss lands, that is to say, he objected very strongly. For in 1838
he suddenly requested that the Swiss Diet should give up Louis Napoleon,
on the plea that he was an intriguer. This request was in reality a
demand, and was more than the Swiss could stand. Napoleon was in fact a
Swiss burgess, having become naturalized, and having passed through the
military school at Thun, and become a captain in the Swiss army. His
mother had for some time lived with her son in the castle of Arenenberg
(in the Canton of Thurgau), which she had purchased soon after 1814.
Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Kern, representative of that state in the
Diet, the Swiss Government were able to disprove the charge made against
Louis Napoleon, and the Diet firmly refused to expel the prince. France
enraged threatened war to her "turbulent neighbour," and actually set on
foot an army of twenty-five thousand men. Thoroughly roused, the Diet
sent troops to the frontier, amidst general acclamations, Geneva and
Vaud being conspicuous in their endeavours to protect their boundaries.
These two cantons were specially thanked by the central government. The
prince, however, cleared away difficulties by quitting the Swiss
soil.[101]
The Zurich conflicts of 1839, called "Zurichputsch," from a local word
meaning push or scramble, claim a moment's attention. That canton had
perhaps more thoroughly than any other carried through a reorganization
of its legislature and administration. It had establishment a most
complete system of schools, graded from the primary school up to the
University, whose chairs were occupied by men who made the city a real
intellectual centre--by Oken, Hitzig, Schweizer, Von Orelli, Bluntschli,
and others. Things marched too rapidly however. Dr. Scherr, a
rationalist German _emigré_, was at the head of an excellent
training-college for teachers, but refused to allow biblical teaching to
be given. Then the Government, anxious to make the city of Zwingli a
centre of freethought, appointed the famous Strauss, author of the
"Leben Jesu," to a vacancy on the university staff, despite the warnings
of the native professors. The country people rose in wild frenzy, being
urged on by the reactionary party, which desired to regain the reins of
government. So great was the feeling against the appointment, that
Strauss was pensioned off even before he saw the city. Even yet the
excitement was very great, and, led by Pastor Hirzel, the rural
inhabitants flocked into Zurich in great numbers. The Council was
obliged to resign, and for a considerable period the reactionists had
the power in their own hands. A few persons, but not many, were killed
during the disturbances. The effects of this _contre-coup_ in the most
advanced city of the republic were soon felt in other places, in Ticino,
Lucerne, and Freiburg, where conservative governments were returned,
and codes altered accordingly. Zurich and Lucerne left the
_Siebner-Concordat_.
But the event which stands out more prominently than any other during
this period is the Sonderbund war of 1847. This conflict, which
threatened the very existence of the state, forms the prelude to the
European disturbances of the following year. This dispute of 1847 is the
old struggle between the centralists and the federalists, or rather the
progressivists and the reactionists, the dispute being intensified by
religious differences. The chief points in the conflict must be briefly
noted. In some of the cantons the Catholics, though in a minority, had
advantages over the Protestant population, and when, in 1841, Aargau was
revising its constitution, the latter demanded to be put on an equal
footing with their Catholic brethren. This was flatly refused, and an
embroilment took place in the canton, some of the monasteries taking a
leading part in fomenting the quarrel. The rising, however, came to
nought, and the Diet, on the motion of Keller, suspended the monastic
houses, on the plea that they were hotbeds of intrigue. This step was
clearly in opposition to the principles of the Constitution of 1815, and
for years caused great trouble. It is impossible to give here minutely
the story of the disputes: suffice it to say, the Diet compromised
matters by extending forgiveness to four of the cloisters that had kept
aloof from the rising (1843). But in 1844 Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug,
Freiburg, and Valais, formed a secret league--that of Sarnen had long
since fallen through--to protect Catholic interests, and appointed
Jesuits to the highest offices in the state. The entrance of the order
at the Vorort created great excitement, but the Diet abstained from
intervening, fearing to make matters worse. Two hapless expeditions of
"Free Lances" now took place, the liberals from Lucerne and other
cantons attempting to carry that city. The attempts utterly failed, and
naturally so, seeing in how disorganized a condition the partizans were.
But in January, 1847, the Protestants managed to get a majority at the
Diet, and demanded the dissolution of the Sonderbund, as it had got to
be called by that time. The foreign courts--Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and
others--sided with the Swiss Sonderbund, being anxious to retain the
_status quo_ of 1815; France and Austria particularly sending money and
promises of further support. England alone favoured the Protestants of
Switzerland, and rendered them a great service. Palmerston was all
against foreign intervention, and when the Powers issued a manifesto
against the Swiss, he kept it back till Nov. 30th, when all was quietly
settled. Meanwhile the Sonderbund organized a Council of War, and
prepared for action. The Diet did all in its power to reconcile the
contending religionists, and the English ambassador at Bern strongly
recommended moderation and mutual concessions.[102]
Seeing that in spite of all their efforts war was inevitable, the Diet
levied an army of ninety-eight thousand men, at the head of which was
placed General Dufour of Geneva. The Sonderbund raised seventy-five
thousand men, under General Salis-Soglio, a Protestant from Bünden.
Dufour was a soldier of the old Napoleonic school, and a consummate
tactician, and was revered by his fellow countrymen for his patriotism,
lofty character, and high culture. It was under his management that the
Swiss topographical maps bearing his name--the first of their kind--were
executed. His selection as general gave great satisfaction. Thanks to
Dufour's ability the campaign was short, lasting only from the 4th to
the 29th of November, 1847, and the losses were comparatively small.
Honours were lavished on Dufour on all sides, even they of the
Sonderbund heartily acknowledging his great services.
Heartburning and jealousy enough and to spare there had been between the
opposing religious parties. On the 29th of October, 1847, the last
occasion on which the Diet had attempted to reconcile Catholic and
Protestant, there had been the utmost dissension and rancour. But such
is the nature of Swiss patriotism that when, three short months after,
the countries around Switzerland were convulsed with revolutions, and
the Swiss lands were threatened with invasion, the contending
religionists forgot their domestic quarrels entirely. And the glorious
sight was seen of Catholic and Protestant standing shoulder to shoulder,
ready to vie with each other in meeting danger and death in defence of
their common and beloved fatherland. Not a vestige of hostile party
feeling was left. It has ever been thus in Switzerland.
FOOTNOTES:
[99] Wyp had studied at Göttingen, which was still under English rule,
and had there been impressed by the English national anthem, of which
his own is an imitation, the air being borrowed from "God save the
Queen."
[100] One of the leading collectors of subscriptions in aid of the
Greeks was Eynard, a wealthy Genevese, whose own contributions were most
munificent.
[101] "La Suisse a montré qu'elle était prête à faire les plus grands
sacrifices pour maintenir sa dignité et son honneur. Elle a su faire son
devoir comme nation independente; je saurai faire le mien, et rester
fidèle à l'honneur.... le seul pays où j'avais trouvé en Europe appui et
protection.... Je n'oublierai jamais la noble conduite des cantons qui
se sont prononcés si courageusement en ma faveur... surtout Thurgovie"
(Extracts from Napoleon's letter of thanks to the Landammann of Thurgau,
published in Dr. Kern's "Souvenirs politiques").
[102] See "Souvenirs Politiques de 1838-83," by Dr. Kern, Swiss
Ambassador at Paris, Bern, and Paris, 1887, pp. 51, 52.
XXXIII.
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1848.
The year 1848, which crowned the noble aspirations of the Regeneration
period in Switzerland, marks a fresh starting-point in the history of
the country. Providence had dealt graciously with the little republic.
France, Prussia, and Austria were battling with the "February
Revolution," and were thus prevented from dealing out to her the fate of
unhappy Poland. Meanwhile eminent Swiss statesmen were drafting the new
Federal Constitution which was to bind the various nationalities into
one people, and the twenty-two cantons into a well-riveted Bundestaat, a
state which, thanks to its policy, its prosperity, and its independent
spirit, was soon to command the esteem of even the most antagonistic
Powers.
On the 12th of September, 1848, the new pact was proclaimed, amidst
cannonading, illumination, and general rejoicing. The old and crippled
Tagsatzung was abolished. The new constitution borrowed some features
from that of the United States, and, though greatly on the lines of the
Mediation Act, blended far more happily the central and federal
systems. Only the essential points can here be noted.
The Central Government, whose _raison d'être_ is the maintenance of
peace and order at home, and the upholding of the national honour
abroad, divides itself into three authorities or divisions, the Federal
Assembly, the Legislative body; the Federal Council, which is the
executive body; and the Federal Tribunal. The Federal Assembly consists
of two chambers, the National Council, and the Council of the States;
the former elected by the Swiss people at large, the latter representing
the different cantons. The Nationalrath is elected by ballot for three
years, one member to every twenty thousand souls. At present (1889)
there are 145 members. The cantonal governments elect the members of the
other chamber, two to each canton, one to a semi-canton. The Federal
Council (Bundesrath) is the Executive, and consists of seven members.
Its chairman or president holds the highest dignity in the country,
though his powers do not exceed those of his fellow-ministers. The whole
Cabinet is _collectively_ responsible for the conduct of all public
business, and holds the _summum imperium_. Thus the _whole Federal
Council, and not its president only_, occupies the position similar to
that of the President of the United States.[103] There are various
departments of the Executive--Foreign Affairs, Interior and Education,
Justice and Police, Military, Finance and Customs, Industry and
Agriculture, Post and Railway. The Federal Assembly sits twice a year,
and elects both the Bundesrath, and Bundesgericht (Tribunal). The
Cabinet is subject to re-election every three years, but the same
ministers are commonly chosen again and again. The Tribunal, or
judiciary body, consists of nine members, who are elected every six
years, with headquarters at Lausanne (since 1884).
[Illustration: POLYTECHNIKUM AT ZURICH.]
Bern, on account of its position between the German and French-speaking
districts, was chosen as the seat of the central government. Zurich was
to have been the home of the National University, but the plan failed,
and it is now the seat of the National Polytechnikum, or technical
university. Thus the two leading cities of the Confederation keep up
their old characteristics, as governmental and intellectual
respectively. Zurich's claims to intellectual distinction are
unquestionable. Its magnificent system of schools, &c., is probably one
of the most complete in Europe, if not in the world.
It would be tedious as it is unnecessary to enter in detail into the
powers of the central government as compared with those of the separate
cantons. Suffice it to say, that the Bund reigns supreme in all
relations with foreign states--it is only through the medium of the
central government that any canton can treat with a foreign Power--that
it controls all military matters, regulates coinage (Mints), weights and
measures, posts and telegraphs, and fixes customs duties. It also partly
controls the national education--the Polytechnikum at Zurich is wholly a
federal affair, for instance--but in general each canton is left to its
own devices in the matter. Thus, though every Swiss takes a pride in his
schools, there is not one uniform standard throughout the state.
Every burgess is bound to perform military service, and at any time a
force of 200,000 men of the _élite_, and first reserve, can be placed in
the field, not including the Landsturm. Since the Franco-German war
military matters are engaging the serious attention of the country,
seeing the central position of Switzerland, and the unsettled state of
Europe.[104] It remains to be said that the new Constitution secured
freedom in religious matters, though the Jesuits were denied free
settlement, and the Jews were not recognized till 1866. The _Octroi_, or
duties between the cantons, was not removed till 1887, and then only
after a hard fight on the part of some of the cantons, notably Bern, to
whom these dues were a great source of profit.
It is a problem requiring all the powers of the skilled statesmen to
make the two Swiss sovereignties--the federal and cantonal--run side by
side without allowing either to trench on the other's ground. And it is
a much disputed point how far it is to the national benefit to increase
the powers of the Federal Government. The centralization of the
Government undoubtedly secures a better administration in most points,
but the cantons jealously guard against any infringement of their rights
by the Federation. They believe that a healthy rivalry and emulation
between the states is a good thing, and one not lightly to be given up.
The new Bundesrath was soon called upon to prove the quality of its
mettle, for troubles arose in Neuchâtel. This canton was, up to 1848, a
veritable mediæval relic in its form of government--a mixture of
monarchy and free state. Few spots in Europe have had a more typical and
characteristic history than Neuchâtel, and did space permit it would be
most interesting to trace that history downwards, from its junction with
the empire in 1033; through its rule by native lords, the counts of
Neuchâtel, till their extinction in 1395; its vassalage to the house of
Châlons; the suzerainty of the Orleans-Longueville family; the regency
of Marie de Nemours (1679-1707). But here suffice it to say, that
through fear of the designs of Louis Quatorze, Neuchâtel gladly
accepted the ducal supremacy of the kings of Prussia. In 1815 it was
incorporated with the Confederation, as a canton with equal rights and
standing to the rest. Notwithstanding this, Prussia still claimed to be
its overlord, and thus arose a double _régime_, a condition of things
plainly untenable. In 1848 the Confederation endeavoured to obtain the
release of the canton from Prussian rule, and this by the peaceful
methods of diplomacy, but in vain. In 1856 a conspiracy was set on foot
to undo the work of 1848--the granting of a more democratic constitution
to Neuchâtel. At the head of these royalist plotters were Count
Poustates and De Meuron. However, their plans failed, and five hundred
prisoners were taken. Out of these, twenty-five were by order of the
Federal Government kept back to be tried as insurgents. Frederick
William IV., of Prussia, demanded their unconditional pardon and
surrender, an order obedience to which would have been a renunciation of
the canton, and a defiance of the Federal rule. The demand was refused,
and the question of the release became the centre about which all the
negotiation now turned. In this emergency Napoleon III., of France,
offered his services as mediator, mindful of the hospitality shown to
him of old by Switzerland. He further promised to espouse the Swiss
cause if the prisoners were released, and to Switzerland his offer
carried greater weight than all the promises of Prussia. "I shall act in
the matter as if I were the Swiss Government," he assured Dr. Kern, who
had been sent as special envoy to the French Court, and in a further
conversation tried in every possible way to prove his sympathy with the
little republic.[105] England made similar promises. However the
Prussian king made no overtures, and neither France nor England gave
sufficient guarantee that Neuchâtel should be ceded to Switzerland, and
the Swiss Government therefore declined to proceed further on these
vague terms. Frederick William threatened war, and began to mobilize his
troops. The Federal Council likewise began its preparation, and without
outward sign of fear or hesitation, but with a unanimous feeling of
heroic enthusiasm though the length and breadth of the country, the
Swiss went on with their military organization. Most touching instances
of devoted patriotism were witnessed--from the greyhaired old man to the
mere boy the people offered their services; fellow-countrymen abroad
sent large sums of money; even school children offered their savings.
Catholic and Protestant, French and German, Italian and Romansch, all
were animated by one spirit, all were equally ready to defend the honour
and independence of their beloved country. Dufour was again elected
Commander-in-chief of the Federal forces. To the crowds who gave him a
splendid ovation he replied in these memorable words: "I rejoice to end
my life in the service of my country. I am old"--he was seventy--"and my
task is heavy, for the enemy is powerful, but I trust I shall carry on
my mission in the name of the God of our Rütli, who has never ceased to
protect our Fatherland." Such has ever been and ever will be the love of
the Swiss for their native soil, a love not based merely on the beauty
of their land, nor on the perfection of its institutions, but on the
knowledge that it is a stronghold of noble freedom, and one of their own
rearing. The proud bearing of the Swiss made a great impression on the
Powers, and particularly excited the admiration of Napoleon, who,
forgetting the former distrust shown towards him, again offered his
services as mediator. By his advice the prisoners were conducted to
France, and there set free, on January 16, 1857, and they remained in
banishment till the settlement of the dispute. This was finally
accomplished on May 26th, at the conference of Paris, when the Prussian
king formally renounced for ever all claims on Neuchâtel, whether duchy
or canton, retaining, however, the title of Fürst von Neuenburg. Thus
the district was entirely ceded to Switzerland.
The cession of Nice and Savoy to Napoleon III. by Victor Emmanuel in
1859-60, led to dissensions with the emperor, which might have turned
out serious, the Swiss having some claims on Chablais and Faucigny. The
point is not settled even yet. There have also been disputes with the
Papal See, consequent on the development of the Old Catholic movement,
and the Pope's encroachments. Though the old diocese of Geneva had been
long abolished, Pius IX. appointed Mermillod as bishop. Lachat, Bishop
of Solothurn, turned out of their cures several priests for declining to
accept the dogma of infallibility. The exasperation in the country was
great, the two bishops were banished from Switzerland, and the Papal
Nuncio was discharged. It was not till 1883 that Mermillod was allowed
to return.
It remains to speak briefly of some of the constitutional revisions
which have taken place, up to 1883, or even to the present moment. In
1874 the Federal Pact was amended. Briefly the improvement on the pact
of 1848 consisted mainly in arranging a better and more effective
centralization in financial, military, and judicial matters. Experience
had brought to light many defects in the representative system.
Personal, local, or class interests often weighed more with delegates
than national interests; or occasionally a minister would assume too
great powers to himself. To give the people a more direct share in the
legislation, two institutions were set on foot which are peculiar to
Switzerland. These are the "Initiative" and the "Referendum." They are
perhaps the furthest developments of democracy yet reached, and are
exciting considerable interest in English-speaking countries at the
present time.
The Initiative is a development of the right of petitioning. By it any
voter or voters may propose new legislation, and if the requisite number
of voters can be got to support the proposal by signing the formal
petition in its favour, the matter must be put to the popular vote. The
number of signatures necessary is five thousand in the case of cantonal
legislation, and fifty thousand in Federal matters. The people have thus
always the power to bring on the discussion of any matter, however much
the Council, or the legislators may object.
[Illustration: VIEW OF SION. (_From a Photograph_.)]
The Referendum, which by the way is far more frequently applied,
secures that any law passed by the cantonal assemblies, or by the
Federal Assembly, shall be put before the forum of the whole
people[106]--_referred_ to the whole body of voters--if again the
required number of supporters can be got together. In cantonal matters
this number is the same as in the case of the Initiative; in matters
relating to the Confederation, thirty thousand votes, or eight cantons
are necessary. There are two kinds of Referendum, adopted by different
parts of the country, the "facultative," or optional Referendum, by St.
Gall, Zug, Lucerne, Baselstadt, Schaffhausen, Vaud, Neuchâtel (1882),
Geneva, Ticino (1883); and the "obligatory" or compulsory Referendum,
which obtains in Zurich (1869), Bern (1869), Thurgau, Aargau, Solothurn,
Schwyz, Graubünden, and Baselland. Uri, Glarus, the two Unterwalden, and
the two Appenzell cantons, still cling to their old _landsgemeinde_,
whilst Valais has a _financial_ Referendum, and Freiburg is content with
its older representative form of government. Opinion is much divided in
Switzerland as to the value of the Referendum. In this, probably, most
Swiss agree, that an arrangement which places the sovereign will of the
people above that of the authorities and legislative bodies is a good
arrangement, providing the people at large are intelligent and educated.
And here Switzerland shows to great advantage. Probably no people in the
world have so fully and so clearly recognized that "education alone
makes free." The Swiss educational system is such, that it reaches down
to the poorest child and penetrates into the remotest valley. All
primary education is gratuitous and compulsory. If any people deserve by
education and intelligence to be entrusted with powers like that
conferred by the Referendum, it is the Swiss. Yet men of every political
shade admit that the Referendum is a two-edged weapon which may cut both
ways. It is at any rate no new thing in Switzerland. It may be styled a
_landsgemeinde by ballot_. And, as far back as the sixteenth century,
the question of the Reformation was put to the Referendum--in a somewhat
different way, it is true--both in Zurich and Bern. In its present form,
of course, the Referendum is modern. It is curious to find that though
introduced by the advanced democratic party it turns out in actual
working to be a decidedly conservative measure. It may stop a sound and
beneficial measure occasionally, but it is more likely to check rash and
insufficiently considered legislation, as the Swiss are naturally averse
to needless changes. An example or two may serve to illustrate this.
Baselland thrice brought forward a Bill for the revision of its cantonal
code; thrice the Bill was rejected, under the compulsory Referendum. At
Zurich quite recently (spring of 1889), the Grand Council wished to
bring in a new law for bettering the education of the masses by
improving the supplementary schools. The country labourers had a
majority, and rejected the measure, objecting, it is said, to the
additional expenditure. It is to be hoped, however, that this measure
will be carried eventually. On the whole, perhaps, the "facultative"
Referendum is to be preferred to the obligatory. We may mention, in
conclusion, that out of 107 Bills passed by the Federal Council, between
1874 and 1886, nineteen were submitted to the Referendum, and of these
nineteen, but six were ultimately adopted by the whole body of voters
thus appealed to.[107]
[Illustration: LAW COURTS AT LAUSANNE.]
FOOTNOTES:
[103] There is, in fact, no office in Switzerland similar to that of the
United States President, though foreigners nearly always speak of the
_President of the Swiss Republic_, when they mean simply the _Chairman
of the Cabinet_.
[104] The reader is referred for fuller information to the most
interesting account by Sir F. O. Adams and Mr. Cunningham in "The Swiss
Confederation" (Longmans).
[105] Kern, "Souvenirs Suisses," pp. 124-129, where other instances of
Napoleon's goodwill in 1848-9 are mentioned.
[106] Legislative Acts are, in fact, referred _to the whole people_ for
approval or disapproval, as in limited monarchies they are referred to
the _sovereign_. But in Switzerland the veto possessed by the people is
a _real_ thing, and not a virtual impossibility, as in England for
instance.
[107] For further notes on the Referendum, see Adams and Cunningham's
"Swiss Confederation," alluded to above. The Referendum seems likely to
attract increasing attention, in England and America especially.
XXXIV.
INDUSTRY, COMMERCE, RAILWAYS, EDUCATION THE "RIGHT OF ASYLUM."
Our story must be brought to a close with a short account of several
important matters on which nothing has as yet been said, viz., the
industrial condition of the country, and its material progress. Hardly
any other country has had to contend with so many natural disadvantages
as Switzerland, in prosecuting her industries and establishing her
trade. The difficulty of the country, the absence of coal and iron, the
want of navigable rivers, the scanty produce of the soil in the more
elevated districts, the want of seaboard--all these and other things
increased the severity of the struggle in the race for wealth. Then she
is fenced in as it were by protection. As a set-off against these
drawbacks, there is an abundance of water-power. But it is evident that
agriculture alone could not suffice to provide for all the inhabitants,
and thus it comes to pass that the Swiss have turned their energies in a
remarkable manner to the establishment and development of manufactures.
It may here be pointed out parenthetically that the poverty of the
country in the pre-manufacturing days accounts for, and to some extent
excuses, the old and reprehensible practice amongst the Swiss of hiring
themselves out as soldiers to the highest bidder. Raw material in vast
quantities is imported, and finished goods sent out. Switzerland
competes successfully with some of the greatest manufacturing
countries--England, Belgium, France--nay, considering her population,
she almost surpasses them. Putting imports and exports together,
Switzerland does a trade of £60,000,000 annually, the imports consisting
mainly of coal, iron, raw silk, cotton, gold, and other raw materials,
the exports of manufactured goods. The value of the imports exceeds that
of the exports by no less a sum than six and a half millions sterling
(Federal Statistics, 1887), the counterbalance being supplied by the
tourists, and by the interest on foreign investments. The Swiss are a
stirring and business-like people, and had already in the first half of
the present century carried their enterprises abroad, especially in the
principal seaports. As early as 1812, Egg, a citizen of Zurich, took two
hundred operatives, and started a cotton factory at Piedimonti, near
Naples, notwithstanding the blockade, the machinery being taken by way
of Trieste and the Adriatic. Now the Swiss are to be found all over the
world, as every one knows.
A few figures in detail respecting the imports and exports may be
interesting. They are from the official statistics for 1887.
IMPORTS.
Food stuffs 242,935,277 francs.
Raw materials 330,324,615 "
Finished or partly-finished goods 263,775,024 "
-----------
Total 837,034,916 "
EXPORTS.
Food stuffs 78,565,548 francs.
Raw materials 95,922,106 "
Finished products 496,604,979 "
-----------
Total 671,092,633 "
Switzerland imports chiefly from the neighbouring countries, but her
export trade is largely with England and America, as well as with
Germany and France. Of the industries of the country, the largest as
well as the oldest is the production of silk goods, dating back to the
thirteenth century, the chief seats being Zurich and Basel. Cotton
manufacture is carried on at Zurich, Aargau, St. Gall, and other places;
embroidery is made at St. Gall and Appenzell; and watches at Neuchâtel
and Geneva. This last town has also a great trade in jewellery and
musical boxes. Then there are considerable manufactures of machinery,
cheese, condensed milk, and other things, and wood carving is carried on
to a large extent. The last returns give the exports of silk as
198,768,230 francs, cotton as over 158,000,000, and watches over
84,000,000.
[Illustration: "VICTIMS OF THE WORK," ST. GOTHARD TUNNEL, FROM A
BAS-RELIEF BY VELA.
(_Photographed by Guler. By permission of the Sculptor._)]
This is not the place for details respecting the railway system, but it
may be noted that the total length of the Swiss lines is now over three
thousand kilometres. A special feature of the Alpine lines is, as every
one is aware, the skill with which the engineering difficulties have
been surmounted. The St. Gothard line, with its fifty tunnels, is the
most conspicuous of these successes. This grand international enterprise
owes its execution to Dr. Alfred Escher of Zurich, and the famous
engineer, Louis Favre of Geneva. Vela, the Ticinese sculptor, has
produced a fine group of relievi as a memento of the many poor victims
of the great undertaking. The tunnel is between nine and ten miles long,
and was completed in seven and a half years.
There is no doubt that the thriving condition of Switzerland is chiefly
due to three causes--the thriftiness of the people, their natural
ability, and perhaps, more than all, the excellence of the educational
system. On this last point much has been written by the late Matthew
Arnold and Sir F. O. Adams, and to their works the reader must be
referred for details. We may here mention, however, that besides the
primary, secondary, and high schools, which are to be found in every
canton, Switzerland stands out conspicuously by the number and
excellence of its technical and trade schools. The great Polytechnikum
of Zurich is the pride of the country, and Basel, Zurich, Bern, and
Geneva have universities, and Neuchâtel and Lausanne academies.[108]
Primary education is entirely free, and to it the greater share of the
education vote is assigned--in 1887, nearly seventeen and a half million
francs out of a total of twenty-six and a half millions given to
education. Attendance at school is compulsory, and there were in 1887,
467,597 children attending the primary schools.
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF GOTFRIED KELLER, THE POET.
(_After a Photograph._)]
Of men of intellect, of talent, of artistic, scientific, or literary
skill, Switzerland has produced many, and has sheltered many more. The
numerous academical institutions, literary, scientific, and musical
societies, draw together large numbers of superior intellects. Amongst
the numberless men of science now or lately living may be mentioned
Agassiz, Desor, De la Rive, Heer, Merian, Studer, and Dr. Ferdinand
Keller, the discoverer of the lake dwellings. In literature we have
Viet, Marc Monnier, Zschokke, as well as Leuthold, Gotfried Keller, and
Ferdinand Meyer. Keller has a reputation more than European; he has been
called the German Shakespeare. He belongs to Zurich. The occasion of his
seventieth birthday (on July, 1889), brought a remarkable demonstration.
The Assembly voted him an address, and enthusiastic congratulations
poured in upon him from all quarters. From Germany Von Moltke himself
headed the list of admiring friends who sent messages. Keller is
acknowledged to be the greatest living German poet. Amongst painters are
Calaine, Diday, Girardet, Gleyre, Vautier, and Böcklin, whom the Germans
consider one of their greatest living painters; and of sculptors, there
are Vela and Lanz. Gustave Weber and Joachim Raff are well-known musical
composers, with whom we must name Baumgartner, who has raised Keller's
"Oh, mein Heimatland," into the position of a second national anthem.
We see in Switzerland a nation which once played a conspicuous part in
European military affairs, but which has now become a land of peace,
whose neutrality the Powers vouchsafed at the Vienna Congress. In the
exceptional position she holds, she deems it part of her mission of
peace to promote the general welfare of the world, so far as lies in her
power. Most important international institutions owe their origin, or at
least their successful establishment, to Switzerland. Thus she started
the Geneva Convention, under the presidency of General Dufour, in 1864.
This Convention had for its object the mitigation of the horrors of war,
and every European nation was represented at it. The declaration of the
neutrality of all nurses, medical men, hospitals, &c., on either side,
and the adoption of the distinguishing badge, the Geneva cross, are too
well known to need description here. Then at the suggestion of Germany
the International Postal Union was founded at a meeting at Bern. And
quite recently the International Congress of labour delegates is under
consideration to be called with the view of settling some of the social
questions affecting labour. A particularly interesting Swiss foundation
was started in 1886, to provide for poor soldiers incapacitated by war,
and to assist relatives dependent on those killed in battle. It was
founded to celebrate the five-hundredth anniversary of Sempach, and is
appropriately named the _Winkelriedstiftung_.
The right to offer an asylum in time of war she considers one of her
most precious privileges. Seeing, however, how frequently her well-meant
intentions are misinterpreted, and her hospitality abused, she may
probably have to restrict her offers of asylum. In fact, the Bundesrath
have even now under consideration the question of how best to maintain
her rights in this respect, whilst seeing that no injury is done to
foreign interests. One thing is certain, she will not give up the right
of asylum. Meanwhile the refractory foreign elements residing in
Switzerland are not only endangering her safety, but doing harm to the
character of her people. The confusion of 1848-9 brought to Swiss
territory fugitives from all parts of Europe. As many as ten thousand
fled from the Grand Duchy of Baden, when the Prussian troops checked the
rising there. Many distinguished men, who would otherwise have met with
death, or lingered indefinitely in prison, found a safe retreat in
Switzerland. We need only mention the great composer, Richard Wagner,
and Rüstow, Mommsen, Semper, Joh. Scherr, Kinkel, Köchly, from amongst a
host of scholars who took refuge there, and settled for years at the
Swiss universities. Köchly's scholarship and activity brought in a
conspicuously successful period of classical study at Zurich University
(1850-64),[109] and his successor, Arnold Hug, was no less devoted and
successful.
In 1853 Austria turned out six thousand Swiss (Ticinese) in the harshest
manner from Lombardy, on the plea that Italians had been allowed to
combine on Swiss ground against Austria. Six years later the Swiss had
an opportunity of heaping coals of fire on the head of Austria, for when
the Austrian garrison was driven from Fort Laveno, on Lake Maggiore,
the soldiers were not only freely admitted into Swiss territory, but
were liberally treated. Mazzini, too, the Italian patriot, sought safety
in Switzerland, causing her, by the way, considerable trouble. The
Franco-German war, again, offered the Swiss many opportunities of
showing their usual benevolence and charity towards distressed
foreigners. To the Germans who had to leave France on the outbreak of
war, making their way home through Switzerland, the Swiss people showed
innumerable kindnesses, many of the people being poor, and destitute of
even necessaries. And when they heard of the siege of Strasburg, their
old friend and ally of centuries ago, the Swiss sent a deputation to
invite the weak and tender to go home with them. This was done with the
consent of both belligerents, and fourteen hundred persons, chiefly
women and children, and old men, accepted the invitation. It was a
touching scene when they left with their protectors, and few eyes were
dry. Every one knows how Bourbaki, failing to relieve Belfort, was
compelled to flee into Swiss territory, with his eighty-five thousand
men and nine thousand horses (February 1, 1871). The troops were
disarmed, and quartered all over the country, and remained till peace
was concluded. High and low, rich and poor, the Swiss vied with each
other in showing kindness to the refugees. Miserable in the extreme had
been their condition on their arrival, but they left recruited in
health, improved in appearance and full of gratitude. As they departed
the air was filled with shouts of "Vive la Suisse." That same spring,
too, when seed was wanting with which to sow the ground in many
districts of France, the Swiss sent large quantities of potatoes, oats,
barley, and beans, and other seed corn, besides money and clothing. And
during the war Swiss aid was distributed amongst French and Germans
impartially.
It is not from self-interest or vain-glory that the Swiss act thus, but
from motives of humanity and benevolence. And, though the "right of
asylum" is liable to be abused, its nobler side is not to be forgotten.
It is to be hoped that Switzerland will ever keep her present
independence and neutrality, the very existence of which bears witness
to the more human tendencies of modern European politics.
It remains only to give a few figures respecting the present numbers of
the population. They are taken from the official returns, and though the
report is only provisional,[110] it may be taken that the figures are
substantially correct. It appears, then, that the total population of
the Republic, on December 1, 1888, was 2,934,057 actually, or 2,920,723
in regular residence. In 1850 the actual population was 2,392,740, thus
the increase during the thirty-eight years has been over half a million.
Of the 2,934,057 enumerated on December 1, 1888, 1,427,377 were males,
and 1,506,680 females; 2,092,530 were German-speaking, 637,972
French-speaking, 156,606 Italian-speaking, 38,375 Romansch-speaking,
8,574 were of other nationalities; 1,724,957 were Protestants, 1,190,008
Catholics, and 19,092 of other religions, or of none. The canton with
the largest population was Bern, with 539,271, Zurich coming next with
339,014, whilst that with the smallest number of souls was Lower
Unterwalden, with 12,524. The most populous town is Zurich, with 90,111
inhabitants, those coming next in order being Basel, with over 69,000,
Geneva 52,000, Bern, 45,000, Lausanne, 33,000.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF LAUSANNE CATHEDRAL.
(_From a Photograph._)]
Here must end our short sketch of this remarkable little state. From the
very earliest times its peoples have been particularly interesting--from
its prehistoric lakemen with their almost unique series of settlements,
down through successive nationalities of Helvetians and Romans, Alamanni
and Burgundians to the modern Germans, French, Italians, and Romansch.
Switzerland has bred or has been closely connected with some of the
proudest ruling families in European history--Habsburgs and Zaerings,
Carlovingians and Burgundians, Hohenstaufens and Savoys. Some of the
most glorious victories recorded in history have been gained by the
little Swiss nation in defence of their beloved fatherland; the fame of
Morgarten, Sempach, Grandson, and Morat is not likely to die out while
European civilization lasts. Constitutionally the history of Switzerland
is of surpassing interest. Step by step we have seen a handful of
gallant people free themselves from oppression by emperor or duke, by
prince or lord, by prelate or cloister. Inch by inch the people at large
have gained their political rights from foreign overlords or from native
aristocracies. We have seen how a tiny confederation of three petty
states has grown into a league of eight, and then of thirteen
independent districts, and how this has developed into the federal state
of twenty-two cantons of our own day. Lastly, some of the institutions
of the country, notably the Initiative and the Referendum, are well-nigh
unique of their kind, and certainly are of the greatest interest to the
student of political history and development; whilst Switzerland's noble
efforts for the amelioration and benefit of mankind at large cannot but
command our admiration.
"Il est à nous, notre libre avenir;
Morgarten, Grandson, jours de fête,
Si vous ne deviez revenir,
O Saint Jacques, O sainte defaite,
Dans ton pourpre linceul, tu nous verrais dormir."[111]
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[108] That of Lausanne is to be made into a university.
[109] "Life of Köchly," by Prof. A. Hug, 1878.
[110] "Vorläufige Resultate der eidg. Volkszählung vom 1 Dezember,
1888."
[111] De la Rive, Genevan poet.
INDEX.
A
Aargau, subject land, 186
Adams, Sir F. O., 412
Adolf of Nassau, 131
Æneas Sylvius, 203, 253
Ætius defeated Huns, 45;
gave Savoy to Burgundy, 51
Agassiz, 14
Agen, battle of, 20
Agnes of Königsfelden, 141
Alamanni, 39, 46, 47, 49
Albrecht of Habsburg, 113, 120, 131, 132
Alcuin, 64
Allobroges, 21
Allmend, or common land, 48, 126
Alpinus, 37
Alpnach, bay of, 355
Ambühl of Glarus, 176
Amman chosen in Uri, 127
Am Stoss, battle of, 181
Appenzell, 181;
admitted as an ally, 182;
admitted as a canton, 237
Aquæ (Baden), 35
Aquæ Sextiæ, battle of, 21
Arbedo, engagement at, 188
Arelatisches Reich founded, 73
Arnold of Brescia, reformer, 100, 152
Arnold von Melchthal, 120
Arnulf of Kaernthen, 76
Arth, Battle of, 354
Asylum, Right of, 416, 418
Augusta Rauracorum, 35, 39
Augusta Vindelicorum, 32
"Äusserer Stand," Society, 320
Austria, 143, 146, 166;
defeated at Sempach, 172;
defeated at Naefels, 177;
claims the Forest, 178
Autun, battle of, 55
Avars, the, 76
Avenches, 97, 213;
battle at, 368
Aventicum, 14, 34, 39
B
Baden (Zurich), 186
Barbarossa, 96
Basel, 14;
treaty of, 236;
divided, 387
Bayard, 240
Beccaria, 294
Bellinzona, 188
Bern, founded, 97;
defeated at Schosshalde, 158;
forms Burgundian Confederation, 159;
rules over Hasle, 163;
League with Austria, 166;
power over house of Kyburg, 166;
seizes Habsburg, 186;
fortifies Morat, 212;
natural bent for rule, 245;
governing families of, 320;
plundered by French, 351, 353;
population, &c., 420
Berchtold V. founds Bern, 97;
defeated by Savoy, 98
Bertha, the "Spinning Queen," 74, 86
Bertold I., Duke of Zaeringen, 93
Bertold II., 94
Bertold IV., 96
Beza, 287, 290
Bibracte, battle of, 23
Bituitus, 19
Bockenkrieg, 372
Bodmer, 334, 338
Bonivard, 273
Borromean League, 294
Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, 293
Bourbaki, General, 417
Breisach, rising at, 205
Breitinger, 334, 336
Brun, Burgomaster of Zurich, 140, 146, 155, 157
Bubenberg, Hans von, 164;
Adrian von, 206, 212
Bullinger, Reformer, 268, 296
Bund ob dem See, 181
Burgdorf, 97, 166
Burgundia Transjurans, 73
Burgundy takes West Helvetia, 40;
defeated by Huns, 50;
defeated by Franks, 55;
two kingdoms of, 73;
its wars, 200
Burkhard of Alamannia, 74
Burkhard of Chur-Rhætia, 78, 80, 81
C
Cæcina ravages Helvetia, 36
Campo Formio, treaty of, 347
Calvin, 279;
his writings, 280;
settles at Geneva, 281;
banished, 282;
founds the Consistory, 283;
burns Servetus, 286;
his policy, 287;
death, 289
Carlomann, 58
Carmagnola, General, 188
Carolinum founded, 67
Catalaunian Plain, great battle on, 45
Catholic League, 387
Catholic Reaction, 291, 294
Central Government, 396
Centralists, the, 366
Chablais, 380, 402
Charlemagne, 59;
Emperor of the West, 60;
legends concerning, 62;
zeal for education, 64
Charles the Bald, 72
Charles the Bold, 200, 205;
defeated at Grandson, 211;
at Morat, 213;
death, 215
Charles IV. of Germany, 141, 143
Chiavenna, 241, 346, 380
Chillon, 109, 274
Christianity, introduction of, 40
Christian League, 264
Codex Manesse, 153
Columban, 57
Commerce, 409
Confederation formed, 119
Conrad I., 77;
II., 88;
III., 99
Conradin, 114
Constance, siege of, 304
Clairvaux, monk, preaches Crusades, 99
Clovis, king of the Franks, 54
Crusades, 98
D
D'Affry, 372, 376
Davel, Major, 319
"Délices, Les," 326;
theatre destroyed, 328
Diesbach, Nicolas von, 206
Divico, 20, 23
Domo d'Ossola, 188
Dornbühl, victory at, 158
Drachenried, engagement at, 355
Drusus, 25, 32
Dufour, General, 393, 401, 415
E
East Frankish realm, 72
Eberhard the "Quarrelsome," 143;
of Kyburg, 161
Education, 388, 412
Eidgenossenschaft, the, 118
Eight States League, 139, 166
Einsiedeln, 82, 134
Eishere the Giant, 62
Elizabeth of Habsburg, 133
"Empty Pocket," Frederick the, 181
Ensisheim, peace of, 197
Erlach, Ludwig von, 350
Erlach, Rudolf von, 164
Ernest II. of Swabia, 82
Escalade of Geneva, 302
Eschenbach, 133
Escher, 358, 375
Ewiger Bund, 129
Exports, 410
F
Farel, reformer, 275
Faucigny, 380, 402
"Faustrecht," the, 107
Federal Assembly, 396
Federal Council, 396
Federal Tribunal, 396
Felix Martyr, 42
Fellenberg, educationist, 374
Ferney, 326
Feudalism, 103
Fichte, 338
Fontana, 234
"Foul Peace," the, 175
Franche Comté, 215
Franco-German War, 417
Franks, the, 54
Fraubrunnen, skirmish at, 350
Frederick von Staufen, 93
Frederick I. (Barbarossa), 105
Frederick II., 127, 150
Frederick III., 190
Frederick the "Empty Pocket," 181, 185
Freiburg, 161, 221
French Revolution, 343
Fridolin St., banner of, at Naefels, 177
"Friedel" (Empty Pocket), 185
G
Galba, 25, 35
Gallia Comata, 31
Gall, St., 57, 62, 182, 241, 346
Geneva, 245;
"Children" of, 273, 285;
besieged by Savoy, 276;
occupied by Bernese army, 277;
Calvin's rule in, 284;
escalade of, 302;
Fatio's reforms, 322;
admitted into league, 380;
Geneva Convention, 415
Geschworne Brief, 155
Gessler, 121, 123
Giornico, victory at, 189
Glarean, scholar, 254
Glarus, 141;
1st Landsgemeinde, 175;
defeats Austria, 177;
defeated at Rapperswyl, 353
Goethe, 341
Golden League, 294
Gothard, St., pass, 187;
tunnel, 412
Götterdämmerung, 50
Gotteshausbund, 184
Grandson, battle of, 208, 211
Graubünden, 184, 234;
religious feuds, 305;
massacre in, 307;
Austrian occupation, 308;
independence recovered, 311
Grauholz, conflict at, 351
Gregory VII., Pope, 91
Greifensee, 194, 317
Greyerz, 162, 164
Grey, Lady Jane, 298
Grey League, 184
Guillermins, the, 282
Gümminen, 161
Gundobad of Burgundy, 52
H
Habsburg Castle, 113
Habsburg-Austria, family of, 113
Habsburg-Laufenburg, 113
Habsburg, house of, 113, 114;
kings of Germany, 115
Hadrian, Pope, 60, 63
Hadwig, 81
Hærige, the, 48
Hagenback, Peter von, 204, 205
Haller, 334, 336
Hallwyl, Hans von, 212
Harpe, La, 347, 359, 367, 372, 384
Hartmann, 108, 161
Harsthörner, 209
Hatto, Bishop, 66
Heer, Professor, 8
Heierli, 11
Helvetia, 13, 31, 32
Helvetians, 14;
government, 17;
feuds with Germans, 18;
victory
over Romans, 20;
defeated at Bibracte, 24;
made associates by Rome, 25;
split into two sections, 36
Helvetic Club, 347
Helvetic Republic, 352
Helvetic Society, the, 340, 342
Henry I., the "City Founder," 80
Henry II. of Germany, 87
Henry III., 88, 90, 105
Henry IV., 91, 93
Henry VII., 134
Héricourt, Siege of, 208
Herodotus, 8
Hertenstein of Lucerne, 213
Hildgard, Princess, Abbess of Zurich, 70
Hirtzel, 339
Hohe Frau von Zurich, 149
Hohenstaufen line, 107;
extinction, 114
Hooper, Bishop, 297
"Horned Council," 229
Hotze, 360
Hug, Dr. Arnold, scholar, 416
Huns, 44, 45
Huss, martyr, 198
I
Im Grund, 219
Imports, 410
Initiative, the, 403
Innsbruck, 186
International Postal Union, 415
Italian Wars, 237
J
Jacques, St., battle of, 191, 193, 195
Jenatsch, 307, 309;
stabbed, 310
John XXIII., Pope, 185
Judith, 72
Julien, St., treaty of, 274
Juvalta, Anna, 307
K
Kaernthen, Arnulf of, 76
Kappel, first battle, 264;
second ditto, 267
"Kappeller, Milchesuppe," 262
Keller, Dr. Ferdinand, 3, 414
Keller, novelist, 154
Keller, poet, 414
Kern, Swiss envoy, 400
Klaus, Bruder, 221
Klingenberg, Henry of, 153
Klopstock, 337, 338
Kloten, 38
Knonau Castle, 186;
rising at, 227;
Ludwig Meyer von, 340
Knox, 287
Köchly, scholar, 416
Königsfelden, Monastery, 133
Korsakow, 360, 361
Kyburg Manor, 82;
counts of, 89;
rise of family, 104;
fall, 166
L
"Ladle Squires," the, 274
Lake dwellers, 5, 9, 11
Lake dwellings, 3;
construction, 5;
probable dates, 11;
ditto in East Yorkshire, 12
Landammann, installation of, 249
Landenberg, 121
Länder, the, 218
Landsgemeinde, 247
Latin right, 35
Laupen, 97, 163
Lausanne bishopric, 271
Lavater, 340, 359, 361
League of Perpetual Alliance, 119
Lemanic Republic, 349
Lenzburg, counts of, 89;
family, 104
Leopold, 135;
defeated at Morgarten, 136
Leopold III. of Austria, 168;
defeated at Sempach, 172
Letzinen, the, 162
Leventina, 188;
rising in, 316
Libertines, 285
Ligue à la Cassette, 316
Linth canal, 375
"Lion of Lucerne," 346
Locarno refugees, 295
"Long Diet," 378
Lorraine, kingdom of, 200
Lothair, 73, 96
Louis Napoleon, 389
Louis Philippe, 389
Louis the Child, 76
Louis the German, 70
Louis the Pious, 71
Louis XI., 195
Louis XIV., 312, 313
Lucerne, 140
Luneville, peace of, 367
Lützelburg, Henry of, 133
Lyons, 32
M
Mæhren, the, 76
Malleolus, savant, 198, 253
Mamelukes, the, 273
Manesse, 142, 153
Manufactures, 410
Marignano, 218, 240
Martel, Charles, 58
Massena, 360, 361
Maximilian, 232
Mayence, diet at, 93
"Mazze," the, 183
Mediation Act, 369
Meilen, 3
Meistersinger, 251
Melchthal, Arnold von, 120
Mermillod, Bishop, 402
Milan, 187, 189, 238
"Milchsuppe," the, 264
Military system, 398
Minnelieder, 153
Misox, 295
Monk of St. Gall, 62
Morat, battle of, 212
Morgarten, battle of, 131, 135;
another engagement at, 354
Müller, historian, 124
Murten, _see_ Morat
Mytenstein, the, 121
N
Naefels, battle of, 175
Nancy, battle of, 215
Napoleon and Switzerland, 370
"Natifs," the, 323
"Négatifs," the, 322
Nellenburg, counts of, 89
Neuchâtel, 209;
rebels against Prussia, 323;
admitted to league, 380;
troubles in, 399;
Prussia renounces claim to, 402
Neueneck, engagement at, 350
"Nibelungenlied," 51
Nicolas von der Flüe, 219
Nidan, Count of, 164
Nidwalden, 129
Notker, chronicler, 62;
Monachus S. Gallensis, 75
Novara, siege of, 239
Noviodunum, 33
O
Obwalden, 129
Ochs, Peter, 347, 352, 358, 367
Octodurum (Martigny), 35
Omer, St., treaty of, 204
Orcitrix, _see_ Orgetorix
Orgetorix, 17;
his treason and death, 21
Otho I., 80
Ottokar of Steyermark, 116
Otto of Strassberg, 135;
death, 136
Otto von Freysing, 151
P
Papal see, alliance with, 238
Paracelsus, 301
Paris, peace of, 377
Paulus Diaconus, 64
Peasants' revolt, 311
Pepin le Bref, 58
Pestalozzi, 331, 339, 356, 366, 374, 385
Peter Martyr, 295
Peter of Savoy, "Second Charlemagne," 108;
Savoy palace, 109;
war with Austria, 110;
death, III
Pfäffikon Lake, 6
Pfyffer, "Swiss king," 293
Philip of Savoy, III
Pius II., 203
Planta, John von, 305;
Rudolf, 307
Polytechnikum at Zurich, 398
Population, 418
Postal Union, the, 415
R
Railways, 410
Rapinat, 364
Rapperswyl, counts of, 104;
skirmish at, 156;
John of, 156;
battle at, 353
Raron, barons of, 182, 183
Rauraci, 14, 33
Rauracian Republic, 345
Reding, 191, 194;
advocates Reislaufen, 226
Reding of Schwyz, 353, 359, 367
Referendum, the, 403;
of two kinds, 405;
its working, 406
Reformation in East Switzerland, 254;
in West Switzerland, 267
Regensburg, peace of, 145
Regula Martyr, 40
Reichsfreiheit, the, 126
Reinhard, 376, 379
René of Lorraine, 208, 215
Rengger, 365
Rhætians, 14;
campaign of Drusus, 26;
joined with East Switzerland, 32;
fall of Goths, 55
Rheinfelden manor, 91;
battle of, 310
Richard of Cornwall, 109
Robenhausen, 6, 8
Rohan, Duke Henry de, 309, 310
Romans, 20;
Bibracte, 23;
conquer Valais, 25;
Rhætia, 26;
policy, 30
Romaunsh dialect, 14, 26
Rotach, 181
Rothenburg, 168
Rotzloch, battle of, 355
Rousseau, 325; birth, 328;
writings, 329;
"Contrat Social," 331
Rudolf der Alte, 113
Rudolf of Habsburg, 113;
elected King of Germany, 115;
policy, 116
Rudolf II., 74
Rudolf III., 82, 87
Rudolf IV., 145
Rudolf, "Rector of Burgundy," 91
Rudolf the Guelf, 73
Rudolf the Silent, 113
Rudolf von Erlach, 164
"Rufst du mein Vaterland," 178
Rütli, the oath on, 120, 122
S
Sabaudia (Savoy), 51
Salis, Von, 305
Salodunum (Soleure), 35
Sarnen, the "White Book" of, 124
Savoy, 98;
Palace in Strand, 109;
defeated at Visp, 182;
loses Lower Valais, 208;
and Freiburg, 216;
and Vaud, 277
"Savoyards," the, 273
Sax-Misox, 183, 188
Schaffhausen, 204, 236
Schauenberg, 350, 355, 360
Scheffel's "Ekkehard," 81
Schindellegi, battle of, 354
Schinner, Matthæus, 238
Schirmverwandte, 180
Schmalkalden wars, 291
Schosshalde, battle of, 158
Schwyz, 119;
charter of liberties, 127;
joins league, 128;
war with Zurich, 190
Sempach, battle of, 166;
Winkelried's death, 170
Sequani, the, 41
Servetus, 286
Sforza, Ludovico, 238;
Maximilian, 239
Siebner Concordat, 387, 391
Sigismund, 55, 185
Sigmund of Austria, 204
Simplon Road, 376
Socinus, 295
Solernon, Abbott of St. Gall, 76, 77, 80
Solothurn, 159, 221
Sonderbund wars, 392
Soult, Marshal, 361
Staël, Madame de, 332
Stäfa, insurrection in, 346
Stanz, meeting at, 217, 219;
covenant of, 221;
siege, 355
Stapfer, 365, 370
Staufacher, 120
"Stecklikrieg," the, 368
Steyermark, 116
Strasburg, 203
Strauss, 391
Stuppa, 313
Stüssi, 191, 193
Subject lands, 179
Suwarow, 360, 361
Swabia, 71, 73;
John of, 133;
wars, 235
Swiss guards massacred, 345
Sylvius, 204
T
Tagsatzung (Diet), 250
Tätwil, Austrian defeat at, 142
Tavelli murdered, 182
Tell, 122, 123
Tell, historian, 301
Tellenplatte, 123
Theiling of Lucerne, 227
Theobald, bishop, 66
Theodoric the Great, 51, 53
"Thermopylæ of Switzerland," 137
Thun, 97
Thurgau, 204
Ticino, 187, 241
Tigurini, the, 14, 22
Tirano, skirmish at, 308
Toggenburg, 93, 190
Torberg, peace of, 146
Toygeni, the, 14
Trémouille, General, 239
Trivulzio, 239, 241
Tschudi, historian, 124, 252
U
Ufenau Island, 192
Ulrichen, battle of, 182
Ulrich of Kyburg, 108
Unitarier, 366
Unterthanen Laender, 180
Unterwalden, 119;
divided, 129
Uri, 119;
severed from Zurich Abbey, 126;
chooses Ammann, 127
Uristier of Uri, 209
Ursus (and Victor) put to death, 42
"Uster, Day of," 385
Uto Castle, 115
V
Valais, 14;
joined to Savoy, 32;
joins league, 182;
rising in, 345
Valangin, Count, 164
Valisians, 14, 25
Valtellina, 241;
massacre in, 307;
joined to Lombardy, 346;
to Austria, 380
Vaud, 216, 269;
lost to Savoy, 277
Vazerol, diets at, 184
Vercellæ, battle of, 21
Vercingetorix defeated, 25;
death, 29
Verdun, treaty of, 72;
ditto, 200
Vespasian, 34
Victor (and Ursus) put to death, 42
Victoriden, the, 55
Vienna Congress, 378
Villemergen, religious strife, 311;
second ditto, 316
Vindonissa, 35
Viret, reformer, 276
Visconti, the, 187
Visp, battle of, 182
Vitellius, 37
Vogelinseck, battle of, 181
Volkslieder, the, 251
Voltaire, 325;
at Ferney, 326;
influence, 327
Voralberg, 190
W
Walchen Romaunsh, 184
Waldmann, 212, 213;
his life, 222;
policy, 225;
conspiracy against him, 227;
sentence and death, 228;
compromise, 229
Waldshut feud, 204
Waldstätten, the, 3, 120, 140
Walter Fürst von Attinghausen, 120
Wart stabs Albrecht of Habsburg, 133
Wasserkirche (Zurich), 68, 224
Weiss, 349
Wengi, Nicolas von, 268
Werdenberg, counts of, 105, 176, 181;
revolts, 316
Werner of Kyburg, 104
Werner Staufacher, 120
Wesen, 175, 177
West Frankish realm, 72
Westphalia, peace of, 311
Wieland, 337
William IV. of Burgundy, 95
Willisan destroyed, 169
Wimmis stormed, 162
Winkelried, 171, 173
Winkelriedstiftung, the, 415
Winterthur, 74, 132
Wyss, Prof. Georg von, historian, 69
Y
Yorkshire, lake settlements in East, 12
Yverdon, 97
Z
Zaeringen, house of, 95, 96;
dissolution, 101
Zehngerichte (Bund), 184
Zschokke, novelist, 374, 384, 414
Zug, 142;
excluded from league, 145;
re-admitted, 146
Zugewandte, 180
Zum Ranft, 219
Zünfte or guilds, 225
Zuricum, 17
Zurich, 60, 66;
abbey founded, 70, 75;
diets, 90;
Reichsvogtei, 94;
attacks Winterthur, 132;
joins league, defeats Austrians, 142;
Lenzburgs and Zaerings, 149;
a poet's corner, 155;
"Mordnacht," 156;
war with Schwyz, 190, 193;
gives up Austrian Alliance, 197;
revolts against Waldmann, 228;
war with Forest, 264;
religious refugees, 295;
educational pre-eminence, 398;
largest Swiss city, 420
"Zurichputsch," 390
Zwingli, 255;
birth, 257;
called to Zurich, 258;
abolishes Reislaufen, 260;
establishes National Church, 262;
with Zurich army, 264;
killed in battle, 267
The Story of the Nations.
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THE STORY OF GREECE. Prof. JAS. A. HARRISON.
" " " ROME. ARTHUR GILMAN.
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" " " CHALDEA. Z. A. RAGOZIN.
" " " GERMANY. S. BARING-GOULD.
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