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128-709: Since the Middle Ages, transit across the Gotthard played an important role in Swiss history, the region north of the Gotthard becoming the nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the 13th century, after the pass became a vital trade route between Northern and Southern Europe. The Gotthard is sometimes referred to as the "King of Mountain Passes" because of its central and strategic location. The Gotthard Pass lies on

256-574: A Catholic Appenzell Innerrhoden and a Protestant Appenzell Ausserrhoden . The division led to civil war (the Wars of Kappel ) and separate alliances with foreign powers by the Catholic and Protestant factions, but the confederacy as a whole continued to exist. A common foreign policy was blocked, however, by the impasse. During the Thirty Years' War , religious disagreements among the cantons kept

384-431: A conglomerate of eight independent cities and lands, held together not by one single pact but by a net of six different "eternal" pacts, none of which included all eight parties as signatories. Only the three Waldstätten Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden were part of all these treaties. All eight parties would still pursue their own particular interests, most notably in the cases of the strong cities of Zürich and Bern. Zürich

512-561: A day. With the Gotthard Road Tunnel (opened in 1980) the pass itself was again reduced to limited importance for traffic. In addition to the National Road 2, crossing the pass and connecting Göschenen with Airolo , several tunnels provide access through the massif. The first one, the 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) Gotthard Rail Tunnel , opened in 1882 for railway traffic at a cost of around 200 workers' lives (there

640-580: A further enlargement of the confederacy; Fribourg and Solothurn were accepted in 1481. By defeating the Duchy of Burgundy in this war, the Confederacy managed to stop the growing Burgundian threat. In the Swabian War against Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , the Swiss were victorious and exempted from imperial legislation. The associated cities of Basel and Schaffhausen joined the confederacy as

768-588: A large share of the bounty. The city-states of Fribourg and Solothurn wanted to join the confederacy, but were mistrusted by the central Swiss rural cantons. The compromise by the Tagsatzung in the Stanser Verkommnis restored order and assuaged the rural cantons' complaints, with Fribourg and Solothurn accepted into the confederation. While the treaty restricted freedom of assembly (many skirmishes arose from unauthorised expeditions by soldiers from

896-646: A major threat to the Swiss states. King Rudolf I added large amounts of territory in Switzerland and Swabia to his domain , and sieged down Bern in 1289 to enforce imperial taxes. This aggression from the Habsburgs would likely be a major factor in the creation of the Swiss Confederacy. The foundation of the Confederacy is marked by the Rütlischwur (dated to 1307 by Aegidius Tschudi ) or

1024-533: A power struggle with Pope Pius II over the nomination of a bishop in Tyrol in 1460. When the duke was excommunicated by the pope, a situation similar to that of 1415 arose. The confederates took advantage of the problems of the Habsburgs and conquered the Habsburg Thurgau and the region of Sargans in the autumn of 1460, which became both commonly administered property. In a peace treaty from 1 June 1461,

1152-497: A preliminary peace was concluded. In 1450, the parties made a definitive peace and Zürich was admitted into the confederation again, but had to dissolve its alliance with the Habsburgs. The confederation had grown into a political alliance so close that it no longer tolerated separatist tendencies of its members. The end of the dynasty of the counts of Toggenburg in 1436 also had effects on the Grisons . In their former territories in

1280-536: A result of that conflict, and Appenzell followed suit in 1513 as the thirteenth member. The federation of thirteen cantons ( Dreizehn Orte ) constituted the Old Swiss Confederacy until its demise in 1798. The expansion of the confederacy was stopped by the Swiss defeat in the 1515 Battle of Marignano . Only Bern and Fribourg were still able to conquer the Vaud in 1536; the latter primarily became part of

1408-648: A result of the conflicts with the Dukes of Savoy . Neither federation was part of the medieval Eidgenossenschaft but both maintained very close connections with it. Under the Hohenstaufen dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire , the three regions of Uri , Schwyz and Unterwalden (the Waldstätten or "forest communities") had gained Imperial immediacy ( Reichsfreiheit ), the first two because

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1536-607: A strict rule and raised the taxes to finance wars and further territorial acquisitions. When he died in 1291, his son Albert I got involved in a power struggle with Adolf of Nassau for the German throne, and the Habsburg rule over the alpine territories weakened temporarily. Anti-Habsburg insurgences sprang up in Swabia and Austria, but were quashed quickly by Albert in 1292. Zürich had participated in this uprising. Albert besieged

1664-719: A victory in the Battle on the Planta in November 1475. In 1476, Charles retaliated and marched to Grandson with his army, but suffered three devastating defeats in a row, first in the Battle of Grandson , then in the Battle of Murten , until he was killed in the Battle of Nancy in 1477, where the confederates fought alongside an army of René II , Duke of Lorraine . There is a proverbial saying in Switzerland summarizing these events as "Bi Grandson s'Guet, bi Murte de Muet, bi Nancy s'Bluet" [ hät de Karl de Küeni verloore ] ("[Charles

1792-526: Is named Lago della Piazza and has a surface of 3.94 hectares. South of Lago della Piazza are the Hospice (Italian: Ospizio) and National Museum, as well as a hotel and restaurants. Another official road sign displaying an elevation of 2,091 metres (6,860 ft) lies there. A few kilometres away and slightly above the Gotthard Pass are found two large dams and artificial lakes: Lago di Lucendro at

1920-537: Is one of the oldest surviving written documents of an alliance between Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, the founding cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy . It is possible that it was written a few decades later than the given date of 1291, which would put it in the same date range as the pact of Brunnen of 1315. The traditional date given for the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy in Swiss historiography of

2048-625: Is the White Book of Sarnen (1470), which records that wa böse Türnli waren, die brachen sy vnd viengen ze Uere am ersten an die hüser brechen wherever there were hostile forts (towers), they broke (slighted) them and first began in Uri to break these buildings The text names Zwing Uri at Amsteg as the first castle slighted, followed by castle Schwandau in Schwyz , Rötzberg in Stans , and finally

2176-555: Is uncertainty as to the exact toll). The second one, the 17 kilometres (11 mi) Gotthard Road Tunnel (a motorway tunnel), opened in 1980. It was closed for two months in 2001 following a fatal fire. Both railway and motorway tunnels have portals in Göschenen and Airolo, at around 1,150 metres above sea level, and are close to each other. Either rail and road traffics through these tunnels are sometimes shut down during harsh weather conditions, particularly in winter. The last tunnel,

2304-565: The Acht Orte (Eight Cantons)—consolidated its position. The members (especially the cities) enlarged their territory at the expense of local counts—primarily by buying judicial rights , but sometimes by force. The Eidgenossenschaft , as a whole, expanded through military conquest: the Aargau was conquered in 1415 and the Thurgau in 1460. In both cases, the Swiss profited from weakness in

2432-557: The Freibriefe establishing their immediate status. Even Unterwalden was finally properly granted this status by Albert's successor Henry VII in 1309. This did not prevent the dukes of Habsburg, who originally had had their homelands in the Aargau , from trying to reassert their sovereignty over the territories south of the Rhine. In the struggle for the crown of the Holy Roman Empire in 1314 between duke Frederick I of Austria and

2560-630: The Pfaffenbrief forbade feuds and the parties pledged to guarantee the peace on the road from Zürich to the St. Gotthard pass. Another important treaty was the Sempacherbrief in 1393. Not only was this the first document signed by all of the Eight Cantons (plus the associated Solothurn), but it also defined that none of them was to unilaterally start a war without the consent of all

2688-743: The Freie Ämter ("Free Districts"), the Thurgau , the Rhine valley, and Sargans , and furthermore the Catholic cantons were excluded from the administration of the County of Baden . The "German bailiwicks" ( German : Deutsche Gemeine Vogteien, Gemeine Herrschaften ) were generally governed by the Acht Orte apart from Bern until 1712, when Bern joined the sovereign powers: Several bailiwicks ( Vogteien ) were generally referred to as "transmontane bailiwicks" ( German : Ennetbergische Vogteien , Italian : Baliaggi Ultramontani ). In 1440, Uri conquered

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2816-509: The Pfaffenbrief of 1370, was the guarantee of peace along the road from Zürich to the Gotthard Pass. The Swiss also had an interest in extending their influence south of the Alps to secure the trade route across the pass to Milan . Beginning in 1331, they initially exerted their influence through peaceful trade agreements, but in the 15th century, their involvement turned military . 1403

2944-635: The Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft , as the confederacy was called, were joined in the early 14th century by the city states of Lucerne , Zürich , and Bern , and they managed to defeat Habsburg armies on several occasions. They also profited from the fact that the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, for most of the 14th century, came from the House of Luxembourg and regarded them as potential useful allies against

3072-430: The Battle of Sempach and he himself was killed. In the wake of these events Glarus declared itself free and constituted its first regional diet ( Landsgemeinde ) in 1387. In the Battle of Näfels in 1388, an Austrian army of Albert III , the successor of Leopold, was defeated, and in the peace treaty concluded the next year, Glarus maintained its independence from the Habsburgs. The loose federation of states

3200-595: The Bavarian king Louis IV , the Waldstätten sided with Louis for fear of the Habsburgs trying to annex their counties again, like Rudolph I had done. When a long-simmering conflict between Schwyz and the abbey of Einsiedeln escalated once more, the Habsburgs responded by sending a strong army of knights against these peasants to subdue their insurrection, but the Austrian army of Frederick's brother Leopold I

3328-515: The Council of Constance , and encouraged others to take over the duke's possessions, amongst which was the Aargau . After being granted far-reaching privileges by the emperor (all eight cantons became immediate) and a decree that placed the ban over the peace treaty of 1412, the confederates conquered the Aargau. A large part became Bernese, while the County of Baden was subsequently administered by

3456-522: The Habsburgs . Its success resulted in the addition of more confederates, increasing the number of cantons to thirteen ( Dreizehn Orte ) by 1513. The confederacy pledged neutrality in 1647 (under the threat of the Thirty Years' War ), although many Swiss served privately as mercenaries in the Italian Wars and during the early modern period. After the Swabian War of 1499 the confederacy

3584-569: The Jura mountains , especially Grandson and Murten, as common dependencies of Bern and Fribourg. The whole Valais, however, would henceforth be independent, and Bern would reconquer the Vaud in 1536. While the territorial effects of the Burgundian Wars on the confederation were minor, they marked the beginning of the rise of Swiss mercenaries on the battlefields of Europe. In the Burgundian Wars,

3712-797: The Leventina Valley from the Visconti , dukes of Milan . Some of this territory had previously been annexed between 1403 and 1422. Further territories were acquired in 1500; see History of Ticino for further details . Three bailiwicks, all now in the Ticino , were condominiums of the Forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden: Four other Ticinese bailiwicks were condominiums of the Zwölf Orte (the original 13 cantons, minus Appenzell) from 1512: Another three bailiwicks were condominiums of

3840-680: The NRLA project, reduced the 3 hour 40 min rail journey from Zürich to Milan by one hour, while increasing the size and number of trains that can operate along the route because the line is nearly level, compared with the spirals of the older tunnel. A number of international artists have been inspired by the dramatic scenery of the Gotthard Pass, the Schöllenen Gorge and the Teufelsbrücke. Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy , also known as Switzerland or

3968-678: The Ossola valley. Twice, the Milanese reconquered all these territories except the Leventina. Both times, the Swiss managed, despite their defeats, to negotiate peace treaties that were actually favorable for them. The Burgundian Wars were an involvement of confederate forces in the conflict between the Valois dynasty and the Habsburgs . The aggressive expansionism of the Duke of Burgundy , Charles

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4096-561: The Po and ultimately into the Adriatic Sea . The Gotthard Pass was formerly known as Monte Tremolo (its southern slope is still known as Val Tremola ). A chapel dedicated to Saint Gotthard of Hildesheim (died in 1038, canonized 1131), who was considered the patron saint of mountain passes, was built on the southern slope of the pass and consecrated by the archbishop of Milan , Enrico da Settala , in 1230. The pass soon became known after

4224-657: The Prättigau and Davos , the (initially eleven, after a merger only ten) villages founded the League of the Ten Jurisdictions ( Zehngerichtebund ). By 1471, the three leagues, together with the city of Chur , had formed a close federation, based on military assistance and free trade pacts between the partners and including a common federal diet: the Three Leagues ( Drei Bünde ) was born, even though

4352-409: The Swiss Confederacy , was a loose confederation of independent small states ( cantons , German Orte or Stände ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire . It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerland . It formed at the end of the 13th century, from a nucleus in what is now Central Switzerland , expanding to include the cities of Zürich and Bern by the middle of

4480-500: The Swiss peasant war of 1653 in Lucerne, Bern, Basel, Solothurn and the Aargau. The revolt was put down swiftly by force and with the help of many cantons. Religious differences were accentuated by a growing economic discrepancy. The Catholic, predominantly rural central-Swiss cantons were surrounded by Protestant cantons with increasingly commercial economies. The politically dominant cantons were Zürich and Bern (both Protestant), but

4608-578: The Thirty Years' War and was not included into the system of imperial circles in 1500. As a direct consequence of the Swabian War the previously associated city states of Basel and Schaffhausen joined the confederation in 1501. In 1513, the Appenzell followed suit as the thirteenth member. The cities of St. Gallen , Biel , Mulhouse and Rottweil as well as the Three Leagues in

4736-527: The Zwölf Orte from 1512, but were lost from the Confederacy three years later and are all now comuni of Lombardy or Piedmont : Some territories were separate subjects of cantons or associates, Einzelörtische Untertanen von Länderorten und Zugewandten : Formation of the Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy began as a late medieval alliance between the communities of

4864-536: The canton of Bern , with a small portion under the jurisdiction of Fribourg. The Reformation in Switzerland led to doctrinal division amongst the cantons. Zürich, Bern, Basel, Schaffhausen and associates Biel, Mulhouse, Neuchâtel, Geneva and the city of St. Gallen became Protestant ; other members of the confederation and the Valais remained Catholic . In Glarus, Appenzell, in the Grisons and in most condominiums both religions coexisted; Appenzell split in 1597 into

4992-460: The status quo of 1301. As a result of these struggles, the villages in the upper Valais organized themselves in the Sieben Zenden ("seven tenths") around 1355, emerging after these wars as largely independent small states, much like the cantons of the Confederacy. In the Grisons , then called Churwalchen, the bishop of Chur and numerous local noble families competed for the control of

5120-782: The "Forest States", had been granted imperial immediacy and autonomy during the reign of the Hohenstaufens . The region was endowed with these privileges because the Gotthard Pass went through the area. This pass was important in the Hohenstaufen struggle against the Italian Lombard League . Due to the fragmentation of Swabia following the collapse of the Hohenstaufens, many nations began to compete for land. The Habsburgs in particular were

5248-454: The 1315 Pact of Brunnen . Since 1889, the Federal Charter of 1291 among the rural communes of Uri , Schwyz , and Unterwalden has been considered the founding document of the confederacy. The early Swiss Confederacy was simply a defensive pact, but over time the states grew closer and closer. Following a victory against the Habsburgs in 1315, the members of the Confederacy vowed not to form alliances with outside states without consent of

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5376-408: The 14th century. This formed a rare union of rural and urban communes , all of which enjoyed imperial immediacy in the Holy Roman Empire. This confederation of eight cantons ( Acht Orte ) was politically and militarily successful for more than a century, culminating in the Burgundy Wars of the 1470s which established it as a power in the complicated political landscape dominated by France and

5504-481: The 16th century ( Aegidius Tschudi and others) is 1307. King Rudolf I died in 1291, and 1307 falls into the reign of King Albert I , both members of the House of Habsburg ruling in a time of political instability , when the Holy Roman Empire had been without an emperor for several decades. The politically weak kings of this period had to make frequent concessions to their subjects and vassals in order to remain in power. The founding cantons received confirmations of

5632-461: The 16th century (attestation of the name Teiffels Brucken in 1587) but more likely formed in the 17th century, and is first recorded in the early 18th century, by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer . A new road, including a tunnel with a length of c. 60 m, was built in 1707/8. The tunnel, known as Urnerloch , was the first road tunnel to be built in the Alps. It was constructed by Pietro Morettini (1660–1737). The path across Schöllenen Gorge, and thus across

5760-441: The 57 kilometres (35 mi) Gotthard Base Tunnel (a double-tube railway tunnel), opened in 2016. At around 500 metres above sea level, it provides for the first time a flat route through the massif and the Alps from the northern plains at Erstfeld to the southern plains at Bodio . It is the longest and deepest railway tunnel in the world. This tunnel, combined with two shorter tunnels planned near Zürich and Lugano as part of

5888-407: The Alsatian cities and Sigismund in an "anti-burgundian league", conquered part of the Burgundian Jura ( Franche-Comté ), and the next year, Bernese forces conquered and ravaged the Vaud , which belonged to the Duchy of Savoy , which in turn was allied with Charles the Bold. The Sieben Zenden , with the help of Bernese and other confederate forces, drove the Savoyards out of the lower Valais after

6016-432: The Austrian Vorarlberg and in the Grisons , where the confederates were victorious more often than not, the Battle of Dornach , where the emperor's commander was killed, put an end to the war. In September 1499, a peace agreement was concluded at Basel that effectively established a de facto independence of the confederation from the empire, although it continued nominally to be part of the Holy Roman Empire until after

6144-439: The Bailiwick of Bellinzona ( German : Bellinzona ), Blenio ( German : Bollenz ) and Riviera ( German : Reffier ) which were owned by Uri, Schwyz, and Nidwalden as well as the bailiwick Leventina ( German : Livinental ) (owned by Uri) and even the Val d'Ossola ( German : Eschental ). There were also three Italian-speaking subject areas of the Three Leagues (Bormio, Valtellina and Chiavenna) which were not included in

6272-473: The Bold , brought him in conflict with both the French king Louis XI and emperor Frederick III of the House of Habsburg . His embargo politics against the cities of Basel, Strasbourg and Mulhouse prompted these to turn to Bern for help. The conflicts culminated in 1474, after duke Sigismund of Austria had concluded a peace agreement with the confederates in Constance (later called the Perpetual Accord , Ewige Richtung ). The confederates, united with

6400-411: The Bold lost] his goods at Grandson, his boldness at Murten and his blood at Nancy"). As a result of the Burgundian Wars, the dynasty of the dukes of Burgundy had died out. Bern returned the Vaud to the duchy of Savoy against a ransom of 50,000 guilders in 1476, and sold its claims on the Franche-Comté to Louis XI for 150,000 guilders in 1479. The confederates only kept small territories east of

6528-427: The Burgundian Wars), it reinforced agreements amongst the cantons in the earlier Sempacherbrief and Pfaffenbrief . The civil war during the Reformation ended in a stalemate. The Catholic cantons could block council decisions but, due to geographic and economic factors, could not prevail over the Protestant cantons. Both factions began to hold separate councils, still meeting at a common Tagsatzung (although

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6656-428: The Catholic cantons were influential since the Second War of Kappel in 1531. A 1655 attempt (led by Zürich) to restructure the federation was blocked by Catholic opposition, which led to the first battle of Villmergen in 1656; the Catholic party won, cementing the status quo . The problems remained unsolved, erupting again in 1712 with the second battle of Villmergen . This time the Protestant cantons won, dominating

6784-428: The Communities prepared to defend themselves. On August 1, 1291, an Everlasting League was made between the Forest Communities for mutual defense against a common enemy. Uri and Schwyz got their status reconfirmed by Adolf of Nassau in 1297, but to no avail, for Albert finally won the power struggle and became King of Germany in 1298 after Adolf was killed in the Battle of Göllheim . The Federal Charter of 1291

6912-412: The Confederacy was at its peak, and the default view was to regard the reports of the late-15th-century chronists as essentially legendary. Since the late 1970s, systematic surveys of medieval castles in Central Switzerland have shown that a number of castles were indeed destroyed during the early 14th century, so that a possible historical nucleus of the Burgenbruch accounts may be granted, even though

7040-579: The Eight Cantons ( Acht Orte ), then in 1481 to ten, in 1501 to twelve, and finally to thirteen cantons ( Dreizehn Orte ). Associates (Zugewandte Orte) were close allies of the Old Swiss Confederacy, connected to the union by alliance treaties with all or some of the individual members of the confederacy. Three of the associates were known as Engere Zugewandte : Two federations were known as Ewige Mitverbündete : There were two Evangelische Zugewandte : Condominiums ( German : Gemeine Herrschaften ) were common subject territories under

7168-414: The French invasion of 1499. The events told in the saga of William Tell , which are purported to have occurred around 1307, are not substantiated by historical evidence. This story, like the related story of the Rütlischwur (the oath on the Rütli , a meadow above Lake Lucerne ), seems to have its origins in the late 15th century White Book of Sarnen , a collection of folk tales from 1470, and

7296-418: The Gray League was dominated by the free communities and gave itself a more democratic charter. The third league, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions ( Zehngerichtenbund ), would not be formed until later. The relationships between the individual cantons of the confederation were not without tensions, though. A first clash between Bern and the four Waldstätten over the Raron conflict (Bern supported

7424-668: The Grisons were all associates of the confederation ( Zugewandte Orte ); the Valais would become an associate state in 1529. The Ticino region consisted of several city-states along the Ticino river . Following the conquest of the region, it was divided into four 'Ticino Bailiwicks ' which were under the joint administration of the Thirteen Cantons after 1512. The four bailiwicks were Valle di Maggia ( German : Meynthal or Maiental ), Locarno ( German : Luggarus ), Lugano ( German : Lugano ) and Mendrisio ( German : Mendris ). The area also included several other territories that were owned by one or more cantons. These included:

7552-586: The Habsburg dukes. In the south, Uri led a military territorial expansion that (after many setbacks) would by 1515 lead to the conquest of the Ticino .None of these territories became members of the confederacy; they had the status of condominiums (regions administered by several cantons). The reason for these Swiss victories was their innovative military tactics. Their perfection of the Pike Square made them excellent defensive warriors in their home mountain terrain, and they became highly sought after mercenaries throughout Europe (ex Swiss Guard ). At this time,

7680-418: The Habsburgs, joined the alliance. In 1351, these four communities were joined by the city of Zürich , where a strong citizenship had gained power following the installation of the Zunftordnung ( guild regulations) and the banning of the noble authorities in 1336. The city also sought support against the Habsburg city of Rapperswil , which had tried to overthrow mayor Rudolf Brun in Zürich in 1350. With

7808-433: The Mountains; Italian : Baliaggi Ultramontani , German : Ennetbergische Vogteien ) was administered by the Twelve Cantons. These districts were governed by bailiffs holding office for two years and purchasing it from the members of the League. Some of the land and the town of Bellinzona were annexed by Uri in 1419 but lost again in 1422. In 1499 nearly one and a half centuries of Milanese rule in Bellinzona ended with

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7936-434: The Swiss Confederation on 14 April 1500. Bellinzona would remain under the joint administration of Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden until the creation of the Helvetic Republic after the French invasion of Switzerland in 1798. Between 1433 and 1438 the Duke of Milan , Aloisio Sanseverino, sat as a feudal lord over Lugano. Under the reign of his heirs in the following decades rebellions and riots broke out, which lasted until

8064-402: The Swiss soldiers had gained a reputation of near invincibility, and their mercenary services became increasingly sought after by the great European political powers of the time. Shortly after the Burgundy Wars, individual cantons concluded mercenary contracts, so-called " capitulations ", with many parties, including the Pope —the papal Swiss Guard was founded in 1505 and became operational

8192-402: The Ticino Bailiwicks. Between 1403 and 1422 some of these lands were annexed by forces from Uri, but subsequently lost after the Battle of Arbedo in 1422. While the Battle of Arbedo stopped Swiss expansion for a time, the Confederation continued to exercise influence in the area. The Canton of Uri conquered the Leventina Valley in 1440. In a second conquest Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden gained

8320-413: The Valois and the Habsburgs over the control of northern Italy. When the power of the Duchy of Milan perished in these wars, the Swiss finally managed to bring the whole Ticino under their control. In 1500, they occupied the strategically important fortress of Bellinzona , which the French king Louis XII , who ruled Milan at that time, ceded definitively in 1503. From 1512 on, the confederates fought on

8448-413: The administration of several cantons. They were governed by reeves ( Vögte ) delegated for two years, each time from another of the responsible cantons. Bern initially did not participate in the administration of some of the eastern condominiums, as it had no part in their conquest and its interests were focused more on the western border. In 1712, Bern replaced the Catholic cantons in the administration of

8576-401: The alliance would be officially concluded in a written contract only in 1524. In the second half of the 15th century, the confederation expanded its territory further. In the north, the formerly Habsburg cities of Schaffhausen and Stein am Rhein had become immediate in 1415, with the ban of Frederick IV. The two strategically important cities—they offered the only two fortified bridges over

8704-423: The barons of Raron, while the forest cantons sided with the Sieben Zenden ) in the upper Valais was barely avoided. The local noble barons of Raron established themselves as the leading family in the upper Valais in the late 14th century and competed with the bishop of Sion for the control of the valley. When emperor Sigismund designated them counts in 1413 and ordered the bishop to hand over his territories to

8832-424: The castle at Sarnen , the storming of which is told in a graphic manner. The Burgenbruch was long seen as historical, substantiated by the numerous ruined castles in Central Switzerland, but archaeological excavations have shown that these castles were abandoned gradually, not during a sudden uprising, during the period of roughly 1200 to 1350. By the 1970s, the "demythologization" of the foundational period of

8960-426: The city of Bern in 1323, and even sent a detachment to help the Bernese forces in their territorial expansion against the dukes of Savoy and the Habsburgs in the Battle of Laupen in 1339. In 1353, Bern entered an "eternal" alliance with the confederation, completing the "Confederacy of the Eight Cantons" ( German : Bund der Acht Orte ). This alliance of the Eight Cantons was not a homogeneous state but rather

9088-488: The city, which had to accept him as its patron. This time of turmoil prompted the Waldstätten to cooperate more closely, trying to preserve or regain their immediacy. The first alliance started in 1291 when Rudolph bought all the rights over the town of Lucerne and the abbey estates in Unterwalden from Murbach Abbey in Alsace . The Waldstätten saw their trade route over Lake Lucerne cut off and feared losing their independence. When Rudolph died on July 15, 1291,

9216-423: The claims of Schwyz and Glarus, which were supported by the rest of the cantons, and in 1438 declared an embargo . The other members of the confederation expelled Zürich from the confederation in 1440 and declared war. In retaliation Zürich made a pact with the Habsburgs in 1442. The other cantons invaded the canton of Zürich and besieged the city, but were unable to capture it. By 1446, both sides were exhausted, and

9344-531: The common council was deadlocked by disagreements between both factions until 1712, when the Protestant cantons gained power after their victory in the second war of Villmergen ). The Catholic cantons were excluded from administering the condominiums in the Aargau, the Thurgau and the Rhine valley; in their place, Bern became co-sovereign of these regions. The confederation expanded in several stages: first to

9472-602: The confederacy neutral and spared it from belligerents. At the Peace of Westphalia , the Swiss delegation was granted formal recognition of the confederacy as a state independent of the Holy Roman Empire. Growing social differences and an increasing absolutism in the city cantons during the Ancien Régime led to local popular revolts . An uprising during the post-war depression after the Thirty Years' War escalated to

9600-434: The confederacy. This expansion greatly changed the social climate in the Confederacy. In the original 3 cantons, citizens all held equal rights, but in the newly acquired urban cities, power was in the hands of the wealthy Burgomeisters . This led into a shift away from the traditional Swiss egalitarianism enjoyed by citizens in the original Confederacy. From 1353 to 1481, the federation of eight cantons —known in German as

9728-578: The confederacy. The individual interests of the cantons clashed in the Old Zürich War (1436–1450), caused by territorial conflict among Zürich and the central Swiss cantons over the succession of the Count of Toggenburg . Although Zürich entered an alliance with the Habsburg dukes, it then rejoined the confederacy. The confederation had become so close a political alliance that it no longer tolerated separatist tendencies in its members. The Tagsatzung

9856-475: The confederates against the Habsburgs: Rottweil became an associate on 18 June 1463, and Mülhausen on 17 June 1466, through an alliance with Bern (and Solothurn). In Rapperswil , a Habsburg enclave on Lake Zürich within confederate territory, a pro-confederate coup d'état in 1458 led to the city becoming a protectorate of the confederacy in 1464. Duke Sigismund of Austria got involved in

9984-430: The confederates, and the abbey became a protectorate of the confederacy on 17 August 1451. The city was accepted as an associate state on 13 June 1454. Fribourg , another Habsburg city, came under the rule of the Duke of Savoy during the 1440s and had to accept the duke as its lord in 1452. Nevertheless, it also entered an alliance with Bern in 1454, becoming an associate state, too. Two other cities also sought help from

10112-637: The confederation as a common property until 1798. Only the Fricktal remained a Habsburg possession. In the Valais , the conflict between the Bishop of Sion and the Duchy of Savoy , which had led to a separation in 1301 (the bishop controlling the upper Valais and the Savoyards the lower part), broke out again. Twice the Savoyards temporarily occupied the whole Valais, but both times they were ultimately defeated. Both peace treaties from 1361 and 1391 restored

10240-459: The confederation, which would have tipped the balance in favour of the city cantons. The rural cantons were thus strongly opposed. In 1477 they marched upon the cities in protest. At Stans in 1481 the Federal Diet met in order to resolve the issues, but war seemed inevitable. A local hermit, Niklaus von der Flüe , was consulted on the situation. He requested that a message be passed on to

10368-445: The confederation. True reform, however, was impossible; the individual interests of the thirteen members were too diverse, and the absolutist cantonal governments resisted all attempts at confederation-wide administration. Foreign policy remained fragmented. The (Alte) Eidgenossenschaft was initially united not by a single pact, but by overlapping pacts and bilateral treaties between members. The parties generally agreed to preserve

10496-433: The destruction of these forts in itself was of limited military import and could not have resulted in a lasting political change. Subsequently, the three communities (their territories did not yet correspond to the areas of the modern-day cantons ) followed a slow policy of expansion. Uri entered a pact with the previously Habsburg valley of Urseren in 1317. In 1332, the city of Lucerne , trying to achieve immediacy from

10624-510: The direct authority of the emperor without any intermediate liege lords and thus were largely autonomous. With the rise of the Habsburg dynasty, the kings and dukes of Habsburg sought to extend their influence over this region and to bring it under their rule; as a consequence, a conflict ensued between the Habsburgs and these mountain communities who tried to defend their privileged status as reichsfrei regions. The three founding cantons of

10752-463: The duke had no choice but to accept the new situation. The Swiss also had an interest in extending their influence south of the Alps to secure the trade route across the St. Gotthard Pass to Milan . Beginning in 1331, they initially exerted their influence through peaceful trade agreements, but in the 15th century, their involvement turned military. In 1403 the upper Leventina , as the valley south of

10880-553: The eight cantons gradually increased their influence on neighbouring cities and regions through additional alliances. Individual cantons concluded pacts with Fribourg , Appenzell , Schaffhausen , the abbot and the city of St. Gallen , Biel , Rottweil , Mulhouse and others. These allies (known as the Zugewandte Orte ) became closely associated with the confederacy, but were not accepted as full members. They would be known as Swiss Associates . The Burgundian Wars prompted

11008-495: The eight members of the confederacy was the Sempacherbrief  [ de ; fr ] of 1393, concluded after victories over the Habsburgs at Sempach in 1386 and Näfels in 1388, which forbade a member from unilaterally beginning a war without the consent of the other cantons. A federal diet , the Tagsatzung , developed during the 15th century. Pacts and renewals (or modernizations) of earlier alliances reinforced

11136-576: The emperors wanted to place the strategically important St. Gotthard Pass under their direct control, the latter because most of its territory belonged to immediate monasteries. The cities of Bern and Zürich had also become immediate when the dynasty of their patrons, the Zähringer , had died out. When Rudolph I of Habsburg was elected "King of the Germans" in 1273, he also became the direct liege lord of these reichsfrei regions. He instituted

11264-579: The empire in his Golden Bull issued in January of that same year. The confederacy had signed "perpetual" pacts with both Glarus and Zug in 1352, and thus, even if these pacts apparently were disregarded only a few years later. This date is often considered the entry of these two cantons into the confederation despite their remaining under Habsburg rule for a few more years. In the west, the Vier Waldstätten had already formed an alliance with

11392-461: The fashion of calling individual urban cantons republics (such as the Republics of Zürich , Berne and Basel ). The nucleus of the Old Swiss Confederacy was an alliance among the valley communities of the central Alps to facilitate management of common interests (such as trade) and ensure peace along trade routes through the mountains. Previously, the communities, also known collectively as

11520-693: The federation of the Three Leagues as a whole became an associate state of the confederation, in 1498, by concluding alliance agreements with the seven easternmost cantons. When the confederates refused to accept the resolutions of the Diet of Worms in 1495 , the Swabian War (also called the Swiss War in Germany) broke out in 1499, opposing the confederation against the Swabian League and emperor Maximilian I . After some battles around Schaffhausen, in

11648-522: The following decades increased its control over the secular administration of the prince-bishopric, until the bishop's regent was deposed in 1452. In the upper valley of the Rhine , the Grauer Bund ("Gray League") was founded in 1395 under the direction of the abbot of Disentis and including not only the peasant communities but also the local nobles to end the permanent feuds of the latter. By 1424

11776-455: The foot of Pizzo Lucendro and Lago della Sella at the foot of Pizzo Centrale. They are respectively part of the Reuss and Ticino basin, although both are located within the canton of Ticino. Though the pass was locally known in antiquity, it was not generally used until the early 13th century because travel involved fording the turbulent Reuss , swollen with snowmelt during the early summer, in

11904-512: The forces of the Habsburg emperor Maximilian I ensured a de facto independence from the empire. During their involvement in the Italian Wars , the Swiss brought the Ticino under their control. Two similar federations sprang up in neighboring areas in the Alps in the 14th century: in the Grisons , the federation of the Three Leagues ( Drei Bünde ) was founded, and in the Valais , the Seven Tithings ( Sieben Zenden ) were formed as

12032-514: The gain of Ticino as a common administrative region of the confederacy and the occupation of the valley of the Adda river ( Veltlin , Bormio , and Chiavenna ) by the Three Leagues , which would remain a dependency of the Grisons until 1797 with a brief interruption during the Thirty Years' War . Both Fribourg and Solothurn, which had participated in the Burgundy Wars, now wanted to join

12160-456: The help of its new allies, Zürich was able to withstand the siege of duke Albert II of Austria , and the confederates even conquered the city of Zug and the valley of Glarus in 1352. They had to return both Glarus and Zug to the Habsburgs in the peace treaty of Regensburg in 1356; emperor Charles IV in return recognized the guild government of Zürich and confirmed its immediate status in spite of his having forbidden any confederations within

12288-400: The help of the confederates, a Habsburg army of about 2,000 men was warded off east of Thayngen . Stein am Rhein concluded a similar alliance on 6 December 1459. The city of St. Gallen had also become free in 1415, but was in a conflict with its abbot , who tried to bring it under his influence. But as the Habsburg dukes were unable to support him in any way, he was forced to seek help from

12416-669: The invasion of Milan by Louis XII of France . He captured the city and, fearing an attack by the Swiss, fortified the Castelgrande with 1,000 troops. Throughout the winter of 1499/1500 unrest in Bellinzona grew, until January when an armed revolt of the citizens of Bellinzona drove the French troops from the city. Following the capture and execution of Ludovico Sforza in April 1500 and seeking protection from France, Bellinzona joined

12544-694: The latter canton, about 2 km south of the border with Uri. The valleys connected by the pass are that of the river Reuss , named the Urseren , and that of the river Ticino , named Valle Leventina . The Gotthard axis is the most important route between Central Switzerland as well as most of the northern part of the country and the southern region of Ticino. It is the most direct link between Zürich and Lugano and also between some regions of northern Europe and Italy ( Rotterdam-Basel-Genoa axis ). The nearest towns are Hospental (7 km north) near Andermatt and Airolo (4 km south), respectively in

12672-595: The leadership of Bern in December 1375. In 1364, Schwyz reconquered the city and land of Zug and renewed the alliance the following year. In the 1380s, Lucerne expanded its territory aggressively, conquering Wolhusen , claiming sovereignty over the valley of the Entlebuch and the formerly Habsburg city of Sempach . As a consequence, Leopold III of Austria assembled an army and met the confederate army near Sempach in 1386, where his troops were defeated decisively in

12800-465: The main watershed of the Gotthard massif, a massif lying at the heart of the Swiss Alps , between the cantons of Valais , Ticino, Grisons and Uri. The pass itself is the lowest point between the summits of Pizzo Lucendro (west) and Pizzo Centrale (east). It connects the cantons of Uri (north) and Ticino (south), its summit (2,106 metres (6,909 ft), indicated by a road sign) being located in

12928-525: The members of the Diet on his behalf. The details of the message have remained unknown to this day, but it did calm tempers and led to the drawing up of the Treaty of Stans ( Stanser Verkommnis ). Fribourg and Solothurn were admitted into the confederation. After isolated bilateral pacts between the leagues in the Grisons and some cantons of the confederation had already existed since the early 15th century,

13056-522: The narrow steep-sided Schöllenen Gorge , below Andermatt . The first wooden bridge across Schöllenen Gorge was built around 1220, and in the following years the pass rapidly gained in importance. The bridge permitted traffic to follow the Reuss to its headwaters and over the saddle at the top—a continental divide between the Rhine , which flows into the North Sea, and the river Ticino towards Milan , which after leaving Switzerland flows into

13184-530: The next year. More contracts were made with France (a Swiss Guard of mercenaries would be destroyed in the storming of the Tuileries Palace in Paris in 1792 ), the Duchy of Savoy , Austria, and still others. Swiss mercenaries would play an initially important, but later minor, role on European battlefields until well into the 18th century. Swiss forces soon got involved in the Italian Wars between

13312-487: The others. Beginning in 1401, the confederates supported the insurrection of Appenzell against the abbey of St. Gallen and Frederick IV of Austria , duke in Tyrol and Vorderösterreich . Appenzell became a protectorate of the Eight Cantons in 1411, which concluded a 50-year peace with Frederick IV in 1412. Emperor Sigismund placed the imperial ban on Frederick IV in 1415, who had sided with Antipope John XXIII at

13440-465: The pass is called, became a protectorate of Uri. The Swiss and the Duchy of Milan were in conflict over this region throughout much of the 15th century. In 1439, Uri assumed full control of the upper Leventina; the Duchy of Milan gave up its claims there two years later, and so did the chapter of Milan in 1477. Twice the Swiss conquered roughly the whole territory of the modern canton of Ticino and also

13568-428: The pass, still carried only foot traffic and pack animals until 1775, when the first carriage made the journey on an improved road. The Battle of Gotthard Pass took place on 24 September 1799. The new Gotthard road was built in 1830, wide enough to allow (single-lane) motorized traffic. It is said that the first car traversed the pass in 1895. The first reported surmounting of the pass in 1901 still took more than

13696-481: The peace, aid in military endeavours and arbitrate disputes. Slowly, the members began to see the confederation as a unifying entity. In the Pfaffenbrief , a treaty of 1370 among six of the eight members (Glarus and Bern did not participate) forbidding feuds and denying clerical courts jurisdiction over the confederacy, the cantons for the first time used the term Eidgenossenschaft . The first treaty uniting

13824-591: The region with its many alpine passes. Throughout the 14th century, three leagues of free communities appeared. The Gotteshausbund ("League of the House of God"), covering the area around Chur and the Engadin , was founded when in 1367 the bishop, Jean de Vienne , planned to hand over the administration of his diocese to the Austrian Habsburgs. It bought its freedom by paying the bishop's debt and in

13952-481: The rest of the Confederacy. They also agreed to resolve all disputes peacefully and to support one another in both external and internal affairs. At this point however, the Swiss were still subordinate to the Empire, and they acknowledged the authority of the Holy Roman Empire. The initial pact was augmented by pacts with the cities of Lucerne , Zürich , and Bern . This union of rural and urban communes, which enjoyed

14080-476: The rival Habsburgs. By 1460, the confederates controlled most of the territory south and west of the Rhine to the Alps and the Jura mountains . At the end of the 15th century, two wars resulted in an expansion to thirteen cantons ( Dreizehn Orte ): in the Burgundian Wars of the 1470s, the confederates asserted their hegemony on the western border, and their victory in the Swabian War in 1499 against

14208-431: The river Rhine between Constance and Basel—not only struggled with the robber barons from the neighbouring Hegau region but also were under pressure from the Habsburg dukes, who sought to re-integrate the cities into their domain. On June 1, 1454, Schaffhausen became an associate ( Zugewandter Ort ) of the confederacy by entering an alliance with six of the eight cantons (Uri and Unterwalden did not participate). With

14336-465: The saint, by as early as 1236. The opening of the Schöllenen Gorge for traffic was an important factor in the original Swiss Confederacy . The three regions of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden (the Waldstätten or "forest communities") gained imperial immediacy under the Hohenstaufen emperors still in the first half of the 13th century. An important aspect of the early confederacy, expressed in

14464-453: The side of Pope Julius II and his Holy League against the French in territories south of the Alps. After initial successes and having conquered large parts of the territory of Milan , they were utterly defeated by a French army in the Battle of Marignano in 1515, which put an end to military territorial interventions of the confederation, mercenary services under the flags of foreign armies excepted. The results of this short intermezzo were

14592-449: The status of imperial immediacy within the Holy Roman Empire , was engendered by pressure from Habsburg dukes and kings who had ruled much of the land. Bern in particular had fought against local nobles, including the Habsburgs, on several occasions, and as such was eager to join the Confederacy. In several battles with Habsburg armies, the Swiss were victorious; they conquered the rural areas of Glarus and Zug , which became members of

14720-770: The town of Bellinzona and the Riviera in 1500. The third conquest was fought by troops from the entire Confederation (at that time constituted by 12 cantons). In 1512, Locarno, the Maggia Valley , Lugano and Mendrisio were annexed. Subsequently, the upper valley of the Ticino river, from the St. Gotthard to the town of Biasca ( Leventina Valley ) was part of the Canton of Uri. The remaining territory (the Bailiwicks Beyond

14848-408: The upper Leventina, as the valley south of the pass is called, became a protectorate of Uri. Throughout the 15th century, a changeful struggle between the Swiss and the Duchy of Milan ensued, resulting ultimately in the Swiss conquest of the territory of the Ticino . The " Devil's Bridge " ( Teufelsbrücke ) legend associated with the crossing of the Schöllenen Gorge is not medieval; it may date to

14976-494: The valleys in the Central Alps , at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire , to facilitate the management of common interests such as free trade and to ensure the peace along the important trade routes through the mountains. The Hohenstaufen emperors had granted these valleys reichsfrei status in the early 13th century. As reichsfrei regions, the cantons (or regions) of Uri , Schwyz , and Unterwalden were under

15104-584: The valleys of Urseren and Leventina . The region of Andermatt lies at the foot of the Furka and Oberalp Passes connecting the Rhone and Rhine Valleys thus making the Gotthard area a strategic place for transports and military (the Swiss Réduit for instance). Just southeast of the culminating point of the Gotthard Pass, at an elevation of about 2,090 metres above sea level, are several lakes. The largest

15232-424: The von Raron, a revolt broke out in 1414. The following year, both rulers had lost: the von Raron had not succeeded in ousting the bishop, who in turn had to concede far-reaching rights to the Sieben Zenden in the treaty of Seta in 1415. The Old Zürich War , which began as a dispute over the succession to the count of Toggenburg , was a more serious test of the unity of the Eight Cantons. Zürich did not accept

15360-454: Was a de facto independent state throughout the early modern period , although still nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1648 when the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War . The Swiss Reformation divided the confederates into Reformed and Catholic parties, resulting in internal conflict from the 16th to the 18th centuries; as a result, the federal diet ( Tagsatzung )

15488-503: Was a more volatile construct of varying alliances, and in the Battle of Laupen (1339), Fribourg even sided against Bern. Bern's position after that battle was strong enough that such alliances often ended with the other party becoming a Bernese dependency, as happened with e.g. Burgdorf or Payerne . An external threat during this time arose in the form of the Guglers , marauding mercenary knights from France who were beaten back under

15616-400: Was also part of an alliance of cities around Lake Constance which also included Konstanz , Lindau and Schaffhausen and for some time included cities as far away as Rottweil or Ulm , and Bern followed its own hegemonial politics, participating successively in various alliances with other cities including Fribourg , Murten , Biel or Solothurn . This Bernese "Burgundian Confederation"

15744-608: Was first used in the 1370 Pfaffenbrief . Territories of the confederacy came to be known collectively as Schweiz or Schweizerland ( Schwytzerland in contemporary spelling), with the English Switzerland beginning during the mid-16th century. From that time the Confederacy was seen as a single state, also known as the Swiss Republic ( Republic der Schweitzer , République des Suisses and Republica Helvetiorum by Josias Simmler in 1576) after

15872-569: Was often paralysed by hostility between the factions. The Swiss Confederacy fell to a French invasion in 1798, after which it became the short-lived Helvetic Republic . The adjective "old" was introduced after the Napoleonic era with Ancien Régime , retronyms distinguishing the pre-Napoleonic from the restored confederation. During its existence the confederacy was known as Eidgenossenschaft or Eydtgnoschafft ("oath fellowship"), in reference to treaties among cantons; this term

16000-400: Was reinforced by additional agreements amongst the partners. In the Pfaffenbrief of 1370, the signatory six states (without Bern and Glarus) for the first time expressed themselves as a territorial unity, referring to themselves as unser Eydgnosschaft ("our confederacy"). They assumed in this document authority over clericals, subjecting them to their worldly legislation. Furthermore,

16128-399: Was the confederation council, typically meeting several times a year. Each canton delegated two representatives (including the associate states, which had no vote). The canton where the delegates met initially chaired the gathering, but during the 16th century Zürich permanently assumed the chair ( Vorort ) and Baden became the seat. The Tagsatzung dealt with inter-cantonal affairs and

16256-577: Was the court of last resort in disputes between member states, imposing sanctions on dissenting members. It also administered the condominiums; the reeves were delegated for two years, each time by a different canton. A unifying treaty of the Old Swiss Confederacy was the Stanser Verkommnis of 1481. Conflicts between rural and urban cantons and disagreements over the bounty of the Burgundian Wars had led to skirmishes. The urban cantons of Bern, Zurich, and Luzern in particular wanted to keep

16384-576: Was utterly defeated in the Battle of Morgarten in 1315. The three cantons renewed their alliance in the pact of Brunnen , and Louis IV reconfirmed their Imperial immediacy. The Swiss chronicles of the Burgundy Wars period (1470s) refer to a rebellion against the local bailiffs , with a coordinated destruction of their forts or castles, known as the Burgenbruch (" slighting ") in Swiss historiography . The earliest reference for this

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