488 



>\\ 1 T/EULAND. 



and the boldest became the mightiest. Several 

 inferior lords, and several places, therefore, sought 

 the protection of Hapsburg or Savoy. Ziiricfa, 

 Berne, Basle and Soleure, the districts of Uri, 

 Schweitz and Un<lcr\vnl<lrn. gradually acquired the 

 seigneurial rights from tin- emperors, by purchase 

 or by grant, and assumed the name of imperial 

 cities or imperial districts. They were more 

 prosperous and powerful than the nobility, who lived 

 in their solitary castles, at enmity with each other. 

 I'ven the crusades, by promoting commerce, im- 

 proved the already flourishing condition of the 

 cities, as a part of the troops, arms, provisions, 

 &c., were transmitted to Italy, through the passes 

 of the Alps. The crusaders brought back new 

 inventions in the arts, new kinds of fruits, &c. 

 The gold and silk manufactures of the Italians 

 and Eastern nations were imitated in Switzerland ; 

 refinement took the place of rudeness, and poetry 

 became the favourite amusement of the nobles. 

 The cities now formed alliances for their mutual 

 protection against the rapacity of the nobles, and 

 demolished many castles, from which they exercised 

 their oppression upon the peaceful merchants. At 

 the end of the thirteenth century, Rodolph of 

 Hapsburg, who, in 1264, had inherited the estates 

 of his uncle, Hartmann, count of Kyburg, became 

 more powerful than the old lords of the soil. As 

 king and emperor of Germany (1273), he held a 

 court in Helvetia; but he did not abuse his power 

 to reduce the freemen to vassalage. His ambitious 

 sons, however, Rodolph and Albert, encroached 

 upon the rights of the Swiss. Albert, in particular, 

 who succeeded to the imperial dignity in 1298, by 

 his tyranny and obstinacy, gave rise to the first 

 confederacy of the Swiss cantons. (See Tell.} 

 On the night of November 7, 1307, thirty-three 

 brave countrymen met at Riitli (Grutlin), a solitary 

 spot on the lake of Lucerne. Fiirst of Uri, Stauf- 

 facher of Schweitz, and Melchthal (q. v.) of Under- 

 walden, were the leaders on this occasion. All 

 swore to maintain their ancient independence. 

 The three Waldstadte, or Forest-Towns (as these 

 cantons were called), rose, therefore, January 1, 

 1308, deposed the Austrian governors, and destroyed 

 the castles built to overawe the country. (See 

 Albert /.) Henry VII., the successor of Albert 

 on the German throne, confirmed to the Forest- 

 Towns the rights of which Albert had endeavoured 

 to rob them. But the house of Austria still con- 

 tended obstinately for its lost privileges. The 

 victory of Morgarten, gained by the Forest-Towns 

 (1315) over Leopold of Austria, gave rise to the 

 perpetual league of Brunnen, on December 9 of 

 the same year, to which, previous to 1353, Lucerne, 

 Zurich, Glarus, Zug, and Berne had acceded. The 

 victories of Zempach (July 9, 1386), where Arnold 

 Winkelried sacrificed his life, and of Niifels (April 

 9, 1389), gave them an uncertain peace. But the 

 warlike spirit of the people fostered a love of con- 

 quest and plunder; mutual hatred kindled civil 

 wars between neighbouring cantons ; foreign powers 

 sought the aid of the confederates in their contests. 

 In 1424, the people of the Grey League established 

 their independence, and were soon after joined by 

 those of the other two leagues. (See Grisons.) 

 The emperor Frederic III. then called a French 

 army into Switzerland to protect his family estates. 

 The Swiss made a second Thermopylae of the 

 church-yard of St Jacob at Basle, where 1600 of 

 them withstood 20,000 French under the dauphin 

 Louis, August 26, 1444. They next provoked 



s the Bold of Burgundy, who marched into 

 their countty, but \\as defeated at Granson, 

 Miirten, or Morat, and Nancy (1477). The con- 

 federates themselves aspired to conquest, the 

 people being fired by the desire of plunder, and the 

 nobles by ambition of glory. In 1460, they wrested 

 Thurgau from Austria; and from 1436 to 1-l.jit. 

 Zurich, Schweitz, and Glarus contended for Tog- 

 genburg, till Beine decided the dispute in favour of 

 Schweitz. The confederated cantons from this time 

 bore the name of the Swiss confederacy in foreign 

 countries. In 1481, Friburg and Soleure entered 

 the confederacy. The emperor Maximilian I. now 

 determined to force the Swiss to join the Simhian 

 league, and to submit to the court of the imperial 

 chamber. But they suspected Germany on account 

 of Austria, and joined the Grisons. Hence arose 

 the Suabian war, which was concluded, after the 

 Swiss had gained six victories over the Germans, 

 by the peace of Basle, in 1499. Basle and Schaif- 

 hausen (1501), and Appenzell (1513), were aftei- 

 wards admitted into the confederacy. But tin- 

 country and people were disturbed by domestic 

 and foreign wars. In the Milanese war of 1512, 

 the Swiss conquered the Valteline and Chiavenna, 

 and obtained from Milan the Italian bailliages, 

 which form at present the canton of Tessin. They 

 fought on a foreign soil, now for, now against, 

 Milan ; at one time for France, and at another time 

 against her, till after the great battle of Marigimno, 

 gained by Francis I., in 1515, they concluded a per- 

 petual peace with France, at Friburg, in 1516, 

 which was followed, in 1521, by the first formal 

 alliance with that kingdom.* About this time the 

 work of reformation began in Switzerland. Zuin- 

 glius, in 1518, preached against indulgences, as 

 Luther had done in 1517. Even as early as 1516, 

 he had attacked pilgrimages, and the invocation of 

 the virgin Mary; and in 1517, with the knowledge 

 of his patron, the abbot of Einsiedeln, several nuns 

 abandoned the monastic life. His removal from 

 Einsiedeln to Zurich, in 1518, gave him courage to 

 speak more openly, as Luther had, meanwhile, ap- 

 peared in the cause of reform. But when the prin- 

 ciples of the reformation were diffused through 

 Ziirich, Berne, Schaffhausen, Basle (by the labours 

 of (Ecolampadius), St Gall, Miihlhausen, and 

 Bienne, religious jealousy separated the reformed 

 and the Catholic cantons. (See Reformed Church.') 

 In Glarus, Appenzell, and the Grisons, the people 

 were divided between the two confessions. Lu- 

 zerne, Uri, Schweitz, Underwalden, Zug, Friburg, 

 and Soleure, adhered to the ancient faith ; as did 

 likewise the Valais and the Italian bailiwicks. 

 Fanaticism kindled a civil war. The Schweitzers 

 burnt a Protestant preacher of Zurich. Two Swiss 

 armies, nearly 30,000 strong, awaited the signal for 

 civil war, when the word concord was pronounced, 

 and the first religious peace was concluded in 1529. 

 It was agreed that the majority of votes in the 

 communities should decide all questions relating to 

 changes of faith. But the rapid progress of the 

 reformation again provoked the Catholic cantons 

 to war; and the troops of Ziirich were routed at 

 Cappel (1531), where Zuinglius fell, and at the 

 mountain of Zug. After the second public peace, 

 the Catholic religion was restored in Soleure and 

 the common provinces. In the mean time, Savoy, 

 which had long possessed episcopal and seigneurial 



From Louis XI. to Louis XV. tlio Swiss furnished for I IT 

 French service 1,110,798 men, for which trance paid 1,1 i' 

 fume-.. See Guard*. 



