Old Swiss Confederacy
The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy,[6] was a loose confederation of small states (cantons, German Orte or Stände[7]). These states were all independent and in the Holy Roman Empire. It is now Switzerland.
Swiss Confederacy | |
|---|---|
| 1291–1798 | |
.svg) | |
| Capital | None[4] |
| Official languages | German[5] |
| Common languages | [source?] |
| Religion | Roman Catholic Continental Reformed |
| Demonym(s) | Swiss |
| Government | Confederation |
| Legislature | Federal Diet |
| History | |
• Death of Rudolf I | 15 July 1291 |
| 1291 | |
| 1356 | |
| 13–14 September 1515 | |
| 1529 and 1531 | |
• Formal independence from the HRE | 15 May/24 October 1648 |
| January–June 1653 | |
• Collapse | 5 March 1798 |
| Currency | About 75 different local currencies, including Basel thaler, Berne thaler, Fribourg gulden, Geneva thaler, Geneva genevoise, Luzern gulden, Neuchâtel gulden, St. Gallen thaler, Schwyz gulden, Solothurn thaler, Valais thaler, Zürich thaler |
| Today part of | Switzerland |
It formed at the end of the 13th century. It started in what is now Central Switzerland. It eventually included Zürich and Bern by the middle of the 14th century. This was one of the few times when rural and urban communes were combined. All of these communes had imperial immediacy in the Holy Roman Empire.
The Confederacy had 8 cantons (Acht Orte). It was very successful in politics and military for over a century. It became very important in the Burgundy Wars in the 1470s. The confederacy was very powerful in a very confusing Europe.
By 1513, the confederacy had 13 cantons. (Dreizehn Orte) The confederacy became neutral in 1647 (after the threat of the Thirty Years' War). However, many Swiss people mecame private mercenaries in the Italian Wars and the early modern period.
After the Swabian War of 1499, the confederacy became an independent country de facto throughout the early modern period. The confederacy was still part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1648 when the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War. The Swiss Reformation split the confederates into Protestant and Catholic parties. Eventually, there was lots of conflict in the confederacy until the 1700s. In 1798, the French Revolutionary Army took over the confederacy. It then became the Helvetic Republic.
List of cantons
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The confederation grew many times. The first was the Eight Cantons (Acht Orte). In 1481, it was 10 cantons. In 1501, it was 12. Finally, it was 13 cantons (Dreizehn Orte).[8]
- Founding cantons (Urkantone):
Uri, founding canton named in the Federal Charter of 1291
Schwyz, founding canton named in the Federal Charter of 1291
Unterwalden, founding canton named in the Federal Charter of 1291, later split into 
Obwalden and 
Nidwalden
- 14th century: expansion to the Achtörtige Eidgenossenschaft following the battles of Morgarten and Laupen:
- 15th century: expansion to the Zehnörtige Eidgenossenschaft following the Burgundian Wars:
- 16th century: expansion to the Dreizehnörtige Eidgenossenschaft following the Swabian War:
Basel, city canton, since 1501
Schaffhausen, city canton, since 1501; associate since 1454
Appenzell, rural canton, since 1513; associate since 1411; later split into Appenzell Innerrhoden and 
Appenzell Ausserrhoden
References
change- ↑ Corpus helveticum, in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ↑ Corps helvétique, in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Corpo helvetico, in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ↑ Kaufmann, David (2018). "4. Bern: the government city". Varieties of Capital Cities. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978-1788116435.
- ↑ Ayres-Bennett, Wendy; Carruthers, Janice (2018). Manual of Romance Sociolinguistics. De Gruyter. p. 529. ISBN 978-3110365955.
- ↑ (Modern German: Alte Eidgenossenschaft; historically Eidgenossenschaft, after the Reformation also Corps des Suisses, Confoederatio helvetica "Confederation of the Swiss")
- ↑ In the charters of the 14th century described as "communities" (communitas hominum, Lantlüte), the German term Orte becomes common in the early 15th century, used alongside Stand "estate" after the Reformation. The French term canton is used in Fribourg in 1475, and after 1490 is increasingly used in French and Italian documents. It only enters occasional German usage after 1648, and only gains official status as synonym of Stand with the Act of Mediation of 1803. Kantone in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 2016.
- ↑ Im Hof, U.. Geschichte der Schweiz, 7th ed., Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1974/2001. ISBN 3-17-017051-1. (in German)
Further reading
change- Aubert, J.-F.: Petite histoire constitutionnelle de la Suisse, 2nd ed.; Francke Editions, Bern, 1974. (in French)
- Marabello, Thomas Quinn (2023). "The Origins of Democracy in Switzerland," Swiss American Historical Society Review, Vol. 59: No. 1. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol59/iss1/4
- Peyer, H. C.: Verfassungsgeschichte der alten Schweiz, Schulthess Polygraphischer Verlag, Zürich, 1978. ISBN 3-7255-1880-7. (in German)
Other websites
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Media related to Alte Eidgenossenschaft (Old Swiss Confederacy) at Wikimedia Commons
