THE SWISS IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Throughout the Middle Ages Switzerland and the Swiss were always in
the eye of Europe. Sometimes the spectacle they presented was that of
a patriot people pushing back the tyrant and the invader with an
unearthly courage, and luck more unearthly still. Sometimes it was
that of a martial clan, safe in a great mountain fastness, offering
venal swords to the highest bidder, and giving in return for their
mercenary pay as high a courage and as stubborn a fidelity as was ever
inspired by love of country. No court but knew the Swiss in some
capacity. A great London palace, part of which survives to-day as the
Royal Chapel of the Savoy, was built by Peter of Savoy, Prince of West
Switzerland, who built also the Castle of Chillon sung by Byron, and
kept great affairs going in both those far-apart countries. There is
on record a prediction of Machiavelli of Florence that the Swiss were
destined to be "masters of all Italy"--a prediction which time has not
justified, but which was reasonable enough then in the light of the
wonderful military virtue and the unscrupulousness of the Swiss.
Almost every European nation felt their prowess as enemies or allies.
A very curious and contradictory-seeming picture--this Swiss character
in the Middle Ages, so stubborn in defence of its own poor little
home-patch, so cynical in its readiness to do a patriot's service for
the pay of a mercenary. The stubborn defence of an essentially poor
country was not in itself strange. It is human nature that the man who
has little defends it more savagely than the owner of vast
possessions. There is false reasoning in that story of the four
robbers who attacked a Boeotian in order to rob him, and having
subdued him after a very fierce fight in which they were almost
vanquished, and having found that he had but ten coppers, said in
astonishment, "If he had had silver money he would have killed us
all." The Swiss followed the ordinary course of human character in
their fierce defence of a small and poor country.
[Illustration: FLUELEN, AT THE END OF URI LAKE.]
But they followed it in an heroic degree. How can one, however,
reconcile with that noble patriotism the readiness--suggesting an
inherited survival of the desperate migratory spirit of the Helvetii
of Caesar's time--to go abroad and bear arms for any country rich
enough to offer good pay? It is easier to record than to explain the
facts. But they are of a piece with the Swiss spirit of to-day, which
mingles with a high patriotism and a sturdy pride a willingness to
take servile occupation in exile abroad for the sake of gain, and
finds in that no sacrifice of dignity.
In a previous chapter a very slight sketch of the history of
Switzerland was given to the time of Charlemagne. In the confusion
which followed his death Switzerland was divided up, the Treaty of
Verdun (843) assigning West Switzerland and East Switzerland to
different kingdoms. West Switzerland was part of the Burgundian
Kingdom, and after Charlemagne their national pride centred chiefly in
Bertha, "the spinning Queen," who fortified the country against the
Saracens and the Hungarians. By the eleventh century Switzerland was
united again, but when the dispute between Pope Gregory VII. and the
Emperor Henry IV. (it was the time when the Popes claimed, and to an
extent enforced, a temporal and spiritual overlordship over Europe)
plunged the whole continent into a series of wars, Switzerland
suffered with the rest of Europe. The twelfth century saw an important
development for the Swiss national character when Berne and other
"Free Cities" were founded by Bertold V. of the House of Zaeringer.
These "Free Cities" acted as a counterpoise to the growing power of
the Swiss feudal nobles of the country districts, and helped much to
shape the country towards its future of a Federal Republic. This was
the time of the Crusades and, needless to say, the Swiss did not miss
that opportunity for martial service.
With the thirteenth century comes the first beginning of the Swiss
Republic, the story of which is bound up with the rise of the House of
Habsburg, a house from which was to spring one of the proudest
monarchies of Europe, but which kept no foothold in Switzerland, the
land which was the first seat of its power. Habsburg Castle still
dominates the canton Aargau, but it is a monument of Swiss
independence rather than of Austrian Empire. It is not certain whether
the Habsburgs were of Swiss or of Swabian birth, but certainly their
early history is most intimately bound up with the Swiss canton. It is
the story that one of their ancestors, Radbot, hunting in the Aargau,
lost his favourite hawk, and found it sitting on the ridge of the
Wuelpelsberg. Delighted with the view, Radbot built a castle there, and
called it _Hawk Castle_, Habichtsburg, which became "Habsburg."
In a book which is designed to give only so much of the history of
Switzerland as will make interesting its monuments and its people, it
would be tedious to attempt to detail all the circumstances which led
up to the birth of the Swiss Republic. But the leading facts are
these. During the reign of King Albrecht (1298-1308), son of the
famous Habsburger Rudolf, the Eastern Cantons of Switzerland, which
were under the Habsburg House but had certain liberties which they
closely cherished, were ill-governed. Albrecht had set governors over
the cantons, who were oppressive in their taxation and cruel in their
methods of enforcing payment. So much was their oppression and cruelty
resented in the Forest Cantons--Unterwalden, Schwyz, and Uri--that
there was formed by three patriots, Attinghausen, Stauffacher, and
Melchthal, a conspiracy of protest. These patriots, explaining their
plans to their friends, arranged nightly meetings on the Ruetli, a
secluded Alpine meadow above the Mytenstein, on Uri lake. This became
the Runnymede of Swiss freedom. Records, more or less trustworthy,
tell that in 1307 the Swiss patriots decided on definite action. Then
at a meeting attended by thirty-three men on the Ruetli rebellion was
agreed upon.
How far one may accept the story of William Tell as giving a correct
account of the final incident leading to the revolt of the Forest
Cantons I cannot say. There certainly was a Hapsburg governor,
Gessler, in charge of the canton Uri about this time (1307).
Certainly, too, he was of a cruel and tyrannical disposition. But the
story of Tell is thought by later historians to have been of much
earlier origin as regards its main details.[1] Muller, however,
accepts it. Kopp, who has subjected historical legends to a very
searching analysis, rejects it on grounds which appear clear. But,
very wisely, the Swiss keep to a story which conveys so valuable a
lesson of patriotism. In the national history of Switzerland Tell's
defiance of the tyrant is the first paragraph.
[1] It is difficult to decide whether it is superfluous to tell once
again the story of Tell. On the principle that a good story cannot be
told too often, here are the main "facts" as given in Swiss histories:
"One day the Austrian Governor of Uri, Gessler, set up a pole in the
market-place of Altdorf. Upon this pole he set his hat, and gave
orders that every Swiss who passed should bow down before it, in
homage to his Austrian masters. Tell came by and did not bow. Gessler
ordered him to be seized. Tell was a very famous archer. So the
Governor bade his soldiers seize Tell's son and set the boy against a
tree. An apple was placed on the child's head, and Tell was bidden to
shoot at that mark. Tell took two arrows, placed one on his
bow-string, and made careful aim. He shot his arrow, and it cleft the
apple in two. Gessler demanded then why he had taken two arrows. Tell
said: 'If the first arrow had injured my son, the second would soon
have pierced thy heart.' Tell was then bound and placed in the
Governor's barge, and the boat was rowed across the lake. When the
barge was far from the shore, a sudden storm came. Tell was the most
expert boatman of them all, and Gessler ordered that Tell should be
unbound, and the hero took the tiller and steered the boat through the
storm to safety. But then he killed Gessler with an arrow and took to
the forest and there gave the first call to active revolt."
To come back to the region of ascertained fact, it seems clear that
the first union for liberty of the Forest Cantons was formed in 1291.
The battle of Morgarten, which set the seal of success on their
revolt, was fought in 1315. There a great Hapsburg force under Duke
Leopold was defeated by a far inferior band of Swiss peasants. The
story of the battle illustrated once again the triumph of novelty in
military strategy and tactics. The Swiss had prepared on a hill-side a
great artificial avalanche of stones and trees. This was let loose on
the Austrians as they passed by, killed many, filled the rest with
dread and confusion, and made the finish of the battle a mere
slaughter.
Morgarten made the name of Switzerland respected all over Europe and
set the foundations of the liberty of the Swiss people. After the
battle the allied Forest Cantons went to Brunnen, to renew by oath and
enlarge the league of 1291. This for nearly five hundred years
remained the fundamental law of union between the three States. The
Forest Cantons, as three independent republics, claimed autonomy in
their local affairs. Only for national purposes was there to be a
central authority. Thus was the "Federal" idea, which had been much
favoured by the Greek States, revived in Europe. It was the first of
the modern Federations. The Swiss Federal plan was followed later, to
a greater or less extent, in the constitutions of the United States,
Germany, Canada, Australia, and South Africa. It is suggested to-day
by some optimists as the basis of a possible far-off European
combination to end the wars of the world.
Around the nucleus of the three Forest Cantons other Swiss States
gathered. After a while the three States had become eight, Lucerne
(1332) and Zurich (1352) being the first of the recruits. There was
during this time a state of almost constant war with Austria, in which
sometimes the Swiss cantons were strong enough to take the offensive.
The year 1386 saw the great battle of Sempach, of which Arnold
Winkelried was the hero. Campbell, among many others, has sung of his
fame:
Inspiring and romantic Switzers' land,
Though mark'd with majesty by Nature's hand,
What charm ennobles most thy landscape's face?
Th' heroic memory of thy native race,
Who forced tyrannic hosts to bleed or flee,
And made their rocks the ramparts of the free!
Their fastnesses roll'd back th' invading tide
Of conquest, and their mountains taught them pride.
Hence they have patriot names,--in fancy's eye--
Bright as their glaciers glittering in the sky:
Patriots who make the pageantries of Kings
Like shadows seem, and unsubstantial things.
Their guiltless glory mocks oblivion's rust--
Imperishable, for their cause was just.
Heroes of old! to whom the Nine have strung
Their lyres, and spirit-stirring anthems sung:
Heroes of chivalry! whose banners grace
The aisles of many a consecrated place,--
Confess how few of you can match in fame
The martyr Winkelried's immortal name!
Duke Leopold III. marching towards Lucerne with a great army for those
days (some say 12,000, others 24,000 men) encountered at Sempach the
Swiss force (said to have been only 1500 men). The Austrian force
formed a phalanx bristling on every side with lances. In the first
stages the fight went badly for the brave mountaineers; sixty of them
were slain before a single Austrian fell. They could not pass the
hedge of lances.
Then said Arnold of Winkelried, "I'll make a way for you, comrades;
take care of my wife and children!" He sprang upon the enemy with arms
widely outspread, and gathered into his body the points of all the
lances within his reach. Thus a gap was formed in the line, and into
this gap leapt the Swiss, and came to close quarters with their enemy,
who fell into confusion. Victory for the Swiss, a dreadful carnage of
the Austrians followed. All Europe was astounded. The name of Swiss
came to be associated with heroic courage and invincible might in
battle. That the result was no mere "fluke" was proved a little later
at Naefels, when an Austrian army suffered another disastrous defeat
at the hands of the Swiss patriots. On the first Thursday of April
each year Naefels celebrates that victory, and in 1888 all the
people of Switzerland assembled there, in person or in spirit, to
commemorate the 500th anniversary of the victory.
[Illustration: ALTDORF. The traditional scene of William Tell's
exploits.]
The battle of Naefels, establishing as it did on an unquestioned
pre-eminence the military virtues of the Swiss, inaugurated, too, that
strange system of foreign service on the part of Swiss soldiers which
would be shameful if it were not lighted up by so many deeds of high
chivalry and noble fidelity. The Swiss Republic was now safe in its
own house against aggression. The terrible prowess of its peasantry
had been announced to every possible foe. But it felt the need of a
foreign policy to secure an extension of territory, and it was this
need which brought it into the orbit of general European diplomacy and
into the temptation of mercenary service. By the next century, when
the Swiss prowess had won new laurels at the battles of Grandson,
Morat, and Nancy, the little patch of mountain and valley which is
Switzerland had become a great diplomatic centre for Europe, its
Republican leaders courted by France, the Italian States, Hungary,
Germany, and England. Internecine trouble between the Swiss themselves
was not uncommon, but throughout, despite differences of language,
and later differences of religion, a Swiss idea of nationality lived
constantly. In 1499 the Swiss League separated definitely from all
vassalage to the German Empire. In 1513 the "League of the Thirteen
Cantons," which represented the Swiss nationality until the days of
Napoleon, was constituted. A severe defeat of the Swiss forces in 1515
by France left the French with the highest opinion of Swiss courage,
and eager to take under their patronage the little Republic. An
alliance in 1516 between France and Switzerland began a close
friendship between the two countries, which continued with but little
interruption until the French Revolution, when modern Switzerland may
be said to have come into the arena of history.