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 Comte, 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, Guemminen, 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 mediaeval 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
Neuchatel, 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. Baechtold, "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, Guemminen, 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: CHATEAU 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 Neuchatel
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-Rhaetia 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
mediaeval 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,
Flechere, 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
Wuelpelsberg,[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 Saeckingen 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.