(DIED, 1386)
[Illustration: Arnold von Winkelried.]
The incident with which this name is connected is, after the purely
legendary feat of Tell, the best known and most popular in the early
history of the Swiss Confederation. We are told how, at a critical
moment in the great battle of Sempach, when the Swiss had failed to
break the serried ranks of the Austrian knights, a man of Unterwalden,
Arnold von Winkelried by name, came to the rescue. Commending his wife
and children to the care of his comrades, he rushed toward the
Austrians, gathered a number of their spears together against his
breast, and fell pierced through, having opened a way into the hostile
ranks for his fellow-countrymen, though at the price of his own life.
But the Tell and Winkelried stories stand in a very different position
when looked at in the dry light of history; for, while in the former
imaginary and impossible men (bearing now and then a real historical
name) do imaginary and impossible deeds at a very uncertain period, in
the latter we have some solid ground to rest on, and Winkelried's act
might very well have been performed, though, as yet, the amount of
genuine and early evidence in support of it is very far from being
sufficient.
The Winkelrieds of Stanz were a knightly family when we first hear of
them, though toward the end of the fourteenth century they seem to have
been but simple men without the honors of knighthood, and not always
using their prefix "von." Among its members we find an Erni Winkelried
acting as a witness to a contract of sale on May 1, 1367; while the same
man, or perhaps another member of the family, Erni von Winkelried, is
plaintiff in a suit at Stanz, on September 29, 1389, and in 1417 is the
landamman (or head-man) of Unterwalden, being then called Arnold
Winkelriet. We have, therefore, a real man named Arnold Winkelried
living at Stanz, about the time of the battle of Sempach. The question
is thus narrowed to the points, was he present at the battle, and did he
then perform the deed commonly attributed to him? The determination of
this question requires a minute investigation of the history of that
battle, to ascertain if there are any authentic traces of this
incident, or any opportunity for it to have taken place.
1. EVIDENCE OF CHRONICLES.--The earliest known mention of the incident
is found in a Zurich chronicle (discovered in 1862 by Herr G. von Wyss),
which is a copy, made in 1476, of a chronicle written in, or at any rate
not earlier than, 1438, though it is wanting in the sixteenth century
transcript of another chronicle written in 1466, which up to 1389
closely agrees with the former. It appears in the well-known form, but
the hero is stated to be "ein getrüwer man under den Eidgenozen," no
name being given, and it seems clear that his death did not take place
at that time. No other mention has been found in any of the numerous
Swiss or Austrian chronicles, till we come to the book "De Helvetiæ
Origine," written in 1538 by Rudolph Gwalther (Zwingli's son-in-law),
when the hero is still nameless, being compared to Decius or Codrus, but
is said to have been killed by his brave act. Finally we read the full
story in the original draft of Giles Tschudi's chronicle, where the hero
is described "as a man of Unterwalden, of the Winkelried family," this
being expanded in the first rescension of the chronicle (1564) into "a
man of Unterwalden, Arnold von Winkelried by name, a brave knight;"
while he is entered (in the same book, on the authority of the
"Anniversary Book" of Stanz, now lost) on the list of those who fell at
Sempach, at the head of the Nidwald (or Stanz) men, as "Herr Arnold von
Winkelried, ritter," this being in the first draft "Arnold Winckelriet."
2. BALLADS.--There are several war songs on the battle of Sempach
which have come down to us, but in one only is there mention of
Winkelried and his deed. This is a long ballad of sixty-seven
four-line stanzas, part of which (including the Winkelried section)
is found in the additions made between 1531 and 1545 to Etterlin's
chronicle by H. Berlinger of Basel, and the whole in Werner
Steiner's chronicle (written 1532). It is agreed on all sides that
the last stanza, attributing the authorship to Halbsuter, of
Lucerne, "as he came back from the battle," is a very late addition.
Many authorities regard it as made up of three distinct songs (one
of which refers to the battle and Winkelried), possibly put together
by the younger Halbsuter (citizen of Lucerne in 1435, died between
1470 and 1480); though others contend that the Sempach-Winkelried
section bears clear traces of having been composed after the
Reformation began, that is, about 1520 or 1530. Some recent
discoveries have proved that certain statements in the song, usually
regarded as anachronisms, are quite accurate; but no nearer approach
has been made toward fixing its exact date, or that of any of the
three bits into which it has been cut up. In this song the story
appears in its full-blown shape, the name of Winckelriet being
given.
[Illustration: Arnold Winkelried At Sempach.]