The Battle of Grynau in 1337 was the concluding battle in the

Grynau war The Grynau Castle (Swiss German: ''Grynau'', ''Grinau'' and ''Schloss Grynau'') is the name of a castle tower in the municipality of Tuggen in the canton of Schwyz, built by the House of Rapperswil in the early 13th century AD. Geography The ...

between the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy (German language, Modern German: ; historically , after the Swiss Reformation, Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ...

and its Imperial city Zurich against a noble army under the leadership of Count

Johann I (Habsburg-Laufenburg) Johann I von Habsburg-Laufenburg (also ''Johannes von Rapperswil-Laufenburg- Habsburg'', ''von Laufenburg-Rapperswil''; born around 1297; died 21 September 1337 in Grynau) was the Count of Habsburg-Laufenburg and later Count of the House of Rapp ...

. The result was a Zurich victory.

History

The place of the battle, the castle Grynau, secured one of the few crossings over the Linth between Lake Zurich and Walensee and was therefore a strategically important place. In 1311 the castle was placed under the control of The Count Of Habsburg-Laufenburg (1270-1314), but was also claimed by the Counts of Toggenburg. The new mayor

Rudolf Brun Rudolf Brun (1290s – 17 September 1360) was the leader of the Zürich guilds' revolution of 1336, and the city's first independent mayor. Since 1234, Zürich had been governed by an aristocratic council. One third of the council's members w ...

banished 22 noble councilors and their families from the city after his political reorganization. They found support in the surrounding nobility houses, which felt threatened by the rise of the city of Zurich. The fugitives came under Count

Rapperswil Rapperswil ( Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dia ...

, who also took the lead in this fight because of his own debts. He was indebted to both the city and some of the exiles. Under his protection, the exterminated constituted a counter-government of the "outer Zurich" in Rapperswil, and began to make excursions through the subject area of the city of Zurich. The aim was to overthrow the new government of Zurich. Count Johann was a mercenary during these years. Against the opponents of the new Rapperswiler city government was several times proceeded, as can be concluded from an above-average number of (probably politically motivated) executions and, for example, a ban on assembly. Zurich, too, sought restraint with allies, and found it with Count Kraft III of

Toggenburg Toggenburg is a region of Switzerland. It corresponds to the upper valley of the river Thur and that of its main tributary, the Necker. Since 1 January 2003, Toggenburg has been a constituency (''Wahlkreis'') of the canton of St. Gallen ( S ...

, who endeavored to take a profitable position between the

and the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

and who was in conflict with Johann I because of Grynau. As early as 1327, Zurich had already concluded a Burgrecht with the Count, who was also the protector of the Zurich

Grossmünster The Grossmünster (; "great Minster (church), minster") is a Romanesque-style Swiss Reformed Church, Protestant church in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the four major churches in the city (the others being the Fraumünster, Predigerkirche Zür ...

. The abbot Konrad I was known to Brun, and he sympathized with the cause of the Zurichers and recognized their constitutional changes.

References

Grynau Grynau History of Zürich 1337 in Europe 14th century in the Old Swiss Confederacy 1330s in the Holy Roman Empire {{battle-stub