The Battle of Sörenberg was fought in 1380, between the

Entlebuch Entlebuch is a municipality in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district of Entlebuch. The area has been designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2001. History Entlebuch is first mentioned in 1157, as ''Entilibuoch ...

(at the time subject to the

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful Dynasty, dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout ...

) and

Obwalden Canton of Obwalden or Obwald ( ; ; ; ) is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of seven municipalities and the seat of the government and parliament is in Sarnen. It is traditio ...

(a canton of the early

Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy, was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerlan ...

). It was the culmination of a conflict over the right to

alpine pasture Alpine transhumance is transhumance as practiced in the Alps, that is, a seasonal droving of grazing livestock between the valleys in winter and the high mountain pastures in summer (German language, German ' from the term for "seasonal mount ...

s (''alps''). The immediate cause was a

cattle raid Cattle raiding is the act of Theft, stealing live cattle, often several or many at once. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the perpetrator as a duffer.Baker, Sidney John (1945) ''The Australian language : an examin ...

at an alp now known as ''Schlachtalp'', at the slope of the

Brienzer Rothorn The Brienzer Rothorn is a mountain of the Emmental Alps, in Switzerland. With an elevation of above sea level, the Brienzer Rothorn is the highest summit of the range. To its west lies the Tannhorn, whilst to its east are Arnihaaggen, Höch G ...

, above the village Sörenberg. As recorded by Renward Cysat in c. 1600, the cattle raid took place in 1374, and the tensions between Entlebuch and Obwalden continued for several years. Finally, the two sides agreed to send a herald each to meet at the border, who would either declare war or make peace. The two heralds met and were later found to have killed each other. As the heralds did not return, both sides assumed the other had taken their herald, and mobilised for war. The two forces met at ''Schlachtalp''. The Entlebuch side was victorious and took the Obwalden banner, which was kept until modern times in the tower at

Schüpfheim Schüpfheim is a municipality in the district of Entlebuch in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. It is part of the UNESCO Entlebuch Biosphere Reserve since 2001. Geography Schüpfheim has an area of . Of this area, 59.7% is used for agric ...

. Cysat reports that the banner was lost because the banner bearer of Obwalden believing the battle was already won climbed on top of a rock, challenging any man of Entlebuch to come and take the banner. A man called ''Ring Rüegk'' (''Ring Rüegg'') of Entlebuch climbed the rock, killed the banner bearer and took the banner, turning the battle in favour of Entlebuch. Later legend adds additional elements. The hero of Entlebuch now appears under the name ''Windtrüeb'' (also ''Wintrüeb'', ''Wintrüb''). In the cattle raid, the Obwalden invaders are said to have thrown the tenant of ''Schlachtalp'' into his cauldron of boiling

rennet Rennet () is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease, protease enzyme that curdling, curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, su ...

, killing him. They then collected the cattle and drove it away. Windtrüeb, the tenant of the neighboring Blattalp, is said to have pursued the invaders, catching up with them at Mörhalp, back in Obwalden territory beyond the Glaubenbühl Pass. The raiders were drunk from celebrating, and Wintrüeb entered the stable unnoticed and managed to steal back the cattle. The legend goes on to report a deception carried out by Windtrüeb involving cow bells, which for the 14th century is an

anachronism An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...

. In the battle, the same Windtrüeb is said to have killed the Obwalden banner bearer. In this legend Windtrüeb was assassinated by the Obwalden party a few years later, in 1384, at Steinibach, halfway between

Flühli Flühli is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Entlebuch (Amt), Entlebuch in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Lucerne (canton), Lucerne in Switzerland. The municipality consists of the villages of Flühli and Sör ...

and

. In the aftermath of the battle, the Entlebuch sought an alliance with

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

, and became a subject territory of that city, and by extension part of the Swiss Confederacy, in 1385. At the

Battle of Sempach The Battle of Sempach was fought on 9 July 1386, between Leopold III, Duke of Austria and the Old Swiss Confederacy. The battle was a decisive Swiss victory in which Duke Leopold and numerous Austrian nobles died. The victory helped turn the lo ...

in 1386, Obwalden and Entlebuch fought side by side. A memorial stone at Steinibach (Krutacker) marked the site of Wintrüeb's assassination. The memorial stone to Windtrüeb at Steinibach remained standing into the 17th century. In the Swiss peasant war of 1653, as the peasants were uniting under Christian Schybi, the people of

rallied at the stone for their battle prayer, vowing to build a chapel at the spot should they return victorious. They were defeated and killed without exception, and the stone has since been weathered away. An undated wooden plaque exhibited at ''Schlachtalp'' has an inscription mentioning the discovery of a document (''Schrift'') discovered when the previous wooden building was torn down which explained the name ''Schlacht''. A modern ''Wintrüeb'' monument was erected at the bridge of

in 1980."Wintrüeb 1380-1980 der Held der Entlebucher. mutig und herzhaft focht er für unsere Heimat"

References

*Brun, Dominik, 'Sagen vom Streit zwischen Entlebuch und Obwalden und von Windtrüeb (14. Jh.)' ''Entlebucher Brattig'', Verlag Kunstverein Amt Entlebuch (1989), 61-67. *F. J. Stalder,
Fragmente über Entlebuch: Nebst einigen Beylagen allgemein schweizerschen Innhalts
' (1797), 7–24. *Kasimir Pfyffer, ''Geschichte der Stadt und des Kantons Luzern: Vom Ursprunge bis zur Staatsumwälzung im Jahr 1798'' (1850)
86–90
*''Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde'' 14-15 (1910), 239f.

External links

*http://www.alp-schlacht.ch/Geschichte.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Soerenberg, Battle of Battles involving Switzerland 1380 in Europe 14th century in the Old Swiss Confederacy Conflicts in 1380