The Federal Charter or Letter of Alliance (german: Bundesbrief) is one of the earliest constitutional documents of Switzerland. A treaty of alliance from 1291 between the cantons of
Uri,
Schwyz and
Unterwalden
Unterwalden, translated from the Latin ''inter silvas''(''between the forests''), is the old name of a forest-canton of the Old Swiss Confederacy in central Switzerland, south of Lake Lucerne, consisting of two valleys or '' Talschaften'', no ...
, the Charter is one of a series of alliances from which the
Old Swiss Confederacy
The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy ( Modern German: ; historically , after the Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or In the charters of the 14th centur ...
emerged. In the 19th and 20th century, after the establishment of the
Swiss federal state, the Charter became the central founding document of Switzerland in the popular imagination.
The Charter documents the Eternal Alliance of the League of the Three Forest Cantons (german: Ewiger Bund der Drei Waldstätten), the union of three
cantons in what is now central Switzerland. It is dated to early August 1291, which in the 20th century inspired the date of
Swiss National Day, 1 August. Done in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
, the Charter makes reference to a previous (lost or unwritten) pact. It is now exhibited at the
Museum of the Swiss Charters of Confederation in
Schwyz.
Contents
The Alliance was concluded between the people of the
alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National P ...
areas of
Uri,
Schwyz and
Unterwalden
Unterwalden, translated from the Latin ''inter silvas''(''between the forests''), is the old name of a forest-canton of the Old Swiss Confederacy in central Switzerland, south of Lake Lucerne, consisting of two valleys or '' Talschaften'', no ...
(). The participants are referred to as ''conspirati'' and (synonymously) ''coniurati'', traditionally translated in German as "
Eidgenossen" (and in English as "Confederates").
The Charter was probably intended to ensure legal certainty after the death of
Rudolf I of Habsburg on 15 July 1291. The first two paragraphs commit all three communities to the joint defence of the three valleys. The remainder of the Charter concerns judicial matters: It calls for arbitration in the case of conflicts, rejects foreign judges, establishes the death penalty for murderers and exile for arsonists, and commands obedience to judges and judicial verdicts.
Date and context
The authenticity of the letter used to be disputed as a supposed modern forgery. But historians now agree that it is certainly a product of the 14th century. In 1991, the
parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins ...
was
radiocarbon dated to between 1252 and 1312 (with a certainty of 85%).
The document is thus not a forgery tied to the emergence of the modern federal state in 1848. It should rather be seen in the context of chapter 15 of the
Golden Bull of 1356, where
Charles IV outlawed any ''conjurationes, confederationes,'' and ''conspirationes'', meaning in particular the city alliances (''
Städtebünde''), but also other communal leagues that had sprung up through the
communal movement in medieval Europe
Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense (both physical defense and of traditional freedoms) among the citizens of a town or city. These took many forms and varied widely in organization and makeup.
...
. It was then very common to produce documents only when needed. At the time, agreements were most often verbal, and any documentation drawn up later might have its contents or dates changed to suit current purposes.
The charter was part of a system of defensive pacts among the polities that later became the Swiss cantons. They include the following, also on display at the Museum of the Swiss Charters of Confederation:
* 1315: Federal Charter of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden 9 December 1315 (aka
Pact of Brunnen The Pact of Brunnen (''Bund von Brunnen'') is a historical treaty between the cantons of
Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, concluded in Brunnen on 9 December 1315.
Representatives of the four territories (Unterwalden was composed of Obwalden and Nidwal ...
)
* 1332: Charter of the City of
Lucerne
Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...
with Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden
* 1352: Charter with
Glarus
* 1352: Charter with
Zug
* 1451: Contract with
St. Gallen Abbey and
Zürich
, neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon
, twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco
Z ...
, Lucerne and Schwyz and Glarus
* 1454: Eternal Contract for
St. Gallen with Zürich,
Bern
german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese
, neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen
, website ...
, Lucerne and Schwyz, Zug and Glarus
* 1464: Contract of
Rapperswil with the abovementioned
* 1481: Contract of
Freiburg und
Solothurn
* 1501: Contract with
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...
of which the number of copies is known to be 11, corresponding to the 11 seals.
* 1501: Contract with
Schaffhausen
* 1513: Contract with
Appenzell
Appenzell is a historic canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen.
Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered a league with the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1411, ...
Modern reception
The charter of 1291 became important in the
historiography of Switzerland only in the late 19th century. Previously, the date of the foundation of the Confederacy was traditionally given as 1307 (
Aegidius Tschudi
Aegidius (or Giles or Glig) Tschudi (5 February 150528 February 1572) was a Swiss statesman and historian, an eminent member of the Tschudi family of Glarus, Switzerland. His best known work is the Chronicon Helveticum, a history of the ea ...
);
this is still the year inscribed on the
Tell Monument, commissioned in 1895.
The idea of the charter of 1291 representing the founding document of the Confederacy was first suggested in a report by the Federal Department of Home Affairs of 21 November 1889, in the context of a proposed combined celebration of the 700th anniversary of the foundation of Bern and the 600th anniversary of the Confederacy in 1891. Celebration of a
national holiday on 1 August based on the date on the document was first suggested in 1899 (although it was introduced officially only in 1994).
The idea to build a dedicated national monument housing the foundational documents of the Confederacy was first proposed in 1891 by federal councillors Emil Welti and Carl Schenk. This plan was revisited in 1915 during the preparation of the 600th anniversary celebration for the
Battle of Morgarten, but its realisation was delayed due to World War I. After the war, the canton of Schwyz requested federal support for the project, which was granted in 1928. Designed by Joseph Beeler in 1933, the ''Bundesbriefarchiv'' (Federal Charter Archive) was opened in 1936. In 1979/80, the exhibition hall was renovated, and restoration work was carried out on the 21 banners and flags displayed in the museum. In 1998/99, the exhibition was re-arranged. In the meantime, the institution changed its name to ''Bundesbriefmuseum'' (Museum of the Swiss Charters of Confederation).
See also
*
Tagsatzung
*
Rütlischwur
*
Swiss National Day
*
Historiography of Switzerland
*
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swis ...
References
Further reading
* Winkler, Albert (2014)
"The Federal Charter of 1291 and the founding of the Swiss State,"''Swiss American Historical Society Review,'' vol. 50 (2014), no. 1 , pp. 33–50.
External links
{{Authority control
1290s in law
13th-century manuscripts
Federalism by country
Legal history of Switzerland
Political charters
Schwyz
1290s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
1291 establishments in Europe
13th-century establishments in the Old Swiss Confederacy