The Pact of Brunnen (''Bund von Brunnen'') is a historical treaty between the cantons of Uri,

Schwyz The town of Schwyz (; french: Schwytz; it, Svitto) is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ' ...

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 ...

, concluded in

Brunnen Brunnen is a resort on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, part of the municipality Ingenbohl (Canton of Schwyz), at . Brunnen railway station, on the Gotthard railway, is served by hourly InterRegio trains, and by lines S2 of the Stadtbahn Zug, whi ...

on 9 December 1315. Representatives of the four territories (Unterwalden was composed of Obwalden and Nidwalden) met in Brunnen after the success of the Battle of Morgarten in the previous month to renew the promise of mutual military assistance. In 1318, Leopold I, Duke of Austria concluded a truce with the confederates. According to

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 earl ...

, the pact of Brunnen marks the decision to make what had been a pragmatic alliance a permanent, sworn confederacy, initiating the phase of

growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy began as a late medieval alliance between the communities of the valleys in the Central Alps, at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire, to facilitate the management of common interests such as free trade and to ensure ...

, with the accession to the pact by Lucerne in 1332 and

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

in 1351,

Glarus , neighboring_municipalities= Glarus Nord, Glarus Süd, Muotathal (SZ), Innerthal (SZ) , twintowns= Wiesbaden-Biebrich (Germany) } Glarus (; gsw, Glaris; french: Glaris; it, Glarona; rm, Glaruna) is the capital of the canton of Glarus ...

and Zug in 1352 and Bern in 1353.Christophe Guillaume Koch, Johann Daniel Sander, ''Gemählde der Revolutionen in Europa: seit dem Umsturze des Römischen Kaiserthums im Occident, bis auf unsere Zeiten'', Volume 2, Sander, 1807, p. 47. J. Oswald Schön, ''Entwicklungsgeschichte der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft für Schule und Volk: nach verschiedenen Geschichtswerken in gemeinfaßlicher Weise'', Tellmann, 1861, p. 140. H. M. Latham L. C. Chew, ''A History of Europe - Volume I. - Europe in the Middle Ages 843 - 1494'', 2008, , p. 293. While there are a number of earlier treaties of a similar nature, the treaty of Brunnen is particular because it was the first to be worded in

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is als ...

rather than Latin. The treaty was long regarded as the foundational document of the Old Swiss Confederacy, until the

Federal Charter of 1291 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, the Charter is one of a series ...

surpassed it in prominence during the first half of the 20th century.

References

* *{{HDS, 8726, Battle of Morgarten and Aftermath

References

See also