The Freiamt or ''Freie Ämter'' ( en, Free Office or ''Free Administrative Unit'', though it is not usually translated into English) is a region in Switzerland and is located in the southeast of

Canton of Aargau Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capit ...

. It comprises the area between the Lindenberg and Heitersberg and from the terminal moraine at

Othmarsingen Othmarsingen is a municipality in the district of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History Mesolithic siliceous rock objects and tools and Hallstatt era graves indicate that the Othmarsingen area was prehistorically occupied. O ...

Reuss river The Reuss (Swiss German: ''Rüüss'') is a river in Switzerland. With a length of and a drainage basin of , it is the fourth largest river in Switzerland (after the Rhine, Aare and Rhône). The upper Reuss forms the main valley of the canton o ...

in Dietwil. Today the area of the Bremgarten and Muri Districts are called the Freiamt. Previously, the area around Affoltern District in the canton of Zurich was called the (Zurich) Freiamt. Bremgarten, Muri,

Sins In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

Villmergen Villmergen is a municipality in the district of Bremgarten in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. Two famous battles took place at Villmergen. In 2010 Hilfikon merged into Villmergen.Wohlen are among the main towns of the Freiamt. The metropolitan area around the Mutschellen pass is another important population center. According to statistical criteria, there is only one city, Wohlen. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Bremgarten had city rights, but it is not currently classed as a city. The Freiamt lies in a central position in the

Swiss plateau The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau (german: Schweizer Mittelland; french: plateau suisse; it, altopiano svizzero) is one of the three major landscapes in Switzerland, lying between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps. It covers about 30% of ...

. The large cities of Zurich,

Zug , neighboring_municipalities = Cham, Baar, Walchwil, Steinhausen, Unterägeri , twintowns = Fürstenfeld (Austria), Kalesija (Bosnia-Herzegowina) Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo r ...

and Lucerne are all within a half-hour's drive from the Freiamt.

Origin of the name

A ''Freiamt'' in the Middle Ages is not a specified area, but a union of persons or free peasants who had a local court or limited self-government. The term is found in the Alamanni populated areas, including the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

of southern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(from the 3rd century) and the Swiss plateau (from the 6th Century). The term comes from the Alemannic legal breakdown between free and unfree, which in the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

included the rights of autonomy. The Aargau ''Freie Ämter'' were territories that were under Habsburg rule but were independent with respect to

low justice High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judicial power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents. Low just ...

and

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

, and so under the medieval definition, they were "free".

History

Before 1415

In the

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

- Carolingian era the territories to the left of the Reuss belonged to Aargau, while those to the right were part of

Thurgau Thurgau (; french: Thurgovie; it, Turgovia), anglicized as Thurgovia, more formally the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is par ...

. Starting in the mid 9th century this area became known as the Zürichgau. After the extinction of the

Counts of Lenzburg The Counts of Lenzburg (also Counts of Baden by the early 12th century) were a comital family in the Duchy of Swabia in the 11th and 12th centuries, controlling substantial portions of the '' pagi'' of Aargau and Zürichgau. After the extinction ...

in 1170, their land in the Aargau went to the Habsburgs. During the 10th century, they acquired vast tracts of land in the region. The Habsburgs granted the low justice rights over many of the villages to Hermetschwil and

Muri Abbey Muri Abbey (german: Kloster Muri) is a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It flourished for over eight centuries at Muri, in the Canton of Aargau, near Zürich, Switzerland. It is currently established as Muri-Gries in Sout ...

s. After the

Swiss Confederation ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

became independent from the Habsburgs, the new Confederation began to expand. After the expansion to the '' Acht Orte'' (Eight Cantons), they began looking for additional territory. As the city of Lucerne grew in power, they became interested in the southern portion of what would become the ''Freie Ämter''. In 1394 they acquired the Amt of

Merenschwand Merenschwand is a municipality in the district of Muri in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. The municipality of Benzenschwil merged on 1 January 2012 into Merenschwand.

which gave Lucerne an exclave west of the river Reuss. In the Battle of Sempach, the Habsburg villages of

Aristau Aristau is a municipality in the district of Muri in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History The first traces of human settlement around Aristau are scattered La Tène culture artifacts. The modern municipality of Aristau is made up of ...

and Meienberg were destroyed. Following the defeat of 1386, and despite the 1394 peace between the Habsburgs and the Confederation, the Habsburg city of Bremgarten entered into an alliance with Bern in 1407.

Conquest of the Aargau

On 16 November 1414,

Emperor Sigismund Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was a monarch as King of Hungary and Croatia ('' jure uxoris'') from 1387, King of Germany from 1410, King of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in ...

called the Council of Constance to settle the

Western Schism The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Vatican Standoff, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon b ...

between the three

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

s ( Benedict XIII,

Gregory XII Pope Gregory XII ( la, Gregorius XII; it, Gregorio XII; – 18 October 1417), born Angelo Corraro, Corario," or Correr, was head of the Catholic Church from 30 November 1406 to 4 July 1415. Reigning during the Western Schism, he was oppose ...

, and

John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

), all of whom claimed legitimacy. Frederick IV of Habsburg sided with John XXIII. When John XXIII was declared an antipope, he fled the city with Frederick's help. The emperor then declared the Habsburg lands forfeited and ordered the neighboring countries to conquer those lands for the emperor. The city-state of Bern had already pledged their support of the emperor against the Habsburgs in 1414, and so they were ready to invade. The rest of the Confederation quickly followed. The territory was quickly conquered in 1415 by the Confederation. Under Habsburg rule Aargau was divided into multiple sections (german: Ämter), which were maintained under the Confederation. Bern, Lucerne and Zurich were each given a portion of the conquered region to administer. The rest of the Freie Ämter were collectively administered as subject territories by the rest of the Confederation – effectively a condominium. Muri ''Amt'' was assigned to Zurich, Lucerne,

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 ...

and

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 ...

, while the ''Ämter'' of Meienberg, Richensee and

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

ei im Waggental). In the 16th century, it came to be known as the ''Vogtei der Freien Ämter''. While the ''Freien Ämter'' often had independent lower courts, they were forced to accept the Confederation's sovereignty. Finally, in 1532 the canton of Uri became part of the collective administration of the Freien Ämter.Adolf Gasser: ''Die territoriale Entwicklung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft 1291–1797''. Sauerländer: Aarau 1932, p. 82

From the Reformation to the creation of Aargau

At the time of

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

the majority of the Ämter converted to the new faith. In 1529 a wave of

iconoclasm Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be conside ...

swept through the area and wiped away much of the old religion. After the defeat of Zurich in the second

Battle of Kappel The Second War of Kappel (german: Zweiter Kappelerkrieg) was an armed conflict in 1531 between the Catholic and the Protestant cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the Reformation in Switzerland. Cause The tensions between the two part ...

in 1531, the victorious five Catholic cantons marched their troops into the Freie Ämter and reconverted them to Catholicism. In the

First War of Villmergen The First War of Villmergen Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "Zwitserland. §5.2 Reformatie". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum. was a Swiss religious war which lasted from 5 January until 7 March 1656, at the time of the Ol ...

, in 1656, and the

Toggenburg War The Toggenburg War, also known as the Second War of Villmergen or the Swiss Civil War of 1712, was a Swiss civil war during the Old Swiss Confederacy from 12 April to 11 August 1712. The Catholic "inner cantons" and the Imperial Abbey of Saint ...

(or Second War of Villmergen), in 1712, the Freie Ämter became the staging ground for the warring Reformed and Catholic armies. While the peace after the 1656 war did not change the status quo, the fourth Peace of Aarau in 1712 brought about a reorganization of power relations. The victory gave Zurich the opportunity to force the Catholic cantons out of the government in the county of Baden and the adjacent area of the Freie Ämter. The Freie Ämter were then divided in two by a line drawn from the gallows in Fahrwangen to the

Oberlunkhofen Oberlunkhofen is a municipality in the district of Bremgarten, in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History The earliest signs of a settlement in Oberlunkhofen are scattered Bronze Age items. In Schalchmatthau there is the foundation of a ...

church steeple. The northern part, the so-called Unteren Freie Ämter (lower Freie Ämter), which included the districts of Boswil (in part) and Hermetschwil and the Niederamt, were ruled by Zurich, Bern and Glarus. The southern part, the Oberen Freie Ämter (upper Freie Ämter), were ruled by the previous seven cantons but Bern was added to make an eighth. During the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803) the county of Baden, the Freie Ämter and the region known as the Kelleramt were combined into a new Canton of Baden. In 1803 the cantons of Baden and

Fricktal The Fricktal ("Frick Valley") is a region on Northwestern Switzerland, comprising the Laufenburg and Rheinfelden districts of the Swiss canton of Aargau. The region was known as ''Frickgau'' in the medieval period, ultimately from a Late L ...

merged into the canton of Aargau.

Since the creation of Aargau

In 1830 Aargau was rocked by the Freiämtersturm, an uprising of the rural population in the region. Many residents of the Freie Ämter marched on the cantonal capital of Aarau to demand changes in the cantonal

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. After the Freie Ämter militia surrounded government buildings, the government quickly negotiated an end of the uprising. They agreed to a full revision of the constitution and all the other demands of the militia. This, together with other uprisings in 1830–31 led to the end of the Restoration period and the beginning of the liberal Regeneration period. The changes during the Regeneration led to the creation of the

Federal State A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

in 1848.

References

External links

*
Erlebnis Freiamt
- Portalseite für das Freiamt mit Verzeichnis der ''Freiämterwege'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Freie Amter Aargau Former condominiums of Switzerland Former vassal states 15th-century establishments in the Old Swiss Confederacy 1410s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1415 establishments in Europe 18th-century disestablishments in the Old Swiss Confederacy 1798 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire