The Bündner Wirren (, , , English: ''Graubünden disturbances'' or ''Revolt of the Leagues'') was a conflict that lasted between 1618 and 1639 in what is now the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

canton of Graubünden. Initially a revolt by local Catholics against their Protestant overlords, many regional powers became involved as it potentially affected control of the

Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; (); or ; ; ) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Today it is known for its ski centre, hot spring spas, bresa ...

alpine passes. A loose alliance of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, and the

Duchy of Savoy The Duchy of Savoy (; ) was a territorial entity of the Savoyard state that existed from 1416 until 1847 and was a possession of the House of Savoy. It was created when Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, raised the County of Savoy into a duchy f ...

supported the

Three Leagues The Three Leagues, sometimes referred to as Raetia, was the 1471 alliance between the League of God's House, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions, and the Grey League. Its members were all Swiss Associates, associates of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ...

against the Grison rebels, backed by the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. The conflict threatened to draw the

Swiss Confederation Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerlan ...

into the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, whil ...

Background

The

were a federation of three states (the

League of God's House The League of God's House ( German: ''Gotteshausbund'', Italian: ''Lega Caddea'', ) was formed in what is now Switzerland on 29 January 1367, to resist the rising power of the Bishopric of Chur and the House of Habsburg. The League allied with ...

, the

League of the Ten Jurisdictions The League of the Ten Jurisdictions was the last of the Three Leagues founded during the Middle Ages in what is now Canton Graubünden of Switzerland. The League was created in the County of Toggenburg after the counts of Toggenburg died out ...

, and the

Grey League The Grey League (, , or ), sometimes called ''Oberbund'', formed in 1395 in the '' Vorderrhein'' and '' Hinterrhein'' valleys, Raetia. The name Grey League is derived from the homespun grey clothes worn by the people. The league became part o ...

) in the alpine valleys around the city of

Chur '' Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...

. Due to their position, they controlled a number of key alpine passes. The League was also not a unified state and virtually all external affairs were settled by

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

. At the beginning of the 17th century, the regional powers around the Leagues attempted to secure transit and trade routes through the League passes. For France and Venice the alpine passes represented important trade routes. For the Austrian Habsburgs, they were the shortest route between Habsburg controlled

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and Austrian

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

.Swiss History
accessed 16 January 2012 In 1602, France secured some of the alpine passes. A year later Venice bought the transit right through the passes and an alliance for 10 years. This agreement between the Leagues and Venice angered the Spanish Habsburgs. In Milan, Don

Pedro Henriquez de Acevedo, Count of Fuentes Pedro Henriquez d'Azevedo y Alvarez de Toledo, Count of Fuentes de Valdepero (1525 – 22 July 1610) was a Spanish general and statesman. Biography Born at Zamora, he was a page at the court of Philip II of Spain, training in Naples in 1557, ag ...

declared an embargo against the Leagues and built a fortification, the Forte di Fuentes, at Montecchio on

Lake Como Lake Como ( , ) also known as Lario, is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe. ...

at the entrance to the League controlled

valley.Graubünden's religious history
(PDF; 3.95 MB) Politically, the Leagues were split into pro-Habsburg and pro-Venice parties. In 1607, about 6,000 armed men met together in a bitter

Landsgemeinde The ''Landsgemeinde'' ("cantonal assembly"; , plural ''Landsgemeinden'') is a public, non-secret ballot voting system operating by majority rule. Still in use – in a few places – at the subnational political level in Switzerland, it was fo ...

or cantonal assembly. A court was set up that initially supported the French-Venetian faction and pronounced judgments against the Habsburg faction for a variety of crimes. Shortly thereafter the Habsburg faction gained power and returned judgments against the French-Venetian side. At the same time, the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

and even a few

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

representatives turned their ire on the

Bishop of Chur The Bishop of Chur (German: ''Bischof von Chur'') is the ordinary of the Diocese of Chur in Grisons, Switzerland (Latin: ''Dioecesis Curiensis'').Feldkirch or at Fürstenburg in Vintschgau. The citizens then got a court to issue an arrest warrant for the Bishop. In response, the Bishop fled to Feldkirch and refused to return and face a trial. The Bishop remained in exile until 1610, but the trial of the Bishop illustrated the religious and secular conflicts in the Leagues. After the Bishop returned, he was forced to flee twice more, once in 1612 and a second time in 1617.

Jörg Jenatsch and Valtellina murders

In 1618, the young radical Jörg Jenatsch became a member of the court of 'clerical overseers' and a leader of the anti-Habsburg faction. The popular court in Thusis, which was associated with the overseers, outlawed many leading men from the pro-Habsburg faction, notably Rudolf Planta and his brother Pompeius Planta. With the support of the anti-Habsburg court, armed mobs attacked and arrested several pro-Habsburg leaders including the archpriest Nicholas Rusca and the provost at Johann Baptista who was known as Zambra. The Planta brothers escaped the mob, but their estates were burned. The mobs brought the captured men to the court in Thusis. Zambra was accused of conspiring with the Spanish, convicted, and executed. Nicholas Rusca was beaten and died before the court could sentence him to death. The court also handed down 157 convictions against men who had escaped the mobs. The harsh judgments of the Thusis court against a number of Catholics in the Valtellina led to a conspiracy to drive the Protestants out of this southern valley. The leader of the conspiracy, Giacomo Robustelli of the Planta family, had ties to Madrid, Rome, and Paris. On the evening of 18/19 July 1620, a force of Valtellina rebels supported by Imperial and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

troops marched into

Tirano Tirano (; ) is a town and (municipality) in Valtellina, located in the province of Sondrio, Lombardy (northern Italy). It has 9,053 inhabitants (2016) and is adjacent to the Italy–Switzerland border. The river Adda (river), Adda flows through ...

and began killing Protestants. When they finished in Tirano, they marched to Teglio,

Sondrio Sondrio (; ; ; archaic or ; ) is an Italian city, ''comune'' and administrative centre for the province of Sondrio, located in the heart of the Valtellina. , Sondrio counted approximately 21,876 inhabitants. In 2007, Sondrio was named the Alpine ...

, and further down the valley killing every Protestant that they found. Between 500 and 600 people were killed on that night and in the following four days. The attack drove nearly all the Protestants out of the valley, prevented further Protestant incursions, and took the Valtellina out of the Three Leagues. During 1620, Pompeius Planta, believing that enough time had passed, returned home to Rietberg Castle. However, on 24 February 1621, a force of anti-Habsburg troops led by Jörg Jenatsch assembled to attack the castle. Early in the morning on 25 February, the troops attacked the castle and killed Pompeius Planta as he attempted to flee. According to one version of the story, Pompeius attempted to hide in a chimney, but was discovered by a dog. He was attacked by the raiders and killed by Jörg Jenatsch with an axe.

Catholic response

Emboldened by the murder of Pompeius Planta, the Protestant forces in the Three Leagues assembled an army to retake the Valtellina and other subject lands. The army was thrown together from a number of villages and was poorly armed and led. They slowly marched toward

Bormio Bormio (, , ) is a town and ''comune'' with a population of about 4,100 located in the Province of Sondrio, Lombardy region of the Alps in northern Italy. The centre of the upper Valtellina valley, it is a popular winter sports resort. It was the ...

. However, before they even reached the town, the army disintegrated and the remnants returned to the Leagues. This attempted invasion gave the Spanish and Austrians an excuse to invade the Leagues. By the end of October, Spain and Austria had occupied all of Graubunden. The allied

was divided along religious lines and only Bern and Zurich sent help. The Catholic central Swiss cantons intervened under the abbot of Disentis on the side of the Spaniards and Austrians. In January 1622, Graubünden had to cede the

Müstair Müstair Help:IPA/Romansh, yʃtɐiris a village in the Val Müstair municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Inn District, Switzerland, Inn in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. In 2009 ...

, the

Lower Engadine The Engadin or Engadine (;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ''Gidegna'' ...

, and Prättigau valleys. The treaty also forbade the Protestant religion in these valleys. In response, in 1622, the Prättigau valley rebelled against the Austrians and drove them out of the valley. The Austrians invaded the valley twice more, attempting to reimpose the Catholic faith, in 1623-24 and 1629–31. In 1622 the Catholic

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

appointed the Capuchins to spread Catholicism in the region. On 24 April 1622, the leader of the Capuchin mission, Fidelis of Sigmaringen, was murdered by Protestant peasants while on his way from Sewis to Grüsch near Chur. His death ended the first Capuchin missionary effort. A second attempt to convert Misocco and Calanca was undertaken by the Capuchins in 1635. In 1623 the Leagues entered into an alliance with France, Savoy, and Venice.

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

saw the Valtellina as an opportunity to weaken the Spanish. Jürg Jenatsch and Ulysses von Salis used French money to hire an 8,000 man mercenary army and drive out the Austrians. The peace treaty of Monzon (5 March 1626) between France and Spain confirmed the political and religious independence of the Valtellina. In 1627 the French withdrew from the Valtellina valley, which was then occupied by Papal troops. Starting in 1631 the League, under the French Duke Henri de Rohan, started to expel the Spaniards. However, Richelieu still did not want to hand the valley over to its residents. When it became clear that the French intended to remain permanently in the Leagues, but would not force the Valtellina to convert to Protestantism, Jürg Jenatsch (now a mercenary leader) converted in 1635 to the Catholic faith. In 1637, he rebelled and allied with Austria and Spain. His rebellion along with the rebellion of 31 other League officers forced the French to withdraw without a fight.

End

On 24 January 1639, Jürg Jenatsch was killed during

Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

by an unknown attacker who was dressed as a bear. The attacker may have been a son of Pompeius Planta or an assassin hired by the local aristocracy. According to legend he was killed by the same axe that he used on Pompeius Planta. On 3 September 1639 the Leagues agreed with Spain to bring the Valtellina back under League sovereignty, but with the promise to respect the free exercise of the Catholic faith. Treaties with Austria in 1649 and 1652, brought the Müstair and Lower Engadine valleys back under the authority of the Three Leagues.

References

External links

Swiss History

Graubünden's religious history
(PDF; 3.95 MB) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bundner Wirren Thirty Years' War Grisons History of Graubünden 17th-century conflicts Wars involving the Holy Roman Empire