Waldstätte

' (, "forested sites/settlements;" ) is a term which has been used since the early thirteenth century to refer to the (singular: , "site" "settlement"), or later ''Ort(schaft)'' (plural: , "locality" "place" "lieu") or (plural: , "estate") of the early confederate allies of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden in today's Central Switzerland.

From the 13th to 19th centuries, the term also synoptically referred to the nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden; later, the term was gradually replaced by the term .

The term ("forest; woods") is to be understood in contrast to , the former in Middle High German terminology referring to cultivated land of alternating pastures, fields and woods, while the latter referred to deep, uncultivated forests ().

History

The Middle High German terms or (in the sense of "forested site/settlement") are also used alongside (modern , or "town, city", in the sense of a powerful, possibly protected settlement with special rights) and (modern , in the sense of rural countrysides) in reference to the individual confederate allies into the first half of 15th century and became gradually replaced by the term ("point; lieu") or ("state"), which stayed prominent in German-speaking Switzerland until the Helvetic Republic; the term ''canton'' (in German: ), in origin a Romance translation of German , was unknown for the German-speaking allies until around 1650.

The first recorded use of the term specifically as referring to the wooded valleys of Central Switzerland is in a document dated 1289, mentioning (i.e. "in Schwyz, in the wooded site").

In 1323, Glarus dates to 1309. In 1310, Duke Frederick the Fair complains about the king impeding his rights to the .

With the establishment of the Confederacy in the 1310s, the term is adopted as an exonym, and in the pacts which expanded the Confederacy, with Lucerne in 1332 and with Berne in 1353.

The inclusion of Lucerne as a "fourth" is first mentioned in an addition dated to the 1450s in the ''Silver Book'' of Egloff Etterlin.

In the protocols of the Swiss Diet in the second half of the 15th century, under the presidency of Lucerne, the term ''vier waltstette'' sees frequent use. Albrecht von Bonstetten in his (1479) suggests that the term (Latinized ) was in common use.

Lake Lucerne is given the new name of (aka Lake of Four Forested Sites) in the 16th century.

See also

* Formation of the Old Swiss Confederacy
* Federal Charter of 1291
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* Canton of Waldstätten

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldstatte
Old Swiss Confederacy