The mighty Swiss bull is adorned
With a crown of thirteen cantons
Interwoven into its horns
Undo the crown or break off the horns
And soon will be lost the freedom
It battled so long to gain
– Bundbuch 1602
Swiss history and the origins of Switzerland fascinates many historians as it is not the founding story of a typical modern nation through conquest, revolution, or colonisation. Saying that it’s a complicated subject would be an understatement. I did not study 16 years of Swiss history at school so I did my best to catch up though online research, travel, and visiting museums. The Museum of the Swiss Charters of Confederation in the founding canton of Schwyz houses all the original documents that led to the modern Swiss state. Kind of like seeing the US Constitution, but a little different – here’s how.
The museum itself has a gently brainwashy tune to some of the language it uses so I’ll try to be careful to not include them here. Actually, the museum was actually constructed for the purposes of Swiss nationalism where the “Spiritual Defence” was employed to emphasise Swiss characteristics and counter the threat of Nazi ideology in the 1930s. The new wing of the Federal Archive was constructed in 1936 and included an exhibition area for the Federal Charters.
By emphasising traits like cultural diversity and independence, Spiritual Defence guarded Swiss minds from both National Socialism during WWII and Communism during the Cold War. In fact, Swiss mythology played such a big role in the national mores of Switzerland in the 20th century that General Henri Guisan ordered Swiss military commanders to gather at Rütli to inspire them with ideals of mutual defence where the Oath of Rütli took place.
However, it must be said that Swiss multinationalism, multilingualism, and multiculturalism is only a courtesy extended to those from French, German, Italian, or Romansh backgrounds, or the national languages and cultures in the territory. Even between them there is a demarcated line where certain language groups begin and end. It is not my experience that one can use any of the official languages and be well-understood in the other regions, let alone hear Arabic, Chinese, or Russian being widely spoken.
It is not uncommon for the German-speaking population to say nasty things about their French-speaking countrymen and vice versa. The referendum of Moutier and their desire to leave German-speaking Bern to join French-speaking Jura is a political testament to the country’s linguistic divide. Muti-anything in Switzerland only goes as far as the cultures and languages existing in isolation from each other and not in harmony within the same immediate community. Good luck trying to use German to register a car in Geneva. The multiculturalism of Switzerland is not the multiculturalism of New York City.
The Swiss “Eidgenossenschaft” is loosely translated to “federation” in English whereas the original meaning in German is “an oath of fellowship”. The oath refers to the 1307 Oath of Rütli that occurred by the lake opposite Altdorf by representatives of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. In this legend, William Tell is said to be the first taker of the oath and the representation of the Swiss desire to be free. The “oath” could also refer to the Federal Charter of 1291 where the three cantons (although the seal of both Obwalden and Nidwalden is used, only Nidwalden is named in the charter) signed a pact on defence, law, and law enforcement.
Although the two events are now frequently associated with each other they are in reality two different events. This has led to the contention between Uri and the rest of the country disputing the founding date of Switzerland in the late 19th and early 20th century. Uri even built a William Tell Memorial in Altdorf with the date 1307 inscribed on it instead of 1291. Today, the date is widely accepted as being 1 August, 1291.
The Swiss struggle against foreign invasion and conquest is characterised by their ideal of being noble by virtue rather than noble by blood, which explains their confederate structure and strategies to pre-empt foreign influence with Spiritual Defence. Imperial immediacy for self-government was granted to the people of Schwyz since 1240 by Frederick II. Being a largely impassable mountainous area, future Hapsburg rulers also granted imperial immediacy as the area was of little strategic interest and autonomy was seen as a way to buy the loyalty of the people of Schwyz.
In the three centuries that follow the Federal charter of 1291, the original 3 confederated cantons make a complex series of alliances with a further 10 cantons bringing the count up to 13 cantons by 1513. However, not all alliances were created equal, Zürich and Glarus joined with demands made of them but offered nothing in return. Luzern and Zug became allied but maintained and respected the rights of the Hapsburgs and their claim to their land. Others like St. Gallen and Gersau only became associate members due to their existing government structure. Bern made a calculated decision and decides to join for defence and economic reasons. By the time Freiburg and Solothurn joined in the 16th century, there was tension between the cities and the countryside, so both the cities of Freiburg and Solothurn compromised to the demands of the rural cantons. Basel also agreed to the same when it joined in 1501.
Focusing on the Federal Charter of 1291, historians have disputed its legality and some even theorised that it might be a forgery. Carbon dating has confirmed that the parchment it is written on originates from the time around 1291, but it does not prove that it was written in 1291. The Federal Charter has a few administrative anomalies on it; namely that it shows the year and month but not the day of agreement, it leaves the location where the agreement was made blank, and the cantonal seals are not in the same order as they are named in the document.
All of these procedural inconsistencies are highly uncommon for medieval documents of this importance. As previously mentioned, the wrong seal was used for Nidwalden and many abbreviations are also used for this important document. Where pacts of the time frequently reference previous documents, the later Morgarten Charter of 1315 also fails to reference this 1291 document. And while the Federal Charter itself references an earlier pact, that document was never found.
In addition to all the charters, the museum also has exhibits on the religious divides of 1586 with the alliance of the Catholic cantons and a brief mention of the Sonderbund war of 1847 between the Reformed and Catholic cantons. Since its renovation at the turn of the millennium, there is also a flag exhibition and an explanation of the origins of the Swiss military standard that later became the national flag.
According to some, Switzerland was founded on a forgery of 1291 and a myth of 1307, but regardless of which way you see it the Swiss are a very real people.
