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48-399: The former owners, who were presumably also the builders, were the counts of Werdenberg-Sargans . The bergfried (the keep , built in the 12th century) and parts of the eastern side are the oldest. The tower stands on a piece of ground that is 12 by 13 metres (39 by 43 feet) in area. At the ground floor, the tower walls have a thickness of up to 4 metres (13 feet). The original entrance lay at

96-478: A French invasion in 1798, after which it became the short-lived Helvetic Republic . The adjective "old" was introduced after the Napoleonic era with Ancien Régime , retronyms distinguishing the pre-Napoleonic from the restored confederation. During its existence the confederacy was known as Eidgenossenschaft or Eydtgnoschafft ("oath fellowship"), in reference to treaties among cantons; this term

144-525: A condominium of the Old Swiss Confederacy , administered jointly by the cantons of Uri , Schwyz , Unterwalden , Lucerne , Zürich , Glarus and Zug . In 1396, the counts of Werdenberg -Sargans pawned Sargans to the Habsburg dukes of Austria , who passed the territory to Friedrich VII, count of Toggenburg . After the death of the last Toggenburgers the counts of Werdenberg-Sargans redeemed

192-723: A shared territory of the seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederation . (Whilst there were eight cantons to Switzerland, Bern was not involved in this transaction.) The purchase of 1483 stood at the conclusion of a decades-long expansionist policy of the Confederation in the east of Switzerland. The joint administration of the Landvogtei was quite normal for the 15th-century acquisitions of Switzerland. The administration alternated, every two years, between Zurich, Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug and Glarus. From 1712, after

240-559: A Catholic Appenzell Innerrhoden and a Protestant Appenzell Ausserrhoden . The division led to civil war (the Wars of Kappel ) and separate alliances with foreign powers by the Catholic and Protestant factions, but the confederacy as a whole continued to exist. A common foreign policy was blocked, however, by the impasse. During the Thirty Years' War , religious disagreements among the cantons kept

288-612: A further enlargement of the confederacy; Fribourg and Solothurn were accepted in 1481. By defeating the Duchy of Burgundy in this war, the Confederacy managed to stop the growing Burgundian threat. In the Swabian War against Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , the Swiss were victorious and exempted from imperial legislation. The associated cities of Basel and Schaffhausen joined the confederacy as

336-574: A large share of the bounty. The city-states of Fribourg and Solothurn wanted to join the confederacy, but were mistrusted by the central Swiss rural cantons. The compromise by the Tagsatzung in the Stanser Verkommnis restored order and assuaged the rural cantons' complaints, with Fribourg and Solothurn accepted into the confederation. While the treaty restricted freedom of assembly (many skirmishes arose from unauthorised expeditions by soldiers from

384-468: A loose confederation of independent small states ( cantons , German Orte or Stände ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire . It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerland . It formed at the end of the 13th century, from a nucleus in what is now Central Switzerland , expanding to include the cities of Zürich and Bern by the middle of the 14th century. This formed

432-621: A major threat to the Swiss states. King Rudolf I added large amounts of territory in Switzerland and Swabia to his domain , and sieged down Bern in 1289 to enforce imperial taxes. This aggression from the Habsburgs would likely be a major factor in the creation of the Swiss Confederacy. The foundation of the Confederacy is marked by the Rütlischwur (dated to 1307 by Aegidius Tschudi ) or

480-585: A rare union of rural and urban communes , all of which enjoyed imperial immediacy in the Holy Roman Empire. This confederation of eight cantons ( Acht Orte ) was politically and militarily successful for more than a century, culminating in the Burgundy Wars of the 1470s which established it as a power in the complicated political landscape dominated by France and the Habsburgs . Its success resulted in

528-523: A result of that conflict, and Appenzell followed suit in 1513 as the thirteenth member. The federation of thirteen cantons ( Dreizehn Orte ) constituted the Old Swiss Confederacy until its demise in 1798. The expansion of the confederacy was stopped by the Swiss defeat in the 1515 Battle of Marignano . Only Bern and Fribourg were still able to conquer the Vaud in 1536; the latter primarily became part of

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576-551: The Acht Orte (Eight Cantons)—consolidated its position. The members (especially the cities) enlarged their territory at the expense of local counts—primarily by buying judicial rights , but sometimes by force. The Eidgenossenschaft , as a whole, expanded through military conquest: the Aargau was conquered in 1415 and the Thurgau in 1460. In both cases, the Swiss profited from weakness in

624-778: The Freie Ämter ("Free Districts"), the Thurgau , the Rhine valley, and Sargans , and furthermore the Catholic cantons were excluded from the administration of the County of Baden . The "German bailiwicks" ( German : Deutsche Gemeine Vogteien, Gemeine Herrschaften ) were generally governed by the Acht Orte apart from Bern until 1712, when Bern joined the sovereign powers: Several bailiwicks ( Vogteien ) were generally referred to as "transmontane bailiwicks" ( German : Ennetbergische Vogteien , Italian : Baliaggi Ultramontani ). In 1440, Uri conquered

672-641: The Landvögte of Werdenberg and Sargans over "Wartauer trade", which was taken as far as the Tagsatzung , a Swiss confederal council. In 1798, most of the county was given liberty as an independent canton of Sargans, until the county was annexed to the Canton of Linth in the Helvetic Republic , later in the same year. When Napoleon 's Act of Mediation restored the Old Swiss Confederation in 1803, Sargans passed to

720-770: The Leventina Valley from the Visconti , dukes of Milan . Some of this territory had previously been annexed between 1403 and 1422. Further territories were acquired in 1500; see History of Ticino for further details . Three bailiwicks, all now in the Ticino , were condominiums of the Forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden: Four other Ticinese bailiwicks were condominiums of the Zwölf Orte (the original 13 cantons, minus Appenzell) from 1512: Another three bailiwicks were condominiums of

768-591: The Swiss peasant war of 1653 in Lucerne, Bern, Basel, Solothurn and the Aargau. The revolt was put down swiftly by force and with the help of many cantons. Religious differences were accentuated by a growing economic discrepancy. The Catholic, predominantly rural central-Swiss cantons were surrounded by Protestant cantons with increasingly commercial economies. The politically dominant cantons were Zürich and Bern (both Protestant), but

816-581: The canton of Bern , with a small portion under the jurisdiction of Fribourg. The Reformation in Switzerland led to doctrinal division amongst the cantons. Zürich, Bern, Basel, Schaffhausen and associates Biel, Mulhouse, Neuchâtel, Geneva and the city of St. Gallen became Protestant ; other members of the confederation and the Valais remained Catholic . In Glarus, Appenzell, in the Grisons and in most condominiums both religions coexisted; Appenzell split in 1597 into

864-489: The early modern period , although still nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1648 when the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War . The Swiss Reformation divided the confederates into Reformed and Catholic parties, resulting in internal conflict from the 16th to the 18th centuries; as a result, the federal diet ( Tagsatzung ) was often paralysed by hostility between the factions. The Swiss Confederacy fell to

912-527: The second war of Villmergen , Bern became involved in the condominium, with the Lordship of Freudenberg ( Imperial Abbey of Pfäfers ) and Walenstadt joining the jointly administered territories. From 1483, Quarten became part of the Vogtei of Windegg , but it remained subordinate to the blood court ( Blutgerichtsbarkeit ) of Sargans. A special case was the area of the today's municipality of Wartau . It belonged to

960-745: The "Forest States", had been granted imperial immediacy and autonomy during the reign of the Hohenstaufens . The region was endowed with these privileges because the Gotthard Pass went through the area. This pass was important in the Hohenstaufen struggle against the Italian Lombard League . Due to the fragmentation of Swabia following the collapse of the Hohenstaufens, many nations began to compete for land. The Habsburgs in particular were

1008-511: The 1315 Pact of Brunnen . Since 1889, the Federal Charter of 1291 among the rural communes of Uri , Schwyz , and Unterwalden has been considered the founding document of the confederacy. The early Swiss Confederacy was simply a defensive pact, but over time the states grew closer and closer. Following a victory against the Habsburgs in 1315, the members of the Confederacy vowed not to form alliances with outside states without consent of

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1056-592: The Burgundian Wars), it reinforced agreements amongst the cantons in the earlier Sempacherbrief and Pfaffenbrief . The civil war during the Reformation ended in a stalemate. The Catholic cantons could block council decisions but, due to geographic and economic factors, could not prevail over the Protestant cantons. Both factions began to hold separate councils, still meeting at a common Tagsatzung (although

1104-481: The Catholic cantons were influential since the Second War of Kappel in 1531. A 1655 attempt (led by Zürich) to restructure the federation was blocked by Catholic opposition, which led to the first battle of Villmergen in 1656; the Catholic party won, cementing the status quo . The problems remained unsolved, erupting again in 1712 with the second battle of Villmergen . This time the Protestant cantons won, dominating

1152-544: The County of Sargans, with exception of the Lordship of Wartau, which covered only Wartau Castle and the village of Gretschins (now part of Wartau ). The Lordship was legally closely interlaced with the remaining area of the today's municipality Wartau, but was subordinate to the jurisdiction of the County of Werdenberg . In 1517, when Werdenberg became a part of Glarus, this legal situation led to numerous conflicts in 1694–95 between

1200-635: The Eight Cantons ( Acht Orte ), then in 1481 to ten, in 1501 to twelve, and finally to thirteen cantons ( Dreizehn Orte ). Associates (Zugewandte Orte) were close allies of the Old Swiss Confederacy, connected to the union by alliance treaties with all or some of the individual members of the confederacy. Three of the associates were known as Engere Zugewandte : Two federations were known as Ewige Mitverbündete : There were two Evangelische Zugewandte : Condominiums ( German : Gemeine Herrschaften ) were common subject territories under

1248-690: The Habsburg dukes. In the south, Uri led a military territorial expansion that (after many setbacks) would by 1515 lead to the conquest of the Ticino .None of these territories became members of the confederacy; they had the status of condominiums (regions administered by several cantons). The reason for these Swiss victories was their innovative military tactics. Their perfection of the Pike Square made them excellent defensive warriors in their home mountain terrain, and they became highly sought after mercenaries throughout Europe (ex Swiss Guard ). At this time,

1296-465: The addition of more confederates, increasing the number of cantons to thirteen ( Dreizehn Orte ) by 1513. The confederacy pledged neutrality in 1647 (under the threat of the Thirty Years' War ), although many Swiss served privately as mercenaries in the Italian Wars and during the early modern period. After the Swabian War of 1499 the confederacy was a de facto independent state throughout

1344-413: The administration of several cantons. They were governed by reeves ( Vögte ) delegated for two years, each time from another of the responsible cantons. Bern initially did not participate in the administration of some of the eastern condominiums, as it had no part in their conquest and its interests were focused more on the western border. In 1712, Bern replaced the Catholic cantons in the administration of

1392-496: The castle has been the primary residence of Liechtenstein's Princely Family. The castle is not open to the public as the princely family still lives in the castle. This Liechtenstein -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . County of Sargans The County of Sargans was a state of the Holy Roman Empire . From 1458 until the French Revolutionary War in 1798, Sargans became

1440-467: The common council was deadlocked by disagreements between both factions until 1712, when the Protestant cantons gained power after their victory in the second war of Villmergen ). The Catholic cantons were excluded from administering the condominiums in the Aargau, the Thurgau and the Rhine valley; in their place, Bern became co-sovereign of these regions. The confederation expanded in several stages: first to

1488-585: The confederacy neutral and spared it from belligerents. At the Peace of Westphalia , the Swiss delegation was granted formal recognition of the confederacy as a state independent of the Holy Roman Empire. Growing social differences and an increasing absolutism in the city cantons during the Ancien Régime led to local popular revolts . An uprising during the post-war depression after the Thirty Years' War escalated to

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1536-483: The confederacy. This expansion greatly changed the social climate in the Confederacy. In the original 3 cantons, citizens all held equal rights, but in the newly acquired urban cities, power was in the hands of the wealthy Burgomeisters . This led into a shift away from the traditional Swiss egalitarianism enjoyed by citizens in the original Confederacy. From 1353 to 1481, the federation of eight cantons —known in German as

1584-567: The confederacy. The individual interests of the cantons clashed in the Old Zürich War (1436–1450), caused by territorial conflict among Zürich and the central Swiss cantons over the succession of the Count of Toggenburg . Although Zürich entered an alliance with the Habsburg dukes, it then rejoined the confederacy. The confederation had become so close a political alliance that it no longer tolerated separatist tendencies in its members. The Tagsatzung

1632-445: The confederation. True reform, however, was impossible; the individual interests of the thirteen members were too diverse, and the absolutist cantonal governments resisted all attempts at confederation-wide administration. Foreign policy remained fragmented. The (Alte) Eidgenossenschaft was initially united not by a single pact, but by overlapping pacts and bilateral treaties between members. The parties generally agreed to preserve

1680-497: The countship of Vaduz. At this time, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor , combined the countship with the Lordship of Schellenberg , purchased by the Liechtensteins in 1699, to form the present Principality of Liechtenstein. The castle underwent a major restoration between 1904 and 1920, then again in the early 1920s during the reign of Prince Johann II , and was expanded during the early 1930s by Prince Franz Joseph II . Since 1938,

1728-513: The courtyard side at a height of 11 metres (36 feet). The chapel of St. Anna was presumably built in the Middle Ages as well. The main altar is late-gothic. In the Swabian War of 1499, the castle was burned by the Swiss Confederacy . The western side was expanded by Count Kaspar von Hohenems (1613–1640). The princely family of Liechtenstein acquired Vaduz Castle in 1712, when it purchased

1776-546: The eight cantons gradually increased their influence on neighbouring cities and regions through additional alliances. Individual cantons concluded pacts with Fribourg , Appenzell , Schaffhausen , the abbot and the city of St. Gallen , Biel , Rottweil , Mulhouse and others. These allies (known as the Zugewandte Orte ) became closely associated with the confederacy, but were not accepted as full members. They would be known as Swiss Associates . The Burgundian Wars prompted

1824-542: The eight members of the confederacy was the Sempacherbrief  [ de ; fr ] of 1393, concluded after victories over the Habsburgs at Sempach in 1386 and Näfels in 1388, which forbade a member from unilaterally beginning a war without the consent of the other cantons. A federal diet , the Tagsatzung , developed during the 15th century. Pacts and renewals (or modernizations) of earlier alliances reinforced

1872-456: The fashion of calling individual urban cantons republics (such as the Republics of Zürich , Berne and Basel ). The nucleus of the Old Swiss Confederacy was an alliance among the valley communities of the central Alps to facilitate management of common interests (such as trade) and ensure peace along trade routes through the mountains. Previously, the communities, also known collectively as

1920-615: The newly established canton of St. Gallen . See Counts of Werdenberg in Sargans (The counting of the counts follows the counts of Werdenberg) The county is pawned to Austria and delivered to the Toggenburgs: In 1436 the county returns to the Werdenbergs: Old Swiss Confederation The Old Swiss Confederacy , also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy , was

1968-503: The opponents of Zürich. Schwyz and Glarus conquered the county and forced the population to carry out, for the count von Werdenberg-Sargans, the Oath of Loyalty . In 1458, the counts renewed their association with Schwyz and Glarus. Nevertheless, the Eidgenossen kept Walenstadt, Nidberg and Quarten, which they had conquered from the Habsburgs. In 1482–83, the last count sold Sargans to become

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2016-475: The peace, aid in military endeavours and arbitrate disputes. Slowly, the members began to see the confederation as a unifying entity. In the Pfaffenbrief , a treaty of 1370 among six of the eight members (Glarus and Bern did not participate) forbidding feuds and denying clerical courts jurisdiction over the confederacy, the cantons for the first time used the term Eidgenossenschaft . The first treaty uniting

2064-432: The pledge, to rule over the county anew, with Walenstadt and Quarten remaining as Vogtei ( protectorates ) of the Habsburgs. The inhabitants of the country refused, however, to recognise the counts of Werdenberg-Sargans as their lords and, in 1436, made a treaty with the city of Zürich . In the Old Zürich War , a civil war between Zürich and the cantons of Glarus and Schwyz , the counts allied themselves with

2112-477: The rest of the Confederacy. They also agreed to resolve all disputes peacefully and to support one another in both external and internal affairs. At this point however, the Swiss were still subordinate to the Empire, and they acknowledged the authority of the Holy Roman Empire. The initial pact was augmented by pacts with the cities of Lucerne , Zürich , and Bern . This union of rural and urban communes, which enjoyed

2160-449: The status of imperial immediacy within the Holy Roman Empire , was engendered by pressure from Habsburg dukes and kings who had ruled much of the land. Bern in particular had fought against local nobles, including the Habsburgs, on several occasions, and as such was eager to join the Confederacy. In several battles with Habsburg armies, the Swiss were victorious; they conquered the rural areas of Glarus and Zug , which became members of

2208-592: Was first used in the 1370 Pfaffenbrief . Territories of the confederacy came to be known collectively as Schweiz or Schweizerland ( Schwytzerland in contemporary spelling), with the English Switzerland beginning during the mid-16th century. From that time the Confederacy was seen as a single state, also known as the Swiss Republic ( Republic der Schweitzer , République des Suisses and Republica Helvetiorum by Josias Simmler in 1576) after

2256-399: Was the confederation council, typically meeting several times a year. Each canton delegated two representatives (including the associate states, which had no vote). The canton where the delegates met initially chaired the gathering, but during the 16th century Zürich permanently assumed the chair ( Vorort ) and Baden became the seat. The Tagsatzung dealt with inter-cantonal affairs and

2304-626: Was the court of last resort in disputes between member states, imposing sanctions on dissenting members. It also administered the condominiums; the reeves were delegated for two years, each time by a different canton. A unifying treaty of the Old Swiss Confederacy was the Stanser Verkommnis of 1481. Conflicts between rural and urban cantons and disagreements over the bounty of the Burgundian Wars had led to skirmishes. The urban cantons of Bern, Zurich, and Luzern in particular wanted to keep

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