LUOSRHS
407
LUOBBHE
the Count of Habsburg), who exercised it through
pinioreSf or bailiffs. The rapid rise of the town in the
thirteenth century was chiefly due to the opening of
the road over the St. Gothard, and the consequent
increase of traffic between Italy and Western Ger-
many. Lucerne thus became an important mart, and
the citizens aspired to make themselves entirely inde-
pendent of any overlord. To this end they exploited
the financial embarrassments of the abbots topurchase
one pri vilege after another. In the so-called Ueschuxtr-
enen Brief of 1252, the council and the citizens of the
town already appear as quite independent of the ab-
bot, who was theoretically their feudal lord, and as a
community possessing a seal and its own tribimals.
As tihe abbots of Murbach were often at odda with the Counts of Habsburg, who were also Landgraves in Alsace, in regard to their estates in Upper Alsace, Rudolf of Habsburg, after his election as emperor, confirmed all the privileges of the town, and declared that the citizens of Lucerne were received as a fief of the Empire. In order to conciliate the town, he bought, in 1291, from the Abbot of Murbach the estates of the abbey in Lucerne and in the Forest Cantons (Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden) for 2000 silver marks and five villages in Alsace. Although the town looked very unfavourably on this change of ownership, it was nevertheless obliged to swear alle- giance to Rudolf's son Albrecht for the confirmation of its liberties. But the Habsburg supremacy did not last long. By the renewal of the league of the above three Forest Cantons, which had revolted from Aus- tria, the foundation of a Swiss natioiialitv was laid. In the wars which now broke out. Lucerne had to fight against its own countrymen; still it was faithful to its Austrian suzerain until after the Battle of Morgarten (1315). The victor}' gained there by the Swiss encour- aged the friends of liberty, and two parties were formed in Lucerne, an Austrian and a Swias. When the town was transferred, in 1228, from the jurisdiction of Rothen))urg to that of Baden, twenty-six citizens formed an association for five years to maintain the city's privileges; in 1330 this association was joined by the burgomaster and the council, and on 7 Novem- ber, 032, Lucerne entered into a perpetiial league with the three Forest Cantons. Althoufijn this alliance did not contemplate complete independence, still the struggle with the House of Habsburg could not be long delayed.
After 1336 several campaigns were carried on, and the city's liberties were sometimes increased, some- times curtailed; but Lucerne was still Austrian. In 1361 it obtained exemption from the St. Gothard toll; in 1379 Wenceslaus granted it the judicial jurisdiction of first instance over property, and in 1381 penal ju- risdiction also was granted. While the Austrian su- premacy was thus dwindling, the city's territory was augmented by the accession of Krienz, Horw, and other neighbouring towns. In consequence of a dis- pute about tolls, the Lucerners stormed Rothenbtirg, on 23 Dec, 1385, destroyed the castle, took Entle- buch, and assisted in the destruction of the castle of Wolhusen. The war with Austria ended with the Battle of Sempach (9 July, 1386), in which the Burgo- master of Lucerne^ Peter von Gunoldigen, met a hero's death, and the city was rid of the Austrian yoke. Lucerne henceforward had free scope for develop- ment. In 1394 it acquire'd the lordships of Wolhusen, Rothenburg, and Sempach; in 1406 of Habsburg, in 1407 the countship of Willisau. The village of Meren- schwand voluntarily placed itself under the protection of Lucerne in 1397. About this time the city was en- circled with strong fortifications, of which the "Mu- segg", to the north, with its nine towers, still exists.
When the Austrian Frederick " Empty-purse " was
gut under the ban of the Empire at the Council of bnstance (1415), by Emperor Sigismund, on account of his relations with Pope John XXIII, and the Swiss,
allied with the emperor, prepared to conquer the Aar-
gau. Lucerne conquered Sursee and occupied the Cis-
tercian monastery of St. Urban at Bonnwalde, the
monastery at Beromilnster, and other places. The
whole territory was now divided into thirteen baili-
wicks. Lucerne took a considerable part in the nu-
merous Italian campaigns of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, especially in the victorious campaigns of the
Swiss against Charles the Bold of Burgundy, which
brought rich spoils to the city. By tl^ war of the
Swiss against Maximilian in 1499, known as the Swa-
bian War, the bond between Lucerne and the German
Empire was entirely severed in fact, though this fact
was finally recognised only in 1648, by the Peace of
Westphalia.
The fifteenth century brought important internal changes: the Council, which had governed somewhat arbitrarily, was forced to stipulate that, without the consent of the entire community, it would begin no war, enter into no alliance, purclmse no lordships, and impose no new taxes. As m politics, so also in learn- ing, Lucerne took a leading part in Switzerland; in the Hofschule, dating from 1290, it possessed the oldest teaching institution of Switzerland; in addition, there was a school at the Minorite convent. The latter was famous for the production of religious dramas, which reached their zenith in the second half of the fifteenth century and attracted audiences numbering as many as 30,000. The Benedictine foundation, which had fallen into decay, was in 1456 changed into a founda- tion of canons, wnich existe to this day. In the course of the sixteenth century an aristocratic constitution was formed, which survived every political storm and lasted till the dissolution of the canton.
The Reformation divided Switzerland into two camps. Besides the four Forest Cantons (Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden, and Lucerne), Fribourgand Soleure formed the Catholic part. The new teaching found no great following in the city, although a few scholars like Myconius and Textorius, tried at first to obtain ad- mission. A zealous defender of the Faith arose in the Franciscan Thomas Mumer, who came to Lucerne in 1524. The authorities also actively interposed against the followers of the new teachmg. As the most important of the Catholic cities, Lucerne took the leading part in the conflict, notabljr at the Battle of Kappel, which strengthened the position of the Cath- olic Church in Switzerland, under her burgomasters. Hug and Golder. Also it was at the head of all the alliances which the Catholic cantons made with France or with the pope. St. Charles Borromeo, who visited Lucerne in 1570, rendered great services to the Catholic Church in Switzerland (see Charles BoBt ROMEO, Saint). At his suggestion, on 7 Aug., 1574, the first Jesuits entered Lucerne, two fathers and a lay brother; in 1577 they receivea the Rittersche pal- ace for a college. Their sptecial protector was the burgomaster, the famous Swiss soldier, Ludwig Pfyf- fer, who had fought at Jamac and Monteontour against the Huguenots, and who, from 1571 to his death in 1594, as "Iving of the Swiss "^ was the prin- cipal leader of Catholic opinion in Switzerland. His assistant for many years was the learned town clerk Renward Cysat, who collected valuable materials for the history of his native city.
In 1583 the Capuchins obtained an establishment in the city, and a permanent papal nunciature was erected there, Giovanni Francesco Bonhomini. Arch* bishop of Vercelli, being the first nuncio. The alli- ances of the Swiss with warlike popes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had resulted in active inter- course with Rome. At the instance, and in the pres- ence, of the third nuncio, Battista Santorio, there was concluded (15 Oct., 1586), in the Hofkirche of Lu- cerne, the so-called Borromean, or Golden, Alliance, in which the four Forest Cantons, together with Zuc% Fribourg, and Soleure, swore <» V*^ Vs!bS^>^ \i5fc ^^kj^
