to the Empire. The struggle lasted several months, the chief nght being that in the Calven gorge (above Mals; May 22, 1499), in which Benedict Fontana, a leader of the Gotteshausbund men, performed many heroic deeds before his death. But, both sides being exhausted, peace was made at Basel on the 22nd of September 1499. By this the matters in dispute were referred to arbitration, and the emperor annulled all the decisions of the imperial chamber against the Confederation; but nothing was laid down as to its future relations with the Empire. No further real attempt, however, was made to enforce the rights of the emperor, and the Confederation became a state allied with the Empire, enjoying practical independence, though not formally freed till 1648. Thus, 208 years after the origin of the Confederation in 1291, it had got rid of all Austrian claims (1394 and 1474), as well as all practical subjection to the emperor. But its further advance towards the position of an independent state was long checked by religious divisions within, and by the enormous influence of the French king on its foreign relations.
With the object of strengthening the northern border of the Confederation, two more full members were admitted in 1501—Basel and Schaffhausen—on the same terms as Fribourg and Soleure. The city of Basel had originally been ruled by its bishop, but early in the 14th century it became a free imperial city; before 1501 it had made no permanent alliance with the Confederation, though it had been in continual relations with it. Schaffhausen had grown up round the Benedictine monastery of All Saints, and became in the early 13th century a free imperial city, but was mortgaged to Austria from 1330 to 1415, in which last year the emperor Sigismund declared all Duke Frederick's rights forfeited in consequence of his abetting the flight of Pope John XXII. It bought its' freedom in 1418 and became an “associate” of the Confederation in 1454.
A few years later, in 1513, Appenzell, which in 1411 had become a “ protected” district, and in 1452 an “associate” member of the Confederation, was admitted as the thirteenth full member; and this remained the number till the fall of the old Confederation in 1798. Round the three original members had gathered The League enlarged to Thirteen Members. first five others, united with the three, but not necessarily with each other; and then gradually there grew up an outer circle, consisting of five more, allied with all the eight old members, but tied down by certain stringent conditions. Constance, which seemed called by nature to enter the League, kept aloof, owing to a quarrel as to criminal jurisdiction in the Thurgau, pledged to it before the district was conquered by the Confederates.
In the first years of the 16th century the influence of the Confederates south of the Alps was largely extended. The conquests system of giving pensions, in order to secure the right of enlisting men within the Confederation, and of capitulations, by which the different members supplied troops, was originated by Louis XI. in 1474, and later followed by many other princes. Though a tribute to Swiss valour and courage, this practice had very evil results, of which the first fruits were seen in the Milanese troubles (1500–1516), of which the following is a summary. Both Charles VIII. (1484) and Louis XII. (1499 for ten years) renewed Louis XI.'s treaty. The French attempts to gain Milan were largely carried on by the help of Swiss mercenaries, some of whom were on the opposite side; and, as brotherly feeling was still too strong to make it possible for them to fight against one another, Lodovico Sforza's Swiss troops shamefully betrayed him to the French at Novara (1500). In 1500, too, the three Forest districts occupied Bellinzona (with the Val Blenio) at the request of its inhabitants, and in 1503 Louis XII. was forced to cede it to them. He, however, often held back the pay of his Swiss troops, and treated them as mere hirelings, so that when the ten years' treaty came to an end Matthew Schinner, bishop of Sitten (or Sion), induced them to join (1510) the pope, Julius II., then engaged in forming the Holy League to expel the French from Italy. But when, after the battle of Ravenna, Louis XII. became all-powerful in Lombardy, 20,000 Swiss poured down into the Milanese and occupied it, Felix Schmid, the burgomaster of Zürich, naming Maximilian (Lodovico's son) duke of Milan, in return for which he ceded to the Confederates Locarno, Val Maggia, Mendrisio and Lugano (1512), while the Raetian Leagues seized Chiavenna, Bormio and the Valtellina. (The former districts, with Bellinzona, the Val Blenio and the Val Leventina, were in 1803 made into the canton of Ticino, the latter were held by Raetia till 1797.) In 1513 the Swiss completely defeated the French at Novara, and in 1515 Pace was sent by Henry VIII. of England to give pensions and get soldiers. Francis I. at once on his accession (1515) began to prepare to win back the Milanese, and, successfully evading the Swiss awaiting his descent from the Alps, beat them in a pitched battle at Marignano near Milan (Sept. 13, 1515), which broke the Swiss power in north Italy, so that in 1516 a peace was made with France-the Valais, the Three Raetian Leagues and both the abbot and town of St Gall being included on the side of the Confederates. Provision was made for the neutrality of either party in case the other became involved in war, and large pensions were promised. This treaty was extended by another in 1521 (to which Zürich, then under Zwingli's influence, would not agree, holding aloof from the French alliance till 1614), by which the French king might, with the consent of the Confederation, enlist any number of men between 6000 and 16,000, paying them fit wages, and the pensions were raised to 3000 francs annually to each member of the Confederation. These two treaties were the starting point of later French interference with Swiss affairs.
4. In 1499 the Swiss had practically renounced their allegiance
to the emperor, the temporal chief of the world according
to medieval theory; and in the 16th century a great
number of them did the same by the world's spiritual
chief, the pope. The scene of the revolt was Zürich,
and the leader Ulrich Zwingli (Who settled in Zürich at the very
The Reformation.
end of 1518). But we cannot understand Zwingli's career unless
we remember that he was almost more a political reformer than
a religious one. In his former character his policy was threefold.
He bitterly opposed the French alliance and the pension-and
mercenary system, for he had seen its evils with his own eyes
when serving as chaplain with the troops in the Milanese in
1512 and 1515. Hence in 1521 his influence kept Zürich back
from joining in the treaty with Francis I. Then, too, at the
time of the Peasant Revolt (1 52 5), he did what he could to lighten
the harsh rule of the city over the neighbouring rural districts,
and succeeded in getting serfage abolished. Again he had it
greatly at heart to secure for Zürich and Bern the chief power
in the Confederation, because of their importance and size; he
wished to give them extra votes in the Diet, and would have
given them two-thirds of the “common bailiwicks ” when these
were divided. In his character as a religious reformer we must
remember that he was a humanist, and deeply read in classical
literature, which accounts for his turning the canonries of the
Grossmunster into professorships, reviving the old school of the
Carolinum, and relying on the arm of the state to carry out
religious changes (see Zwingli). After succeeding at two public
disputations (both held in 1523) his views rapidly gained ground
at Zürich, which long, however, stood quite alone, the other
Confederates issuing an appeal to await the decision of the
asked-for general council, and proposing to carry out by the arm
of the state certain small reforms, while clinging to the old
doctrines. Zwingli had to put down the extreme wing of the
Reformers—the Anabaptists—by force (1525–1526). Quarrels
soon arose as to allowing the new views in the “common bailiwicks.”
The disputation at Baden (1526) was in favour of the
maintainers of the old faith; but that at Bern (1528) resulted
in securing for the new views the support of that great town,
and so matters began to take another aspect. In 1528 Bern
joined the union formed in December 1527 in favour of religious
freedom by Zürich and Constance (Christliches Burgrecht), and
her example was followed by Schaffhausen, St Gall, Basel,
Bienne and Muhlhausen (1528–1529). This attempt virtually to
break up the League was met in February 1529 by the offensive
and defensive alliance made with King Ferdinand of Hungary
(brother of the emperor) by the three Forest districts, with
Lucerne and Zug, followed (April 1529) by the “Christliche
Vereinigung,” or union between these five members of the
