Swiss illustrated chronicles

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Execution of the defenders of Greifensee during the Old Zurich War 1444, from Schodeler's chronicle, ca. 1515. Bild Henker von Greifensee.jpg
Execution of the defenders of Greifensee during the Old Zürich War 1444, from Schodeler's chronicle, ca. 1515.

Several illustrated chronicles were created in the Old Swiss Confederacy in the 15th and 16th centuries. They were luxurious illuminated manuscripts produced for the urban elite of Bern and Lucerne, and their copious detailed illustrations allow a unique insight into the politics and daily life of late medieval Switzerland on the eve of the Reformation. The most important of these chronicles are the works of the two Diebold Schillings, their luxurious execution, as well as their content reflecting the growing confidence and self-esteem of the leaders of the confederacy after their spectacular successes in the Burgundian Wars.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diebold Schilling the Elder</span>

Diebold Schilling the Elder was the author of several of the Swiss illustrated chronicles, the Berner Schilling of 1483, the Zürcher Schilling of 1484, and the Spiezer Schilling (1480s).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diebold Schilling the Younger</span>

Diebold Schilling the Younger was the author of the "Luzerner Schilling", one of the Swiss illustrated chronicles, which he presented to the city council of Lucerne on 15 January 1513. He was the nephew of Diebold Schilling the Elder of Bern. The younger Diebold was a somewhat scandalous figure, not unlike his father Hans, brother to the elder Diebold, an adventurer who had sought his fortune at the court of Matthias Corvinus, and returned destitute in 1488. Diebold was a secretary in Lucerne from 1479, and received the priesthood in 1481. His behaviour was so unpriestly, however, that the city council locked him into the tower in 1487, where he remained imprisoned for two years before he was released on parole of exhibiting more appropriate behaviour in the future. After his release he was soon back to his old ways, and after he had killed a man after a tavern brawl, he was fined and obliged to read a mass for his victim every year. Diebold was fiercely anti-French, and he accused the Bernese in particular, as well as his fellow chronicler Petermann Etterlin because of their friendly attitude towards France. Diebold's own sympathies lay with the German emperor Maximilian I, who personally invited him to the Reichstag in Konstanz in 1507. As an author, Diebold's most important contribution to the historiography of his times is his account of the years 1507–1509, the events of which he tells in his own words as an eye-witness.

The family of the two Swiss chroniclers called Diebold Schilling was originally from Solothurn. Klewi Schilling was a somewhat dubious character, and he was banned from the city, settling in Hagenau (Alsace), and probably died in Kaysersberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luzerner Schilling</span>

The Luzerner Schilling is an illuminated manuscript of 1513, containing the chronicle of the history of the Swiss Confederation written by Diebold Schilling the Younger of Lucerne.

<i>Berner Schilling</i>

The Berner Schilling is a chronicle of Diebold Schilling the Elder of Berne (1480s), covering the history of the Old Swiss Confederacy up to the Burgundian Wars.

<i>Spiezer Schilling</i>

Spiezer Schilling or Spiezer Chronik is a chronicle by Diebold Schilling the Elder of Bern (1480s), created after the Berner Schilling by the same author.

<i>Zürcher Schilling</i>

Zürcher Schilling is the latest chronicle of Diebold Schilling the Elder of Bern (1484), treating the Burgundian Wars. It is kept in the central library in Zürich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Grandson</span> Part of the Burgundian Wars (1476)

The Battle of Grandson was fought on 2 March 1476, during the Burgundian Wars, and resulted in a major defeat for Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, at the hands of the Old Swiss Confederacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Héricourt</span> Part of the Burgundian Wars

The Battle of Héricourt was fought on 13 November 1474 near Héricourt, Burgundy, as part of the Burgundian Wars. It resulted in victory for the Swiss Confederacy and its allies over the Burgundian State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Laupen</span> Battle in 1339 between Bern and Freiburg

The Battle of Laupen was fought in June 1339, between Bern and its allies on one side, and Freiburg together with feudal landholders from the County of Burgundy and Habsburg territories on the other. Bern was victorious, consolidating its position in the region. As a consequence of the conflict, the relations of Bern and the Swiss Confederacy tightened, resulting in Bern's permanent accession in 1353.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian von Bubenberg</span> Bernese general and mayor (1424–1479)

Adrian von Bubenberg was a Bernese knight, military commander and mayor (Schultheiss) of Bern in 1468-1469, 1473-1474 and 1477-1479. In Switzerland, he is remembered as the hero of the 1476 Battle of Murten.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Swiss Confederacy</span> 1291–1798 confederation of Swiss cantons

The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy was a loose confederation of independent small states, initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerland.

The Bernese Chronicle contains information about the early history of the city of Bern, Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burgerbibliothek of Berne</span> Archive and manuscripts of the Burgergemeinde of Bern, Switzerland

The Burgerbibliothek of Berne is a public library located at Münstergasse 63 in Berne, Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saubannerzug</span> 1477 Swiss Military campaign

The Saubannerzug was a military campaign of irregular Swiss forces during the Fasnacht period of the year 1477, in the aftermath of the Battle of Nancy. It consisted of disgruntled men-at-arms from Central Switzerland who moved towards Geneva to enforce the payment of a sum of 24,000 Gulden owed to the Old Swiss Confederacy as ransom to escape looting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerold Edlibach</span>

Gerold Edlibach was a Swiss chronicler and official of Zurich, author of the Zürcher Chronik.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toggenburg War</span> Swiss religious war in 1712

The Toggenburg War, also known as the Second War of Villmergen or the Swiss Civil War of 1712, was a Swiss civil war during the Old Swiss Confederacy from 12 April to 11 August 1712. The Catholic "inner cantons" and the Imperial Abbey of Saint Gall fought the Protestant cantons of Bern and Zürich as well as the abbatial subjects of Toggenburg. The conflict was a religious war, a war for hegemony in the Confederacy and an uprising of subjects. The war ended in a Protestant victory and upset the balance of political power within the Confederacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juliusbanner</span>

The Juliusbanner are elaborate silk banners given to the cantons and other entities of the Old Swiss Confederacy by Pope Julius II in 1512, in recognition of the support he received from Swiss mercenaries against France in the Pavia campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ital Reding the Elder</span> Swiss magistrate (d. 1447)

Ital Reding the Elder was Landammann of Schwyz and the leader of the forces of Schwyz during the Old Zürich War (1440–1450).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Puller von Hohenburg</span> Alsatian and Swiss nobleman, executed for his sexuality (d. 1482)

Richard Puller von Hohenburg was a 15th-century Alsatian and Swiss nobleman and knight. He is notable for his homosexual liaisons, his strategic avoidance of prosecution, and later execution for his homosexuality.

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