Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a collection of semi-autonomous cantons. As membership of the confederation has fluctuated throughout history, each of these cantons has its own unique history and nobility. Typically, each canton had its own constitution, currency, jurisdiction, habits, customs, history, and nobility.
In the Middle Ages, various cantons had families with only local and, in the broad scheme of things, insignificant lands, whereas other cantons had ennobled families abroad. In Switzerland there were many families of dynasties who were members of the Holy Roman Empire. Other cantons had rulers from the House of Savoy, or from the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Burgundy. This diversity prevented the birth of a state with monarchical central authority.
As a general rule, Swiss nobility since the 14th century can be divided into three categories:
nobility acquired by inheritance, under the terms of family right;
nobility resulting from the ennoblement of a commoner, or from the creation of a new title for an existing noble;
nobility acquired by integration, as was the case in Reyff (1577) or Pontherose (1443). This integration was frequently due to a social event, or to alliances with noble families. Sometimes this was accompanied by the acquisition of a noble domain, for example when the seigniory of Mézières was bought by Jost Freitag in 1547, whereby Jost became a noble.
In Switzerland, where the social classes were historically closer than they were in other countries, there was neither a misalliance nor a loss of nobility due to a noble engaging in manual work or taking up a trade. This is why, for example, the noble Jean Gambach was able to be a manufacturer of scythes in 1442, and the noble Louis de Daguet was able to be a carter at the end of the 18th century. Individuals only lost their nobility due to illegitimacy or voluntary renunciation.
Bern, Fribourg, Solothurn, Lucerne
From the 15th c. onwards, rising economic and political pressure from the city-states enticed more and more families of the traditional feudal nobility to seek membership in the higher echelons of the citizenry. These late-mediaeval urban upper classes were already composed of wealthy commoners (merchants, landowners, and craftspeople) but also of aristocrats from nearby fiefdoms or the descendants of ministeriales (i.e. knightly, originally unfree nobles in the service of ecclesiastical or secular fiefs). While a de jure distinction between noble and common patrician families was still upheld for some time, with quotas for certain government positions reserved for each group, these distinctions became de facto less and less rigid in the early modern era. Non-noble families could still be ennobled by letters patent, be it through the favour of foreign monarchs (most notably the kings of France) or by the cities themselves. For instance, in 1547 Bern set up the seigneurie of Batie-Beauregard as a barony for one Jacques Champion; in 1665 Solothurn granted letters of nobility to the brothers Marcacci of Locarno; in 1712 Bern created the seigneurie of Bercher for a member of the de Saussure family.
Bern
In Bern a constitutional law created in 1643 the privileged class of families eligible to Great Council membership. Since 1731 the Sovereign prohibits the use of titles of nobility conferred by foreign sovereigns; since 1761 patricians were authorised to be called wohledelgeboren; then on 9 April 1783 patricians were authorised to use the nobiliary particle "von" (or "de").
Fribourg
The city-state of Fribourg defined its patrician ruling class through the so-called Lettre des Deux-Cents in 1627, and closed their ranks to non-privileged families in 1684. Towards the end of the Ancien Régime, this aristocracy comprised four categories:
titled noble families (Affry, Alt, Diesbach, Maillardoz, Castella de Berlens)
untitled noble families (Boccard, Fégely de Vivy, Fivaz, Gléresse, Griset de Forel, Lenzbourg, Maillard, Praroman, of Prel, Reyff de Cugy, Reynold)
patrician families of noble origin whose nobility is not taken into consideration by the state (Fégely de Prez, for example)
patrician families of common origin (Buman, Castella, Reynold, Weck, Wild, etc.)
As defined in the constitution of 1404, members of the first two categories were barred from certain higher offices (banneret and secret, i.e. secret council) unless they renounced their noble privileges.
In 1782 the Sovereign of Fribourg decided to standardise the situation of these families. He removed all the titles except "noble", authorised all the patricians to use the nobiliary particle "de" (or "von"), and specified that henceforth the loads of "bannerets", "secrets" and "grand-sautier" would be opened to all the patricians. By confirming that all patrician families were noble either by origin or by being members of the privileged class, this "Règlement relativement à l'introduction de l'égalité des familles patriciennes et de leurs titulatures" (17 and 18 July 1782) is official confirmation of an existing status rather than a collective ennoblement.
Lucerne
In Lucerne at the end of the 17th century the patricians were named with the title "Junker" and regularly made use of their nobility when they were abroad, particularly when they served in the foreigner armies. Some families also received foreigner letters of nobility.
Solothurn
In Solothurn the patriciate in fact was formed gradually. Some families set up corporations to be able to control co-optation. So the capacity passed to a number of privileged families which then formed a noble patrician class whose members were qualified Herren und Bürger. Several of these families accepted letters of nobility abroad, particularly in France.
In the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwald, the political evolution from the Middle Ages to the 19th century was realised in a relatively similar way, but did not lead to the constitution of a "patriciate" but rather to the formation of a relatively closed class of new families sharing political power with the ancient noble families. Some of the new families were ennobled abroad while others were incorporated to the nobility by "integration".
von Attinghausen-Schweinsberg (freiherren, higher nobility; leading family of Uri in the 13/14th c.).
A number of local families were appointed meier (bailiffs) by the abbess of Fraumünster, the ruler of Uri, around the middle of the 13th century. These abbatial ministeriales grew more influential after the end of Attinghausen hegemony and are generally considered members of the lower nobility. They include the following families:
Meier von Silenen (perhaps related to the Schüpfer; bailiffs of Silenen ca. 1256–1370; originally from Urseren; later also ministeriales of the bishop of Sion, with Jost of Silenen ascending to the bishopric itself; influential patrician family in the city of Lucerne)
von Moos (bailiffs of Silenen after 1370; originally most likely ministeriales of Disentis in the Urseren valley; would later become an influential family of patricians and industrialists in the city of Lucerne; still extant)
Noble families of Schwyz:
Reding von Bibberegg (ministeriales)
Noble families of Unterwald:
Rudenz (ministeriales, originally from the Haslital)
Zürich
In 1400 the city of Zürich formally became autonomous within the Holy Roman Empire. Before this date the only noble families were families of ministériaux. The corporations soon gained political power, while giving a dominant position to the noble corporation of the "Constaffel" in which was constituted a "noble chamber" called "adelige Stube zum Rüden Stübli". Membership of families in the Corporations was mainly hereditary.
The members of Stübli used the title "Junker". In 1798 the Stübli had eleven families. The Bonstetten family came to Bern in 1463 and ended in 1606. Some still extant families of the nobility of Zürich also received foreign titles, such as Hirzel, count, in France in 1788.
In the cantons of Schaffhausen and Zug, political power belonged to the corporations, so there was no real hereditary prerogative for government positions.
In the canton of Zug letters of nobility abroad awarded to a few families were extinguished. The very democratic system of this canton hindered expansion of the nobility.
In the canton of Schaffhausen noble families formed since the 13th century were members of the "Herrenstube", which became during the 15th century one of the twelve corporations. Some ancient families were extinguished and replaced in the "Herrenstube" by new families of the "integration nobility". In 1864 these families' last privilege was their right to be buried in the "Junkernfriedhof".
Noble families of Schaffhausen
Noble families of Zug
Valais, Thurgau, Ticino
In the cantons of Valais, Thurgau and Ticino, the former noble families were maintained and only some families were ennobled abroad.
The "patriciat valaisan" which provides in particular the prince-bishops, was formed with families of old nobility but also with some families incorporated into the nobility either by possession of a right of jurisdiction or by membership via integration. Some of these families also accepted letters of nobility abroad. This patriciate was not a patriciate of right but in fact.
Ticino, before becoming a Swiss canton in 1803, did not form a political and administrative unit and there is thus no "nobility of Tessin" in a strict sense, however some noble families originate from this area. In Locarno, at the Reformation, two of the three great feudal families of capitanei: Muralto and Orelli emigrated to Zürich. A branch of Muralt was established in Bern. The third great family, Magoria, remained in Locarno. The majority of the families of Ticino ennobled abroad were it by the dukes of Milan.
Noble families of Valais
Noble families of Thurgau
Noble families of Ticino
Graubünden
In Graubünden there were a great number of families of dynasts and "ministériaux". From the 11th or 12th century, the dynasts owned seigniories on which they held power more in fact than by resulting of a constitutional law. These families maintained their privileges until the 15th century and some families preserved an important situation, in particular Salis and Planta, while some others were ennobles abroad.
In 1794 the Leagues enacted the radical cancelling of the nobility, titles and particles. This prohibition was confirmed in 1803 and 1848.
Coat of arms of Frohburg-Homberg, from the Zürich armorialLord Walther of Klingen, Codex Manesse folio 52rFamily tree of the Effinger (1816), flanked by their castles of Wildegg (l.) and Wildenstein (r.)
The modern canton of Aargau was only created in 1789 under Napoleon, when the previously AustrianFricktal was joined to the other districts that had been conquered by the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1415. The conquered territories were split into a Bernese area of influence in the west, a small district under the rule of Zürich in the very east, and two larger districts, the Freie Ämter ("free administration districts") and the County of Baden making up the eastern half of the canton. The governance of the latter two districts alternated between the individual member states of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of condominiums. With the house of Habsburg ousted, the Swiss states installed landvögte in several of the newly acquired castles, civil stateholders who wielded the legal and economic powers of the former feudal fief which they now administrated, for example in Lenzburg castle or in the Landvogteischloss (Governor's Castle) in Baden. In contrast, many of the smaller fiefs held by lower nobility (e.g. Hallwyl castle, owned by the family of its founders; or Habsburg castle itself, held at the time of the conquest by the ministerialis Wernher von Wohlen) continued into the new order and were not directly affected by it; several nobles, such as the lords of Reinach on Wildenstein castle, were officially enfeoffed by the conquering cantons, so that the only alteration in their title to the land was a change of liege lord, in this case from the counts of Habsburg to the city-state of Bern.
A number of comital families and other high-ranking nobles are attested in the time before the Swiss conquest:
Attested since the 10th century, died out in 1173; held extensive allodial lands in Aargau and several counties and Vogteien in the German and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland; their inheritance was split between the counts of Kyburg and the counts of Habsburg in the presence of the emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa.
First attested in the 10th century, died out in the male line in 1740 but continues as the house of Habsburg-Lothringen to the present day; by the early 15th century, they had become one of the most prominent noble houses of Europe through marriage, purchase, and force; before the conquest of 1415, they owned all of Aargau except for Zofingen and Laufenburg, the latter of which belonged to their own cadet branch of Habsburg Laufenburg until their extinction in 1408.
Attested since the 11th century, died out 1367; held lands in the northwest and southwest of the canton; founded Zofingen and Aarburg; split up into the branches Frohburg-Zofingen (†1307), Frohburg-Homberg (†1323), and Frohburg-Waldenburg (†1367); sold much of their land to the counts of Habsburg during the 14th century.
Attested since the 11th century and died out in the male line in 1223; held the counties of Frickgau and Sisgau; their line was continued by a branch of the Frohburg, which included the famous minnesängerWernher von Homberg, who was a key figure in the prelude to the battle of Morgarten; the line died out in 1323 with his young son, Werner III of Homberg, and the Fricktal went to Habsburg.
Attested since 1113; originally in the service of the dukes of Zähringen; Ulrich of Tegerfelden was abbot of St Gall from 1167 to 1199 and simultaneously Bishop of Chur from 1170 to 1179; Konrad of Tegerfelden was Bishop of Constance from 1208 to 1233. The house died out around the middle of the 13th century, but later a family of ministeriales in Habsburg services continued the name and, presumably, the fief. Though after the death of a Franz Ulrich of Tegerfelden in the battle of Sempach, which occurred in 1386, the family disappears from our records.
Split into two branches in the early 13th century, with one branch retaining lands in Aargau and the other settling in Hohenklingen Castle near Stein am Rhein; the family founded the town of Klingnau and included the minnesänger Walther von Klingen; they died out in 1286, with most of their lands being joined to the county of Baden.
Attested since 1029; perhaps originally ministeriales of the female convent of Säckingen Abbey, they also held Leimental castle as a fief of the Bishops of Basel since the 14th century; liege men of the House of Habsburg, they continued to hold titles in Further Austria and were raised to the rank of Reichsfreiherren in 1681; still extant in Austria.
Attested since the 12th century, probably as ministeriales of the counts of Lenzburg; later ministeriales of the counts of Kyburg, they possessed large landholdings around lake Hallwil by the late 14th century; though their castle was burnt during the conquest of 1415, the lords of Hallwil had it rebuilt shortly after; having attained comital rank in later times, the house is still extant today.
Attested since 1210; a branch of their family in Habsburg service settled in Sundgau and Alsace, where they were given the rank of Freiherr and held several prominent fiefs and offices; they sold their last titles in Switzerland by 1545; still extant.
Lords of Rüssegg
Also Reussegg, named after a castle in Sins; owned rights and territories in Sins, Aettenschwil, and Auw, and had connections to various other noble families, including the lords of Reinach; in later generations citizens of Luzern. Rising to some prominence in the later 13th century (amongst others the imperial advocacy over Zürich), they were forced to sell their titles in 1429; extinct in the male line in 1483.
Lords of Mülinen
First attested around 1280 as schultheißen of Brugg; ministeriales of the counts of Habsburg, they held a large number of fiefs in Aargau; they acquired Bernese citizenship in 1407 and slowly shifted the focus of their allegiance and marriages towards Bern, where they became an important family within the city's own aristocracy; with a number of important historical figures in recent generations, such as Helene von Mülinen, the family died out in the male line in 2018.
(von) Effinger
Attested since the 14th century as citizens of Brugg; acquired a knighthood and a coat of arms in the late 15th century; holding several castle fiefs in Bernese territory, they became citizens of Bern and were established members of the city state's aristocracy by the 17th. century; died out in 1912.
Vaud
The canton of Vaud, old county then country of Vaud, depended successively of Burgundy, Zähringen, Savoy until 1536, then of Bern. In this canton there were some feudal noble families, families of Savoyard nobility, families of the patrician nobility of Bern, and families of "integration nobility".
Originally seigneurs, the rulers Neuchâtel became counts in the late 13th century and assumed the rank of prince in 1618. Between 1707 and the formation of the modern state of Switzerland in 1848, the title of prince of Neuchâtel was held in personal union by the Kings of Prussia. Due to the continued absence of the rulers, the territory was administered by governors from 1529 onwards. Since the princes frequently ennobled their burghers as a reward for civil service, the Swiss Heraldic archives list more than a hundred aristocratic families with ties to the principality, most of them ennobled after 1500. Older families include D'Arens, Dapifer, Du Donjon, or D'Estavayer.[2][3]
Geneva
Since the Reformation the Republic of Geneva did not officially recognise the nobility as an organised corps. There were families of old nobility, families of "integration nobility", families who were ennobled abroad, and a great number of noble families refuge at the time of the Reformation.
However, contrary to the generally accepted ideas, the Republic of Geneva made use of its capacity to ennoble. It is in particular what it did on 20 August 1680 by ennobling with a title of count the Noblet family.
In 1382 the constitution reserved four seats of the Council for the noble families. From the next century the corporations and thus the town's citizens took the power. The noble families of this time preferred to leave Basel which consequently will have a corporative system. The nobility was then prohibited in Basel. An exception was made for the "barons Wieland" in 1816 under the condition that they will not use their title in Basel. However, there are some noble families whose nobility and titles are earlier to their reception as citizen of Basel.
In St. Gallen some powerful families formed a kind of patriciat whose members belong to the adelige Stube zum Notenstein. Some of these families consolidated their position by receiving nobility's letters abroad. In 1778 the Sovereign Council fixed the list of the seven families of the "Notenstein" which constituted in fact the nobility of St. Gall. Some families which were not members of the "Notenstein" received nobility's diplomas abroad.
The privileges of the nobility were gradually suspended after 1798, save for a revival in Lucerne and Freiburg during the Restoration from 1814 to 1831. Article 4 on equality of the 1848 Swiss federal constitution, finally made a legal end to the Swiss nobility.[6] Nowadays the titles of nobility appear neither in registry offices nor in public instruments. Sometimes they are tolerated in administrative documents and in the noble's professional life, that is to say in social relations.[7]
About 450 noble families are left in Switzerland, either Swiss or foreign. By counting 15 people per family about 1.06% of the population belongs to the nobility, which is comparable to the situation in France. There are large regional differences however: the canton of Appenzell for example has hardly any noble family left, while the canton of Vaud has over a hundred.[7]
Each of the 26 modern cantons of Switzerland has an official flag and a coat of arms. The history of development of these designs spans the 13th to the 20th centuries.
The Sonderbund War of November 1847 was a civil war in Switzerland, then still a relatively loose confederacy of cantons. It ensued after seven Catholic cantons formed the Sonderbund in 1845 to protect their interests against a centralization of power. The war concluded with the defeat of the Sonderbund. It resulted in the emergence of Switzerland as a federal state, concluding the period of political "restoration and regeneration" in Switzerland.
The Old Swiss Confederacy began as a late medieval alliance between the communities of the valleys in the Central Alps, at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire, to facilitate the management of common interests such as free trade and to ensure the peace along the important trade routes through the mountains. The Hohenstaufen emperors had granted these valleys reichsfrei status in the early 13th century. As reichsfrei regions, the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden were under the direct authority of the emperor without any intermediate liege lords and thus were largely autonomous.
The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate, Mark Reust, and the population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matters in Zürich and spread to several other cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. Seven cantons remained Catholic, however, which led to intercantonal wars known as the Wars of Kappel. After the victory of the Catholic cantons in 1531, they proceeded to institute Counter-Reformation policies in some regions. The schism and distrust between the Catholic and the Protestant cantons defined their interior politics and paralysed any common foreign policy until well into the 18th century.
The early modern history of the Old Swiss Confederacy and its constituent Thirteen Cantons encompasses the time of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) until the French invasion of 1798.
Patricianship, the quality of belonging to a patriciate, began in the ancient world, where cities such as Ancient Rome had a social class of patrician families, whose members were initially the only people allowed to exercise many political functions. In the rise of European towns in the 12th and 13th centuries, the patriciate, a limited group of families with a special constitutional position, in Henri Pirenne's view, was the motive force. In 19th century Central Europe, the term had become synonymous with the upper Bourgeoisie and cannot be interchanged with the medieval patriciate in Central Europe. In the maritime republics of the Italian Peninsula as well as in German-speaking parts of Europe, the patricians were as a matter of fact the ruling body of the medieval town. Particularly in Italy, they were part of the nobility.
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The PCS is not a church in a theological understanding, because every member is independent with its own theological and formal organisation. It serves as a legal umbrella before the federal government and represents the church in international relations. Except for the Evangelical-Methodist Church, which covers all of Switzerland, the member churches are restricted to a certain territory.
The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the 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.
Vehicle license plates of Switzerland, are composed of a two-letter code for the canton and a number with up to 6 digits. The rear plates also display two shields with the flags of Switzerland and the respective canton. Since 1972, the sizes of the plates have been 300 x 80 mm (front) and 300 x 160 mm (rear). In 1987, the optional long format rear plates of 500 x 110 mm, which had been abolished in 1972, were reintroduced.
The County of Sargans was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1458 until the French Revolutionary War in 1798, Sargans became a condominium of the Old Swiss Confederacy, administered jointly by the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Lucerne, Zürich, Glarus and Zug.
The Freiamt or Freie Ämter is a region in Switzerland and is located in the southeast of Canton of Aargau. It comprises the area between the Lindenberg and Heitersberg and from the terminal moraine at Othmarsingen to Reuss river in Dietwil. Today the area of the Bremgarten and Muri Districts are called the Freiamt. Previously, the area around Affoltern District in the canton of Zurich was called the (Zurich) Freiamt.
The Clariden is a mountain in the Glarus Alps, located at an elevation of 3,267 m (10,719 ft) between the Swiss cantons of Uri and Glarus. While on the north the Clariden overlooks the 1,948 m (6,391 ft) high Klausen Pass, the south side is covered by large glaciers. The Hüfifirn on the west is drained by the Chärstelenbach, a tributary of the Reuss that eventually flows into Lake Lucerne. The Claridenfirn on the east is drained by the Linth that eventually flows into Lake Zürich.
The de Steiger family was a Bernese patrician family of the Swiss ancien régime.
The Bürgergemeinde is a statutory corporation in public law in Switzerland. It includes all individuals who are citizens of the Bürgergemeinde, usually by having inherited the Bourgeoisie (citizenship), regardless of where they were born or where they may currently live. Membership of the Bürgergemeinde of a municipality is not to be confused with holding the municipality's citizenship, which, in certain cantons such as Valais, are two distinct legal concepts. Instead of the place of birth, Swiss legal documents, e.g. passports, contain the Heimatort. It is, however, possible for a person to not possess bourgeoisie of the municipality from which they originate; laws relating to these matters vary depending on the canton in which the Bürgergemeinde is located. The Bürgergemeinde also often holds and administers the common property which had been bequeathed or otherwise given to the members of the bourgeoisie. The political communes or municipalities, the parish and the Bürgergemeinde often include the same area but may be separate depending on the relevant cantonal law. With the increase in mobility since the first half of the 19th century, the Bürgergemeinde and the rights associated with citizenship in the municipality have lost most of their meaning. Today, in Switzerland there are nearly 2000 Bürgergemeinden and corporations.
The Raron affair was a 15th-century rebellion in the Valais against the power of a local noble family, the Raron family. The rebellion brought several cantons of the Swiss Confederation into conflict with each other and threatened a civil war in the Confederation. While Bern was initially successful, they were eventually forced to surrender most of their gains.
The Second Battle of Ulrichen was fought in 1419 between the Old Swiss Confederacy led by Bern and rebels from Valais near Ulrichen in the district of Goms in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Negotiations after the battle led to the end of the Raron affair and self-determination for Valais.
There are 26 constituencies in Switzerland – one for each of the 26 cantons of Switzerland – for the election of the National Council and the Council of States.
The Moos family respectively von Moos family is a Swiss patrician noble family originally hailing from the Canton of Uri which has been settled in Lucerne, Switzerland since the 14th century. The most prominent branch where steel industrialists and owners of the Von Moos Steel Works in Lucerne. Today the name is still used by one of the descendants in manufacturing of fine writing instruments.
Swiss Associates, also known as Associated Places,Zugewandte Orte, or Pays Alliés, were associate states of the Old Swiss Confederacy, with some form of alliance agreement with either the entire Confederation or individual cantons.
References
↑ Peter Hubler, Adel und führende Familien Uris im 13./14. Jahrhundert - Genealogische, gütergeschichtliche und politische Aspekte, Lang Verlag, Bern/Frankfurt, 1973.
↑ Franziska Hälg-Steffen; Bernard Andenmatten; Giuseppe Chiesi; Peter Hersche: "Noblesse", in: Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (DHS), version du 1 March 2011, traduit de l'allemand. Online: https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/016368/2011-03-01/.
↑ J. de PURY: Nobiliaire du pays de Neuchâtel. In Archives Héraldiques Suisses 1897-1899.
↑ "Merian". hls-dhs-dss.ch (in German). Retrieved 28 September 2019.
↑ "Mühll, Vonder". hls-dhs-dss.ch (in German). Retrieved 28 September 2019.
↑ Hersche, Peter (16 November 2010). "Noblesse"[Nobility]. Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (in French). Retrieved 22 October 2015.
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