Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs
| date | August 26, 1444 |
|---|---|
| place | St. Jakob an der Birs , Basel |
| output | French victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 20,000 men | 1,500 men (Confederates: 1,300; Basel: 200) |
| losses | |
|
2,000–4,000 fallen |
1,484 dead |
Etzel · Pfäffikon · Grüningen I · Freienbach · Blickensdorf · Hirzel · Bremgarten · Regensberg · Grüningen II · St. Jakob an der Sihl · Greifensee · St. Jakob an der Birs · Erlenbach I · Koblach · Sargans · Wil · Kirchberg · Wolfhalden · Obertoggenburg · Wigoltingen · Erlenbach II · Männedorf · Wollerau · Ragaz
The Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs was fought on August 26, 1444 during the Old Zurich War near St. Jakob an der Birs , just outside the city of Basel , where the Council of Basel was meeting at that time .
Course of the battle
Opponents were on the one hand around 20,000 Armagnaks and on the other 1500 Confederates of the Eight Old Places without the Zurich residents. The Armagnaks were supposed to advance towards Zurich in order to end the siege of the city by the Confederates. They met in the border area of today's half-cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft , on the Birs river .
At the news that the Armagnaks had swarmed to the villages of Muttenz and Pratteln , the captains of the federal armed forces camped in front of the Farnsburg decided to go on a foray with part of their army. 1300 selected, mostly young warriors moved in the night of August 25th to 26th via Liestal , where 200 newcomers from Basel joined them, down into the Rhine plain and overran the Armagnakian vanguard early in the morning . Despite a strict counter-order, the high-spirited Confederates crossed the Birs and encountered the 20,000-strong French army on the Gundeldinger field, which was prepared for battle. This was followed by a ten-hour clash, in which the confederates in their small number penetrated the enemy with such force that contemporary witnesses and combat watchers would report about it for a long time. But gradually - because of the great superiority - the numerically inferior were included on all sides. Since the Confederates, who had sought the fight on the other side of the Birs, repeatedly and categorically refused to surrender, they were defeated - with the exception of 16 fugitives -, finally huddled in the garden of the infirmary , under the devastating use of opposing artillery.
According to legend, the knight Burkhard VII Münch is said to have ridden the battlefield as a negotiator. In view of the many dead and wounded, he couldn't help mocking the defeated Confederates. He flipped up his visor and said the comment, which has become famous in Switzerland, “I'm going to be in a ross garden, the minutely hand in hand before hunderd jar” . This display of arrogant superiority prompted the wounded Swiss comrade Wylhelm von Baldegg to throw a stone into the knight's open visor with the well-known comment "Eat one of your roses!" . Seriously wounded, the knight fell and was probably dragged from the battlefield by his horse. The associated failure of the negotiations heralded the storming of the infirmary, in the course of which the remaining confederates were almost completely crushed.
The news of the battle and the fearless and heroic efforts of the Swiss warriors spread rapidly across Europe. The French Dauphin , who was in command of the Armagnak army, gave up the plan to advance further in the direction of Zurich in view of the enormous losses in his own ranks - the ratio was at least four to one despite Armagnak archers, some of Scottish origin and French artillery.
The exuberant commitment of the federal vanguard not only prevented further bloodshed on Swiss soil in the direction of Zurich, where a federal army of 20,000 men was standing by; the danger of an uncontrolled Armagnak mercenary army was also averted.
Aftermath of the battle
The battle testified to the fighting spirit of the eight ancient places against a far superior superiority and contributed decisively to the hero myth of the Confederation throughout Europe. A late consequence of this that continues to this day is, for example, the Papal Swiss Guard in the Vatican . The battle was further sung in the Swiss national anthem " Calling my fatherland ", which was valid until 1961 : "Heil dir, Helvetia! Have the sons still, / As Saint Jacob saw them, / Joyful to the quarrel! " In memory of the battle are in Basel that of Ferdinand Schlöth created Battle Monument and St. James Chapel ; the infirmary in St. Jakob has also been preserved. In 1917 the St. Jakobskirche received a fresco by Alfred Heinrich Pellegrini , which depicts Arnold Schick's throwing stone in the battle of 1444 . A red wine that was grown in St. Jakob until the 19th century and known beyond Basel was referred to as Swiss blood in reference to the battle .
In the context of intellectual national defense during the Second World War , the battle was used as an example of the successful application of the «military doctrine of high entry prices». Another consequence of this zeitgeist is the painting of the outer side of the city gate of Liestal by Otto Plattner . An idealized Swiss warrior is depicted, alongside a traditional saying of the Liestaler. When asked by the Confederates whether they should be allowed to stop in the city before the battle, they are said to have answered: "We hant good switzer in emptern and ou in the place" (We have good Swiss in [the] offices and also in the city ). Plattner created the picture in 1949/50. This connection shows that the earlier reception of the Battle of St. Jacob in the 20th century can only be understood in connection with spiritual national defense.
Today the battle is judged more differently. The Basel local historian Roger Rebmann says: “Ironically, the fall of the army was a compelling result of the successes in the first skirmishes on August 26 at Pratteln and Muttenz. In both cases, a victory was achieved over a partially numerically superior opponent. Fueled by these successes, the Confederates reached the Birs. They had promised the captains in front of the Farnsburg not to cross it. This is where concepts of honor and values come into play that lie beyond rational thinking. Two battles had been won and the field had been held. Usually a victory was followed by a ritual three-day stay on claimed ground. According to this logic, a retreat after two wins would have been burdened with grave shame. Only those who were beaten withdrew. "
literature
- Duncan Hardy: The 1444-5 Expedition of the Dauphin Louis to the Upper Rhine in Geopolitical Perspective. In: Journal of Medieval History. 38.3, 2012, pp. 358-387. doi: 10.1080 / 03044181.2012.697051
- Max Burckhardt : On the history of the St. Jacob monument and the St. Jacob festival. In: Basler Jahrbuch 1939 , pp. 94–126.
Web links
- Werner Meyer : Sankt Jakob an der Birs, battle near. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Contribution to the St. Jakob Monument on altbasel.ch
- Contribution to the Armagnaks in the Battle of St.Jakob on altbasel.ch
Coordinates: 47 ° 33 ' N , 7 ° 37' E ; CH1903: 613 495 / 265709
Individual evidence
- ↑ The dead in the battle of St. Jacob. Retrieved May 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Old German for "I'm looking into a rose garden that my ancestors planted a hundred years ago"; Historically documented saying according to the 122nd New Year's Gazette of the GGG , subject “The Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs”, published in Basel in 1944
- ↑ Footnote on the confederates on altbasel.ch accessed on June 29, 2014