Arnold von Melchtal

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Idealized picture of the Rütli oath by Jean Renggli (1891)

According to the White Book of Sarnen, Arnold von Melchtal was the envoy of the original canton of Unterwalden , who, according to legend, founded the Old Confederation on the Rütliwiese with the Rütli oath , together with Walter Fürst and Werner Stauffacher .

Origin and name

The White Book of Sarnen reports that the servants of the Reichsvogt Landenberg zu Sarnen wanted to take the ox away from the farmer in Melchi. His son resisted it and broke a finger in the governor's servant. Thereupon the bailiff had the father blinded and expropriated. The "Melchi" means a meadow on the Melchaa ravine , below (north) of Flüeli-Ranft , near the Hohe Brücke .

In his chronicle "Kronica von der laoblichen Eydtgnoschaft Jr harkommen und sust seltzam arguments and stories" in 1507, Petermann Etterlin confused the scene with the place Melchtal in the municipality of Kerns . It was not until the Swiss historian Robert Durrer (1867–1934) discovered this mistake and located the Melchi again in Flüeli-Ranft.

The name Arnold appears for the first time in the Urner Tellenspiel of 1513 , and in the 18th century the family name Anderhalden, which is common in Obwalden, was added.

The three confederates , statue by James Vibert in the Bundeshaus in Bern with Werner Stauffacher, Walter Fürst and Arnold von Melchtal.

reception

Friedrich Schiller took up the figure of Arnold von Melchtal in his Wilhelm Tell and depicts her in a similar story.

In pictures and statues of the Rütli oath, Walter Fürst is depicted as an old man, Werner Stauffacher in middle age and Arnold von Melchtal as a young man.

literature

  • Robert Durrer : Brother Klaus. The oldest sources about Blessed Nikolaus von Flüe, his life and influence . Sarnen 1917-1921 (reprint 1981), Volume 2, pp. 1119-1123.
  • Willi Studach: The language of the White Book of Sarnen. Graphematics, morphology, syntax and stylistics. State Archives of the Canton of Obwalden, Sarnen 1993, p. 319.

Web links

Commons : Arnold von Melchtal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The White Book of Sarnen. Wording and translation of the chronicle text by Bruno Meyer. (PDF, 5.1 MB), Government Council of the Canton of Obwalden (Ed.), Sarnen 1984, p. 35 f
  2. ↑ a b see article in the Historical Lexicon of Switzerland
personal data
SURNAME Arnold von Melchtal
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Anderhalden, Arnold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Leader of Unterwalden on the Rütli oath
DATE OF BIRTH before 1307
DATE OF DEATH after 1307