Toggenburg War
| date | April 12, 1712 to August 11, 1712 |
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| place | Switzerland |
| output | Victory of the reformed towns of Bern and Zurich |
| consequences | End of Catholic hegemony |
| Peace treaty |
Peace of Aarau (August 11, 1712) Peace of Baden (June 16, 1718) |
| Parties to the conflict | |
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The Toggenburg War , also known as the Second Villmerger War or War of Twelve , was a warlike conflict in the Confederation that lasted from April 12 to August 11, 1712. On the one hand there were the Catholic "Inner Places" and the Prince Abbot of St. Gallen , on the other hand the Reformed places of Bern and Zurich and the abbot subjects in Toggenburg . The conflict was at the same time a war of religion, a war for hegemony in the Old Confederation and an uprising of subjects. It ended with the victory of the Reformed and brought about a reorganization of the political situation within the Confederation.
prehistory
The trigger for the war was a conflict between the prince abbot of St. Gallen, Leodegar Bürgisser , and his reformed subjects in the county of Toggenburg , which had belonged to the prince abbey since 1460, but at the same time had a land law with the federal places Glarus and Schwyz since 1436 . About two thirds of the Toggenburg had been reformed since the Reformation , but the majority ratios differed greatly from one community to another. After the transfer of state sovereignty to the prince abbey, the Reformed residents of Toggenburg were promised by their federal allies Zurich and Bern and also by the prince abbot to respect the principle of parity , the equal rights of both denominations. In spite of this, the prince abbots made attempts as part of the Counter Reformation to bring the Toggenburg back to the Catholic faith. The position of the Catholics was strengthened in all parishes, including the almost completely Reformed ones, and new Catholic churches were built in some places so that the common use of the previous parish churches was no longer necessary.
In the 17th century the prince abbots and their secular administrators, the state court masters, began to organize the abbot sovereign territories more tightly within the framework of the absolutist practice of the time and to subject them to at least rudimentary modern administration. Again and again there were conflicts in this context because of attacks by the abbot authorities on Reformed clergy. In 1663, for example, the provincial bailiff of Toggenburg in Lichtensteig , Wolfgang Friedrich Schorno, tried to sentence the Reformed pastor there, Jeremias Braun, to death for alleged blasphemy during a Reformed sermon. It was only thanks to an intervention by the reformed Appenzell Ausserrhoden that Braun was saved - but he had to accept banishment. Four years later, after the intervention of the umbrella sites, the Toggenburgers achieved the deposition of Schornos by Abbot Gallus Alt (1654–1687).
As part of the Counter-Reformation, the seven Catholic cantons of the Confederation and the Prince Abbot of St. Gallen allied in 1695 to save Catholicism from the "non-Catholic religion". In order to strengthen the connections between the prince abbey and Catholic Central Switzerland, Schwyz proposed in 1699 to prince abbot Leodegar Bürgisser (1696–1717) to create a new road over the Rickenpass between Uznach and Wattwil, which is strategically and economically important for the Catholic cantons . In the event of war, this was intended to enable the rapid transfer of Catholic troops to Toggenburg and the Fürstenland.
After the settlement of the War of the Cross with the also reformed city of St. Gallen in 1697, Prince Abbot Bürgisser of the municipality of Wattwil ordered the construction of the road over the Rickenpass on the Toggenburg side by forced labor. The refusal of the Wattwilers to participate in the construction of this road, which they perceived as a threat to their freedom of belief and as a financial oppression, resulted in a serious conflict with the prince abbot. He finally had the highest Toggenburg magistrate, the country woman Josef Germann , imprisoned in order to break the resistance. Since Germann was a Catholic, the Toggenburgers' complaints were heard at the umbrella locations that campaigned for the Toggenburgers. In this situation, the Landeshofmeister Fidel von Thurn persuaded the abbot to put diplomatic feelers into the empire and to conclude an umbrella alliance with Emperor Leopold I of Habsburg in 1702 and even to receive the investiture as imperial prince from him in 1706. This threatened to elevate the conflict to a European level. In addition, this represented a serious intrusion into the structure and the sovereignty of the Swiss Confederation; indeed, the Prince Abbey of St. Gallen even seemed to vanish from the influence of the Swiss Confederation and to come under Austrian influence. The two Appenzell in particular, but also Zurich, could not accept this. In addition, the prince abbey was the fourth largest state in the Confederation in terms of population and was also of central importance economically for eastern Switzerland.
The Toggenburgers sought and initially found allies in their umbrella locations Schwyz and Glarus, with whom they renewed land rights in 1703 and 1704. In addition, the Reformed suburbs of Zurich and Bern increasingly campaigned for the Toggenburg cause. In 1707 they submitted a mediation proposal to the prince abbot, which would have given the Toggenburg extensive autonomy rights, which the abbot did not respond to. This started a chain of events that ultimately led to a warlike escalation.
escalation
The first step towards escalation was taken by the Toggenburgers, with the approval of Bern and Zurich, who on March 23, 1707 in Wattwil passed a constitutional draft in a rural community , which set up an autonomous state administration while respecting the sovereign rights of the prince-abbey of St. Gallen. Thus they constituted themselves as a rural community democracy based on the model of Appenzell. All abbot officials and the governor were expelled and freedom of religion was granted, which was clearly directed against the interests of the Catholic cantons. Therefore, the Catholic patronage Schwyz swung to the side of the prince abbot, whereupon the dispute took on a decidedly denominational note and the Confederation took sides along the confessional boundaries for the prince abbot or the Toggenburgers. During this time Josef Anton Stadler , who opposed the aristocracy, was beheaded in Schwyz. Attempts at mediation by the imperial and French ambassadors in the Confederation failed and the Reformed towns pressed for a settlement of the dispute before the end of the War of the Spanish Succession , which made foreign intervention appear unlikely.
The dispute subsequently came to a head that the Toggenburgers, with the support of Zurich, provided military equipment and in 1710 occupied the prince-abbot castles of Lütisburg , Iberg and Schwarzenbach . The sectarian disputes now split the Toggenburgers themselves along the denomination lines into moderate “Linde” and radical “Harte”, so that in 1711 some Catholic parishes again submitted to the abbot. The "hard" then, with the toleration of Bern and Zurich, occupied these communities, the abbots' goods and the monasteries of Magdenau and Neu St. Johann militarily. This procedure finally forced the abbot to intervene militarily and also meant escalation at the federal level.
On April 13, 1712, Bern and Zurich published a manifest against the prince abbot of St. Gallen, thereby revealing their support for the Toggenburgs. On the other hand, the five inner towns of Lucerne , Schwyz, Uri , Zug and Unterwalden published a counter manifesto and prepared for war. Bern and Zurich found support in Geneva and Neuchâtel as well as in its allies in the Principality of Basel , Biel , Moutier and La Neuveville . The five places in Valais and in their bailiwicks in Ticino as well as in the free offices . The other places remained neutral, the Catholic places Freiburg and Solothurn out of consideration for Bern and France, the Reformed city of St. Gallen was enclosed by abbish territory, Glarus was internally divided. The Drei Bünde mobilized for the Reformed cause because of the alliance of 1707 with Zurich, but did not intervene in the fighting.
Course of war
Since Bern and Zurich had prepared the war for a long time, they took the offensive. Bern opened the first phase of the war on April 26th when it set the first troops across the Aare near Stilli to support Zurich in the occupation of Thurgau and in the attack on the territories of the prince-princes. In mid-May, around 3,000 people from Zurich, 2,000 from Bern, 2,000 from Toggenburg and 1,800 from the Reformed Thurgau population moved into the Princely Land and first met the prince- abbot city of Wil , which fell after a brief siege on May 22nd. The allies then penetrated as far as St. Gallen and occupied the monastery and the bailiwick of the Rhine Valley . The abbot fled to Neuravensburg , a rule north of Lake Constance that had come to the monastery in 1699. The five places occupied Rapperswil , but initially left the prince abbot without support. The monastery and its goods were placed under compulsory administration in accordance with martial law at the time, and the movable goods and assets were transferred to Bern and Zurich.
As in the first Villmerger war, Aargau became the main theater of war . The five locations occupied the cities of Baden , Mellingen and Bremgarten with their strategic river crossings and threatened to drive a wedge between Zurich and Bern. Under the command of Major General Jean de Sacconay , the Bernese immediately launched a counterattack, and on May 22nd there was a first battle in the county of Baden near Mellingen. It went in favor of the Bernese, who then took the city. On May 26th they also prevailed in the “ Staudenschlacht bei Fischbach ” and occupied Bremgarten . United with the Zurich troops, the Bernese marched before Baden, which had to capitulate on June 1st. The fortress of the Catholic city, the " stone ", which was rebuilt after the first Villmerger War despite protests from the reformed towns, was immediately razed as a symbol of the reformed victory. This successfully prevented Bern and Zurich from being separated by the five locations in Aargau. The five towns then began peace negotiations on June 3, 1712 and Zurich, Bern, Lucerne and Uri signed a peace in Aarau on July 18, 1712. This stipulated that the five places should lose their share in the common lordship of Grafschaft Baden and (partially) free offices.
The second, far bloodier phase of the war was triggered by the rejection of the Peace of Aarau by the rural communities of Schwyz, Zug and Unterwalden, which were influenced by the papal nuncio Caraccioli. In Lucerne and Uri, too, the people forced the government to again take up arms against the reformed places. On July 20, the troops from the five towns launched their first attack on Bernese units near Sins , which then withdrew to the main Bern army near Muri ( battle of Sins ). On July 22nd, Schwyzer and Zug troops attacked the Zurich ski jumps near Richterswil and Hütten without success. On July 25th there was a decisive battle near Villmergen . 8,000 strong Bernese formations competed under the command of Samuel Frisching , Niklaus von Diesbach and Jean de Sacconay against 12,000 men from Central Switzerland under the command of Franz Konrad von Sonnenberg and Ludwig Christian Pfyffer . The long-undecided battle was decided by the intervention of a fresh Bern corps from Seengen and Lenzburg as well as the superior Bern artillery. After the victory in the Second Battle of Villmergen , the people of Bern and Zurich penetrated the Lucerne countryside, the Zug area, over the Brünig Pass to Unterwalden and via Rapperswil into the Lint plain , whereupon the resistance of the five towns finally collapsed.
The Peace of Aarau or the «Fourth Land Peace»
In the Peace of Aarau of August 11, 1712, the fourth country peace in the history of the Confederation, Bern and Zurich secured supremacy in the common lordships . This ended the political hegemony of the Catholic places in the common lordships that had existed since 1531. At the same time, this also meant the establishment of a balanced religious peace in the Old Confederation.
The territorial conditions of peace have been tightened somewhat compared to the first peace:
- With Glarus, Zurich and Bern received the county of Baden and the lower free offices , bounded by a line between Oberlunkhofen and Fahrwangen . This ensured the military connection between the Bernese Aargau and Zurich and the access of the Catholic places to the north was blocked.
- The Rapperswil umbrella bailiwick fell to Zurich, Bern and Glarus.
- The Schwyzerische Hurden became the common rule of Zurich and Bern.
- Bern was included in the co-rulership of all common lordships in which it had no part until then: Thurgau , Vogtei Rheintal , Grafschaft Sargans and the upper free offices.
- In the common lordship and in Toggenburg, the subjects were given the freedom to practice the Catholic and Reformed religion.
Further Zurich claims to the county of Uznach , the courts lost in the Old Zurich War and the Bailiwick of Gaster were not supported by Bern and the other places.
Under constitutional law, the Fourth Land Peace also suspended the Second Kappel Land Peace of 1531, which was confirmed by the Third Land Peace in 1656 . This gave the Reformed religion formally equal rights in the Diet and in the administration of the Bailiwicks, and parity now prevailed in all matters that affected both religions. In the provincial bailiffs of Thurgau, Baden, Sargans and Rheintal, the Reformed parishes now received the guarantee of their religious practice under Zurich suzerainty, whereby the rights of the Catholics were preserved. For the Reformed, equality with the traditional Catholic religion took the place of mere tolerance. From then on, the “Landfriedliche Kommission”, which was made up of representatives from Zurich, Bern, Lucerne and Uri, watched over religious questions.
The prince abbot of St. Gallen, Leodegar Bürgisser, fled with his convent on May 29 into exile at Neuravensburg Castle , the administrative seat of a St. Gallen lordship north of Lindau . Zurich and Bern occupied the Princely Land and administered it together. They took away a large part of the mobile monastery property left behind in St. Gallen, including parts of the archive and library. Because of the excessive curtailment of the rights of the prince abbey and the endangerment of the Catholic religion in Toggenburg, Abbot Bürgisser rejected the peace of Rorschach negotiated on March 28, 1714 with Zurich and Bern . Only after the death of Prince Abbot Bürgisser was the Peace of Baden signed with his successor Prince Abbot Joseph von Rudolphi (1717–1740) on June 16, 1718 . The prince abbey of St. Gallen was restored, including rule over Toggenburg, with its autonomy and religious freedom confirmed.
Zurich and Bern ratified the peace on August 11, 1718. That Pope Clement XI. rejected the peace a little later in a brief , had no more influence on the solution of the conflict. Abbot of Rudolphi returned to the monastery of St. Gallen on September 7, 1718 after six years of exile. On March 23, 1719 he was able to receive a large part of the library that had been brought to Zurich at the beginning of the war. Other objects from the booty of the Bernese arrived in St. Gallen in 1721. However, valuable items from the St. Gallen monastery library in Zurich remained, including manuscripts, paintings, astronomical devices and the St. Gallen globe . The dispute between Zurich and St. Gallen , which flared up again in the 1990s, was only settled amicably in 2006.
The conflict between the prince abbey and Toggenburg continued to smolder until the monastery state was dissolved in 1798, after two abbot officials were murdered in 1735 and a conference in Frauenfeld between the parties in 1739 was also unsuccessful.
See also
literature
- Gottfried Guggenbühl : Zurich's part in the Second Villmerger War, 1712 (= Swiss Studies in History, Vol. 4, No. 1, ZDB -ID 503936-8 ). Leemann, Zurich-Selnau 1912 (also: Zurich, university, dissertation, 1911/1912).
- Ulrich Im Hof : Ancien Régime. In: Handbook of Swiss History. Volume 2. Report House, Zurich 1977, ISBN 3-8557-2021-5 , pp. 673–784.
- Hans Luginbühl, Anne Barth-Gasser, Fritz Baumann, Dominique Piller: 1712. Contemporary sources on the Second Villmerger or Toggenburg War. Merker im Effingerhof, Lenzburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8564-8139-1 (2nd edition, ibid 2012, ISBN 978-3-8564-8141-4 ).
- Martin Merki-Vollenwyder: Restless subjects. The rebellion of the Lucerne farmers in the second Villmerger War (1712) (= Lucerne historical publications. Vol. 29). Rex-Verlag, Lucerne et al. 1995, ISBN 3-7252-0614-7 (also: Zurich, University, dissertation, 1995).
Web links
- Online museum of huts with a focus on fortifications on the southern border of the canton of Zurich
- Thomas Lau: Second Villmerger War. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Remarks
- ^ In the courtyard: Ancien Régime. 1977, p. 694.
- ^ In the courtyard: Ancien Régime. 1977, p. 695.
- ^ Walter Schaufelberger : Sheets from Swiss military history (= series of publications by the Swiss Society for Military History Study Trips (GMS). Issue 15). Huber, Frauenfeld 1995, ISBN 3-7193-1111-2 , p. 158.
- ↑ Villmerger Wars. In: Historical-Biographical Lexicon of Switzerland. Volume 7: Tinguely - Zyro. Administration of the historical-biographical lexicon of Switzerland, Neuchâtel 1934, pp. 259f.
- ↑ Aarau Peace. In: Historical-Biographical Lexicon of Switzerland. Volume 1: A - Basel. Administration of the historical-biographical lexicon of Switzerland, Neuchâtel 1921, p. 8.
- ^ In the courtyard: Ancien Régime. 1977, p. 699.