Battle at the Letzi

Map of the municipality of Gossau SG. Hueb is located directly on the southern border with the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden.

date	December 2, 1428
place	Between Herisau and Gossau
output	Victory of the County of Toggenburg
consequences	Final end of the Appenzell Wars
Peace treaty	July 26, 1429

Parties to the conflict
Toggenburg Knights Association Sankt Jörgenschild Schwyz Glarus	Country of Appenzell
Commander
Friedrich VII of Toggenburg

The battle near the Letzi , also battle near Hueb or battle near Herisau, was a military conflict between the Land of Appenzell and the County of Toggenburg in connection with the Appenzell Wars . Three battles took place on December 2, 1428 , the decisive one at Hueb between Gossau and Herisau .

Prehistory and Events

After the defeat in the Battle of Bregenz in early 1408, the Appenzeller still refused to repay debts to the Prince of St. Gallen Kuno von Stoffeln († 1411) and to recognize his rights. Their goal was to become imperial immediately , for which they had fought in the battles of Vögelinsegg and the Stoss . The arbitration award of April 4, 1408 would only have granted them this if the legal examination of their letters of freedom should show that the requirements for their request had been met, which the Appenzell residents refused. They did not want their freedom to be judged and refused to face the consequences. Since they were now alone, they tried to join the Confederation , whereby on November 24, 1411 a contract was concluded in which, similar to 1352 with the Glarus Bund, they were not granted full equality. They were not allowed to wage wars without federal approval and they were allowed to pay their duties to the new prince Heinrich von Gundelfingen († 1418) at the discretion of the confederates, which was the real reason for not resolving the conflict.

Another federal arbitration award ruled in 1421 in favor of the incumbent Prince Abbot Heinrich von Mansdorf († 1426). When the repeated imperial ban had no effect either, the interdict was imposed on the Appenzeller in 1426 . Neighboring feudals such as Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg and even Schwyz took the side of the prince abbot this time, as the instability in eastern Switzerland became more and more unpleasant for everyone involved . The Swiss Confederation held back against it.

On December 2, 1428 there were three military meetings, the first of which took place near Schönengrund and the second was victorious for Appenzell. In the decisive battle on the Letzi near Hueb, however, they suffered a defeat against the Toggenburgers under Frederick VII with the support of the Knight League Sankt Jörgenschild .

consequences

This was followed in 1429 by a new arbitration award from the Eight Old Places including Solothurn , which the Appenzell residents had to accept. This determined that the incumbent abbot Eglolf Blarer († 1442) had to grant the Appenzell people extensive internal self-determination in the composition of the courts. Thus, the final end of the Appenzell Wars brought as a decisive step the separation from the Prince Abbey of St. Gallen and the increasing rapprochement between the Appenzell and the Confederation.

In any case, the defeat brought the end of Appenzell's efforts to expand. In the Old Zurich War brought them although the Bailiwick Rhine Valley but in 1445 itself and they could in 1464 assert against the abbot, they lost again in 1489 to the shield places Schwyz , Glarus , Zurich and Lucerne (→ St. Galler war ), the bailiwick as Common rule managed . In 1491 Uri , Unterwalden and Zug were added to the co-administration, in 1500 Appenzell again. An offer from the Lords of Montfort in 1600 (after the cantonal division of 1597) to buy the area from the Simmitobel to the Hirschensprung in the Bailiwick of the Rhine Valley, which had become available for sale due to the extinction of the Lords of Sax, was gratefully rejected by the Innerrhoder Landsgemeinde von 1600.

literature

Peter Dürrenmatt : Swiss History. Schweizer Druck- und Verlagshaus AG, Zurich 1963