Julius banner
The Juliusbanners are ornate silk banners, which were awarded in 1512 by Pope Julius II to the cantons and other units of the Old Confederation , in recognition of the support he received from Reislaufern (Swiss mercenaries) in the war of the League of Cambrai (1508-1510) in the "Great Pavier Campaign" received.
The Swiss units were able to force the French forces to leave Pavia on June 14th. As a reward for this achievement, Julius granted the Swiss the title Ecclesiasticae libertatis defensores on July 5th and gave them two large banners, along with a blessed sword and hat. The Julius banners themselves were handed over by the papal legate Matthäus Schiner . This gift was of considerable prestige to the recipients. This was especially true of the blessed sword and hat, which had previously only been bestowed on kings and princes, while the Swiss were not yet considered entirely sovereign, but rather as subjects of the Holy Roman Emperor. The Swiss chroniclers of the time described the gifts in detail, and a large woodcut was probably commissioned as early as 1512, showing the papal flags, the sword and the hat, surrounded by sixteen standard-bearers carrying the Julius banners of the twelve districts, plus those from Appenzell, Wallis, St. Gallen and Chur. Brantôme later commented, from a French point of view, on the "excessive flattery and vanity" that the Swiss experienced here, given their crushing defeat to the French only three years later, at the Battle of Marignano .
The banners were made of the expensive Damastseide and contain crest improvements and Gösch a gusset image , an image that is crafted of precious thread and shows a religious scene. Some of the beneficiaries were initially given the "banner right", the right to raise troops under their own banner. After the Swiss Reformation, as part of the re-Catholicization efforts after the Second Kappel War , this right was revoked for the free offices and the Julius banner was confiscated.
receiver
The full list of recipients has not been recorded and has been reconstructed by modern historians. Despite the sixteen banners depicted in the woodcut from 1512, there seem to have been a much larger number, as the banners were not presented to the cantons of the alliance as specifically as those areas that sent mercenary units to the Pavia campaign. The outstanding quality of the cantonal banners, however, was not the same as that of the banners given to the partners; her gusset pictures are mostly painted instead of embroidered by hand. An exception is the Saanen banner, which was produced in the same quality as the cantonal banner. An honor that is presumably due to the fact that Schiner's chaplain, Hans Huswürt, came from the city.
Hecht (1973) gives a list of 42 recipients and argues that according to a Venetian observer, 42 Swiss contingents took part in the Pavia campaign, which is why this list is probably the complete one. The 42 recipients listed by Hecht are:
| Thirteen places | Eight facing places | Eleven Free Cities | Nine dominions and subject areas |
|---|---|---|---|
 Zurich
|
 Appenzell (joined as a full canton in 1513) |
 Biel
|
 Saanen
|
 Bern
|
 Prince Abbey of St. Gallen (Old Landscape)
|
 to bathe
|
 Toggenburg
|
 Lucerne
|
 City of St. Gallen
|
 Bremgarten
|
 Kyburg county
|
 Uri
|
 Gray waistband
|
 Chur
|
 Reign of Elgg
|
 Schwyz
|
 Ten Court Association
|
 Diessenhofen
|
 Common rule of Sargan
|
 Nidwalden
|
 Valais
|
 Frauenfeld
|
 Common rule Free offices
|
 Obwalden
|
 Mulhouse
|
 Mellingen
|
the subjects of the Bishop of Constance |
 train
|
 Rottweil
|
 Rapperswil
|
 in Thurgau
|
 Glarus
|
 Willisau
|
and two subject areas of Lucerne | |
 Basel city
|
 Winterthur
|
 Rothenburg
|
|
 Friborg
|
 Stone at the Rhein
|
 Ruswil
|
|
 Solothurn
|
|||
 Schaffhausen
|
The Nidwalden and Mulhouse banners were not part of Schiner's original gift. Unterwalden had received a single banner that was held in Obwalden. Both Nidwalden and Mulhouse complained to the Pope about having been left out by him and received their banners directly from the Pope. The Nidwalden banner had an inscription that ran along its edge; she claimed that the people of Nidwalden fought for Pope Anastasius as early as 388 and received their original banner on that occasion.
Specimens that have survived
A number of these banners have survived. In some cases it is unclear whether the transmitted banner is an original or a copy or a later forgery.
The originals are well preserved
- Zurich (in the National Museum Zurich ),
- Lucerne, Schwyz (in the Federal Letter Museum ),
- Uri (in Altdorf town hall ) and
- Obwalden.
Durrer (1907/8: 352) also describes the damaged specimens of
- Biel,
- Saanen,
- St. Gallen (city),
- St. Gallen (Abbey),
- Diessenhofen,
- Frauenfeld and
- Rothenburg.
The banners from
- Nidwalden (only silk scarf is preserved, the gold thread was looted when the French invaded in 1798), in the Stans town hall ,
- Solothurn, in the old arsenal,
- Toggenburg, in the Lichtensteig town hall ,
- Rapperswil, in the Rapperswil town hall ,
- Frauenfeld , kept in the Historical Museum of the Canton of Thurgau,
- Saanen, Bern Historical Museum
The following are damaged:
- Freiburg; about half of his cloth and the gusset are preserved.
- Bern; only received the gusset image.
- City of Basel; Gusset image of the copy. The city of Basel immediately ordered a copy of the banner; both the original and the copy are lost, but the gusset image of the copy is preserved.
Not mentioned by Durrer are:
- Mellingen, copy in the Mellingen local archive,
- Stein am Rhein, City Archives Stein am Rhein,
- Glarus, (location not specified).
See also
- List of coats of arms and flags of the Swiss cantons
- Ennetbirgische campaigns
- Swiss guard
- Swiss troops in the Vatican service
literature
- Winfried Hecht: The Julius banner of the town facing Rottweil . In: Der Geschichtsfreund: Mitteilungen des Historisches Verein Zentralschweiz , 126/7 (1973/4).
- Robert Durrer: The gifts of Pope Julius II to the Confederates . In: Knowledge and Life . 1 (1907/8) 193-199 , 249-260 , 285-293 , 322-328 , 347-355 .
- Swiss Standard bearers drawn by Urs Graf (collection) (British Museum, MET Museum) SH , SO , SG , AP , ZG1 , ZG2 , GL1 , GL2 , SZ , UW , FR , BS , ZH .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gerold Walser: The Itinerar of the Bernese in the Pavier campaign of 1512. In: Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Heimatkunde. 47 (1985)
- ^ Pierre Surchat: Julius II. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz . 2013 .
- ↑ quoted from Durrer (1907/8: 192).
- ^ Anton Wohler: Free offices. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2006 .
- ↑ Dürrer 1907/8: 353.
- ↑ (p. 142)
- ↑ Winfried Hecht: The Julius banner of the town facing Rottweil . In: Der Geschichtsfreund: Mitteilungen des Historisches Verein Zentralschweiz , 126/7 (1973/4), doi: 10.5169 / seals-118647
- ↑ nidwaldner-museum.ch
- ↑ museum-alteszeughaus.ch (archived)
- ↑ lichtensteig.ch
- ↑ historisches-museum.tg (archived)
- ↑ R. Marti-Wehren: The Julius banner of the Saanen landscape. In: Yearbook of the Bernisches Historisches Museum , 1960, pp. 185 ff.
- ↑ Julius banner of the Saanen landscape . In: Exhibition Maximilian I. Innsbruck. Catalog of the exhibition from June 1 to October 15, 1969 . Published by the cultural department of Tyrol. Responsible for the content Erich Egg . Verlagsanstalt Tyrolia, Innsbruck 1969. Object no .: 177, p. 46.
- ^ Jean-Pierre Dorand / EM: Friborg (Canton). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ^ Corner quarters of the Basel Julius banner . Historical Museum Basel
- ↑ fotoarchiv-mellingen.ch
- ↑ steineranzeiger.ch (PDF)
- ↑ nzz.ch
- ↑ reformation-sh.ch (picture!)
- ↑ glarusfamilytree.com