Schwyz Day

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The Schwyzertag is an annual, traditional folk festival of the city Tiengen today: Waldshut-Tiengen , each of which takes place the first weekend in July. The center of each is the parish church of Maria Himmelfahrt , Tiengen Castle and the historic "Städtle".

history

Discussions about the origin

The Schwyz Day goes back to a church memorial of the year that has been documented since the 15th century. The reason for the foundation was possibly an attack on the city in 1415. A dispute between the knight Reinold von Urslingen and the city in 1415 is documented, but an attack by the Urslinger has not been proven.

In any case, an addendum from 1617 in the oldest yearbook focuses on the year 1415, the author of which claims to have read in another source that the city was initially captured up to the lower well, but held. In this context a Gestrenger is named by "Honberg". This was interpreted either as a Horneck von Hornberg who was allied with Reinold von Urslingen or even as the Urslinger himself, who was married to a widowed von Hornberg (it could also be, for example, a Honberger from the Thierstein family , or the Son, Hesso VI of Hesso V. von Hochberg act).

The popular term “Swiss public holiday” has been passed down since 1669, but the sources repeatedly express skepticism about an actual connection with “Swiss”. The exact background was unknown. In 1824, the Schwyz Day was already history, Joseph Bader suspected a reference to the destruction of the city by federal troops in the " Swabian War " in 1499, which cannot be in terms of content or chronology. Apparently the young Bader did not yet know the year book, the oldest source, at the time.

Since the 1960s, the 1415 thesis has been widely accepted again and there is lively debate as to whether the Urslinger might have used Swiss mercenaries, which would explain the name. In the 20th century, a connection with the federal conquest of parts of what is now Aargau in 1415 was considered. There is no evidence of a federal attack on Tiengen on the right bank of the Rhine in the course of the conquest of the Habsburg Aargau.

In 1467, the Federal Diet decided to move to the Rhine, which culminated in the siege of Waldshut in 1468. Tiengen was taken at the same time by the Confederates and occupied for eight years by the city of Schaffhausen, which took part in the train. At the end of July 1476, the triggering conflict was settled. The city was returned to the Bishop of Constance at the beginning of August. In the course of time, the end of the Schaffhausen occupation may have merged with memories of previous events.

In 2008 Hans Harter suggested that the mysterious attack could also be that of Count Heinrich von Lupfen in 1441. Ultimately, however, the decisive evidence for this thesis is also missing. This means that the basis for discussion remains in the early 7th century of the festival, without damaging the good mood.

swell

Contents of the document of the Royal Court of Justice of July 2, 1415:

«1415, July 2nd (Tuesday before St. Ulrich), Costenz (Constance) - Gunther Graf von Swartzburg a. Mr. zu Rams, court judge of King Sigmunds , has had the complaints of Reinold Herzog von Urslingen against the city of Tungen heard on 5 days since June 1st (Saturday after Corpus Christi) . At first, Duke Reinold had accused the city of having captured a servant and extorted a statement from him that he and Horneck von Hornberg wanted to secretly take the place of Tiengen; then the city had the brushwood killed, even though it was on the eighth. Information about this was obtained from the Klettgau district court . The von Urslingen could not testify that the traveling man had sworn an oath of allegiance to him. That is why the city had to be acquitted of this lawsuit. Only the king was entitled to prosecute the city of Tiengen for killing the streak within the eight. Reinold now complained against the city that they had falsely claimed that he wanted to storm the walls. The Tiengener evaded this question. A period of 42 days was given to the city so that a messenger could swear the matter. Finally, Duke Reinold accused the city of having deprived him of something of his own when he killed his fellow . The court rejected this as a new objection but left him free to sue his opponents for testimony. "

Ultimately, the cause of the conflict was inheritance claims that Reinold von Urslingen believed he could assert. His mother was Verena von Krenkingen . Tiengen belonged to the Krenkingers as a fiefdom of the Prince-Bishop of Constance until 1412.

Transcription of the foundation entry for "Schwyz Day" in the Tiengen year book (before 1500):

«It is vff sant peters day in gangs of a luet priest, vogt, advising vnd the whole parish generally toe Tuengen / viewed and kept the same day in an orderly manner In the kyrchen vnd with the vyrr as the four hochzit / zue remembrance as before ziten vff the same day the place of Tuengen attacked by the vyenden and the vyend / bis in the middle of the place come and in meynug, that you hettind the ingenome, and but with the help of god, marie sin [er] dear [e ] n mueter of our emergency helper vnd fuerseherin ouch sant peters of the day do what the / vyend one harm libs vnd good repulsive gear [e] n vnd with violence vss the place was beaten. / And where also the old jartzit book daruss diß book was made and drawn vil jartzit different and dined Darub dan [n] is considered that a luetpriest [he] and capplan vff the same [e] n day a common / jartzit have and all are present and all of the selenium so this church handling and good hand / in the mass should be celebrated seriously and vjuarlich. "

St. Peter therefore plays a special role, since on one of his special days, August 1st, the city was saved from invading enemies thanks to (among other things) his assistance, who could be driven out again. As a thank you, the day should be specially celebrated in the future and a year should be introduced for all deceased benefactors.

Transcription of the addendum to the above foundation entry, dated 1617:

"Sic ego legi in festo corporis Chr [ist] i, quod anno 1415 p [er] inimicos, singulariter strictuus de Honberg, oppidu [m] Tueng [en] receptu [m] et obtentu [m] ad inferiorem fontem."

Further development

In sources from the 17th to the early 19th century, the course of the festival, which took place every year on August 1st, is described. The day began with a vigil of the dead in the early morning hours, followed by a procession around the city. This was followed by a soul mass for the deceased and the daily mass for the feast of St. Peter in chains , which was celebrated with the highest possible liturgical solemnity. In the afternoon, a Vespers concluded the feast day.

As of 1811, the Schwyz Day was no longer allowed to be held as a non-working day due to a sovereign ordinance, which met resistance on site. In 1812 it took place for the last time in the old form.

In 1935 the festival was "revived" as a purely secular folk festival, with Mayor Wilhelm Gutmann deliberately avoiding any church connection and henceforth holding the new Schwyz Day on the first weekend in July. The focus was, ideologically charged, the historical commemoration of the “new beginning” after the catastrophe of 1499. Special efforts were made to attract guests from Switzerland and a common commitment to the “ Alemannic folkism ”. During the war the festival was no longer held. In 1949 the resumption took place, initially "under the sign of the fraternization of all Alemanni", since the festival was interpreted as a celebration of reconciliation in relation to 1499. In the 1960s, Mayor Franz Schmidt initiated a change. He wanted to build on the Christian content of the old festival and made sure that the assumed events of 1415 moved back into the focus of remembrance.

The festival today

In the foreground is the festive service in the parish church of the Assumption of Mary on the 1st weekend in July. Among other things, there is a large parade with traditional costume and music associations, the historical vigilante groups and participants from Switzerland, a home evening and, for several years, gun shooting and fireworks. The Klettgau costume was reintroduced on Schwyz Day in 1953 . The obligatory celebratory speech is mainly given by personalities from politics. The implementation and organization is mainly done by the citizens and fools guild 1503 e. V. Tiengen.

Keynote speaker

literature

  • Manfred Emmerich: How the Schwyz Day got its name. Research on the Tiengener Heimatfest, in: Land between the Upper Rhine and the southern Black Forest. Contributions to the history of the district of Waldshut (2007), pp. 23–32.
  • Ingo Donnhauser: Schwyz Days in Seven Centuries. A walk through the history of Tiengen festival culture, Waldshut-Tiengen 2015.
  • Eugen Fürstos (author) and citizens' guild 1503 (collaboration): The Schwyzertag in Tiengen / Hochrhein origin and career, 1975.
  • Franz Schmidt: The Klettgau, 1971.
  • Joseph Bader : Documents and registers from the former Kletgau archive - second division. In: Journal for the History of the Upper Rhine, Volume 14, 1862, pp. 223-254 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  • Heinz Voellner: History of the City of Tiengen, 1987.
  • Franz Xaver Kraus : Art monuments of the district Waldshut. Freiburg im Breisgau 1892, pp. 152–156 ( digitized version from Heidelberg University Library ).
  • Kurt-Heinz Benda (Ed.): The guild - committed to the homeland. The essence and work of the citizens and fools guild 1503 e. V. Tiengen, 1985.
  • Klaus Schubring : The dukes of Urslingen studies on their property, social and family history with regesta (= publications of the commission for historical regional studies in Baden-Württemberg, series B, 67th volume). Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-17-258081-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Note on the website of the city of Waldshut-Tiengen
  2. ↑ Tiengen parish archive, year book (before 1500), fol. 55.
  3. ↑ Ingo Donnhauser: Schwyz Days in Seven Centuries, 2015, p. 16ff.
  4. ↑ Joseph Bader: Brief History of the City of Thiengen in Klettgau, 1824, p. 44f.
  5. ↑ Ingo Donnhauser: Schwyz Days in Seven Centuries, 2015, p. 32f.
  6. ^ Hans Harter: The dukes of Urslingen in Schiltach, 2008, p. 101.
  7. ↑ Klaus Schubring: The dukes of Urslingen, studies on their property, social and family history with regesta. Publications of the commission for historical regional studies in Baden-Württemberg, series B, 67th volume, 1974 pp. 145–146. (The Italian documents often have "Reinhard", the German mostly Reinold.)
  8. ↑ according to Ingo Donnhauser: Schwyzertage in seven centuries, 2015, p. 2f.
  9. ↑ according to Ingo Donnhauser: Schwyzertage in seven centuries, 2015, p. 14.
  10. ↑ Ingo Donnhauser: Schwyz Days in Seven Centuries, 2015, pp. 20f.
  11. ↑ Manfred Emmerich: How the Schwyzertag got its name, 2007, p. 29.
  12. ↑ Ingo Donnhauser: Schwyz Days in Seven Centuries, 2015, p. 30ff.
  13. ↑ Südkurier of July 5, 1949.
  14. ^ Citizens and fools guild 1503 e. V. Tiengen

Web links