The Republic of the Seven Tithings (, ) was a state in what is now the Swiss canton of

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

during the

early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

, and an associate of the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy, was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerlan ...

. The seven tithings (''Zenden'', ''dizains'', Latin: ''decumae'') of the Central and Upper Valais, listed orographically, were Goms,

Brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

, Visp, Raron, Leuk, Siders, and Sion. The six districts of the Lower Valais, known as "banners" (''vexilla''), were ruled as subject lands by the Republic. They only came to be referred to as ''dizains'' as they acceded to the Rhodanic Republic and the Swiss canton, during 1802–1815.

History

The tithings (''Zehnden'') of the Upper Valais emerged as

medieval commune Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense (both physical defense and of traditional freedoms) among the citizens of a town or city. These took many forms and varied widely in organization and makeup. C ...

s, which were granted certain privileges by Charles IV in 1353. These territories had enjoyed de facto independence since the mid-15th century, as a result of the Raron affair, and they continued to grow in power and influence over the following two centuries. They seized much of the Lower Valais formerly controlled by the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...

in 1475. This happened in the context of the

Burgundian Wars The Burgundian Wars (1474–1477) were a conflict between the Burgundian State and the Old Swiss Confederacy and its allies. Open war broke out in 1474, and the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the battlefield in th ...

, and with the agreement of both the bishop of Sion and the

canton of Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...

. The tithings gained further autonomy as a result of the conflict with bishop Matthäus Schiner after the Battle of Marignano (1515). Throughout the 16th century, the tithings, now calling themselves ''Republica Vallesi'', acted as a sovereign power without regard to the prince-bishop who was still nominally the feudal ruler of Valais. In the wake of the

Swiss Reformation The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate, Mark Reust, and the population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matte ...

, Bern occupied

Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of Subdivisions of the canton of Vaud, ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat ...

and the city of

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

in 1535. Anticipating further Bernese aggression, the seven tithings sent their troops to Saint-Maurice to defend their border. As the Bernese advanced to Chablais, the Valais troops crossed the Rhone and advanced along the shore of Lake Geneva, onto Savoyard territory, and far as Évian, halting the Bernese advance. Bern agreed to return the occupied territory to Savoy in 1564. The Valais refused to do the same, but eventually agreed to return Evian and Hochtal, keeping Monthey as their subject territory. The constitutional establishment of the ''Zendenherrschaft'' (sovereignty of the tithings) dates to 1571, but the conflict between the prince-bishops and the communes simmered on into the 17th century. The Reformation began to spread to Sion and Leuk in the 1580s. The bishop attempted to suppress this, from 1603 aided by the tithings, by the Catholic Swiss cantons and by France. In 1604, adherents of the Reformation were forced to either re-convert to Catholicism or to emigrate. By the beginning 17th century, the seven tithings had gained complete sovereignty ''de facto'', and in 1613, the Diet (German: ''Landrat,'' French: ''Diète''), a council of representatives of tithings and parishes, formally declared independence from the prince-bishop. In 1613, bishop Hildebrand Jost was forced to forfeit his claim on the tithings, at first temporarily, then permanently in 1634, marking the beginning of the ''de jure'' sovereignty of the tithings and the end of the secular power of the prince-bishops. The communes of the Valais first referred to themselves as a democratic Republic in a document of 1619; the distinctive seven-star coat of arms which forms the basis of the current cantonal coat of arms dates to 1628. From this time until the French invasion of 1798, the bishops of Sion retained their title of prince-bishops of the Holy Roman Empire only in name, being constitutionally bound to submit to the decisions of the Diet.

Successors

The ''République des Sept-Dizains'' was abolished, and merged with its former subject Lower Valais, declared as the short lived (16 March to 1 May 1798) ''République du Valais'', which was in turn incorporated as the canton of Valais of the Helvetic Republic, but in 1802 again seceded as the French client state of the Rhodanic Republic, which in 1810 became part of the French ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of Simplon before in 1815 joining the restored Swiss Confederacy as a canton.

References

* "Valais". ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. * {{Coord missing, Switzerland History of Valais Associates of the Old Swiss Confederacy States and territories established in 1634 1613 establishments in Europe 1798 disestablishments in Europe Sept-Dizains, Republique des

History

Successors

See also

References