The Swabian War of 1499 ( (spelling depending on dialect), called or ("Swiss War") in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and ("War of the
Engadin
The Engadin or Engadine (;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ''Gidegna'' ...
" in
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
) was the last major armed conflict between 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 ...
and the
House of Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful Dynasty, dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout ...
. What had begun as a local conflict over the control of the
Val Müstair and the
Umbrail Pass in the
Grisons
The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include:
* ;
*Romansh language, Romansh:
**
**
**
**
**
**;
* ;
* ;
* .
See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...
soon got out of hand when both parties called upon their allies for help; the Habsburgs demanding the support of the
Swabian League, while the Federation of the
Three Leagues
The Three Leagues, sometimes referred to as Raetia, was the 1471 alliance between the League of God's House, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions, and the Grey League. Its members were all Swiss Associates, associates of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ...
of the Grisons turning to the Swiss ''
Eidgenossenschaft''. Hostilities quickly spread from the Grisons through the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
valley to
Lake Constance
Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...
and even to the
Sundgau in southern
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
, the westernmost part of the Habsburg region of
Further Austria.
[The main references used are Morard in general and Riezler for the detailed chronology in the section on the course of the war.]
Many battles were fought from January to July 1499, and in all but a few minor skirmishes, the experienced Swiss soldiers defeated the Swabian and Habsburg armies. After their victories in the
Burgundian Wars, the Swiss had battle tested troops and commanders. On the Swabian side, distrust between the
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
s and their
foot soldiers, disagreements amongst the military leadership, and a general reluctance to fight a war that even the Swabian counts considered to be more in the interests of the powerful Habsburgs than in the interest of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
[Morard, N.: ''Die Eidgenossen auf der europäischen Bühne'', pp. 316–326 in Schwabe & Co. (eds.): ''Geschichte der Schweiz und der Schweizer'', Schwabe & Co. 1986/2004; . Comprehensive general overview and explanation of the larger context.] proved fatal handicaps. When his military high commander fell in the
battle of Dornach, where the Swiss won a final decisive victory, Emperor
Maximilian I had no choice but to agree to a peace treaty signed on September 22, 1499, in
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
. The treaty granted the Confederacy far-reaching independence from the empire. Although the ''Eidgenossenschaft'' officially remained a part of the empire until the
Treaty of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two Peace treaty, peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy R ...
in 1648, the
peace of Basel exempted it from the imperial jurisdiction and imperial taxes and thus ''de facto'' acknowledged it as a separate political entity.
Background
One source of conflict was the ancient distrust, rivalry, and hostility between 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 ...
and the
House of Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful Dynasty, dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout ...
, which had risen to the throne of the
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
since 1438. Since the late 13th century, the members of the Swiss Confederacy had gradually taken control of territories that once had belonged to the Habsburg realm. The Swiss had attained the status of
imperial immediacy
In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy ( or ) was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' () to Emperor and Empire () and not to any other intermediate authorities, while one that did not possess that stat ...
, being subject only to the emperor himself, and not to any intermediate Princes or
liege lord
Homage (/ˈhɒmɪdʒ/ or ) (from Medieval Latin , lit. "pertaining to a man") in the Middle Ages was the ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title t ...
s. This status granted them a far-reaching autonomy within the Holy Roman Empire, even more so as the emperor was a distant overlord. Before 1438, the empire and the emperor had been an antipole to the Habsburg dukes for the Swiss. Previous emperors had repeatedly supported the confederates in their struggles against the Habsburgs, whom they saw as strong rivals. They had confirmed the Imperial immediacy of the Swiss on several occasions; and the Swiss had succeeded in defending their privileged status against Habsburg dukes who had tried to regain their former territories.
Habsburgs in the Holy Roman Empire in the 15th century
When
Frederick III of Habsburg ascended to the throne, the Swiss suddenly faced a new situation in which they could no longer count on support from the empire. Worse yet, conflicts with the Habsburg dukes threatened to become conflicts with the empire itself. Under Frederick's reign, this did not occur yet. Frederick had sided in 1442 against the confederacy in the
Old Zürich War where he had supported the city of Zürich, and he also refused to reconfirm the imperial immediacy of the members of the Confederacy. But Frederick's troubled reign did not leave room for military operations against the Swiss. In
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, Frederick was in conflict first with his brother
Albert and then faced the pressure of
Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...
, who even drove him from
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
and forced Frederick's court to assume an itinerant lifestyle.
In the empire, Frederick faced the opposition of the
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
n
Wittelsbach
The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...
dynasty and of his cousin
Sigismund, who was duke in
Tyrol
Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...
,
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...
, and
Further Austria then. Sigismund had been in conflict with the Swiss Confederacy, too. When he had been banned by
Pope Pius II
Pope Pius II (, ), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464.
Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, ...
in a conflict over the nomination of a bishop in Tyrol, the Swiss had annexed the formerly Habsburg territories of the
Thurgau
Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld.
Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...
. In 1468, Sigismund clashed with the Swiss in the
War of Waldshut, which he could end without significant territorial losses only by paying a large ransom, which he financed by pawning territories in the
Sundgau and the
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
to
Charles the Bold
Charles Martin (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), called the Bold, was the last duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois-Burgundy, ruling from 1467 to 1477. He was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, ...
of
Burgundy
Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
in 1469.
Charles did not, however, help Sigismund against the Swiss, and so Sigismund bought back the territories in 1474 and concluded a peace treaty with the Confederacy, the ''
Ewige Richtung'', although the emperor never recognized it.
In the following
Burgundy Wars, the Swiss and Sigismund both fought against Charles the Bold.
In 1487, Sigismund arranged the marriage of Frederick's daughter
Kunigunde to Duke
Albert IV of Bavaria
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert Computers, Inc., a computer manufacturer in the 1980s
* Albert Czech Republic, a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street ...
against her father's will, and he also signed away some of his territories in Tyrol and Further Austria to Albert IV. Frederick intervened by force: he founded the
Swabian League in 1488, an alliance of the Swabian cities, the Swabian knights of the League of St. George's Shield and the counts of
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...
and Tyrol and Vorarlberg. With their help, he forced the Wittelsbach house to return the territories signed over by Sigismund.
In 1490, Sigismund was forced to abdicate and turn over all his territories to Frederick's son
Maximilian I. Maximilian had married
Mary of Burgundy
Mary of Burgundy (; ; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled the Burgundian lands, comprising the Duchy of Burgundy, Duchy and Free County of Burgundy, County of Burgundy a ...
in 1477 after the death of Charles the Bold in the Burgundy Wars and thus inherited the Burgundian territories: the
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy (; ; ) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity in north-western regions of historical Burgundy. It was a duchy, ruled by dukes of Burgundy. The Duchy belonged to the Kingdom of France, and was initially bordering th ...
, the
County of Burgundy
The Free County of Burgundy (; ) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity ruled by a count from 982 to 1678. It became known as Franche-Comté (the ''Free County''), and was located in the modern region of Franche-Comté. It belonged to th ...
(Franche-Comté) and the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. He took over and expanded the Burgundian administration with a more centralized style of government, which in 1482, caused the outbreak of a rebellion of the cities and counts, allied with
Charles VIII of France, against Maximilian.
[N.N.: ]
Maximilian I
'', Haus der Bayrischen Geschichte. URL last accessed 2006-10-06. The Duchy of Burgundy was also a French fiefdom and immediately claimed by Charles VIII. The first phase of this conflict would last until 1489, keeping Maximilian occupied in the Low Countries. He even fell into the hands of his enemies and was held prisoner for four months in
Bruges
Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country.
The area of the whole city amoun ...
in 1488. He was freed only when his father sent an army under the command of Duke
Albert of Saxony to his rescue. Maximilian subsequently returned to Germany, leaving his cousin Albert as his representative. Albert would, in the following years, manage to assert the Habsburg hegemony in the Netherlands.
[Thieme, A.: ]
Albrecht (der Beherzte)
'', Sächsische Biografie; Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde e.V. URL last accessed 2006-10-06
Maximilian had been elected
King of the Romans
King of the Romans (; ) was the title used by the king of East Francia following his election by the princes from the reign of Henry II (1002–1024) onward.
The title originally referred to any German king between his election and coronatio ...
in 1486 on his father's initiative, and they had been ruling jointly since then. Upon the death of Frederick in 1493, Maximilian also took over his father's possessions and thus united the whole Habsburg territory in his hands. In the same year, the
Peace of Senlis also marked the end of his wars against the French about his Burgundian possessions; he kept the territories in the Netherlands and also the
County of Burgundy
The Free County of Burgundy (; ) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity ruled by a count from 982 to 1678. It became known as Franche-Comté (the ''Free County''), and was located in the modern region of Franche-Comté. It belonged to th ...
, but had to cede the
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy (; ; ) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity in north-western regions of historical Burgundy. It was a duchy, ruled by dukes of Burgundy. The Duchy belonged to the Kingdom of France, and was initially bordering th ...
to the French king.
Maximilian controlled thus territories that nearly encircled the Old Swiss Confederacy: Tyrol and Vorarlberg in the east, Further Austria in the north, and the County of Burgundy in the west.
Swabia and the Swiss
When asked by Emperor Frederick to also join the Swabian League, the ''Eidgenossen'' flatly refused: they saw no reason to join an alliance designed to further Habsburg interests, and they were wary of this new, relatively closely knit and powerful alliance that had arisen on their northern frontier. Furthermore, they resented the strong aristocratic element in the Swabian League, so different from their own organization, which had grown over the last two hundred years liberating themselves from precisely such an aristocratic rule.
On the Swabian side, similar concerns existed. For the common people in Swabia, the independence and freedom of the ''Eidgenossen'' was a powerful and attractive role model. Many a baron in southern Swabia feared that his own subjects might revolt and seek adherence to the Swiss Confederacy.
[Maissen, Th.: ]
Worum ging es im Schwabenkrieg?
', NZZ of September 18, 1999. In German; reprint at historicum.net. URL last accessed 2006-09-17. These fears were not entirely without foundation: the Swiss had begun to form alliances north of the
Rhine river
The Rhine ( ) is one of the major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Swiss-Austrian border. From Lake Cons ...
, concluding a first treaty with
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...
in 1454 and then also treaties with cities as far away as
Rottweil (1463) and
Mulhouse
Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...
(1466).
The city of
Constance and its bishop were caught in the middle between these two blocks: they held possessions in Swabia, but the city also still exercised the
high justice over the
Thurgau
Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld.
Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...
, where the Swiss had assumed the
low justice since the annexation in 1460. The foundation of the Swabian League prompted the Swiss city states of
Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
and
Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
to propose accepting Constance into the Swiss Confederacy. The negotiations failed, though, due to the opposition of the founding cantons of the Confederacy and
Uri in particular. The split jurisdiction over the Thurgau was the cause of many quarrels between the city and the Confederacy. In 1495, one such disagreement was answered by a
punitive expedition of soldiers of
Uri and the city had to pay the sum of 3,000
guilders to make them retreat and cease their plundering. (The Thurgau was a
condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...
of the Swiss Confederacy, and Uri was one of the cantons involved in its administration.) Finally, Constance joined the Swabian League as a full member on November 3, 1498. Although this did not yet definitively define the position of the city—during the
Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
, it would be allied again with Zürich and Bern, and only after the defeat of the
Schmalkaldic League in 1548 its close connections to the ''Eidgenossenschaft'' would be finally severed—it was another factor contributing to the growing estrangement between the Swiss and the Swabians.
The competition between Swiss (''
Reisläufer'') and Swabian
mercenaries
A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...
(''
Landsknecht
The (singular: , ), also rendered as Landsknechts or Lansquenets, were German mercenaries used in pike and shot formations during the early modern period. Consisting predominantly of pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, their front line was ...
e''), who both fought in armies throughout Europe, sometimes opposing each other on the battlefield, sometimes competing for contracts, intensified. Contemporary chronicles agree in their reports that the Swiss, who were considered the best soldiers in Europe at the time after their victories in the
Burgundian Wars, were subject to many taunts and abuses by the ''Landsknechte''; they were called ''"Kuhschweizer"'' and ridiculed in other ways.
[Walter, H.: ]
Der Topos vom "Kuhschweizer"
''; University of Zürich, 2000. URL last accessed 2006-09-17. Such insults were neither given nor taken lightly, and frequently led to bloodshed. Indeed, such incidents would contribute to prolong the Swabian War itself by triggering skirmishes and looting expeditions that the military commands of neither side had ever wanted or planned.
[Stüssi-Lauterburg, J.: ]
Der Schwabenkrieg 1499
', 1999. (PDF
Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...
file, 37kB.) In German. URL last accessed 2006-09-17.
Imperial reform of 1495
Maximilian I, like other
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
s before and after him, had to face struggles with other powerful princes in the empire and he thus sought to secure his position and the imperial monarchy by furthering centralisation.
[Sachse, G.: ]
Kaiser Maximilian I – Bewahrer und Reformer
', Kulturberichte 2/02, AsKI 2002. URL last accessed 2006-10-06. At the
Imperial Diet held in
Worms
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...
in
1495, the emperor and princes joined force to proclaim an "eternal
public peace" (''
Ewiger Landfriede'') to put an end to the abounding feuds and the anarchy of the
robber barons and it defined a new standing
Imperial Army to defend the Reich, to which each
imperial estate
An Imperial Estate (; , plural: ') was an entity or an individual of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise signi ...
(''Reichsstand'') would have had to send troops. It also mandated the
common penny (''Reichspfennig''), a new
head tax to finance this army and other institutions, although this tax never became viable during Maximilian's reign.
The Swiss did not accept these resolutions of the Imperial Diet, and they explicitly refused to pay the common penny.
[ URL last accessed 2006-10-06.] They had no interest whatsoever in sending troops to serve in an army under Habsburg authority, nor in paying taxes, nor would they accept any foreign court's jurisdiction; and they had succeeded in securing public peace within their territories reasonably well by themselves. They simply considered the whole proposal a curtailing of their freedom. The Swiss were by far not the only members of the empire who refused to accept the resolutions,
but Maximilian would use their refusal later as a pretext to place the Swiss Confederacy under an
imperial ban (''Reichsacht'').
Course of the war

Open war broke out over a territorial conflict in the
Grisons
The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include:
* ;
*Romansh language, Romansh:
**
**
**
**
**
**;
* ;
* ;
* .
See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...
, where during the 15th century a federation similar to the ''Eidgenossenschaft'' had developed. Like the Swiss, these
Three Leagues
The Three Leagues, sometimes referred to as Raetia, was the 1471 alliance between the League of God's House, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions, and the Grey League. Its members were all Swiss Associates, associates of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ...
had achieved a far-reaching autonomy, but also were involved in constant struggles with the Habsburgs, who ruled the neighbouring territories to the east and who kept trying to bring the Grisons under their influence. During the 1470s and 1480s, Duke
Sigismund had succeeded in acquiring step by step the
high justice over most of the communes of the ''
Zehngerichtebund'' ("League of the Ten Jurisdictions" in the
Prättigau, the youngest of the Three Leagues that had sprung up in the Grisons, having been founded only in 1436), and Maximilian continued this expansionist strategy. The Habsburg pressure prompted the Three Leagues to sign a close military alliance with the Swiss Confederacy in 1497–98.
[. URL last accessed 2006-10-09.]
At the same time, the Habsburgs had been involved in a major power struggle with the French kings of the
House of Valois
The Capetian House of Valois ( , also , ) was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. They succeeded the House of Capet (or "Direct Capetians") to the List of French monarchs, French throne, and were the royal house of France from 1328 to 1589. ...
over the control of the remains of the realm of
Charles the Bold
Charles Martin (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), called the Bold, was the last duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois-Burgundy, ruling from 1467 to 1477. He was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, ...
, whose daughter and heiress
Mary Maximilian had married. Maximilian's second marriage in 1493 with
Bianca Maria Sforza
Bianca Maria Sforza (5 April 1472 – 31 December 1510) was Queen of Germany and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire as the third spouse of Maximilian I. She was the eldest legitimate daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan by his secon ...
from Milan then got the Habsburgs directly involved in the
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559, mostly in the Italian Peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and Mediterranean Sea. The primary belligerents were the House of Valois, Valois kings o ...
, clashing again with the French kings over the control of the
Duchy of Milan
The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...
.
As a direct connection between
Tyrol
Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...
and Milan, the Grisons and in particular the
Val Müstair became strategically important to the Habsburgs. The
Umbrail Pass in the Val Müstair connects the
Vinschgau valley (Val Venosta) in southern Tyrol with the
Valtellina
Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; (); or ; ; ) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Today it is known for its ski centre, hot spring spas, bresa ...
in northern Italy. Furthermore, the Habsburgs and the
Bishop of Chur had been quarrelling over the
judicial rights over the region for some time. On January 20, 1499, Habsburg troops occupied the valley and plundered the
Benedictine Convent of Saint John at
Müstair, but were soon driven back by the forces of the Three Leagues, and an
armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...
was signed already on February 2 in
Glurns (Glorenza), a village in the upper Vinschgau.
But the Three Leagues had already called upon the Swiss for help and troops from Uri had already arrived in
Chur
''
Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...
. Upon learning about the truce, they withdrew, but met a small troop of Habsburg soldiers on their way back home. When those engaged in the usual insults on the Swiss, the latter crossed the Rhine and killed the scoffers. In retaliation, Habsburg troops sacked the village of
Maienfeld on February 7 and called the
Swabian League for help. Only five days later, Swiss troops from several cantons had been assembled and reconquered the village and moved towards Lake Constance, pillaging and plundering along the way. On February 20, they again met a Habsburg army, which they defeated in the
Battle of Hard on the shores of Lake Constance near the estuary of the Rhine, and at about the same time, other Swiss troops invaded the
Hegau region between Schaffhausen and Constance. On both sites, the Swiss retreated after a few days.

Meanwhile, the Swabian League had completed its recruitment, and undertook a raid on
Dornach on March 22, but suffered a defeat against numerically inferior Swiss troops in the
Battle of Bruderholz that same evening. In early April, both sides raided each other's territories along the Rhine; the Swiss conquered the villages of
Hallau and
Neunkirch in the
Klettgau west of Schaffhausen. A larger attack of the Swabian League took place on April 11, 1499: the Swabian troops occupied and plundered some villages on the southern shore of Lake Constance, just south of Constance. The expedition ended in a shameful defeat and open flight
[ Riezler, S.: ]
Die Grafen von Fürstenberg im Schweizerkriege 1499
'; Tübingen
Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...
1883. In German, from historicum.net. Detailed chronological account of events. when the Swiss soldiers, who had their main camp just a few miles south at
Schwaderloh, arrived and met the Swabians in the
Battle of Schwaderloh. The Swabians lost more than 1,000 soldiers; 130 from the city of Constance alone; and the Swiss captured their heavy equipment, including their artillery.
Again, the Swiss raided the Klettgau and the Hegau and pillaged several fortified smaller Swabian cities such as
Tiengen or
Stühlingen
Stühlingen (; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Stüelinge'') is a town in the Waldshut (district), Waldshut district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the border with Switzerland, with a border crossing to the village of Ob ...
before retreating again. This whole war was characterized by many such smaller raids and plundering expeditions of both sides between a few larger battles. On the eastern front, a new Habsburg attack on the Rhine valley provoked a counterstrike of the ''Eidgenossen'', who remained victorious in the
Battle of Frastanz near
Feldkirch on April 20, 1499.
The continued defeats of both Habsburg and Swabian armies made King Maximilian, who had hitherto been occupied in the Netherlands, travel to Constance and assume the leadership of the operations himself. He declared an imperial ban over the Swiss Confederacy in an attempt to gain wider support for the operation amongst the German princes by declaring the conflict an "
imperial war". However, this move had no success. Maximilian then decided that the next decisive attack should take place again in the Val Müstair, since he didn't have enough troops near Constance to risk attacking there. An abandoned attack attempt in the west in early May 1499 had drawn significant Swiss forces there, who subsequently raided the
Sundgau. On May 21, the Swiss undertook a third raid in the Hegau, but abandoned the operation one week later after the city of
Stockach withstood a siege long enough for Swabian relief troops to come dangerously close.
[Wendler, U.: ]
Der dritte Hegauzug und König Maximilian I.
'; in German. URL last accessed 2006-10-09.
Simultaneously, the Three Leagues attacked the Habsburg troops that camped again at
Glurns on May 22, 1499, before Maximilian could arrive with reinforcements. They overran the fortifications and routed the Austrian army in the
Battle of Calven and then ravaged the Vinschgau, before retreating after three days. Maximilian and his troops arrived one week later, on May 29. In revenge, his troops pillaged the
Engadin
The Engadin or Engadine (;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ''Gidegna'' ...
valley, but retreated quickly before reinforcements from the Swiss Confederacy arrived.
The refusal of the military leaders of the Swabian League to withdraw troops from the northern front to send them to the Grisons as Maximilian had demanded made the king return to Lake Constance. The differences between the Swabians, who preferred to strike in the north, and the king, who still hoped to convince them to help him win the struggle in the Val Müstair, led to a pause in the hostilities. Troops were assembled at Constance, but an attack did not occur. Until July, nothing of significance happened along the whole front.

By mid-July, Maximilian and the Swabian leaders suddenly were under pressure from their own troops. In the west, where there lay an army under the command of Count
Heinrich von Fürstenberg, a large contingent of mercenaries from
Flanders
Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
and many knights threatened to leave as they had not received their pay. The foot soldiers of the Swabian troops also complained: most of them were peasants and preferred to go home and bring in the harvest. Maximilian was forced to act.
An attack by sea across Lake Constance on
Rheineck and
Rorschach on July 21 was one of the few successful Swabian operations. The small Swiss detachment was taken by surprise, the villages plundered and burnt. A much larger attack of an army of about 16,000 soldiers in the west on Dornach, however, met a quickly assembled but strong Swiss army. In the
Battle of Dornach on July 22, 1499, the Swabian and mercenary troops suffered a heavy defeat after a long and hard battle. Their general Heinrich von Fürstenberg fell early in the fight, about 3,000 Swabian and 500 Swiss soldiers died, and the Swabians lost all of their
artillery
Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...
again.
One of the last skirmishes of the war took place on July 25. A Swabian army marched from the Hegau on Schaffhausen, but met with fierce defense at
Thayngen. Although the small force of defenders was finally overcome, and the village was pillaged, the defenders inflicted heavy casualties and the attack was held up long enough for the Swiss to send troops from Schaffhausen to meet the Swabians in the field. Misunderstandings between the Swabian knights and their foot soldiers made the Swabians retreat, and nightfall then prevented a larger battle.
A major problem for the Swiss was the lack of any unified command. The cantonal contingents only took orders from their own leaders. Complaints of insubordination were common. The Swiss Diet had to adopt this resolution on 11 March 1499: "Every canton shall impress upon its soldiers that when the Confederates are under arms together, each one of them, whatever his canton, shall obey the officers of the others."
[William E. Rappard, '' Collective Security in Swiss Experience 1291–1948 '' (London, 1948) pp. 88–89]
The war was paid for largely by the French and Italian allies of the Swiss as well as by ransoming prisoners of war.
Peace negotiations
Early mediation attempts in March 1499 had failed because of mutual distrust between the parties. But after the Battle of Dornach, the Swabian League was war-weary and had lost all confidence in the king's abilities as a military leader, and thus refused Maximilian's demands to muster a new army. The Swabian and Habsburg armies had suffered far higher human losses than the Swiss, and were also short on artillery, after repeatedly having lost their equipment to the Swiss. The Swiss also had no desire to prolong the war further, though they refused a first peace proposal that Maximilian presented at Schaffhausen in August 1499.

However, events in the
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559, mostly in the Italian Peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and Mediterranean Sea. The primary belligerents were the House of Valois, Valois kings o ...
helped bring the Swabian War to an end. King
Louis XII of France
Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), also known as Louis of Orléans was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples (as Louis III) from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves, he succeeded his second ...
tried to bring the
Duchy of Milan
The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...
under his control. As long as the Swabian War continued, the Milanese ruler
Ludovico il Moro—whose niece Bianca Maximilian had married in 1493—could not expect help from either
Swiss mercenaries
The Swiss mercenaries were a powerful infantry force constituting professional soldiers originating from the cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. They were notable for their service in foreign armies, especially among the military forces of th ...
or Maximilian, and thus his envoy
Galeazzo Visconti tried to mediate between the Swiss and the king. The French delegation at the ''
Tagsatzung'' (Swiss federal diet and war council) tried to prevent any agreement for the same reason. The Milanese delegation prevailed in these intrigues and persuaded both sides to moderate their demands.
Finally, Maximilian and the Swiss signed the
Peace of Basel (1499) on September 22. Maximilian had tried to make the conflict an "imperial war" by declaring a ban over the Confederacy. But the peace treaty carefully downplayed that claim, instead treating the war as what it actually was: a war between two equal members of the empire (
Imperial estate
An Imperial Estate (; , plural: ') was an entity or an individual of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise signi ...
, or ''Reichsstände''), namely the
House of Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful Dynasty, dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout ...
and the Swiss Confederacy. The document referred to Maximilian only as "duke of Habsburg", not as "king of the Germans" or even "Holy Roman Emperor".
With the Peace of Basel, the relations between 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 ...
and the empire returned to the ''
status quo ante bellum
The term is a Latin phrase meaning 'the situation as it existed before the war'.
The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used as such, it means that no ...
'' from before the Diet of Worms in 1495. The imperial ban was dropped silently. Maximilian had to accept the independence of the cantons and to abandon implicitly the Habsburg claims on their territories. Consequently, the then ten members of the Swiss Confederacy remained exempt from the jurisdiction of the ''Reichskammergericht''. The Swiss henceforth also exercised high justice over the Thurgau. The war had not caused any territorial changes, except in the area around Schaffhausen, where the city had asserted its hegemony over some places that had formerly belonged to the
Bishop of Constance.
[Scheck, P.: ]
Der Schwabenkrieg 1499
'; Municipal Archives of Schaffhausen, 1999. In German.
URL last accessed 2006-09-08.
In the Grisons, the situation also reverted to pre-war conditions. The Habsburg kept their rights over eight of the communes of the
League of the Ten Jurisdictions, but also had to accept that league's alliance in the Three Leagues and with the Swiss Confederacy. Ultimately, this arrangement would lead to the Habsburgs losing the
Prättigau to the Three Leagues, with the exception of a temporary re-occupation during the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
nearly 130 years later.
Further consequences
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
had remained studiously neutral throughout the whole war. Although allied with some cantons of the Swiss Confederacy, it also had strong economic ties in the
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
and further down along the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
. But the events of the war had strengthened the pro-confederate party in the city council, and the Swiss recognized the city's strategic position as a
bridgehead on the Rhine (like Schaffhausen, too). On June 9, 1501, a delegation from Basel and the Swiss cantons' representatives signed the alliance contract,
[State Archive of Basel-Country: ]
Vertrag zwischen Basel und der Eidgenossenschaft 1501
'; August 2000. Also see the
Bundesbrief of Basel
' itself (PDF
Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...
file, 553 kB). In German. which the city council of Basel ratified on July 13, 1501.
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...
had fought alongside the ''Eidgenossen'' during the Swabian War, and thus its acceptance into the Confederacy was a mere formality. The city had been an imperial city since 1415 and an associate state of the Confederacy since 1454 through a 25-year contract that had been renewed in 1479. On August 10, 1501, it became the twelfth member of the Confederacy.
With the end of the war, the Swiss troops were no longer bound along the Rhine and in the Grisons. The cantons concluded new mercenary contracts, so called
capitulations, with the
Duchy of Milan
The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...
and soon got deeply involved in the
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559, mostly in the Italian Peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and Mediterranean Sea. The primary belligerents were the House of Valois, Valois kings o ...
, where Swiss mercenaries ended up fighting on both sides. The involvement 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 ...
, acting in its own interests in these wars, was brought to an end by the defeat against French forces in the
battle of Marignano in 1515 and a subsequent peace treaty with the French king in 1516, the so-called
Eternal Peace.
However,
Swiss mercenaries
The Swiss mercenaries were a powerful infantry force constituting professional soldiers originating from the cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. They were notable for their service in foreign armies, especially among the military forces of th ...
from individual
cantons of the federation continued to participate in the Italian Wars well beyond (until the middle of the 16th century) in the service of various parties and, following that peace with France, in particular in the service of the French king.
The Swiss Confederacy remained an independent ''Reichsstand'' of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
, but as it was not even obliged to participate in the
Imperial Diet, this relation was degraded to a purely formal one that would lose significance throughout the 16th century. However, the Swiss still considered themselves as members of the empire with the status of
imperial immediacy
In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy ( or ) was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' () to Emperor and Empire () and not to any other intermediate authorities, while one that did not possess that stat ...
; the empire was still considered the foundation of all privileges, rights, or political identity as can be witnessed in the continued use of the imperial insignia.
The relations between the Habsburgs and the Confederacy were fully normalized in the ''
Erbeinung'' of 1511, a renewal of the earlier ''
Ewige Richtung'' of 1474 and a first ''Erbeinung'' of 1477. In that treaty, the Habsburgs finally and officially gave up all their territorial claims of old, and even designated the Confederacy the protecting power of the
County of Burgundy
The Free County of Burgundy (; ) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity ruled by a count from 982 to 1678. It became known as Franche-Comté (the ''Free County''), and was located in the modern region of Franche-Comté. It belonged to th ...
.
In the
Treaty of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two Peace treaty, peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy R ...
of 1648, all members and associate states of the Confederacy would gain official full exemption from the empire and recognition as a national and political entity on their own right.
See also
*
Battles of the Old Swiss Confederacy
Notes
* ''Kuhschweizer'' roughly means literally "Swiss cow herders"; although intended as a derogatory term, there is no connection to "coward". One explanation for the violent response of the Swiss to that and related "cow"-based insults is that these alluded to
sodomy
Sodomy (), also called buggery in British English, principally refers to either anal sex (but occasionally also oral sex) between people, or any Human sexual activity, sexual activity between a human and another animal (Zoophilia, bestiality). I ...
and thus
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy.
Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
.
[Sieber-Lehmann, C.: ''Spätmittelalterlicher Nationalismus'', pp. 204ff. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1995. ; in German.] Incidentally, the Swabians also used the term ''Schwyzer'' to denote all the Swiss, who called themselves ''
Eidgenossen'' at the time, as an insult.
The Swiss, however, assimilated that term and began to wear it proudly.
[Schweizerisches Idiotikon, vol 9, p. 2268, 1929. Entry "Schwizer".] See also
Schwyz
Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland.
The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ''Bundesbriefmuseum''.
The of ...
.
* The name is sometimes given as "Schwaderloo" or even "Schwaderloch".
* The battle of Schwaderloh actually took place near
Triboltingen.
*
Götz von Berlichingen
zu Hornberg (, ; 15 November 1480 – 23 July 1562), also known as Götz of the Iron Hand (German language, German: Eisenfaust), was a 16th-century Germany, German (Franconian) Imperial Knight (''Reichsritter''), mercenary and poet. He wa ...
participated as a young knight in this operation and described the event in some detail in his memoirs.
Willibald Pirckheimer, another eye-witness, also gave an extended description.
References
*
Schwabenkriegschroniken
*
Anshelm, V.: ''Berner Chronik'', 1529–1546.
*
v. Berlichingen, G.: Memoirs, around 1560; rediscovered and first published for wider circulation in 1731. Available e.g. in German from reclam: .
*
Pirckheimer, W.: ''De bello Suitense sive Eluetico'', 1526. Pirckheimer had participated in the Swabian War as the commander of a troop from
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
. A
excerptfrom the translation of Ernst Münch, Berlin 1988, is available on-line. A more recent edition was translated by Fritz Wille, Baden 1998 (); in Latin and German.
*
Schilling, D.: ''
Luzernerchronik'', 1511–1513.
Further reading
Winkler, Albert (2020)
"The Swiss in the Swabian War of 1499: An Analysis of the Swiss Military at the End of the Fifteenth Century,"''Swiss American Historical Society Review,'' vol. 56 (2020), no. 3, pp. 55–141.
External links
with a map and many illustrations from the ''
Luzerner Schilling'' (in German).
*Ganse, A.:
Swabian War 1499'. Very brief summary in English.
*Graf, K. (ed.):
Der Schwabenkrieg''; comprehensive web site in German.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swabian War