The League of the Ten Jurisdictions was the last 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, ...

founded during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

in what is now

Canton Graubünden Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an I ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The League was created in the County of Toggenburg after the counts of

Toggenburg Toggenburg is a region of Switzerland. It corresponds to the upper valley of the River Thur (Switzerland), Thur and that of the Necker (river), Necker, one of its afluents. Since 1 January 2003, Toggenburg has been a constituency (''Wahlkreis ...

died out. The League initially existed to resist the power of 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 quickly allied with the

Grey League The Grey League (, , or ), sometimes called ''Oberbund'', formed in 1395 in the '' Vorderrhein'' and '' Hinterrhein'' valleys, Raetia. The name Grey League is derived from the homespun grey clothes worn by the people. The league became part o ...

and the

League of God's House The League of God's House ( German: ''Gotteshausbund'', Italian: ''Lega Caddea'', ) was formed in what is now Switzerland on 29 January 1367, to resist the rising power of the Bishopric of Chur and the House of Habsburg. The League allied with ...

. In 1524 the three leagues joined to become the Free State of the Three Leagues, which existed until the

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of mi ...

dissolution of the Free State. The league was an associate and ally of the Old Swiss Confederacy.

History

The League of the Ten Jurisdictions was the last of the three leagues to be founded. On April 30, 1436, the last

Count of Toggenburg The counts of Toggenburg (''Grafen von Toggenburg'') ruled the Toggenburg (Switzerland), Toggenburg region of today's canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and adjacent areas during the 13th to 15th centuries. A Freiherr, baronial family of Toggenbu ...

, Friedrich VII, died without any male heirs and without a will. The Toggenburg lands included the valley of

Prättigau The Prättigau is a geographical region in the canton of Grisons, Switzerland. It consists of the main valley of the river Landquart and the valleys of its side-rivers and creeks. Landquart River, which drains into the Alpine Rhine in the town ...

, the upper Albula valley (

Belfort Belfort (; archaic , ) is a city in northeastern France, situated approximately from the Swiss border. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Territoire de Belfort. Belfort is from Paris and from Basel. The residents of the city ...

Churwalden Churwalden is a municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It incorporates the former municipalities of Malix and Parpan. History Churwalden is first mentioned in 1149 as ''silva Augeria''. In 1191 it w ...

, Schanfigg and

Maienfeld Maienfeld () is a municipality in the Landquart Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. It is a tourist destination in the Alps, both because of the local wine and because it was the setting of the story '' Heidi''. History Maienfeld li ...

. For the Toggenburg properties, the future was very uncertain. The communities would either be split among other nobles, or the entire County of Toggenburg would be inherited by the

. The leaders of the communities chose a third path, they reached an agreement with Friedrich's widow, Elisabeth von Matsch. In

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

on June 8, 1436, the former Toggenburg lands formed a pact with the support of Elisabeth. Leaders of the communities of

Klosters Klosters is a Switzerland, Swiss village in the Prättigau, politically part of the Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of Klosters-Serneus, which belongs to the political district Prättigau/Davos Region, Prättigau/Davos in the Cantons o ...

Castels Castels (Occitan: ''Castèl'' meaning castle) is a former commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Castels et Bézenac.Schiers Schiers () is a Swiss village in the Prättigau and a municipality in the political district Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden. The first concrete girder bridge ever built, Salginatobel Bridge, is located in Schiers. Designed ...

, St. Peter (part of Schanfigg),

Langwies Langwies is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Plessur District, Plessur in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Langwies, Calfreisen, ...

and Malans (which was under the jurisdiction of Neu-Aspermont) met and agreed to protect their rights, to only collectively enter other pacts and treaties, to appoint judges from each community and to re-swear the pact every twelve years. It is significant that there were no nobles involved in creating the pact, instead it was the common people from the communities that swore the pact. The first leader of the League was

Ulrich Beeli Ulrich () is a Germanic given name derived from Old High German ''Uodalrich'', ''Odalric''. It is composed of the elements '' uodal-'' meaning "heritage" and ''-rih'' meaning "king, ruler". Attested from the 8th century as the name of Alamannic nobi ...

, the

Landamman ''Landammann'' (plural ''Landammänner''), is the German title used by the chief magistrate in certain Cantons of Switzerland and at times featured in the Head of state's style at the confederal level. Old Swiss Confederacy ''Landammann'' or ''A ...

from Davos, and all future ''Bundstage'' (Council Meetings) occurred in Davos. The League quickly tied itself to the other surrounding leagues. Within one year (1437) eight of the members of the League had already allied with the League of God's House. The entire League allied with the League of God's House by 1450.Pfister, Max (1989).p.16 In 1471 the League allied with the Grey League, forming the Three Leagues. Soon after the death of the Toggenburgs, the League was not able to prevent the Court and Judgement rights from being split up and given to local nobles. Although the members of the League had control over the local administration and local politics, they did not have control over

High Justice High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judicial power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents. The scale ...

and taxes or levies. Most of the League was given to Wilhelm, Count of Montfort, the lower Prättigau went to the Graf von Matsch and Maienfeld and Malans went to the

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

von Brandis. Both Graf von Montfort and Graf von Matsch sold their rights to the

Duke of Austria From 976 until 1246, the Margraviate of Austria and its successor, the Duchy of Austria, was ruled by the House of Babenberg. At that time, those states were part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1246 until 1918, the duchy and its successor, the A ...

, Montfort in 1470 and Matsch in 1477 The duke combined the two territories (the eight jurisdictions) into a single

Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

ei which was administered by an appointed ''Landvogt'', who was generally a member of the League of the Ten Jurisdictions. The ''Landvogt'' lived at Castels Castle near

Luzein Luzein is a Swiss village in the Prättigau and a municipality in the political district Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden. History Luzein is first mentioned in 1185 as ''Luzene''. Neighboring municipalities Geography Lu ...

. The League of the Ten Jurisdictions was very active in the Three Leagues after 1471. After 1486 troops from the League participated in military action with the rest of the Three Leagues. In 1524, the League of the Ten Jurisdiction signed the ''Bundesbrief'', which created the Three Leagues. However some of the rights within the Ten Jurisdictions were still held by other noble families. For example, the Baron von Brandis held Maienfeld, which was a member of the League. In 1509 the Baron von Brandis separated the community of Maienfeld from his holdings, and transferred it to the emergent Three Leagues. Maienfeld became a Vogtei of the Leagues. This meant that Maienfeld was both a voting member of the League of the Ten Jurisdictions and under the control of the Three Leagues at the same time. Maienfeld indirectly administered itself as a controlled territory of the Three Leagues. The rights to High Justice were held by the Dukes of Austria, until the League bought these rights from the duke in 1649–1652. It is only after this date that the League could fully participate in the Three Leagues.

Three Leagues

After about 1471 the three separate Leagues were allied together as the Three Leagues. The ''Bundesbrief'' of September 23, 1524 created a constitution for the Three Leagues that would remain until the

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

ic dissolution of the League. However the League was not a unified state in the modern sense. The Three Leagues worked together as a federation of three states and virtually all affairs of the League were settled by

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

. The Three Leagues were also unique in

early modern Europe Early modern Europe, also referred to as the post-medieval period, is the period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the mid 15th century to the late 18th century. Histori ...

in that it was the only territory were all decisions were made by

communalism Communalism may refer to: * African communalism, a system of interdependence in rural Africa * Christian communism, form of religious communism based on Christianity * Communalism (Bookchin), a theory of government in which autonomous communities ...

, with the Leagues founded, governed and defended by cooperative decisions. The Three Leagues were normally allied with 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 ...

. Initially this was a response to the expansion of the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

. The

Musso war The Musso War (or War of Musso) was an armed conflict between the federation of the Three Leagues (), which functioned as an associate state of the Old Swiss Confederacy, and the Duchy of Milan early in the 16th century. The conflict took place in ...

against 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, ...

in 1520 pushed the League closer to the Swiss Confederacy. The League would remain an associate to the Swiss until the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, when it was absorbed into the

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

. After the Napoleonic

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, French Consulate, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 to abolish the Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion of Old Swiss Confederacy, Switzerland by F ...

, the Three Leagues became the canton of Graubünden.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:League Of The Ten Jurisdictions States and territories established in 1436 Grisons Associates of the Old Swiss Confederacy 15th-century establishments in the Old Swiss Confederacy 1430s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1436 establishments in Europe 18th-century disestablishments in the Old Swiss Confederacy 1798 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire Former countries in Europe Former republics History of Graubünden Former countries Former confederations

History

Three Leagues

See also

References

External links