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 ) that were in the Holy Roman Empire. The area is now centralSwitzerland.

The confederacy formed in the late 13th century and eventually included Zürich and Bern by the mid-14th century. It was one of the few times thsa rural and urban communes were combined. All of those communes had imperial immediacy in the Holy Roman Empire, meaning that they had no higher ruler other than the Emperor.

The confederacy had eight cantons () and was very successful in politics and military for over a century. It became very important in the Burgundy Wars in the 1470s. The confederacy was very powerful in a very confusing Europe.

By 1513, the confederacy had 13 cantons. ()  It became neutral in 1647 (after the threat of the Thirty Years' War). However, many Swiss people mecame private mercenaries in the Italian Wars and the early modern period.

After the Swabian War of 1499, the confederacy became an independent country _de facto_ throughout the early modern period. The confederacy was still part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1648, when the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War. The Swiss Reformation split the confederates into Protestant and Catholic parties. Eventually, there was much conflict in the confederacy until the 1700s. In 1798, the French Revolutionary Army took over the confederacy, which then became the Helvetic Republic.

## List of cantons

The confederation grew many times. It started with 8 cantons (_Acht Orte_). In 1481, it had 10 cantons. In 1501, it had 12 cantons. At the end, it had 13 cantons (_Dreizehn Orte_).
- Founding cantons (_Urkantone_):
    - Uri, founding canton named in the Federal Charter of 1291
    - Schwyz, founding canton named in the Federal Charter of 1291
    - Unterwalden, founding canton  named in the Federal Charter of 1291, later split into  Obwalden and  Nidwalden
- 14th century: expansion to the _Achtörtige Eidgenossenschaft_ following the battles of Morgarten and Laupen:
    - Lucerne, city canton, since 1332
    - Zürich, city canton, since 1351
    - Glarus, rural canton, since 1352
    - Zug, city canton, since 1352
    - Bern, city canton, since 1353; associate since 1323
- 15th century: expansion to the _Zehnörtige Eidgenossenschaft_ following the Burgundian Wars:
    - Fribourg, city canton, since 1481; associate since 1454
    - Solothurn, city canton, since 1481; associate since 1353
- 16th century: expansion to the _Dreizehnörtige Eidgenossenschaft_  following the Swabian War:
    - Basel, city canton, since 1501
    - Schaffhausen, city canton, since 1501; associate since 1454
    - Appenzell, rural canton, since 1513; associate since 1411; later split into  Appenzell Innerrhoden and  Appenzell Ausserrhoden

## Further reading

- Aubert, J.-F.: _Petite histoire constitutionnelle de la Suisse_, 2nd ed.; Francke Editions, Bern, 1974.
- Marabello, Thomas Quinn (2023). "The Origins of Democracy in Switzerland," S_wiss American Historical Society Review_, Vol. 59: No. 1. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol59/iss1/4
- Peyer, H. C.: _Verfassungsgeschichte der alten Schweiz_, Schulthess Polygraphischer Verlag, Zürich, 1978. .

## Infobox (country)

- **native name**:

- **conventional long name**: Swiss Confederacy
- **common name**: Swiss Confederacy
- **image map**: Swiss Confederacy (1714).svg
- **image flag**: Early Swiss cross.svg
- **flag**: Flag_of_Switzerland#Middle_Ages
- **government type**: Confederation
- **flag type**:

- **flag size**: 100px
- **image coat**: 13 cantons 1577.png
- **coa size**: 100px
- **status**: Confederation
- **legislature**: Tagsatzung, Federal Diet
- **religion**: Catholic Church in Switzerland, Roman Catholic
Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continental Reformed
- **year start**: 1291
- **year end**: 1798
- **life span**: 1291–1798
- **official languages**: German language, German
- **event pre**: Death of Rudolph I of Germany, Rudolf I
- **date pre**: 15 July 1291
- **event1**: Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV's Golden Bull of 1356, Golden Bull
- **date event1**: 1356
- **event2**: Battle of Marignano
- **date event2**: 13–14 September 1515
- **event3**: Wars of Kappel
- **date event3**: 1529 and 1531
- **event4**: Peace of Westphalia, Formal independence from the Holy Roman Empire, HRE
- **date event4**: 15 May/24 October 1648
- **event5**: Swiss peasant war of 1653, Swiss peasant war
- **date event5**: January–June 1653
- **event end**: French invasion of Switzerland, Collapse
- **date end**: 5 March
- **p1**: House of Habsburg
- **p2**: House of Zähringen
- **p3**: House of Kyburg
- **p4**: House of Werdenberg
- **p5**: Imperial Abbey of Saint Gall
- **p6**: Duchy of Milan
- **p7**: Barony of Vaud
- **p8**: Duchy of Burgundy
- **p9**: Holy Roman Empire
- **currency**: About 75 different local currencies, including Basel thaler, Berne thaler, Fribourg gulden, Geneva thaler, Geneva genevoise, Luzern gulden, Neuchâtel gulden, St. Gallen thaler, Schwyz gulden, Solothurn thaler, Valais thaler, Zürich thaler
- **s1**: Helvetic Republic
- **flag s1**: Flag of the Helvetic Republic (French).svg
- **s2**: French First Republic
- **flag s2**: Flag of France.svg
- **s3**: Cisalpine Republic
- **flag s3**: Flag of the Repubblica Cisalpina.svg
- **capital**: _None_
- **demonym**: Swiss
- **today**: Switzerland