Early modern democracy in the Grisons
Subtitle: social order and political language in a Swiss mountain canton, 1470-1620
By: Randolph C. Head.
Series: Cambridge studies in early modern history
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York, NY, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 287
Subjects: Democracy -- Switzerland -- Graubünden -- History.; Graubünden (Switzerland) -- History.
Description: The Freestate of the Three Leagues in the Grisons, a rural confederation in the Swiss Alps, was one of the most unusual political entities found in early modern Europe.

In the sixteenth century, its inhabitants enjoyed popular sovereignty and remarkable local autonomy, and many of them insisted on political equality among citizens, and on political leaders' responsibilities to their communities. The author uses pamphlets and political documents to trace the Freestate's evolution, focusing on its institutional structure and on the political language used by its inhabitants.

This language included radical statements about "democracy" and rule by the "common man." Even so, the Freestate participated in contemporary European political developments; but because it was different, it provides new perspectives on political ideas in sixteenth-century Europe. The Rhaetian Freestate was not typical, but rather represents a political culture distinct from both absolutism and later liberal ideas.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-280) and index.