The Story of Switzerland

by Lina Hug; Richard Stead

THE KINGDOM OF BURGUNDY; THE DUCHY OF SWABIA; AND THE GERMAN EMPIRE.

(843-1100.)

The death of the great emperor brought this realm into utter confusion, the whole fabric of his wise and firm administration falling to pieces. All the heterogeneous and often refractory elements which his stern rule had kept in check burst their bounds and gained full play during the reigns of his descendants, who grew weaker and weaker, though with here and there an exception. The pretensions of the Church, which Charlemagne's own protection and fostering care had, so to speak, ushered in and strengthened; the struggles of eminent families and dynastic houses for sovereignty in the absence of one central and undisputed power; the increase of the immunities and the growth of feudalism—all these were serious difficulties for the coming rulers to cope with.

Louis the Pious, the only surviving son of Charlemagne, and heir to his crown, was clearly quite unfit to cope with these difficulties satisfactorily. The untimely distribution of the crown lands insisted on by the imperious Judith, his second wife, in favour of her own son, and the protracted struggles between the imperial princes, steeped the realm in intestine wars, and in the end led to its dissolution. It is impossible in this short sketch to follow to his tragical end this unworthy son of a great father. The treaty of Verdun (843) settled the bloody conflicts, but split the empire into three new dominions; the East Frankish realm devolving on Louis the German: the West Frankish kingdom falling to Charles the Bald; and the middle district, including Italy and the strip of land between the two first divisions just mentioned, and comprising Provence, Burgundy, Lorraine, and the Netherlands. This last realm fell to Lothair.

The treaty of Verdun, to which the French and German States trace their origin, also effected the most sweeping changes in Helvetia, and altered greatly its political aspect. The country was rent into two halves, East Switzerland, forming the Aare, with Chur-Rhætia, being incorporated with the East Frankish kingdom; and West Helvetia and the Valais with Lorraine or the middle kingdom. This naturally tended to revive the national antagonism between the two Helvetias.

Freed from the iron hand which had crushed all attempts at insurrection, the peoples began again their struggles for the recovery of national independence and separate rule, and thence came the restoration of the kingdom of Burgundy and the Duchy of Alamannia, or Swabia.[19] Burgundy was the first to make sure of her national freedom. On the death of Lothair in 855 his kingdom fell to pieces. Count Boso, of Vienna, his relative, founded the kingdom of Burgundy without Helvetia, 879 (Provence or Arles—Arelatisches Reich). After fruitless attempts by various Burgundian nobles to establish their sovereignty within Helvetia, a renowned nobleman, Rudolf, of the illustrious house of the Guelfs, set up as a pretender to Swiss Burgundy, after the precedent of Count Boso. Rudolf possessed vast estates in Swabia, on Lake Constance. He had sworn allegiance to Charles III. (the "Stout"), who, weak as he was, had, strange to say, once more united the Empire under his sceptre. On his death, in 888, Rudolf the Guelf was crowned king at St. Maurice, the venerable abbey-town in the Low-Valais, by a large assembly of Burgundian bishops and nobles. Thus was established the Helvetian kingdom of Upper or New Burgundy (Burgundia transjurans), which seems to have extended into Lorraine and Savoy. In 933 both Burgundies were united.

Rudolf not only maintained his independence against the aggressive spirit of intruding neighbours, but carried his victories into East Helvetia, as far as Lake Zurich, and on his death in 912 his crown passed without opposition to his son Rudolf II. This king had inherited his father's great abilities and restless habits, which engaged him in numerous wars. His greatest martial achievement was the defeat of the Hungarians, who were making their fearful inroads into Europe. In East Helvetia, however, his advance was checked by Burkhard I., Duke of Alamannia, who routed him at Winterthur, near Zurich, in 919. Led no doubt by their mutual admiration for each other's prowess, and by common political interests, they made peace and contracted a lasting friendship. To seal the union between the two Helvetias, Burkhard gave his lovely daughter, Bertha, in marriage to the Burgundian king, and gave her as dowry the land between the Aare and the Reuss, the district for which he had been contending. He even followed Rudolf on his expedition to Italy, and fell in a skirmish whilst succouring his son-in-law. But Rudolf was unable to maintain the authority of his Italian crown, and exchanged his claim to Lombardy for the kingdom of Lower Burgundy (Provence) in 933; this arrangement was, however, much contested.

When not engaged in wars he assisted his queen in her good works. The Burgundian kings as yet had no fixed residence, and moved from place to place on their royal estates—to Lausanne, Payerne, Yverdon, Solothurn, or Lake Thun. When making these rounds Rudolf loved to do as the judges of Israel of old—to seat himself under the shade of a fine oak and deal out justice to whoever might come near and appeal to him. Yet the memory of this good king is almost eclipsed by the glory of his wife, the famous "Spinning Queen," and her wisdom and ministry amongst the poor.

Things went less pleasantly with the Alamanni. Their efforts to restore separate or self-government—the passionate yearning for national independence innate in the German tribes has done much to bring about the division of the German Empire into its many kingdoms, principalities, and duchies—met with far steadier and more violent opposition than was the case with the Burgundians.

Under the pacific rule of Louis the German (843-876) the Alamanni enjoyed the benefits of his peaceful tendencies, and we hear of no attempts at insurrection. This sensible and practical monarch left to East Helvetia the "remembrance of him in good works." Two things brought him into close relations with this country—his founding of the Abbey of our Lady at Zurich, where he installed his daughters Hildegard and Bertha, as has been stated before; and his benefactions to St. Gall, which he freed from the overlordship of Constance. Indeed, the chronicler of this latter institution, Notker, Monachus S. Gallensis, would seem to have been fascinated by his personal charms and affable manners. Promoted to the position of an independent abbey, owing allegiance to none but the king himself, and enriched by continual grants of land on the part of pious donors, St. Gall developed into a flourishing monastic commonwealth. The peaceful colony of thrifty and studious monks—Benedictines they were—who, like their Irish founder, combined manual labour with learned contemplation, earnest study, and literary skill—form a society quite unique in its way. The holy men "conjure into their cells the departed spirits of classical antiquity,"[20] and hold free intercourse with them; given to ecclesiastical learning, whilst not neglectful of profane studies, these learned and high-bred scholars constitute a truly mediæval university. Their life and character is vividly set before us by their chroniclers.