The Old Swiss Confederacy began as a late medieval alliance between the communities of the valleys in the Central Alps, at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire, to facilitate the management of commo
1550 illustration for the Sempacherbrief of 1393, one of the major alliance contracts of the Old Swiss Confederacy
The Devil's bridge, first built in the 13th century, completed the road over the St. Gotthard Pass. A stone bridge from the 1500s was damaged by war and later destroyed by a flood in 1888. This photo shows a second stone bridge, built in 1826, and above it a third bridge from 1958.
The Federal Charter of 1291
Illustration from the late fifteenth century of the Battle of Laupen. The confederate forces are on the right.
Cantons of Switzerland
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The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the Wal
Growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy
…through the mountains. The Hohenstaufen emperors had granted these valleys reichsfrei status in the early 13th century. As reichsfrei regions, the cantons (or regions) of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden were under the direct authority of the emperor without any intermediate liege lords and thus were largely…
The 22 cantonal coats of arms (all but Jura, with the half-cantons represented jointly) in stained glass set in the dome of the Federal Palace of Switzerland (c. 1900)
Caricature of the division of Basel, 1833