The Song of the Founding of the Confederation (German: Lied von der Entstehung der Eidgenossenschaft, incipit Von der Eidgnoschafft so wil jch heben an) is a patriotic song of the Old Swiss Confederacy, composed during the Burgundian Wars period (1470s). It is the oldest existing written record of a song about the Swiss national hero William Tell. It consists of stanzas of six lines each, with a rhyming scheme of A-A-B-C-C-B.
Unlike later versions of the Tell legend, the account in the song concludes with the remark that William Tell was drowned by the Austrian bailiff Albrecht Gessler in the Lake of Lucerne.[1]
The song is also known as Altes Tellenlied "Old Tell Song", in oder to distinguish it from later compositions known as Tellenlied, such as that by Hieronymus Muheim (1613) or that by Johann Caspar Lavater (1767).
Composition
The Song of the Founding of the Confederation was composed by an anonymous poet around 1477.[2] It was printed for the first time in 1545 by Augustin Fries under the title of Ein hüpsch lied vom ursprung der Eydgnoschaft und dem ersten Eydgnossen Wilhelm Thell genannt, ouch von dem bundt mit sampt einer Eydgnoschafft wider hertzog Karle von Burgund, und wie er erschlagen ist worden.[3] A later edition printed by Johann Schröter in 1623 gives a variant text with 35 stanzas.
Although Max Wehrli, the last editor of the text supposes that this song was composed in the canton of Uri (Uri being mentioned explicitly in stanza 2 as the site of Tell's apple-shot and the place of origin of the Confederacy), the geographical origin of this early William Tell song is still a matter of debate.[4]
Structure and Synopsis
The standard version of the Song of the Founding of the Confederation comprises 30 stanzas, each containing six lines.[4] The first nine stanzas explore the foundation and growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy, the expulsion of the foreign bailiffs as well as the story of William Tell's heroic defiance of Gessler.[4] The stanzas 10 to 18 describe the merits of the Swiss Confederacy.
Stanzas 14 and 15 enumerate the eight cantons (Acht Ort) that formed the Confederacy up to 1480, viz. Zurich, Berne, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Glarus and Zug. Stanzas 16 to 19 of the 1623 edition are an insertion that mention further expansion of the Confederacy between 1481 and 1529: Stanza 16 has Fribourg, Solothurn, Biel, Appenzell, Schaffhausen and St. Gall, which stanza 17 includes explicitly as part of the Confederacy. Stanza 19 adds how the great popularity of the Confederacy inspired the wish in many other territories to be associated with it, stanzas 20 to 23 listing Sigmund of Austria (referring to pacts of 1477 and of 1511), the duchy of Milan (1477), the duchy of Lorraine (1476), and the five cities of Strasbourg, Colmar, Schlettstadt, Basel and Mulhouse (1529).
The final 12 stanzas focus on the Burgundian Wars.[4] The poem records the defeats of Charles the Bold at the Battle of Grandson, where he lost "silver gold and jewels", at the Battle of Murten where Charles lost 24,000 men, and finally at the Battle of Nancy where Charles himself are slain. The final stanza is a pious invocation of God asking for the future protection of the Confederacy and the salvation of the poet.
References
- Bergier, Jean-François. Wilhelm Tell: Realität und Mythos. München: Paul List Verlag, 1990.
- L. Tobler, Schweizerische Volkslieder; mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen (1882), pp. 1-5 (online edition, stanzas 1-9).
- E. L. Rochholz, Tell und Gessler in Sage und Geschichte. Nach urkundlichen Quellen (1877), pp. 180-187 (online edition, 35 stanzas).