Swiss Confederacy | |
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Flag | |
Capital | None (de jure) Schwayz (de facto) |
Largest city | Zurich |
Religion | Roman Catholicism (Official) Kafkanism, Wagnerism, Jungism also prevalent |
Government | Confederation |
• Legislature |
Tagsatzung |
Historical era | Middle Ages |
1291 | |
1489 |
The Swiss Confederacy (Modern German: Eidgenossenschaft; historically Eidgenossenschaft, after the Reformation also République des Suisses, Res publica Helvetiorum "Republic of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (cantons, German Orte or Stände) within the Holy Roman Empire. It formed during the 14th century, from a nucleus in what is now Central Switzerland, expanding to include the cities of Zürich and Berne by the middle of the century. This formed a rare union of rural and urban communes, all of which enjoyed imperial immediacy in the Holy Roman Empire.
The early Swiss Confederacy grew immensely due to its military successes and high degree of political and religious influence in the Catholic Church. Its dominance of southern Germany led to the Swiss Confederacy wielding a high degree of power across the Holy Roman Empire, largely culminating in the short-lived and controversial reign of Swiss ally Wenceslaus of Saxony, who was criticized for his pro-Swiss sympathies. By this time the Swiss Confederacy had become dominated by the House of Lenzburg, a feudal house of nobility who ruled the confederacy as a de facto oligarchy. Disputes between the Lenzburgs and their rivals the Premyslids of Bohemia, led to the Lenzburg-Premyslid War, which severally limited Swiss political and territorial ambitions in Germany, and led to the Lenzburgs being ousted from power by the Swiss people. The Lenzburgs also fostered a close connection with the Papal States and wielded significant power over the curia, which was criticized by the writers such as the Thin White Duke, and was a contributing factor to the Protestant Reformation. Despite the removal of the Lenzburgs, the Swiss Confederacy would remain officially Catholic and loyal to the Catholic side during the Forty Years' War, despite the advent of Kafkanism in and around its borders in the mid 16th century.
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