Early Modern Switzerland
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| History of Switzerland | |
|---|---|
| Early history | (before 1291) |
| Old Swiss Confederacy | |
| Growth | (1291–1516) |
| Reformation | (1516–1648) |
| Ancien Régime | (1648–1798) |
| Transitional period | |
| Napoleonic era | (1798–1814) |
| Restauration | (1814–1847) |
| Switzerland | |
| Federal state | (1848–1914) |
| World Wars | (1914–1945) |
| Modern history | (1945–present) |
| Topical | |
| Military history | |
The Early Modern period of Swiss history, lasting from formal independence in 1648 to the French invasion of 1798 came to be referred as Ancien Régime retrospectively, in post-Napoleonic Switzerland.
At the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the Swiss Confederacy attained legal independence from the Holy Roman Empire, although it had been de facto independent since the Swabian War in 1499. With the support of the Duke of Orléans, who was also prince of Neuchâtel and the head of the French delegation, Johann Rudolf Wettstein, the mayor of Basel, succeeded to get the formal exemption from the empire for all cantons and associates of the confederacy.
The Valtellina became a dependency of the Drei Bünde (Graubünden) again after the Treaty and remained so until the founding of the Cisalpine Republic by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797.
Political power congealed around the 13 cantons ( Bern, Zürich, Zug, Glarus, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Fribourg, Solothurn, Basel, Luzern, Schaffhausen, Appenzell) of the old confederation. During this era, the patrician families decreased in number but increased in power. Some patrician families were drawn from leadership in the Guilds or trading groups within the town. While other families grew from successful mercernary captains and soldiers. The trend toward increasing Authoritarianism conflicted with the history of public expression which grew out of the Swiss Reformation. In many regions the patrician families were unable to suppress the public assemblies but they did dominate the assemblies. The tradition of inviting the people to express their opinions died out mostly during this era.
In 1653, peasants of territories subject to Lucerne, Berne, Solothurn and Basel revolted because of currency devaluation. Although the authorities prevailed in this Swiss peasant war, they did pass some tax reforms and the incident in the long term prevented an absolutist development like it occurred at the courts of Europe. The confessional tensions remained, however, and erupted again in the Battles of Villmergen in 1656 and 1712.
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