Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Loblicher Eijdgnossschafft Pündtnussenn und Verträg, theils under sich selbsten theils mit anderen Ständen aufgericht

Authors

• Francis I, King of France, 1494-1547
• Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, 1459-1519
• Sigmund, Archduke of Austria, 1427-1496
• Hohenlandenberg, Hugo von, Bishop of Constance, 1457-1532
• Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, 1415-1493
• Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 1500-1558
• Henry IV, King of France, 1553-1610
• Blarer, Jacques-Christophe, de Wartensee, b. 1542
• Louis XI, King of France, 1423-1483
• Henry II, King of France, 1519-1559
• Henry III, King of France, 1551-1589
• Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, 1503-1564
• Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan, 1469-1494
• Charles VII, King of France, 1403-1461
• Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715
• La Barde, Jean de, marquis de Marolles-sur-Seine, d. 1692
• Escher, Heinrich, 1626-1710

Call number

Ms. Codex 1240
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 4371896
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4371896

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

German, with 3 items in French (f. 229v-231r), and Latin in legal citations and terms (f. 227r-228v), and in attestations on imperial documents

Origin

Date

after 1687

Place

Switzerland

Summary

Collection of copies of approximately 68 documents, dated 1251 to 1663 (with a few undated), related to the history of the Swiss Confederation. The majority of the documents are treaties and agreements (Pundt, Pundtbrief, Pündtnuss; Friden, Landtsfriden; Erbeinung; Einung; Verschreibung; Bestätigung; Bericht; Schreiben; Vereinigung; Kriegs Verglich; Vertrag). Some of the agreements are among the 13 cantons of the Swiss Eidgenossenschaft (Eijdgenossschafft), or Old Swiss Confederacy, as well as its associates (cities of St. Gallen, Mulhausen [Mulhouse], Rottweil; counties of Toggenburg, Neuenburg [Neuchâtel]; bishopric of Basel); and others are between certain cantons, or the Eidgenossenschaft as a whole, and other parties, including kings of France, emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, and clerics of the Catholic Church. The following kings of France are represented: Charles VII (addressee, f. 216v-217v); Louis XI (f. 162r-165v); Francis I (f. 73r-83v, 170r-175v); Henry II (f. 175v-182v); Henry III (f. 182v-191r); Henry IV (f. 132r-141r, 191r-192r); and Louis XIV (f. 229v-237v). The documents relating to Louis XIV include items signed by his ambassador to Switzerland, Jean de la Barde. The following emperors of the Holy Roman Empire are represented: Frederick III (f. 119v-124v, 216v-217r); Maximilian I (f. 84r-90v, 168r-170r); Charles V (f. 131r-v, 192r-199r, 213r-214r, 238r-242r); and Ferdinand I (f. 214r-215v). Other salient parties include: Sigmund, Duke (later Archduke) of Austria (f. 105r-v, 125r-128r, 165v-168r, 210r-213r, 217v); Hugo von Hohenlandberg, Bishop of Constance (f. 106r-108v); Jacques-Christophe Blarer de Wartensee, Bishop of Basel (f. 152r-157v); and Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan (f. 215v-216v). Among the documents of a different nature from the agreements are 2 concerning Heinrich Escher, mayor of Zurich (1678-1710), that appear to relate to Escher's diplomatic mission at the court of Louis XIV in 1687, as emissary of the cantons of Zurich and Bern, and the allied city of Geneva. One is a letter from him to an unidentified French minister (f. 242r-243v; dated 16-- ); the other is an undated prose narrative relating an anecdote about his refusing gifts at the French court (Wie sich Herr Burgermeister Äscher von Zürich, als man ihm zu Paris beschenken wollen, verhalten, f. 243r). Another prose piece (f. 221r-229r), also undated, is given under the rubric: Beschreibung von gemeiner Eijdgnossschafft, dero Herkommen, Gerechtigkeit und Befreijung vom Reich (rubric only in table of contents, f. 4v). It is comprised of sections on the original 13 cantons, followed by a polemical section that appears to be making an argument for the rightful independence of the Eidgenossenschaft from the Holy Roman Empire. In another instance, 2 letters addressed to King Charles VII of France are linked together under a single rubric (Wie die armen Jäckhen in das Land kommen seind, f. 216v), and are followed by summarizing remarks (f. 217v-218r) that refer to the Battle of St. Jacob an der Birs. The last document in the book concerns the Swiss peasant war of 1653 (Der rebellischen Bauren Pundtsbrieff; f. 244r-246v). The volume includes a table of contents (f. ii recto-v recto). Originally laid in at the back of the manuscript were 4 leaves bearing copies of the first 2 documents and a partial copy of the third (corresponding to f. 1r to mid 5r), possibly contemporary but in a different hand.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title from title page (f. i recto).
   
• The accompanying 4 leaves are found in a separate folder shelved with the manuscript.
   

Extent

284 leaves : 318 x 205 (285-295 x 145-150) mm. bound to 332 x 220 mm. +

Foliation

Paper, iii + 251 + xxx; [i-v], 1-246; contemporary foliation in ink, upper right recto. Four leaves laid in at back.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary calf (Zacour-Hirsch).

Layout

Written in 32-35 long lines; left and right vertical bounding lines ruled in lead.

Script

Written in a German cursive script.

Provenance

• Sold at auction at Haus der Bücher (Basel), auction 48, 3/20-1, lot 923, by E. Kistner (Nuremberg), 1972.
   

Genres

• Codices
• Government records
• Manuscripts, German--17th century
• Manuscripts, European

Licenses

• Text

  This description is ©2016 University of Pennsylvania Libraries. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

• Text

  All referenced images and their content are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/