Wars

The League Enlarged to Thirteen Members.

With the object of strengthening the northern border of the Confederation, two more full members were admitted in isoi—Basle and Schaff hausen—on the same terms as Fribourg and Soleure. The city of Basle had originally been ruled by its bishop, but early in the 14th century it became a free imperial city; before 1501 it had made no permanent alliance with the Confederation, though it had been in continual relations with it. Schaffhausen had grown up round the Benedictine monastery of All Saints, and became in the early 13th century a free imperial city, but was mortgaged to Austria from 133o to 1415. It bought its freedom in 1418 and became an "associate" of the Confederation in 1454. A few years later, in 1513, Appenzell, which in 1411 had become a "pro tected" district, and in 1452 an "associate" member of the Con federation, was admitted as the thirteenth full member.

Conquests in Italy.

In the first years of the 16th century the influence of the Confederates south of the Alps was largely ex tended. The system of giving pensions, in order to secure the right of enlisting men within the Confederation, and of capitula tions, by which the different members supplied troops, was orig inated by Louis XI. in 1474, and later followed by many other princes. Though a tribute to Swiss valour, this practice had very evil results, of which the first-fruits were seen in the Milanese troubles (150o-16), of which the following is a summary. Both Charles VIII. (1484) and Louis XII. (1499 for ten years) re newed Louis XI.'s treaty. The French attempts to gain Milan were largely carried on by the help of Swiss mercenaries, some of whom were on the opposite side; and, as brotherly feeling was still too strong to make it possible for them to fight against one another, Lodovico Sforza's Swiss troops shamefully betrayed him to the French at Novara (i500). In 150o, too, the three Forest districts occupied Bellinzona (with the Val Blenio) at the request of its inhabitants, and in 1503 Louis XII. was forced to cede it to them. He, however, of ten held back the pay of his Swiss troops, and treated them as mere hirelings, so that when the ten years' treaty came to an end Matthew Schinner, bishop of Sitten (or Sion), induced them to join (1510) the pope, Julius II., then en gaged in forming the Holy League to expel the French from Italy. But when, of ter the battle of Ravenna, Louis XII. became all powerful in Lombardy, 20,000 Swiss poured down into the Milan ese and occupied it, Felix Schmid, the burgomaster of ZUrich, naming Maximilian (Lodovico's son) duke of Milan, in return for which he ceded to the Confederates Locarno, Val Maggia, Mendrisio and Lugano (1512), while the Raetian Leagues seized Chiavenna, Bormio and the Valtellina. In 1513 the Swiss com pletely defeated the French at Novara. Francis I. on his acces sion (1515) began to prepare to win back the Milanese, and, suc cessfully evading the Swiss awaiting his descent from the Alps, beat them in a pitched battle at Marignano near Milan (Sept. 13, 1515), which broke the Swiss power in north Italy, so that in 1516 a peace was made with France—the Valais, the Three Rae tian Leagues and both the abbot and town of St. Gall being in

cluded on the side of the Confederates. Provision was made for the neutrality of either party in case the other became involved in war, and large pensions were promised. This treaty was ex tended by another in 1521 (to which Zurich, then under Zwingli's influence, would not agree, holding aloof from the French alliance till 1614), by which the French king might, with the consent of the Confederation, enlist any number of men between 6,000 and 16,000, paying them fit wages, and the pensions were raised to 3,00o francs annually to each member of the Confederation. These two treaties were the starting-point of later French inter ference with Swiss affairs. (W. A. B. C.; X.) Zwingli.—When Zwingli came to Zurich as a preacher to the GrossmUnster (1519), Protestantism found its way into Swiss history. The Evangelical movement in Switzerland was very dif ferent from Luther's Reformation in Germany. Zwingli was no direct disciple of Luther; he belonged to the group of the human ists. He had served as a chaplain with the troops in the Milanese, in 1512 and 1515, and began his career as a political rather than as a purely religious reformer. His influence grew first over the people of Zurich (where he reformed the church and looked after the farmers in the country), and then over those towns of the League which accepted the new creed. As the movement passed over into German territory, Zwingli seriously began to build up a Protestant League which was to include the new Lutheran terri tories of the empire together with the political enemies of the House of Habsburg.

Zwingli's interference with the political affairs of Switzerland had a lasting result. The League was definitely split into two parts. The Romanist camp included the Forest cantons with Lu cerne, Zug, Soleure, Fribourg; the Evangelical camp was com posed of the great city-cantons : Zurich, Berne, Basle with Glarus, Schaffhausen, Appenzell. Naturally, this rupture meant a great loss of power to the League. Switzerland was reduced to a merely passive position in the politics of Europe. There is, however, no reason to believe that religion was the sole cause of the split be tween Evangelicals and Romanists. The deep-rooted antagonism between the purely rural districts represented by the Forest can tons in the pre-Alps and the city-cantons of the Swiss plain under lay Swiss politics from the very beginning and has an economic explanation. Just as the pre-Reformation period had witnessed the Old ZUrich War, the Reformation witnessed the war of Kap pel, where Zurich stood again in the field against the Forest districts and their allies. And again Zurich was beaten, and her great leader Zwingli slain (1531). The Reformation movement was stopped at once; it lost all its offensive spirit; much of the ground it had gained before passed into the hands of the Catholics. The second peace of Kappel (r531), though formally recognizing the existing conditions of the expansion of the new creed, made special provisions to facilitate in the "common bailiwicks" the return of the people to the old creed. Protected by the victorious party, Catholicism recaptured many a lost position.