4 The Swiss and Their Neighbours, 1460–1560
to the brink of implosion at the end of the 1520s. As a result, a comprehensive
history of Switzerland which dispenses with traditional pieties and does full justice
to the numerous and conflicting aspects and aims of politics within the
Confederation itself remains to be written. Much Swiss history is still coloured by
local (or cantonal) loyalties, by religious confession, or by linguistic and cultural
divisions. The present case studies are written by someone with no such axes to
grind. If the following remarks nevertheless tread upon sensitivities then the reader
should be reassured that any offence is both unintentional and impartial.