10 The Swiss and Their Neighbours, 1460–1560
neighbours who realized that unfolding events in the west—the Burgundian Wars
and the increasing influence of France in Swiss affairs—overrode long-standing
antagonisms in the north. In that light the Swiss War of 1499 should be seen as a
late and avoidable calamity which did little to alter the fundamental pattern of
coexistence already established, and which certainly did not signal a growing
perception of the Rhine as the Confederation’s ‘natural’ frontier in the north.
Whatever impact the conquest of the Aargau may have had on Swiss self-
perception, the first half of the fifteenth century was largely absorbed by Zürich’s
protracted efforts to lay claim to the extensive patrimony of the counts of
Toggenburg stretching eastwards to lordships on the Alpine Rhine. This intermit-
tent struggle, collectively dubbed the ‘Old Zürich War’ (1436–50), brought to the
surface the latent tensions between the city cantons and the original rural Forest
cantons, led by Schwyz, suspicions exacerbated by Zürich’s cordial relations with
Austria.7 While the city’s failure blocked any prospect of an overmighty canton of
disproportionate size emerging in the east (in contrast to the subsequent history
of Bern in the west), at the same time it paved the way for a diplomatic opening to
new members, not by means of political incorporation or absorption but by trea-
ties of association. Some were formal alliances, known as Burgrechte, usually for a
fixed period; others were looser protective arrangements, which might require the
signatories to admit troops in an emergency.
From 1450 onwards a veritable spate of such agreements can be observed. In
1451 the abbacy of St Gallen concluded a perpetual Burgrecht with Zürich, Luzern,
Schwyz, and Glarus, and two years later its great rival, the city of St Gallen,
succumbed to similar pressure.8 In 1452 the Appenzellers, already briefly under
the protection of the VII cantons (that is, without Bern), were elevated from their
status as perpetual rural citizens (ewige Landleute und Burger) to that of perpetual
Confederates (ewige Eidgenossen):9 these were all powers which had been directly
affected by the Old Zürich War, and who now sought stability and security by
aligning themselves to the Confederation. Then, in 1454, Schaffhausen, a city-
state of the Empire lying north of the Rhine, joined the Confederation as an
associated member (zugewandter Ort), initially for twenty-five years.10 On a local
level further, less formal agreements followed, such as those with the bishop of
Konstanz, which involved opening all his castles to the Swiss,11 and with the
7 Cf. Alois Niederstätter, Der alte Zürichkrieg. Studien zum österreichisch-eidgenössischen Konflikt
sowie zur Politik König Friedrichs III. in den Jahren 1440 bis 1446 (Forschungen zur Kaiser- und
Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters, 14) (Vienna, 1995).
8 Bruno Meyer, ‘Der Thurgau im Schwabenkrieg von 1499’, Thurgauische Beiträge zur vaterländis-
chen Geschichte, 116/117 (1979/80), 5–218, here at 7.
9 Adolf Gasser, Die territoriale Entwicklung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft 1291–1797
(Aarau/Leipzig, 1932), 74; Stettler, Eidgenossenschaft, 210.
10 The treaty of association was signed by only six cantons (Uri and Unterwalden demurred for fear
of augmenting city-canton influence). Karl Schib, ‘1291–1501: Schaffhausens Weg in die
Eidgenossenschaft’, Schaffhauser Beiträge zur vaterländischen Geschichte, 18 (1941), 5–31, here at 11.
11 Stettler, Eidgenossenschaft, 217. This Öffnungsrecht embraced castles on both banks of the Rhine.
It was concluded despite the fact that the bishop had placed himself under his protection seven years
earlier and had become one of Archduke Sigismund’s councillors!