The Old Swiss Confederacy: The Heyday of Switzerland's Finest Coins

The Switzerland we know today is a product of the 19th century. Its predecessor was a confederacy of various cities and rural regions. All these political entities enjoyed internal autonomy and held the right to mint their own coins. This is what makes Swiss numismatics such an interesting topic for a collection.

At some point in the early 13th century, the inhabitants of three predominantly rural regions began to draw closer to one another. They formed defensive alliances and granted their citizens mutual legal protection. Much later, this rather coincidental event became the subject of a mythologized narrative of an alliance of free Swiss people against the (non-existent) encroachments of the Habsburgs.

The term “Eidgenossenschaft” (confederacy) for Switzerland originates from this era. A confederacy is a community of equals bound together – in this case, by an oath. This is what “Eid” (oath) in the German word “Eidgenossenschaft” refers to.

If you wish to imagine this fluid structure of constantly shifting alliances and treaties, you must forget everything you know about modern states, their constitutions, institutions and legal systems. The Old Confederacy was held together by a bewildering profusion of treaties that were adhered to when expedient and forgotten when inconvenient.

How the Old Confederacy Came About

The year 1291 is now considered the date of the so-called “Rütli Oath”, though modern historians dismiss it as a myth. Still, the so-called Federal Charter is still on display in Schwyz today. In fact, it is nothing more than one of many agreements on mutual support commonly concluded in the High Middle Ages.

The towns of Central Switzerland – Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden – used it to defend their shared interests. They were situated at the foot of the mountain passes between Italy and the Holy Roman Empire that were used by merchants and armies, enabling local inhabitants to engage in lucrative trade. Other cities and regions joined this early alliance of convenience.

In old auction catalogs of Swiss coins, you will see that the minting authorities are not listed alphabetically but rather according to the date they joined the Swiss Confederacy.

The following dates are considered authoritative:

1291 / Uri
1291 / Schwyz
1291 / Unterwalden (Obwalden / Nidwalden)
1332 / Lucerne
1351 / Zurich
1352 / Glarus
1352 / Zug
1353 / Bern
1481 / Fribourg
1481 / Solothurn
1501 / Basel
1501 / Schaffhausen
1513 / Appenzell

The Expanded Confederacy

These “13 Orte”, as they are referred to in Switzerland – we might speak of 13 regions or 13 members –, were joined by many other territories. These can broadly be divided into three groups.

The first group are “associated regions” – the technical term is "zugewandte Orte" –, which had treaties with one or more of the original 13 members. Some of them are now cantons, such as St. Gallen, Grisons, Geneva and Neuchâtel. Others were too far away. After all, there were also “associated regions” in French Alsace and southern Germany.

The Confederacy also included “subject territories”, which were the lands conquered and exploited by cities such as Basel, Bern, Lucerne or Zurich. Aargau and Thurgau are good examples of this. Their names indicate that they were given not before the French rule. The first syllable refers to the river flowing through them; the second – the German “gau” – means region.

Last but not least, there were the “shared territories”, i.e., territories that were administered jointly by all 13 members.

This means that you can imagine the Old Swiss Confederacy as a mixture of many towns and regions, bishoprics and abbeys, imperial knights and foreign rulers who sometimes cooperated – and sometimes did not.

The Federal Diet

The linchpin of the Old Swiss Confederacy was the federal diet (Tagsatzung). A specific day was set on which the envoys would meet at a particular location to discuss the most important issues. Although the federal diet did not possess any real powers, the elite usually managed to find a compromise through discussion that everyone could accept.

Administration of Justice, Privileges and Fiscal Authority

In other words: each constituent part of the Old Swiss Confederacy was an independent small state that enjoyed all the rights and privileges normally associated with states. Anyone living in Basel, Bern or Zurich was subject to Basel, Bernese or Zurich law, paid Basel, Bernese or Zurich taxes and used Basel, Bernese or Zurich coins, unless their city council had expressly permitted the use of other coins.

For coin collectors, this diversity offers a colorful array of the most varied issues created by towns and regions, each trying to outdo the others in the beauty of their coins. The motifs are just as varied as the towns and regions they represent. This coinage reached a peak when the Reformed territories began to replace saints – which had previously been the main subject of their coins – with detailed townscapes.

Magnificent Coins from the Period of the Old Swiss Confederacy (The Lake View Collection – Part 1)