Author: Maarten Koning

The Roots of Habsburg

It is hard to imagine, but even the prestigious House of Habsburg has a beginning. The roots are in Aargau (Switzerland) and southern Alsace (France).

The first and most important source is the Acta Murensia. This document is a chronological record of the foundation of the Muri monastery (canton of Lucerne) around 1160. The Counts of Habsburg were the founders.

(Staatsarchiv Aargau, Aarau, AA/4947).

The document also mentions their other possessions, including the Habsburg castle in Habichtsburg (Habsburg) and the Wildegg castle in Aargau, estates in Alsace (especially the Ottmarsheim and Murbach monasteries), properties in Baden-Breisgau and the Kaiserstuhl region, and locations between Lake Zug and Lake Lucerne.

Breisach

The Habsburgs appear in early documents in the context of feudal relations. They received offices and land as compensation and a reward for their military and political contributions to the Holy Roman Emperor. The connection with the royal house of the Hohenstaufen runs like a thread through the Habsburgs’ history from 1137 to 1254.

Rudolf IV of Habsburg (1218-1291) rose from count to king. He succeeded his father in 1240 and became king in 1273. By then, the Habsburgs were a powerful dynasty in Switzerland, but kinghood and emperorship did not protect them.

Tarasp

Rhäzuns

After several devastating defeats on the battlefield ( in 1315, 1386, 1415 and 1460), the political and military presence was over in 1499, except for influence through abbeys and bishops and a few scattered possessions, including the Fricktal (until 1803, afterwards canton Aargau), Rhäzuns (until 1819), Tarasp (until 1803) and the Lower Engadin (until 1652) in canton Graubünden.

(Source: B. Meier, Ein Königshaus aus der Schweiz, Baden 2010).

The Landskron, regional History from European Perspective

At the end of the 13th century, the Landskron castle was built by the Münch dynasty from Basel. This strategically important place on the mountain of this name (about 530 m above sea level) dominated the route along the northern foot of the Jura. The Romans already recognised its excellent location and built a watchtower at this spot.

The Landskron, Münchenstein and Basel

The name Landskron was first mentioned in 1312 as Lantzkrone. The Münch family belonged to the city nobility of Basel and served the prince-bishop. They also built a castle in Münchenstein (hence the name of this town) near Basel (today the canton of Basel-Landschaft).

Emanuel Büchel (1705-1775), Münchenstein castle and Kirche, 1754.

The castle and the church in 2023

Three members of this family were bishops, and others held the position of mayor of Basel. The castle is located near the French village of Leymen in Alsace.

In 1461, the Landskron came into the possession of the Reich von Reichenstein family, also known for the miracle painting in the Reichenstein chapel in Mariastein (canton Solothurn). This family was also in the service of the prince bishop and (thus) of Habsburg, emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. They expanded the Landskron into a comfortable residence.

The Landskron, fragment from the Mirakelbild in the Reichensteinischer chapel of Mariastein 

Habsburg and France

At the request of Emperor Maximilian (1459-1519) of the Holy Roman Empire, they rebuilt the castle into a fortress with walls 5 to 7 meters thick. This defensive work was mainly directed against the Swiss Confederation and the canton of Solothurn in particular. The sandstone slab with the Habsburg imperial eagle and the date 1516 at the vaulted entrance refers to this work. The entrance still leads through a seven-meter-thick wall.

The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 brought a turning point. Alsace and thus the Landskron became part of the Kingdom of France. The Landskron became a garrison, and in 1687 and 1688, the fortress was extended according to plans by the famous fortress builder Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707). His forts, including Belfort and Breisach, are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Emanuel Büchel (1705-1775), Landskron, 1754.

Finally, from 1690 until the Revolution in 1789, the castle also served as a prison for political prisoners. The prominent prisoner was Bernard Duvergez de Soubardon (1737-1790). He had returned to France as an officer after losing the French colony of Louisiana. He lived at the royal court in Versailles. He was arrested in 1769 and imprisoned in the Landskron. The reason was a love affair with a court lady. King Louis XV (1710-1774) did not appreciate it. He died shortly after his release in 1790. It was already a scandal in 1769.

Duvergez de Soubardon in prison (reconstruction)

The end and a new beginning

The castle’s end came in 1813, when allied troops, who had defeated Napoleon near Leipzig on October 16-19 in the Battle of the Three Emperors, destroyed the castle. Only the 500-year-old tower, the Bergfried, remained. In 1984, the castle came into the possession of the Franco-Swiss association Pro Landskron, which undertook its restoration and maintained the complex.

Winemaking tradition

The first written mention of viticulture dates from 1461. A description from around 1660 reads:

” Gleich daroben ligt angeregte Vestung Landtscrone, allda es einen grossen Rebaker gibt so den besten roter Wein in selbiger Revier ausgibt ” (directly above it is the fortress of Landskron, where there is a large vineyard producing the best red wine in the region) . In 1877, the vineyard covered an area of 7.2 ha. Today, the total area is only 2.2 ha.

(Source and further information: L’Association Pro Landskron/Verein Pro Landskron).

  

Villa Senar of Rachmaninoff

In 1930, Russian composer, pianist and conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff bought a plot of land in the municipality of Hertenstein, right on Lake Lucerne in Canton Lucerne. He built the Villa Senar on this site. Senar is an abbreviation of Sergei, his wife Natalie Satina (1877-1951) and Rachmaninoff.

Rachmaninoff commissioned two architects to build the Villa Senar on the estate. The combination of the villa’s architectural value, its exceptional lakeside location and its significance because of its inhabitants makes it a monument of extraordinary value.

In late 1917, Rachmaninoff fled Russia. He composed, conducted and played successively in the United States, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, England, and France and lived in Switzerland from 1930 to 1939. At the end of August 1939, he left Europe for good and settled in the United States, where he died in Beverly Hills on 28 March 1943.

Since April 2022, the estate and villa have been owned by the Canton of Lucerne. Together with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation, the canton is developing the resort into a regional and international cultural and educational centre, making the villa and park accessible to the public and musicians.

While the canton is responsible for the maintenance and management of the buildings and park, the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation develops, organises and finances the cultural programme of the Villa Senar.

The Villa Senar houses the family’s original interior and furnishings, and even the grand piano on which Rachmaninoff practised and composed.

(Source and further information: Villa Senar)

Sgraffiti in Engadine

Engadine (canton Grisons) houses are often decorated with geometric motifs, drawings, animals or sayings. Italian artists introduced the technique in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, following the Bündner expansion into Italian territories. The artists wanted to earn money, and the fresco technique was well-known in Italy.

It was a successful export product. The technology is universal and can also be found in Africa and other parts of Europe, such as in Bohemia and on the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea.

The name graffiti means ils sgrafito in Romansh. It is a simple fresco technique that involves applying white paint directly to the mortar. Motifs can be used as long as the colour is wet. The colour difference between white and grey makes the motifs visible. Graffiti is a real art.

(Source: A. Overath, Gebrauchsanweisung für das Engadin, München, Berlin, 2017).

The Murbach Abbey

The origins of Murbach Abbey (in today’s Haut-Rhin department) go back to the time of the Merovingians in the 8th century. Around 727, Count Eberhard founded a Benedictine abbey at the foot of the highest mountain of the Vosges, le Grand Ballon, near Guebwiller (Gebweiler in Alsatian).

The abbey was dedicated to Saint Leodegarius (Sankt Leodegar in German, Saint-Léger in French). The abbey soon became the wealthiest monastery in the region, with more than 350 possessions in Alsace, the bishoprics of Strasbourg and Basel, Lucerne and on the right bank of the Rhine in present-day Baden. Lucerne, elevated to a city in 1178, was sold to the Habsburgs in 1291. Its library was also one of the most famous on the Upper Rhine.

The Leodegar Church in Lucerne

The monastery also played an important political role. In the 13th century, the abbey became a small principality in the Holy Roman Empire. The abbot was henceforth a prince-abbot. The monastery remained Catholic during the Reformation and was a Habsburg stronghold in Alsace, yet it maintained close ties to Basel’s prince-bishopric and later to Basel’s Protestant canton.

The first rector of the University of Basel in 1460 was Georg von Andlau (1399-1466), a nephew of the prince-abbot Bartholomäus von Andlau (1414-1476). During the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), the abbey’s treasures were transferred to Basel, a neutral territory.

After 1650, there was an armed conflict over Alsace between the Habsburg emperors of the Holy Roman Empire and King Louis XIV of France (1638-1715). Murbach Abbey played an essential role as a principality. However, in 1680, France also annexed this territory.

Chapel Notre-Dame de Lorette (1693)

The monks left the abbey in the 18th century and settled in Guebwiller, establishing the new monastery Notre-Dame de Saint-Léger. Murbach Abbey was demolished, and the materials were used to construct new buildings. Finally, in July 1789, peasants looted the abandoned palace of the prince-abbot. Only the abbey church was saved. A thousand years of history came to an end. However, the former abbey church of Saint Leodegar remains a jewel of Alsatian Romanesque architecture.

Guebwiller

The Notre-Dame de Saint Léger. The Abbots of Murbach, princes of the Holy Roman Empire, initiated the construction of the church around 1181. The style is Romanesque. The church is dedicated to St. Léger (Leodegar), bishop of Autun.

Le château de la Neuenbourg

The Palais for the prince-abbot was built in the 14th century, destroyed in 1789 (French Revolution), renovated in the 19th century and is a cultural centre and museum today.

(Source and further information: Ph. Legin, L’abbaye de Murbach, St. Quen 2003)

Saint Pirmin, around 727 one of the wandering Irish monks and founders of monasteries (Vivarius Peregrinorum) in the region

The Swiss Militia System

One of the essential characteristics of Swiss democracy is its militia system ( Milizsystem,  système de milice). It means that the citizens make, form and supervise the state at all levels, the res publica.

History

The system is a centuries-old concept, rooted in the “Landsgemeinde” (the cantonal assembly) of the so-called Urschweiz, specifically the cantons in central Switzerland.

Switzerland (die Schweiz ) derives its name from the canton of Schwyz. Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden concluded a treaty of cooperation around 1300. This covenant was confirmed by an oath (Eid), hence the name Eidgenossenschaft.

The (male) inhabitants had the last say in the Landsgemeinde. The (male) citizens voted by raising their hands on a square in the commune. (Nowadays, this only happens in the cantons of Glarus and Appenzell Innerrhoden).

Constitution

The militia system is one of the pillars of Swiss democracy, along with direct democracy, federalism and the composition of the government (Konkordanzsystem and Zauberformel).

Citizens actively participate in political decision-making in executive bodies at the local level, in the Confederation parliaments (in the National Council (Nationalrat) or the Council of States (Ständerat)), cantons and municipalities, and in numerous committees in municipalities, cantons and at the national level.

The parade of the Basel Tattoo, September 2022, with veterans of the highly respected militia army

This idea of participation is reflected in the Federal Constitution (Art. 6):

Individual and Social Responsibility. Each person assumes responsibility for him/herself and contributes according to his/her ability to fulfil the tasks in the state and society.

(Individuelle und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung. Jede Person nimmt Verantwortung für sich selber wahr und trägt nach ihren Kräften zur Bewältigung der Aufgaben im Staat und in der Gesellschaft bei.

Militia work represents a form of voluntary political participation. The work is unpaid, although participants receive an allowance. They (the participants)  do not make a living from politics and are not professional politicians.

Militia work differs from voluntary work in associations, clubs, schools, or organisations. It is always a part-time political activity for the state (the Confederation, the canton, or the municipality).

The militia system promotes and strengthens political participation at the federal level, as well as in cantons and municipalities.

This culture of participation reduces the distance between the political elite and the citizens. The Citizens also come into contact with politics at an early stage.

The system also promotes the legitimacy of political decisions. The citizens are the politicians: there is less state bureaucracy and lower state expenses.

Geneva, September 2022

Functioning

Citizens participate as volunteers or part-time municipal, cantona,l or federal politicians. This involves a wide range of activities in governments, parliaments, councils, and other state organisations, such as the army.

Politicians at the federal, cantonal, or municipal level are, in theory, part-time politicians. They often exercise another profession in addition to their political office. Thus, the citizens have not delegated politics to a political cast; they are the politicians. The fact that many politicians earn their income in politics does not detract from this principle.

However, it is increasingly complex to find (qualified) candidates for political office, and the system is under pressure for various reasons, such as media attention and stress, individualisation, professionalisation, globalisation and individual hedonism in a prosperous country.

Geneva, September 2022

Advantages and disadvantages

The system’s advantages more than outweigh its disadvantages. First and foremost, the system fosters cohesion among the various social groups and networks. Many politicians have the essential experience, knowledge, and commitment. They do not belong to the political or bureaucratic establishment. The quality of politicians is often of a high level.

Citizens and the media have a critical attitude towards the political and bureaucratic system. This attitude is based on the view that the perfect state does not exist. For this reason, citizens take responsibility and participate in politics.

This critical attitude also exists in the media concerning, among other things, the European Union. The media are certainly not an echo of each other and the establishment. ‘Alternativlosigkei’ has no place in the Swiss political system.

Conclusion

The age-old “Milizsystem” is not outdated, but rather very modern, particularly in today’s digital age. Citizens do not see the (central) government as an ‘enemy’ but as a democracy for and by the citizens. They are the government.

The second principle is decentralisation. The ‘Heimat’, ‘Ort’, and Canton are the most important references to citizens, not (abstract) geographical spaces and (utopian) ideologies.

It does not alter the fact that the “Milizsystem” is under pressure. This res publica can only exist with the active participation of the citizens.

(Source: M. Freitag, P. Bundi, F. Witzig, Milizarbeit in der Schweiz, Basel 2019).

Bern, House of the Cantons

Zwingen Castle

Zwingen Castle (Canton Basel-Landschaft) is a moated castle built on the rocky banks of two small islands of the Birse. The main building and the palace complex were built in 1248.

They have been renovated several times. Three bridges still connect the two islands with the village. The chapel is dedicated to St. Oswald. The current building dates from the beginning of the 18th century.

The rectangular building with a gable roof was built in 1561 as a granary. The barn built in 1609 – 1610 is the only remaining farm building of the complex.

(Source and further information: Verein Schloss Zwingen) 

Upper Rhine Region Cooperation

The president of the Collectivité européenne d’Alsace (CeA), Frédéric Bierry, and the president of the government of the Basel-Stadt canton, Beat Jans, signed a letter of intent last March to intensify cross-border cooperation and relations between the two regions.

The agreement covers European policy, climate and energy, healthcare, urban development, infrastructure and mobility, bilingualism, and regional dialects.

Baden-Württemberg and Canton Basel-Stadt signed a similar declaration of intent in April 2022. These declarations represent a significant step forward in cooperation between these regions.

They cover many areas of cross-border cooperation. These include further developing the INFOBEST network into a cross-border service centre and intensifying cooperation within the Trinational Eurodistrict Basel (TEB) structure.

(Source and further information: Regio Basiliensis)

The Sent writing school

Sent, a village in the Lower Engadine (Canton Graubünden), is on a sunny terrace above the Inn River. Concerts are regularly held and readings and exhibitions are organised between the farmhouses and palazzi. The Not Vital sculpture park also attracts many guests.

The Sent writing school (Schreibschule Sent) offers courses for all those who like to read or write. The focus is on creative writing. The school allows a look at the Romansh language in all classes (Vallader for the Lower Engadine and Puter for the Upper Engadine).

There is also a special offer for people interested in learning the mother tongue of the Lower Engadin.

Rumantschas e rumantschs sun eir cordialmaing invidats!

(Source and further information: www.schreibschule-sent.ch)