Rütlischwur

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The Rütlischwur is a legendary oath of the Old Swiss Confederacy. The oath is notably featured in the Wilhelm Tell drama of 1804 by Friedrich Schiller. This story about the oath on the Rütli, a meadow above Lake Lucerne near Seelisberg, is first mentioned in the White Book of Sarnen (1470). Its canonical form is that of the 16th century Chronicon Helveticum of Aegidius Tschudi. According to Tschudi, the three oath-takers (Eidgenossen) were Werner Stauffacher for Schwyz, Walter Fürst for Uri and Arnold of Melchtal for Unterwalden. In Friedrich Schiller's drama, this oath of the mentioned three men takes place in Walter Fürst's house in Altdorf and basically consists of a promise to meet again on 1 August on the Rütli meadow and to bring with them leading and brave men of the three cantons to decide upon a common action plan. Most notably, among the representatives of Unterwalden was Konrad Baumgarten, a free and wealthy man who has killed, in his own residence, the local Habsburg sheriff Wolfenschiessen with an axe in defence of his wife Itta Baumgarten against the sheriff's trespass and inappropriate attempts to approach her. On the other hand, William Tell refused the invitation to come to the Rütli as he was of the opinion that the strong shall act on his own and was sceptical about any common actions. Tschudi, however, dates the event to 8 November, 1307. Its historicity is uncorrobated, but also not implausible, the 1307 date falling in a period of a series of similar treaties such as the Federal Charter of 1291 and the Bund von Brunnen of 1315, the pact of Uri and Urseren of 1317, the pact with Lucerne in 1332, the Zürich guild revolution of 1336, all part of a larger communal movement finally countered by the imperial Golden Bull of 1356 and culminating in the Battle of Sempach of 1386.

[edit] Rütli-Oath in Wilhelm Tell of Friedrich Schiller

The most famous version of the oath is no doubt that found in the play "Wilhelm Tell" by Friedrich Schiller, written in 1804:

German wording	Approximate English translation
Wir wollen sein ein einzig Volk von Brüdern, in keiner Not uns trennen und Gefahr. Wir wollen frei sein, wie die Väter waren, eher den Tod, als in der Knechtschaft leben. Wir wollen trauen auf den höchsten Gott und uns nicht fürchten vor der Macht der Menschen.	We shall be a single People of brothers, we shall not part in danger and distress. We shall be free, just as our fathers were, and rather die, than live in slavery. We shall trust in God almighty and shall not fear the might of men.