Battle of Morgarten

Battle of Morgarten
Part of the creation of the Swiss Confederation
Illustration from the Tschachtlanchronik of 1470
Date November 15, 1315 Location Morgarten Pass Result Decisive Swiss victory
Belligerents
Swiss Confederation: Uri Schwyz Unterwalden	Archduchy of Austria
Commanders and leaders
Werner Stauffacher	Duke Leopold I of Austria
Strength
1,500 infantry and archers	5,500 infantry and 2,500 heavy cavalry

The Battle of Morgarten occurred on November 15, 1315, when a Swiss Confederation force of 1,500 infantry archers ambushed a group of Austrian soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire near the Morgarten Pass. The Swiss, led by Werner Stauffacher, thoroughly defeated the Austrians, who were under the command of Duke Leopold I of Austria.

Background

Toward the end of the thirteenth century, the House of Habsburg coveted the area around the Gotthard Pass in order to secure this shortest passage to Italy. But the Confederates of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, who had formalized the Swiss Confederation in 1291, held imperial freedom letters from former emperors granting them local autonomy within the empire.

In 1314, Duke Louis IV of Bavaria (who would become Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor) and Frederick the Handsome, a Habsburg prince, each claimed the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor. The Confederates supported Louis IV because they feared the Habsburgs would annex their countries as Habsburg property — as they already had tried to do in the late 13th century.

War broke out over a dispute between the Confederates of Schwyz and the Habsburg-protected monastery of Einsiedeln regarding some pastures, and eventually the Confederates of Schwyz conducted a raid on the monastery.

The battle

Frederick's brother, Leopold of Austria, led a large army consisting of a number of knights to crush the rebellious confederates, planning a surprise attack from south via Lake Aegeri and the Morgarten pass and counting on a complete victory over the rebellious peasants. The chronicle of Johannes von Winterthur over the battle puts the Austrian forces at 20,000 though that number is certainly inflated. Another account states that there were 9,000 men in the Austrian army, while Delbrück holds that the Austrian army was only 2,000-3,000 but mostly knights.

The Confederates of Schwyz — supported by the Confederates of Uri, who feared for their autonomy, but not supported by the Confederates of Unterwalden — expected the army in the west near the village of Arth, where they had erected fortifications. The size of the Confederate army is also disputed, with some chronicles placing it at 1,500, while others state that it was 3,000-4,000. Even if the Confederate army outnumbered the Habsburgs, they were an untrained militia against a force of well equipped and trained knights. A historically plausible legend tells of the Knight of Huenenberg who shot an arrow into the camp of the Confederates with the attached message that the Austrians would advance through Morgarten on November 15th and that the Swiss rabble should return to their homes.

The Confederates prepared a road-block and an ambush at a point between Lake Aegeri and Morgarten pass where the small path led between the steep slope and a swamp. When the men attacked from above with rocks, logs and halberds, the knights had no room to defend themselves and suffered a crushing defeat, while the foot soldiers in the rear fled back to the city of Zug. About 1,500 Habsburg soldiers were killed in the attack. A chronicler described the Confederates, unfamiliar with the customs of battles between knights, as brutally butchering everything that moved and everyone unable to flee. He records that some of the infantry would rather drown themselves in the lake than face the brutality of the Swiss. This founded the reputation of the Confederates as barbaric, yet fierce and respectable fighters.

Aftermath

Illustration from the Schweizer Chronik of Johannes Stumpf of 1547

Main article: Pact of Brunnen

Within a month of the battle, in December 1315, the Confederates renewed the oath of alliance made in 1291, initiating the phase of growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy.

In March 1316, Emperor Louis the Bavarian confirmed the rights and privileges of the Forest Cantons. However, Leopold prepared another attack against the Confederation. In response, Schwyz attacked some of the Habsburg lands and Unterwalden marched into the Bernese Oberland. Neither side was able to prevail against the other and in 1318, the isolated Forest Cantons negotiated a peace treaty with the Habsburgs, which was extended for several years. By 1323, the Forest Cantons had made alliances with Bern and Schwyz signed an alliance with Glarus for protection from the Habsburgs. Within forty years, cities including Lucerne, Zug and Zürich had also joined the confederation.

The victory of the Confederates left them in their virtual autonomy and gave them a breathing-space of some sixty years before the next Habsburg attack resulted in the Battle of Sempach (1386).

See also

• Morgart
• Battles of the Old Swiss Confederacy