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
Combatants
Swiss Confederation: Uri Schwyz Unterwalden The growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy began as an alliance between the communities of the valleys in the central Alps to facilitate the management of common interests such as free trade and to ensure the peace along the important trade routes through the mountains. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 413 × 599 pixelsFull resolution‎ (706 × 1,024 pixels, file size: 233 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Faithful reproductions of two-dimensional original works cannot attract copyright in the U.S. according to the rule in Bridgeman Art Library v. ... The Tschachtlanchronik of 1470 is one of the Swiss illustrated chronicles, compiled by Bendict Tschachtlan and Heinrich Dittlinger of Berne (now kept in Zürich). ... is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events August 13 - Louis X of France marries Clemence dAnjou. ... Image File history File links Uri-coat_of_arms. ... Uri (German:  ) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The town of   (French: , Italian: ) is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. ... Image File history File links Unterwald-coat_of_arms. ... Unterwalden is the old name for what is now two cantons in central Switzerland, south of Lake Lucerne. ...	Austria
Commanders
Werner Stauffacher	Duke Leopold I of Austria
Strength
1,500 men	3,000 to 4,000 men

On November 15, 1315, the Swiss Confederation thoroughly defeated the soldiers of Duke Leopold I of Austria in an ambush near the Morgarten pass. Leopold I (born August 4, 1290 in Vienna, died February 28, 1326 in Strassburg) was a Duke of Austria and Styria from the Habsburg family. ... is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events August 13 - Louis X of France marries Clemence dAnjou. ... Leopold I (born August 4, 1290 in Vienna, died February 28, 1326 in Strassburg) was a Duke of Austria and Styria from the Habsburg family. ...

The house of Habsburg coveted the area around the Gotthard pass in order to secure this shortest passage to Italy, while the Confederates of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden had imperial freedom letters from former emperors granting them local autonomy within the empire. Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy; also used as the flag of the Austrian Empire until the Ausgleich of 1867. ... The modern concrete span of the Devils bridge (Teufelsbrücke) across the Schöllenen Gorge replaces the older bridge below. ... Uri (German:  ) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. ... The town of   (French: , Italian: ) is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. ... Unterwalden is the old name for what is now two cantons in central Switzerland, south of Lake Lucerne. ...

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. Emperor Louis IV Louis IV of Bavaria (also known as Ludwig the Bavarian) of the House of Wittelsbach (1282 – October 11, 1347) was duke of Bavaria from 1294/1301 together with his brother Rudolf I, also count of the Palatinate until 1329 and, German king since 1314 and crowned as... Frederick the Handsome (born 1286; died January 13, 1330), from the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria as Frederick I and King of the Romans as Frederick (III). ... Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy; also used as the flag of the Austrian Empire until the Ausgleich of 1867. ... The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. ...

War broke outhdfh 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. , Einsiedeln abbey Einsiedeln abbey Lady Fountain Einsiedeln is a Benedictine monastery in Einsiedeln town, in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland, dedicated to Our Lady of the Hermits, that title being derived from the circumstances of its foundation, from which the name Einsiedeln is also said to have originated. ...

Frederick's Brother, Leopold of Austria, led an army of 3000 to 5000 men - about one third of them knights on horseback - 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. For other uses, see Knight (disambiguation) or Knights (disambiguation). ... Ägerisee (or Lake Aegeri) is a glacial lake in the Canton of Zug, Switzerland. ...

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. A historically plausible legend tells of the Knight of Huenenberg who shot an arrow into the camp of the Confederates with the attached message "watch out on St. Otmar's day at the Morgarten". Arth is a municipality in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland, situated at the southern shores of Lake Zug, consisting of three villages, Arth, Oberarth and Goldau. ...

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 about 1500 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. A chronicler described the Confederates, unfamiliar with the customs of battles between knights, as brutally butchering everything that moved and everyone unable to flee. This founded the reputation of the Confederates as barbarian, yet fierce and respectable fighters. Swedish halberds from 16th century A halberd is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 14th and 15th centuries. ...  , capital of the Swiss canton of that name, is a picturesque little town at the northeastern corner of the lake of Zug, and at the foot of the Zugerberg (992 m (3255 ft. ...

The Confederates renewed their oath of 1291 in 1314 and within forty years cities like Lucerne, Zug, Zürich and Berne joined the confederation. For other uses, see Lucerne (disambiguation). ...  , capital of the Swiss canton of that name, is a picturesque little town at the northeastern corner of the lake of Zug, and at the foot of the Zugerberg (992 m (3255 ft. ... For other uses of Zurich, see Zurich (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Berne (disambiguation). ...

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). The Battle of Sempach was fought on July 9, 1386 between Duke Leopold III of Austria and the Swiss Confederation. ...

Illustration from the Schweizer Chronik of Johannes Stumpf of 1547

Battle of Morgarten, from [1]. Woodcut from the Schweizer Chronik of Johannes Stumpf, 1547. ... Battle of Morgarten, from [1]. Woodcut from the Schweizer Chronik of Johannes Stumpf, 1547. ... Johann Stumpf (1500-1578) was an early writer on the history and topography of Switzerland. ...

See also

• Morgart

Morgart is a surname (last name). ...

References