Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

LUCERNE (Ger. Luzern; Ital. Lucerne)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 97 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

LUCERNE (Ger. Luzern; Ital. Lucerne) , one of the cantons of central See also:Switzerland. Its See also:total See also:area is 579.3 sq. m., of which 53o•2 sq. m. are classed as " productive " (forests covering 120.4 sq. m., and vineyards •o4 sq. m.). It contains no glaciers or eternal snows, its highest points being the Brienzer Rothhorn (7714 ft.) and See also:Pilatus (6995 ft.), while the Rothstock See also:summit (5453 ft.) and the Kaltbad See also:inn, both on the Rigi, are included in the See also:canton, the loftiest point of the Rigi range (the See also:Kulm) being entirely in See also:Schwyz. The shape of the canton is an irregular See also:quadrilateral, due to the See also:gradual acquisition of rural districts by the See also:town, which is its See also:historical centre. The See also:northern portion, about 151 sq. m., of the See also:Lake of Lucerne is in the canton. Its See also:chief See also:river is the See also:Reuss, which flows through it for a See also:short distance only receiving the Kleine Emme that flows down through the Entlebuch. In the northern See also:part the Wigger, the Suhr and the Wynen streams flow through shallow valleys, separated by See also:low hills. The canton is fairly well supplied with See also:railways. The lakes of See also:Sempach and Baldegg are wholly within the canton, which also takes in small portions of those of Hallwil and of See also:Zug. In 1900 the See also:population numbered 146,519, of which 143,337 were See also:German-speaking, 2204 See also:Italian-speaking and 747 See also:French-speaking, while 134,020 were Romanists, 12,085 Protestants and 319 See also:Jews.

Its See also:

capital is Lucerne (q.v.); the other towns are Kriens (pop. 5951), Willisau (4131), Ruswil (3928), Littau (3699), Emmen (3162) and Escholzmatt (3127). The peasants are a See also:fine See also:race, and outside the chief centres for See also:foreign visitors have retained much of their See also:primitive simplicity of See also:manners and many See also:local costumes. In the Entlebuch particularly the men are of a robust type, and are much devoted to See also:wrestling and other athletic exercises. That See also:district is mainly See also:pastoral and is famous for its See also:butter and See also:cheese. Elsewhere in the canton the pastoral See also:industry (including See also:swine-breeding) is more extended than See also:agriculture, while chiefly in and around Lucerne there are a number of See also:industrial establishments. The industrie See also:des strangers is greatly See also:developed in places frequented by foreign visitors. The population as a whole is Conservative in politics and devotedly Romanist in See also:religion. But owing to the See also:settlement of many non-Lucerne hotel-keepers and their servants in the town of Lucerne the capital is politically See also:Radical. The canton ranks officially third in the Swiss See also:confederation next after See also:Zurich and See also:Bern. It was formerly in the See also:diocese or See also:Constance, and is now in that of See also:Basel. It contains 5 administrative districts and 107 communes.

The existing cantonal 529 French-speaking persons) and Romanists (in 1900 there were 4933 Protestants and 299 Jews). The See also:

nucleus of the town was a See also:Benedictine monastery, founded ab out 750 on the right See also:bank of the Reuss by the See also:abbey of Murbach in See also:Alsace, of which it See also:long remained a " See also:cell." It is first mentioned in a See also:charter of 84o under the name of " Luciaria," which is probably derived from that of the See also:patron See also:saint of the monastery, St Leger or Leodegar (in O. Ger. Leodegar or Lutgar)—the See also:form " Lucerrun " is first found in 1252. Under the See also:shadow of this monastery there See also:grew up a small See also:village. The germs of a municipal constitution appear in 1252, while the growing See also:power of the Habsburgs in the neighbourhood weakened the ties that See also:bound Lucerne to Murbach. In 1291 the Habsburgs finally See also:purchased Lucerne from Murbach, an See also:act that led a few See also:weeks later to the See also:foundation of the Swiss Confederation, of which Lucerne became the See also:fourth member (the first town to be included) in 1332. But it did not get rid of all traces of See also:Habsburg domination till after the glorious victory of Sempach (1386). That victory led also to the gradual acquisition of territory ruled by and from the town. At the See also:time of the See also:Reformation Lucerne slave to the old faith, of which ever since it has been the See also:great stronghold in Switzerland. The papal See also:nuncio resided here from 16o1 to 1873. In the 16th See also:century, as elsewhere in Switzerland, the town See also:government See also:fell into the hands of an aristocratic See also:oligarchy, whose power, though shaken by the great See also:peasant revolt (1653) in the Entlebuch, lasted till 1798.

Under the Helvetic See also:

republic (1798-1803) Lucerne was the seat of the central government, under the Act of See also:Mediation (1803-1814) one of the six " Directorial " cantons and from 1815 to 1848 one of the three ruling cantons. The patrician government was swept away by the cantonal constitution of 1831. But in 1841 the Conservatives regained power, called in the See also:Jesuits (1844) and so brought about the Sonderbund See also:War (1847) in which they were defeated, the decisive See also:battle taking See also:place at Gisikon, not far from Lucerne. Since 1848 Lucerne has been in disfavour with the Radicals who See also:control the federal government, and has not been chosen as the site of any great federal institution. The Radicals lost power in the canton in 1871, after which date the Conservatives became predominant in the canton, though in the town the Radicals were in the See also:majority. See J. J. Blumer, Staats-und Rechtsgeschichte d. schweiz. Demokratien (3 vols., St See also:Gall, 1850–1859) ; A. L. Gassmann, Das Volkslied See also:im Luzerner Wiggerthal u. See also:Hinterland (Basel, 1906) ; Geschichtsfreund (See also:organ of the Historical Society of the See also:Forest Cantons) from 1843.

A. von Liebenau, Charakterbilder aus Luzern's Vergangenheit (2 vols., Lucerne, 1884–1891); T. von Liebenau, Das alte Luzern (Lucerne, 1881) and " Der luzernische Bauernkrieg vom 1653 " (3 articles in vols. xviii.-xx., 1893–1895, of the Jahrbuch f. Schweizerische Geschichte); Heimathkunde See also:

fur den Kanton Luzern (6 vols., Lucerne, 1867–1883) ; A. Liftoff, Sagen, Brauche, Legenden aus d. Funf Orlen (Lucerne, 1862); K. Pfyffer, Der Kanton Luzern (2 vols., 1E58–1859) and Geschichte d. Stadt u. Kanton Luzern (2 vols., new ed., 1861); A. P. von Segesser, Rechtsgeschichte d. Stadt u. Republik Luzern (4 vols., 1850–1858) and 45 Jahre (1841–1887) im Luzernischen Staatsdienst (Bern, 1887); J. See also:Sowerby, The Forest Cantons of Switzerland (See also:London, 1892). (W.

A. B.

End of Article: LUCERNE (Ger. Luzern; Ital. Lucerne)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
LUCERNE 		[next]
LUCERNE, LAKE OF

Site © 2006 - Net Industries