Online Encyclopedia

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

TELL, WILLIAM

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 576 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!

TELL, See also:

WILLIAM . The See also:story of William Tell's skill in See also:shooting at and striking the See also:apple which had been placed on the See also:head of his little son by See also:order of Gessler, the tyrannical See also:Austrian See also:bailiff of See also:Uri, is so closely See also:bound up with the legendary See also:history of the origin of the Swiss See also:Confederation that they must be considered together. Both appear first in the 15th See also:century, probably as results of the See also:war for the See also:Toggenburg See also:inheritance (1436—50); for the intense hatred of See also:Austria, greatly increased by her support of the claims of See also:Zurich, favoured the circulation of stories which assumed that Swiss freedom was of immemorial antiquity, while, as the war was largely a struggle between the civic and rural elements in the Confederation, the notion that the (rural) Schwyzers were of Scandinavian descent at once separated them from and raised them above the See also:German in-habitants of the towns. The Tell story is first found in a ballad the first nine stanzas of which (containing the story) were certainly written before 1474. There is no mention made of the names of the bailiff or of his See also:master, or of the See also:hat placed on a See also:pole. Tell is called " the first Confederate," and his feat is treated as the real and only See also:reason why the Confederation was formed and the tyrants driven out of the See also:land. It is probably to this ballad that Melchior Russ of See also:Lucerne (who began his See also:Chronicle in 1482) refers when, in his See also:account (from Justinger) of the evil deeds of the bailiffs in the See also:Forest districts, he excuses himself from giving the story. He goes on to narrate how Tell, irritated by his treatment, stirred up his See also:friends against the See also:governor, who See also:castle on the See also:lake of Lucerne, when a See also:storm arose, and Tell, by reason of his See also:great bodily strength, was, after being unbound, given See also:charge of the See also:rudder on his promise to bring the See also:boat safely to land. He steers it towards a shelf of See also:rock, called in Russ's See also:time Tell's See also:Platte, springs on See also:shore, shoots the bailiff dead with his crossbow, and goes back to Uri, where he stirs up the great strife which ended in the See also:battle of See also:Morgarten. In these two accounts, which See also:form the basis of the Uri version of the origin of the Confederation, it is Tell and Tell only who is the actor and the See also:leader. We first hear of the cruelties of Austrian bailiffs in the Forest districts in the Bernese Chronicle of See also:Conrad Justinger (1420). No names or details are given, and the See also:dates are different in the two recensions of the Chronicle as " olden days before See also:Bern was founded " (i.e. before 1191) and 126o.

Several details, but only one name, are added in the De Nobilitate et Rusticitate Dialogus (cap. 33) of See also:

Felix Hemmerli, a See also:canon of Zurich, who wrote it after 1451 and before 1454; in this last See also:year he was imprisoned by the Schwyzers, whom he had repeatedly insulted and attacked in his books. According to him the men of See also:Schwyz and of See also:Unterwalden were the first to rise, those of Uri following suit much later But neither Justinger nor Hemmerli makes any allusion to Tell, or his feat. The Tell story and the " atrocities " story are first found combined in a MS. known as the See also:White See also:Book of See also:Sarnen. They are contained in a See also:short chronicle written between 1467 and 1476, probably about 1470, and based on oral tradition. Many details are given of the oppressions of the bailiffs: we hear of Gessler, of the See also:meeting of Stoupacher of Schwyz, See also:Furst of Uri, and a See also:man of Nidwalden at the Rfitli,- -in fact, the usual version of the See also:legend. To give an instance of tyranny in Uri, the author tells us the story of the refusal of " der Thall " to do reverence to the hat placed on a pole, of his feat of skill, and of his shooting the bailiff, Gessler, from behind a See also:bush in the " hollow way " near Kiissnacht. Tell is represented as being one of those who swore at the Rutli to drive out the oppressors; but the narrative of his doings is merely one incident in the See also:general See also:movement which began quite independently of him. The See also:chronology is very confused, but the events are placed after See also:Rudolf's See also:election to the See also:empire in 1273. This is the only account in which Tell is called." der Thall," which name he himself explains by saying, " If I were See also:sharp (witzig) I should be called something else and not der Tall," i.e. the simpleton or slow-witted man. (It is worthy of See also:notice that the same meaning is attributed to the name of Tokko, the See also:hero of a similar legend in Gheysmer's abridgment of the Historia Danica of Saxo Grammaticus, which may, somehow, have influenced the Swiss version.) The only other known instances of the Uri version of the legend See also:relating to the origin of the Confederation are the Latin hexameters of Glareanus (1515), in which Tell is compared to See also:Brutus as " assertor patriae, vindex ultorque tyrannum," and the Urnerspiel (composed in 1511—12), a See also:play acted in Uri, in which Russ's version is followed, though the bailiff, who is unnamed, but announces that he has been sent by See also:Albert of Austria, is slain in the " hollow way." Tell is the See also:chief of the Ri.itli leaguers, and it is his See also:deed which is the immediate occasion of the rising against the oppressors, which is dated in 1296. Mutius (1540) is the latest writer who, in his description of the origin of the Confederation, does not mention Tell and his See also:act.

The two stories are now firmly bound together; the- version contained in the White Book is the accepted one, though small additions in names and dates are often made. The task of filling up gaps, smoothing away inconsistencies, rounding off the See also:

tale, was accomplished by See also:Giles See also:Tschudi (q.v.), whose recension was adopted, with a few alterations, by Johannes von See also:Muller in his History of the Confederation (178o). In the final recension of Tschudi's Chronicle (1734-36), which, however, differs in many particulars from the See also:original draft still preserved at Zurich, we are told how Albert of Austria, with the view of depriving the Forest lands of their See also:ancient freedom, sent bailiffs (among them Gessler) to Uri and Schwyz, who committed many tyrannical acts, so that finally on 8th See also:November 1307, at the Rutli, See also:Werner von Stauffacher of Schwyz, See also:Walter Fiiret of Uri, See also:Arnold von Melchthal in Unter- 1 See also:walden, each with ten companions, among whom was William Tell, resolved on a rising to expel the oppressors, which was fixed for New Year's See also:Day 1308. A few days later (November 18) the Tell incident takes See also:place (described according to the White Book version), and on the appointed date the general rising. Tschudi thus finally settled the date, which had before varied from 126o to 1334. He utterly distorts the real See also:historical relations of the Three Lands, though he brings in many real historical names, their owners being made to perform historically impossible acts, and introduces many small additions and corrections into the story as he had received it. In particular, while in his first draft he speaks of the bailiff as Gryssler—the usual name up to his time, except in the White Book and in Stumpff's Chronicle of 1548—in his final recension he calls him Gessler, knowing that this was a real name. Later writers added a few more particulars, that Tell lived at Burglen and fought at I Iorgarten (1598), that he was the son-in-See also:law of Furst and had two sons (See also:early 18th century), &c. Johannes von Muller (178o) gave a vivid description of the See also:oath at the Riitli by the three (Tell not being counted in), and threw Tschudi's version into a See also:literary form, adding one or two names and adopting that of See also:Hermann for Gessler, calling him of " Bruneck." See also:Schiller's play (1804) gave the tale a See also:world-wide renown. The story was, on the ground of want of See also:evidence, regarded 1 as suspicious by Guilliman in a private See also:letter of 1607, and doubts were expressed by the See also:brothers Iselin (1727 and 1754) 1 and by See also:Voltaire (1754); but it was not till 1760 that the legend was definitely attacked, on the ground of its similarity to the story of Tokko (see below), in an See also:anonymous pamphlet by Freudenberger, a Bernese pastor. This caused great stir; it was publicly burnt by order of the See also:government of Uri, and many more or less forged proofs and documents were produced in favour of Tell. The researches of J.

E. See also:

Kopp (Urkunden zur Geschichte d. eidgenossischen Biinde, 2 parts, 1835 and 1851, and Geschichte der eidgenossischen Bunde, vol. ii., 1847), first cleared up the real early history of the See also:league, and overthrew the legends of the White Book and Tschudi. Since then many writers have worked in the same direction. See also:Vischer (1867) has carefully traced out the successive steps in the growth of the legend, and Rochholz (1877) has worked out the real history of Gessler as shown in See also:authentic documents. The general result has been to show that a mythological marksman and an impossible bailiff bearing the name of a real See also:family have been joined with See also:con-fused and distorted reminiscences of the events of 1245–47, in which the names of many real persons have been inserted and many unauthenticated acts attributed to them. Th. von Liebenau has, however, shown (in an See also:article reprinted from the Katholische Schweizerbldtter in the Bollettino Storico della Svizzera Italiana for 1899) that in 1283 the See also:Emperor Rudolf of See also:Habsburg i gave the right of receiving the tolls for escort over the St Gotthard Pass to his sons, the See also:dukes of Austria. The levying of these tolls gave rise to various disputes between the men of Uri and the bailiffs of the dukes of Austria, and by 1319 (if not already in 1309) the claim to See also:levy them was silently given up. These facts show (what could not hitherto be proved) that at the time when legend places the rising of Uri, Tell exploit, &c., the dukes of Austria really had disputes with Uri. The story of the skilful marksman who succeeds in striking some small See also:object placed on the head of a man or See also:child is very widely spread; we find it in See also:Denmark (Tokko), See also:Norway (two versions), See also:Iceland, See also:Holstein, on the See also:Rhine, and in See also:England (William of Cloudesley). How it came to be localized in Uri we do not know; possibly, through the story of the Scandinavian colonization of Schwyz, the tale was fitted to some real See also:local hero. The alleged proofs of the existence of a real William Tell in Uri in the 14th century break down hopelessly. (I) The entries in the See also:parish registers are forged.

(2) As to the Tell chapels—(a) that in the " hollow way " near Kiissnacht was not known to Melchior Russ and is first mentioned by Tschudi (1572).(b) That on Tell's Platte is first mentioned in 1504. The document which alleges that this See also:

chapel was built by order of a " landsgemeinde " held in 1388, at which 114 men were See also:present who had been personally acquainted with Tell, was never heard of till 1759. The procession in boats to the place where the chapel stands may be very old, but is not connected with Tell till about 1582. (c) The chapel at Burglen is known to have been founded in 1582. Other documents and statements in support of the Tell story have even less claim to See also:credit. It has been pointed out above that with two exceptions the bailiff is always called Gryssler or Grissler, and it was Tschudi who popularized the name of Gessler, though Grissler occurs as See also:late as 1765. Now Gessler is the name of a real family, the history of which from 1z5o to 1513 has been worked out by Rochholz, who shows in detail that no member ever played the See also:part attributed to the bailiff in the legend, or could have done so, and that the Gesslers could not have owned or dwelt at the castle of Kiissnacht; nor could they have been called Von Bruneck. In the Urnerspiel the name of the bailiff's servant who guarded the hat on the pole is given as Heintz Vogely, and we know that See also:Friedrich Vogeli was the name of one of the chief military See also:officers of See also:Peter von See also:Hagenbach, who from 1469 to 1474 ad-ministered for See also:Charles the Bold, See also:duke of See also:Burgundy, the lands (See also:Alsace, &c.) pledged to him by See also:Sigismund of Habsburg. Now Hagenbach is known to have committed many cruelties like those attributed to the bailiffs in the legend, and it has been plausibly conjectured that his See also:case has really given rise to these stories, especially when we find that the Confederates had a See also:hand in his See also:capture and See also:execution, that in a document of 1358 Hagenbachs and Gesslers appear See also:side by side as witnesses, and that the Hagenbachs had frequent transactions with the Habsburgs and their vassals. In general see two excellent See also:works by See also:Franz Heinemann, Tell-Iconographie, Lucerne, 1902 (reproductions, with See also:text, of the chief representations of Tell in See also:art froth 1507 onwards), and Tell-Bibliographie (including that of Schiller's play), published in 1908 at Bern. Among the vast number of books and See also:pamphlets on the Tell story, the two most to be recommended are W. Vischer, See also:Die See also:Sage von der Befreiung der Waldstdtte (See also:Leipzig, 1867), and E.

L. Rochholz, Tell and Gessler, with a See also:

volume of documents 1250–1513 (See also:Heilbronn, 1877). Convenient summaries of the controversy will be found in any See also:modern book on Swiss history, and more particularly in G. von Wyss, Ober d. Gesch. d. drei See also:Lander—Uri, Schwyz, u. Unterwalden —in den Jahren 1212–1315 (Zurich, 1858) ; Alf. See also:Huber, Die Waldstdtte bis zur festen Begrundung ihrer Eidgenosseltschaft, mit einem Anhange fiber die geschichtliche Stellung See also:des Wilk, Tell (See also:Innsbruck, 1861); Albert Rilliet, See also:Les Origins de la Confederation Suisse, histoire et legende (See also:Geneva, and edition, 1869) ; and S. See also:Baring-See also:Gould, Curious Myths of the See also:Middle Ages, ch. v. (new edition, See also:London, 1884). The setting up in 1895 in the See also:market-place in AItdorf of a See also:fine statue (by the Swiss sculptor See also:Richard Kissling) of Tell and his son, and the opening in 1899, just outside See also:Altdorf of a permanent See also:theatre, wherein Schiller's play is to be represented every See also:Sunday during the summer months, show that the popular belief in the Tell legend is still strong, despite its utter demolition at the hands of a See also:succession of scientific Swiss historians during the 19th century. A. Gisler of Altdorf (in his book, Die Tellfrage, Bern, 1895) has also made an See also:attempt to rehabilitate it from the purely historical point of view. He is well acquainted with all the researches that have been made, but tries to See also:save Tell's refusal to do reverence to the hat, his leap from the boat in the lake, and his slaying of the bailiff in the " hollow way." To effect the See also:rescue of these incidents, he boldly admits the forgeries in the registers, abandons all the traditional dates, throws over Tschudi's account, and regards the shooting by Tell of the apple from his son's head as an " ornamental addition " to the tale.

Save a mention of the Tell chapel on " Tellsplatte " in 1504 (the first known before was that by Tschudi in 1572), and a See also:

proof that the pilgrimages to Burglen and Steinen had nothing to do with " St Kummerniss," as her images are preserved in the parish churches of those villages, whereas the pilgrims go to the chapels therein, he brings forward no new evidence. , His book is a striking proof that the popular Tell legend cannot claim the support of authentic history, while his attempt to find See also:room for the atrocities of the wicked bailiffs elsewhere than at Altdorf consists only in suggesting an intricate See also:series of possibilities, none of which are supported by any See also:positive evidence. In his pamphlet Die Sagen v. Tell u. Stauffacher (See also:Basel, 1899) See also:August See also:Bernoulli, and in his elaborate Geschichte d. Schweiz. Politik (vol. i. See also:Frauenfeld, 1906) J. Schollenberger, have applied the same sort of method, but without attaining any greater degree of historical success. (W. A. B.

End of Article: TELL, WILLIAM

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]
TELL EL AMARNA 		[next]
TELLER, WILHELM ABRAHAM (1734-1804)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries