The Diet of Stans
Stans (Nidwalden), Ranft (Sachseln)
Key figures: Niklaus von Flüe, Heimo Amgrund
HLS (German): Stans Compact, Federal Diet
What is a Diet? Until 1848 the Confederation has neither a government nor a parliament: its only common body is the Federal Diet, the assembly in which delegates of the cantons discuss common affairs. The word comes from the medieval Latin dies, “day”: it meant the day set for meeting. The German Tagsatzung also comes from “einen Tag setzen”, to set a day. Each canton sends one or two envoys, who vote according to the instructions they have received; decisions must be “taken home” and ratified by the cantonal governments. Decisions are unanimous, except for the common bailiwicks. Around 1500 more than twenty Diets are held each year, mostly in Lucerne and Zurich, later in Baden and Frauenfeld. In 1848 the Diet is replaced by the Federal Assembly.
The crisis after the Burgundian Wars (1477–1481). The victories over Charles the Bold (see the stage) bring booty, money and tension. In February 1477 about 2,000 men from central Switzerland set off without authorisation towards the Vaud and Geneva, in the “Mad Life” expedition. To defend order, the towns of Zurich, Bern and Lucerne conclude a perpetual co-citizenship pact with Fribourg and Solothurn. The rural cantons, above all the Forest Cantons, see this as a threat; Obwalden even tries to stir up the peasants of the Entlebuch against Lucerne, in the Amstalden affair (1477–1478).
The Diet of Stans (November–December 1481). The turning point comes at the Diet that meets in Stans from 30 November 1481. A draft compact is presented, probably drawn up under the influence of the hermit Niklaus von Flüe: its preamble, later replaced, reads like a transcript of a sermon of his urging the allies to harmony. The ten cantons accept the compact, but the central Swiss cantons reject the alliance with Fribourg and Solothurn. The parish priest of Stans, Heimo Amgrund, then goes back to the hermit at the Ranft. After a second mediation, at the Diet of 18–22 December the Solothurn delegates find an agreement: Fribourg and Solothurn join with a status closer to that of allies than of full cantons.
What the Compact lays down (22 December 1481). The Stans Compact confirms the Priests’ Charter of 1370 and the Sempach Charter of 1393, condemns “arbitrary violence” and forbids the population to assemble without the permission of the authorities. The cantons undertake to help one another against disobedient or rebellious subjects: a principle that will return in the Peasants’ War of 1653 (see the stage). Other clauses regulate the division of conquered territories and booty in proportion to each canton’s troops. Together with the Priests’ Charter and the Sempach Charter, it is one of the few texts of common law of the old Confederation.
Niklaus von Flüe, between history and legend. Niklaus von Flüe (1417–1487), a farmer and magistrate from Obwalden, leaves his family in 1467 to live as a hermit in the Ranft gorge near Sachseln, where he receives visitors and envoys. The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland considers his conciliatory influence certain, but calls it a legend that his intervention prevented a civil war. Canonised in 1947, he is regarded as the patron saint of Switzerland. With Basel and Schaffhausen in 1501 and Appenzell in 1513 the Confederation reaches thirteen cantons, which it will remain until 1798.
Diebold Schilling the Younger, the Diet of Stans in the Lucerne chronicle, 1513
Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The Stans Compact of 22 December 1481, with the seals of the eight cantons
Museum of the Federal Charters, Schwyz, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Diebold Schilling the Younger, the Amstalden affair: under the tree the secret meeting, in the foreground a Lucerne official takes statements, Lucerne chronicle, 1513
Zentral- und Hochschulbibliothek Luzern, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Niklaus von Flüe at the Diet of Stans as the legend tells it: illustration from Johann Marty, Illustrierte Geschichte und Geographie der Schweiz, Einsiedeln 1903
e-rara, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Diebold Schilling the Younger, the parish priest of Stans seeks the advice of Niklaus von Flüe at the Ranft, Lucerne chronicle, 1513
Zentral- und Hochschulbibliothek Luzern, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The Federal Diet at Baden in 1531, coloured print
Wikimedia Commons, public domain