A few days ago I started reading up on the Swiss cantons, creating a post on fedi based on those Wikipedia articles. I’m reposting these posts on the blog because they’re starting to grow on my.
The other day we were jogging in the canton of Aargau, along the Freiämterweg, the trail of the free boroughs (?). What the hell, I started thinking. Free from what? And what’s with the flag: three rivers and three stars? What are the stars for? Apparently, it’s undefined!
Die Bedeutung des Wappens wurde bei der Einführung 1803 nicht weiter erläutert. Quellen des 19. Jahrhunderts berichten aber einhellig, das rechte schwarze Feld stehe für den von der Aare durchflossenen Berner Aargau, die drei Sterne im linken Feld stehen für die drei Landesteile des östlichen Aargau, nämlich die Grafschaft Baden, die Freien Ämter und das Fricktal. Weitere teilweise volkstümliche Deutungen sind im 20. Jahrhundert dazugekommen, unter anderem wird nun berichtet, die drei Wellenlinien (in der ursprünglichen Blasonierung nur als “ein Fluss” bezeichnet) stünden für die drei Flüsse Aare, Limmat und Reuss, oder die drei Sterne für die drei Konfessionen reformiert, katholisch und jüdisch, oder die Farben schwarz und blau stünden für fruchtbare Erde und Wasserreichtum. – Fahne und Wappen des Kantons Aargau
Fahne und Wappen des Kantons Aargau
The Aargau is the canton in Switzerland I spent most of my life in. The name is based on one of the big rivers: the Aare. It flows around Bern, too. It has a fantastic gorge in the canton of Bern, the Aareschlucht. The Gau suffix means “region” or “shire”. The other two rivers are the Limmat, which comes from Zürich, and the Reuss, which comes from Lucerne. And of course along the northern edge we have the Rhine, and Germany beyond that.
The most surprising fact about this canton is that the ruins of the Habsburg is here. Yeah, the people that ruled large chunks of Europe at one point in time. They lost it to the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1415. The Swiss attacked because the pope had excommunicated the duke and asked them to move against him in 1414 which they did. When the duke made peace with the pope he asked the Swiss to give back the lands they had taken and they refused. In that little episode is all you need to know about the Swiss mindset! 😂
And what about the free boroughs?
The Aargau Freie Ämter were territories that were under Habsburg rule but were independent with respect to low justice and common law, and so under the medieval definition, they were “free”. – Freie Ämter
In 1414, the Council of Constance tried to settle the question of the three popes. Habsburg sided with John XXIII, but then he was declared an antipope and the emperor ordered all to seize the lands of the Habsburgs. And so the Swiss Confederation conquered the Habsburg lands in 1415. Bern, Lucerne and Zurich were each given a portion of the conquered region to administer. The rest where administered collectively by Zurich, Lucerne, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug and Glarus. There was some back and forth but the details don’t matter, I think.
In 1529, the reformation arrived with iconoclasm. Away with the old! In 1531, reformed Zürich suffered a defeat and the victorious five catholic cantons marched their troops into the Freie Ämter and reconverted them. In 1656 and 1712 more wars between reformed and catholic armies came. At that point the reformers were in control.
With the French revolution and the formation of the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803) the county of Baden, the Freie Ämter and the region known as the Kelleramt were combined into the new Canton of Baden. A lot of unrest happened and in 1803 the cantons of Baden and Fricktal merged into the canton of Aargau.
In 1830, the rural population marched on the capital and demanded changes to the constitution. There where other uprisings in 1830–31 and that led to an end of the Restoration and the beginning of the liberal period and eventually to the creation of the Federal State in 1848.
The Aargau is one of the cantons where the question of religious holidays is independently decided by every commune. Some observe the catholic holidays, some observe the reformed holidays. This is different in cantons where the entire canton is considered to bei either catholic or reformed.
The roots of civil war grow deep.
Aargau also had a large Roman settlement called Vindonissa. But that is a different story!
#Switzerland #History #Cantons