Swiss nobility


, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a collection of semi-autonomous cantons. As membership of the confederation has fluctuated throughout history, each of these cantons has its own unique history and nobility. Typically, each canton had its own constitution, currency, jurisdiction, habits, customs, history, and nobility.
In the Middle Ages, various cantons had families with only local and, in the broad scheme of things, insignificant lands, whereas other cantons had ennobled families abroad. In Switzerland, there was a great number of families of dynasties who were members of the Holy Roman Empire. Other cantons had rulers from the House of Savoy, or from the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Burgundy. This diversity prevented the birth of a state with monarchical central authority.
As a general rule, Swiss nobility since the 14th century can be divided into three categories:
  1. nobility acquired by inheritance, under the terms of the family right;
  2. nobility resulting from the ennoblement of a commoner, or from the creation of a new title for someone who is already a noble;
  3. nobility acquired by integration, as was the case in Reyff or Pontherose.
In Switzerland, where the social classes were historically closer than they were in other countries, there was neither a misalliance nor a loss of nobility due to a noble engaging in manual work or taking up a trade. This is why, for example, the noble Jean Gambach was able to be a manufacturer of scythes in 1442, and the noble Louis de Daguet was able to be a carter at the end of the 18th century. The only cases where individuals lost their nobility were due to illegitimacy or voluntary renunciation.

Bern, Fribourg, Solothurn, Lucerne

From the 15th c. onwards, rising economic and political pressure from the city states enticed more and more families of the traditional feudal nobility to seek membership in the higher echelons of the citizenry. These late-mediaeval urban upper classes were already composed of wealthy commoners but also of aristocrats from nearby fiefdoms or the descendants of ministeriales. While a de jure distinction between noble and common patrician families was still upheld for some time, with quotas for certain government positions reserved for each group, these distinctions became de facto less and less rigid in the early modern era. Non-noble families could still be ennobled by letters patent, be it through the favour of foreign monarchs or by the cities themselves. For instance, in 1547 Bern set up the seigneurie of Batie-Beauregard as a barony for one Jacques Champion; in 1665 Solothurn granted letters of nobility to the brothers Marcacci of Locarno; in 1712 Bern created the seigneurie of Bercher for a member of the de Saussure family.

Bern

In Bern a constitutional law created in 1643 the privileged class of the eligible families to the Great Council. Since 1731 the Sovereign prohibits to use titles of nobility conferred by foreign sovereigns; Since 1761 the patricians were authorised to be called "wohledelgeboren"; Then on the 9th of April 1783 the patricians were authorised to use the nobiliary particle "von". Von Bern-Rych

Fribourg

The city state of Fribourg defined its patrician ruling class through the so-called Lettre des Deux-Cents in 1627, and closed their ranks to non-privileged families in 1684. Towards the end of the Ancien Régime, this aristocracy comprised four categories:
As defined in the constitution of 1404, members of the first two categories were barred from certain higher offices unless they renounced their noble privileges.
In 1782 the Sovereign of Fribourg decided to standardise the situation of these families. He removed all the titles except "noble", authorised all the patricians to use the nobiliary particle "de", and specified that henceforth the loads of "bannerets", "secrets" and "grand-sautier" would be opened to all the patricians. By confirming that all the patricians families were noble either by origin or by being member of the privileged class, this "Règlement relativement à l'introduction de l'égalité des familles patriciennes et de leurs titulatures" is not really a collective ennoblement but the official confirmation of a state of things.

Lucerne

In Lucerne at the end of the 17th century the patricians were named with the title "Junker" and regularly made use of their nobility when they were abroad, particularly when they served in the foreigner armies. Some families also received foreigner letters of nobility.

Solothurn

In Soleure the patriciate in fact was formed gradually. Some families set up the corporations to be able to control the co-optation. So the capacity passed to a definite number of privileged families who then formed a noble patrician whose members were qualified "Herren und Bürger". Numbers of these families accepted letters of nobility abroad, particularly in France.
In the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwald, the political evolution from the Middle Ages to the 19th century was realised by a relatively similar way but really doesn't lead to the constitution of a "patriciate" but rather to the formation of a relatively closed class of new families sharing the political power with the ancient noble families. Some of the new families were ennobled abroad while others were incorporated to the Nobility by "integration".
In 1400 the city of Zürich formally became autonomous within the Holy Roman Empire. Before this date the only noble families were families of ministériaux. Quickly the political power came to the corporations while giving a dominant position to the noble corporation of the "Constaffel" in which was constituted a "noble chamber" called "adelige Stube zum Rüden Stübli". The members families of the Corporations were mainly in them by heredity
The members of Stübli used the title "Junker". In 1798 the Stübli did not count any more than eleven families. The Bonstetten family came to Bern in 1463 and ended in 1606. Some still extant families of the nobility of Zürich received additionally foreign titles such as the Hirzel, count in France in 1788.
In the cantons of Schaffners and Zug, the political power belonged to the corporations. So there was not real
hereditary prerogative for the governmental loads.
In the canton of Zug the few families who had received letters of nobility abroad are extinguished. The very
democratic system of this canton hindered a nobility expansion.
In the canton of Schaffner the noble families formed since the 13th century the "Herrenstube" which became during the 15th century one of the twelve corporations. Some ancient families were extinguished and replaced in the "Herrenstube" by new families of the "integration nobility". In 1864 these families were maintained in their right to be buried in the "Junkernfriedhof", their last privilege.
In the cantons of Valais, Thurgovie and Tessin, the former noble families were maintained and only some families were ennobled abroad.
The "patriciat valaisan" which provides in particular the prince-bishops, was formed with families of old nobility but also with some families incorporated into the nobility either by possession of a right of jurisdiction either by membership to the "nobility of integration". Some of these families also accepted letters of nobility abroad. This patriciate was not a patriciate of right but in fact.
Tessin, before becoming a Swiss canton in 1803, did not form a political and administrative unit and there is thus no "nobility of Tessin" in a strict sense, however there are some noble families originating from this area. In Locarno, at the Reformation, two of the three great feudal families of capitanei: Muralto and Orelli emigrated to Zürich. A branch of Muralt was established in Bern. The third great family, Magoria, remained in Locarno. The majority of the families of Tessin ennobled abroad were it by the dukes of Milan.
In the Grisons there was a great number of families of dynasts and "ministériaux". From the 11th or 12th century, the dynasts owned seigniories on which they held power more in fact than by resulting of a constitutional law. These families maintained their privileges until the 15th century and some families preserved an important situation, in particular Salis and Planta, while some others were ennobles abroad.
In 1794 the Leagues enacted the radical cancelling of the nobility, titles and particles. This prohibition was confirmed in 1803 and 1848.
The canton of Glarus never had of nobility of right. However, in Glarus there are some families ennobled abroad.
In the cantons the families descended from the "State's chief" and from the bailiffs formed in fact a class of
"integration nobility".
As for the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, there are known direct male decedents of the most elite Noble Swiss family currently living abroad.
The modern canton of Aargau was only created in 1789 under Napoleon, when the previously Austrian Fricktal was joined to the other districts that had been conquered by the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1415. The conquered territories were split into a Bernese area of influence in the west, a small district under the rule of Zürich in the very east, and two larger districts, the Freie Ämter and the County of Baden making up the eastern half of the canton. The governance of the latter two districts alternated between the individual member states of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of condominiums. With the house of Habsburg ousted, the Swiss states installed landvögte in several of the newly acquired castles, civil stateholders who wielded the legal and economic powers of the former feudal fief which they now administrated, for example in Lenzburg castle or in the Landvogteischloss in Baden. In contrast, many of the smaller fiefs held by lower nobility continued into the new order and were not directly affected by it; several nobles, such as the lords of Reinach on Wildenstein castle, were officially enfeoffed by the conquering cantons, so that the only alteration in their title to the land was a change of liege lord, in this case from the counts of Habsburg to the city state of Bern.
A number of comital families and other high-ranking nobles are attested in the time before the Swiss conquest:
Coat of armsFamilyComments
Counts of LenzburgAttested since the 10th century, died out in 1173; held extensive allodial lands in Aargau and several counties and Vogteien in the German and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland; their inheritance was split between the counts of Kyburg and the counts of Habsburg in the presence of the emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa.
Counts of RheinfeldenAttested only during the 10th and 11th centuries, died out 1090; they held lands around Rheinfelden and in the Oberaargau; their most prominent scion, Rudolf of Rheinfelden, was duke of Swabia and was elected king of the Holy Roman Empire by the papal faction during the Investiture Controversy; their Argovian holdings were inherited by the dukes of Zähringen, who died out in 1218.
Counts of HabsburgFirst attested in the 10th century, died out in the male line in 1740 but continues as the house of Habsburg-Lothringen to the present day; by the early 15th century, they had become one of the most prominent noble houses of Europe through marriage, purchase, and force; before the conquest of 1415, they owned all of Aargau except for Zofingen and Laufenburg, the latter of which belonged to their own cadet branch of Habsburg Laufenburg until their extinction in 1408.
Counts of FrohburgAttested since the 11th century, died out 1367; held lands in the northwest and southwest of the canton; founded Zofingen and Aarburg; split up into the branches Frohburg-Zofingen, Frohburg-Homberg, and Frohburg-Waldenburg ; sold much of their land to the counts of Habsburg during the 14th century.
Counts of Homberg and ThiersteinAttested since the 11th century and died out in the male line in 1223; held the counties of Frickgau and Sisgau; their line was continued by a branch of the Frohburg, which included the famous minnesänger Wernher von Homberg, who was a key figure in the prelude to the battle of Morgarten; the line died out in 1323 with his young son, Werner III of Homberg, and the Fricktal went to Habsburg.
Freiherren of TegerfeldenAttested since 1113; originally in the service of the dukes of Zähringen; Ulrich of Tegerfelden was abbot of St Gall 1167-99 and simultaneously Bishop of Chur from 1170–79; Konrad of Tegerfelden was Bishop of Constance 1208–1233; the house died out around the middle of the 13th century, but a later family of ministeriales in Habsburg services continued the name and, presumably, the fief; after the death of a Franz Ulrich of Tegerfelden in the battle of Sempach 1386 the family disappears from our records.
Freiherren of KlingenSplit into two branches in the early 13th century, with one branch retaining lands in Aargau and the other settling in Hohenklingen Castle near Stein am Rhein; the family founded the town of Klingnau and included the minnesänger Walther von Klingen; they died out in 1286, with most of their lands being joined to the county of Baden.
Freiherren of WessenbergAttested since 1029; perhaps originally ministeriales of the female convent of Säckingen Abbey, they also held Leimental castle as a fief of the Bishops of Basel since the 14th century; liege men of the House of Habsburg, they continued to hold titles in Further Austria and were raised to the rank of Reichsfreiherren in 1681; still extant in Austria.
Lords of HallwilAttested since the 12th century, probably as ministeriales of the counts of Lenzburg; later ministeriales of the counts of Kyburg, they possessed large landholdings around lake Hallwil by the late 14th century; though their castle was burnt during the conquest of 1415, the lords of Hallwil had it rebuilt shortly after; having attained comital rank in later times, the house is still extant today.
Lords of ReinachAttested since 1210; a branch of their family in Habsburg service settled in Sundgau and Alsace, where they were given the rank of Freiherr and held several prominent fiefs and offices; they sold their last titles in Switzerland by 1545; still extant.
Lords of RüsseggAlso Reussegg, named after a castle in Sins; owned rights and territories in Sins, Aettenschwil, and Auw, and had connections to various other noble families, including the lords of Reinach; in later generations citizens of Luzern. Rising to some prominence in the later 13th century, they were forced to sell their titles in 1429; extinct in the male line in 1483.
Lords of MülinenFirst attested around 1280 as schultheißen of Brugg; ministeriales of the counts of Habsburg, they held a large number of fiefs in Aargau; they acquired Bernese citizenship in 1407 and slowly shifted the focus of their allegiance and marriages towards Bern, where they became an important family within the city's own aristocracy; with a number of important historical figures in recent generations, such as Helene von Mülinen, the family is still extant today.
EffingerAttested since the 14th century as citizens of Brugg; acquired a knighthood and a coat of arms in the late 15th century; holding several castle fiefs in Bernese territory, they became citizens of Bern and were established members of the city state's aristocracy by the 17th. century; died out in 1912.

Vaud

The canton of Vaud, old county then country of Vaud, depended successively of Burgundy, Zähringen, Savoy until 1536, then of Bern. In this canton there were some feudal noble families, families of Savoyard nobility, families of the patrician nobility of Bern, and families of "integration nobility".
In the canton of Neuchâtel, Principality since 1643, the nobility increased by ennoblements of the Prince, these ennoblement letters were subject to be ratified by the Council of State. Neuchâtel became Swiss canton in 1815 and stayed at last paradoxically a Principality held in personal union by the Berlin-based Hohenzollern until 1848.
Since the Reformation the Republic of Geneva did not officially recognise the nobility as an organised corps. There were families of old nobility, families of "integration nobility", families who were ennobled abroad, and a great number of noble families refuge at the time of the Reformation.
However, contrary to the generally accepted ideas, the Republic of Geneva made use of its capacity to ennoble. It is in particular what it did on August 20, 1680 by ennobling with a title of count the Noblet family.
In 1382 the constitution reserved four seats of the Council for the noble families. From the next century the corporations and thus the town's citizens took the power. The noble families of this time preferred to leave Basel which consequently will have a corporative system. The nobility was then prohibited in Basel. An exception was made for the "barons Wieland" in 1816 under the condition that they will not use their title in Basel. However, there are some noble families whose nobility and titles are earlier to their reception as citizen of Basel.
The canton of Basel had in place of a nobility a patriciate called the Daig, that dominated its political life. Its most prominent members were the families Bernoulli, Burckhardt, Faesch, Iselin, Liechtenhan, Merian, Sarasin, Vischer and Von der Mühll.

St. Gall

In St. Gall some powerful families formed a kind of patriciat whose members belong to the "adelige Stube zum Notenstein". Some of these families consolidated their position by receiving nobility's letters abroad. In 1778 the Sovereign Council fixed the list of the seven families of the "Notenstein" which constituted in fact the nobility of St. Gall. Some families which were not members of the "Notenstein" received nobility's diplomas abroad.
The privileges of the nobility were gradually suspended after 1798, save for a revival in Lucerne and Freiburg during the Restauration from 1814 to 1831. Article 4 on equality of the 1848 Swiss federal constitution, finally made a legal end to the Swiss nobility. Nowadays the titles of nobility appear neither in registry offices nor in public instruments. Sometimes they are tolerated in administrative documents and in the noble's professional life, that is to say in social relations.
About 450 noble families are left in Switzerland, either Swiss or foreign. By counting 15 people per family about 1.06 ‰ of the population belongs to the nobility, which is comparable to the situation in France. There are large regional differences however: the canton of Appenzell for example has hardly any noble family left, while the canton of Vaud has over a hundred.