Neuchâtel, Principality of
Substate | Defunct
976 CE to 1814 CE
Neuchâtel, the only part of present-day Switzerland to enter the Confederation as a principality (in 1814), has a unique history.
Its first recorded ruler, Rudolph III of Burgundy, mentions Neuchâtel in his will in 1032.
The dynasty of Count Ulrich von Fenis takes over the town and its territories in 1034.
The dynasty prospers and, by 1373, all the lands now part of the canton belonged to the count.
In 1405, the cities of Bern and Neuchâtel enter a union.
The lands of Neuchâtel had passed to the lords of Freiburg in the late fourteenth century as inheritance from the childless Elisabeth, Countess of Neuchâtel, to her nephews, then in 1458 to margraves of Sausenburg, who belong to the House of Baden.
Their heiress, Jeanne de Rothelin, and her husband, the Duke of Longueville, inherite it in 1504, after which the French house of Orléans-Longueville (Valois-Dunois).
Neuchâtel's Swiss allies then occupy it from 1512-1529 before returning it to its widowed Countess Jeanne de Hochberg, chatelaine of Rothelin, dowager duchess of Longueville.
The French preacher Guillaume Farel brings the teachings of the Protestant Reformation to the area in 1530.
When the house of Orléans-Longueville becomes extinct with Marie d'Orléans-Longueville's death in 1707, the Principality of Neuchâtel (German: Fürstentum Neuenburg) somehow passes to the Protestant King Frederick I in Prussia of the Berlin-based Hohenzollern dynasty, who then rule Neuchâtel in personal union.
However, after 1707, the rightful heiress in primogeniture from Jeanne de Rothelin is the Catholic Paule de Gondi, Duchess of Retz.
The people of Neuchâtel choose Princess Marie's successor from among fifteen claimants.
They want their new prince first and foremost to be a Protestant, and also to be strong enough to protect their territory but based far enough away to leave them to their own devices.
Louis XIV actively promotes the many French pretenders to the title, but the Neuchâtelois people in the final decision in 1708 pass them over in favor of King Frederick I of Prussia, who claims his entitlement in a rather complicated fashion through the House of Orange and Nassau, who are not even descended from Jeanne de Rothelin.
Napoleon Bonaparte deposes King Frederick William III of Prussia as prince of Neuchâtel and appoints instead his chief of staff Louis Alexandre Berthier.
Starting in 1807, the principality provides Napoleon's Grande Armée with a battalion of rangers.
The rangers are nicknamed Canaris (i.e. canaries) because of their yellow uniforms.
After the Liberation Wars the principality is restored to Frederick William III in 1814.
The Conseil d'État (state council, i.e. government of Neuchâtel) addresseds him in May 1814 requesting the permission to establish a special battalion, a Bataillon de Chasseurs, for the service of his majesty.
Frederick William III then establishes by his most-supreme cabinet order (allerhöchste Cabinets-Ordre), issued in Paris on May 19, 1814, the Bataillon des Tirailleurs de la Garde following the same principles as with the Neuchâtel battalion within the Grande Armée.
The Conseil d'Etat of Neuchâtel has the right of nomination for the battalion's officers.
The commander is the battalion's only officer chosen by the monarch.
A year later he agrees to allow the principality to join the Swiss Confederation, then not yet an integrated federation, but a confederacy, as a full member.
Thus Neuchâtel becomes the first and only monarchy to join the otherwise entirely republican Swiss cantons
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Swiss troops will still serve foreign governments until 1860, when they fight in the Siege of Gaeta.
The treaty also allows Switzerland to increase its territory, with the admission of the cantons of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva.
Switzerland's borders have not changed since, except for some minor adjustments.
Subsequently, when the Swiss authorities also prove unsympathetic to him—condemning both Emile, and also The Social Contract—Voltaire issues an invitation to Rousseau to come and reside with him, commenting that: "I shall always love the author of the 'Vicaire savoyard' whatever he has done, and whatever he may do...Let him come here [to Ferney]! He must come! I shall receive him with open arms. He shall be master here more than I. I shall treat him like my own son."
Rousseau will later expressed regret that he had not replied to Voltaire's invitation.
In July 1762, after Rousseau is informed that he cannot continue to reside in Bern, d'Alembert advises him to move to the Principality of Neuchâtel, ruled by Frederick the Great of Prussia.
Subsequently, Rousseau accepts an invitation to reside in Môtiers, fifteen miles from Neuchâtel.
He also mentions that he had criticized Frederick in the past and would continue to be critical of Frederick in the future, stating however: "Your Majesty may dispose of me as you like.
Frederick, still in the middle of the Seven Years' War, now writes to the local governor of Neuchatel, Marischal Keith, who is a mutual friend of theirs:
We must succor this poor unfortunate. His only offense is to have strange opinions which he thinks are good ones. I will send a hundred crowns, from which you will be kind enough to give him as much as he needs. I think he will accept them in kind more readily than in cash. If we were not at war, if we were not ruined, I would build him a hermitage with a garden, where he could live as I believe our first fathers did...I think poor Rousseau has missed his vocation; he was obviously born to be a famous anchorite, a desert father, celebrated for his austerities and flagellations...I conclude that the morals of your savage are as pure as his mind is illogical.
Rousseau, touched by the help he received from Frederick, will states that from then onward he took a keen interest in Frederick's activities.
As the Seven Years' War is about to end, Rousseau writes to Frederick again, thanking him for the help received and urging him to put an end to military activities and to endeavor to keep his subjects happy instead.
Frederick makes no known reply, but comments to Keith that Rousseau has given him a "scolding".
In the meantime, the local ministers have become aware of the apostasies in some of his writings, and resolve not to let him stay in the vicinity.
Rousseau is summoned by the Neuchâtel Consistory on the charge of blasphemy.
He writes back asking to be excused due to his inability to sit for a long time due to his ailment.
Subsequently, Rousseau's own pastor, Montmollin, starts denouncing him publicly as the Antichrist.
In one inflammatory sermon, Montmollin quotes Proverbs 15:8: "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight"; this is interpreted by everyone to mean that Rousseau's taking communion is detested by the Lord.
The ecclesiastical attacks inflame the parishioners who proceed to pelt Rousseau with stones when he goes out for walks.
Around midnight of September 6-7, stones are thrown at the house Rousseau is staying in, and some glass windows are shattered.
When a local official, Martinet, arrives at Rousseau's residence he sees so many stones on the balcony that he exclaimes "My God, it's a quarry!"
At this point, Rousseau's friends in Môtiers advise him to leave the town.
Although it is within the Canton of Bern, from where he had been expelled two years ago, he is informally assured that he can move into this island house without fear of arrest, and he does so.
However, on October 17, 1765, the Senate of Bern orders Rousseau to leave the island and all Bernese territory within fifteen days.
He replies, requesting permission to extend his stay, and offers to be incarcerated in any place within their jurisdiction with only a few books in his possession and permission to walk occasionally in a garden while living at his own expense.
The Senate's response is to direct Rousseau to leave the island, and all Bernese territory, within twenty four hours.
At this point:, he has invitations to Potsdam from Frederick, to Corsica from Paoli, to Lorraine from Saint-Lambert, to Amsterdam from Rey the publisher, and to England from David Hume.
He subsequently decides to accept Hume's invitation to England.