Swiss peasant war of 1653

The Swiss peasant war of 1653 is a popular revolt in the Old Swiss Confederacy at the time of the Ancien Régime.

A devaluation of Bernese money causes a tax revolt that spreads from the Entlebuch valley in the Canton of Lucerne to the Emmental valley in the Canton of Bern and then to the cantons of Solothurn and Basel and also to the Aargau.The population of the countryside demands fiscal relief from their ruling authorities, the city councils of these cantons' capitals.

When their demands are dismissed by the cities, the peasants organize themselves and threaten to blockade the cities.

After initial compromises mediated by other cantons fail, the peasants unite under the treaty of Huttwil, forming the "League of Huttwil".

Their movement becomes more radical, going beyond the initially purely fiscal demands.

The Huttwil League considers itself a political entity equal to and independent from the city authorities, and it assumes full military and political sovereignty in its territories.The peasants lay siege on Bern and Lucerne, whereupon the cities negotiate a peace agreement with the peasant leader Niklaus Leuenberger, the so-called peace on the Murifeld.

The peasant armies retreat.

The Tagsatzung, the federal council of the Old Swiss Confederacy, then sends an army from Zürich to definitely end the rebellion, and after the Battle of Wohlenschwil, the Huttwil League is forcibly annulled in the peace of Mellingen.

The last resistance in the Entlebuch valley is broken by the end of June.

After their victory, the city authorities take drastic punitive measures.

The Huttwil League and the peace of the Murifeld are declared null and void by the city council of Bern.

Many exponents of the insurrection are captured, tortured, and finally receive heavy sentences.

Niklaus Leuenberger is beheaded and quartered in Bern on September 6, 1653.

Although the military victory of the absolutist city authorities is complete, the war has also shown them that they depend very much on their rural subjects.

Soon after the war, the ruling aristocrats institute a series of reforms and even lower some taxes, thus fulfilling some of the peasants' original fiscal demands.

In the long term, the peasant war of 1653 prevents Switzerland from an excessive implementation of absolutism as occurs in France during the reign of Louis XIV.

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