The earliest inhabitants of the future site of ZUrich were the
lake dwellers. The Celtic Helvetians had a settlement on the
Lindenhof when they were succeeded by the Romans, who
established a custom station here for goods going to and coming
from Italy; during their rule Christianity was introduced early
in the 3rd century by Felix and Regula, with whom Exuperantius
was afterwards associated. The district was later occupied by
the Alamanni, who were conquered by the Franks.
The name ZUrich is possibly derived from the Celtic dur (water).
It is first mentioned in 807 under the form "Turigus," then in
853 as "Turegus." The true Latinized form is Turicum, but the
false form Tigurum was given currency by Glareanus and held its
ground from 1512 to 1748. It is not till the 9th century that we
find the beginnings of the Teutonic town of Zurich, which arose
from the union of four elements: (1) the royal house and castle
on the Lindenhof, with the king's tenants around, (2) the Gross
Munster, (3) the Frau Munster, (4) the community of "free men"
(of Alamannian origin) on the Zurichberg. Similarly we can
distinguish four stages in the constitutional development of the
town: (i.) the gradual replacing (c. 1250) of the power of the
abbess by that (real, though not nominal) of the patricians,
(ii.) the admittance of the craft gilds (1336) to a share with
the patricians in the government of the town, (iii.) the
granting of equal political rights (1831) to the country
districts, hitherto ruled as subject lands by the burghers, and
(iv.) the reception as burghers of the numerous immigrants who
had settled in the town (town schools opened in 1860, full
incorporation in 1893).
The Frankish kings had special rights over their tenants, were
the protectors of the two churches, and had jurisdiction over
the free community. In 870 the sovereign placed his powers over
all four in the hands of a single official (the Reichsvogt), and
the union was still further strengthened by the wall built round
the four settlements in the 10th century as a safeguard against
Saracen marauders and feudal barons. The "Reichsvogtei" passed
to the counts of Lenzburg (1063-1173), and then to the dukes of
Zahringen (extinct 1218). Meanwhile the abbess of the
Benedictine Frau Munster had been acquiring extensive rights and
privileges over all the inhabitants, though she never obtained
the criminal jurisdiction. The town flourished greatly in the
12th and 13th centuries, the silk trade being introduced from
Italy. In 1218 the "Reichsvogtei" passed back into the hands of
the king, who appointed one of the burghers as his deputy, the
town thus becoming a free imperial city under the nominal rule
of a distant sovereign. The abbess in 1234 became a princess of
the empire, but power rapidly passed from her to the council
which she had originally named to look after police, &c., but
which came to be elected by the burghers, though the abbess was
still "the lady of Zurich." This council (all powerful since
1304) was made up of the representatives of certain knightly and
rich mercantile families (the "patricians"), who excluded the
craftsmen from all share in the government, though it was to
these last that the town was largely indebted for its rising
wealth and importance.
In October 1291 the town made an alliance with Uri and Schwyz,
and in 1292 failed in a desperate attempt to seize the Habsburg
town of Winterthur. After that Zurich began to display strong
Austrian leanings, which characterize much of its later history.
In 1315 the men of Zurich fought against the Swiss Confederates
at Morgarten. The year 1336 marks the admission of the craftsmen
to a share in the town government, which was brought about by
Rudolf Brun, a patrician. Under the new constitution (the main
features of which lasted till 1798) the Little Council was made
up of the burgomaster and thirteen members from the "Constafel"
(which included the old patricians and the wealthiest burghers)
and the thirteen masters of the craft gilds, each of the
twenty-six holding office for six months. The Great Council of
200 (really 212) members consisted of the Little Council, plus
78 representatives each of the Constafel and of the gilds,
besides 3 members named by the burgomaster. The office of
burgomaster was created and given to Brun for life. Out of this
change arose a quarrel with one of the branches of the Habsburg
family, in consequence of which Brun was induced to throw in the
lot of Zurich with the Swiss Confederation (1st May 1351). The
double position of Zurich as a free imperial city and as a
member of the Everlasting League was soon found to be
embarrassing to both parties (see Switzerland). In 1373 and
again in 1393 the powers of the Constafel were limited and the
majority in the executive secured to the craftsmen, who could
then aspire to the burgomastership. Meanwhile the town had been
extending its rule far beyond its walls - a process which began
in the 14th, and attained its height in the 15th century
(1362-1467). This thirst for territorial aggrandizement brought
about the first civil war in the Confederation (the "Old Zurich
War," 1436-50), in which, at the fight of St Jacob on the Sihl
(1443), under the walls of Zurich, the men of Zurich were
completely beaten and their burgomaster Stussi slain. The
purchase of the town of Winterthur from the Habsburgs (1467)
marks the culmination of the territorial power of the city. It
was to the men of Zurich and their leader Hans Waldmann that the
victory of Morat (1476) was due in the Burgundian war; and
Zurich took a leading part in the Italian campaign of 1512-15,
the burgomaster Schmid naming the new duke of Milan (1512). No
doubt her trade connexions with Italy led her to pursue a
southern policy, traces of which are seen as early as 1331 in an
attack on the Val Leventina and in 1478, when Zurich men were in
the van at the fight of Giornico, won by a handful of
Confederates over 12,000 Milanese troops.
In 1400 the town obtained from the Emperor Wenceslaus the
Reichsvogtei, which carried with it complete immunity from the
empire and the right of criminal jurisdiction. As early as 1 393
the chief power had practically fallen into the hands of the
Great Council, and in 1498 this change was formally recognized.
This transfer of all power to the gilds had been one of the aims
of the burgomaster Hans Waldmann (1483-89), who wished to make
Zurich a great commercial centre. He also introduced many
financial and moral reforms, and subordinated the interests of
the country districts to those of the town. He practically ruled
the Confederation, and under him Zurich became the real capital
of the League. But such great changes excited opposition, and he
was overthrown and executed. His main ideas were embodied,
however, in the constitution of 1498, by which the patricians
became the first of the gilds, and which remained in force till
1798; some special rights were also given to the subjects in
country districts. It was the prominent part taken by Zurich in
adopting and propagating (against the strenuous opposition of
the Constafel) the principles of the Reformation (the Frau
Munster being suppressed in 1524) which finally secured for it
the lead in the Confederation (see Switzerland and Zwingli).
1 The environs of Zurich are famous in military history on
account of the two battles of 1799. In the first battle (4th
June) the French under Massena, on the defensive, were attacked
by the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, Massena retiring
behind the Limmat before the engagement had reached a decisive
stage. The second and fur more important battle took place on
the 25th and 26th of September. Massena, having forced the
passage of the Limmat, attacked and totally defeated the
Russians and their Austrian allies under Korsakov's command.
(See French Revolutionary Wars.) In the 17th and 18th centuries
a distinct tendency becomes observable in the town government to
limit power to the actual holders. Thus the country districts
were consulted for the last time in 1620 and 1640; and a similar
breach of the charters of 1489 and 1531 (by which the consent of
these districts was required for the conclusion of important
alliances, war and peace, and might be asked for as to other
matters) occasioned disturbances in 1777. The council of 200
came to be largely chosen by a small committee of the members of
the gilds actually sitting in the council - by the constitution
of 1713 it consisted of 50 members of the Little Council (named
for a fixed term by the Great Council), 18 members named by the
Constafel, and 144 selected by the 12 gilds, these 162 (forming
the majority) being co-opted for life by those members of the
two councils who belonged to the gild to which the deceased
member himself had belonged. Early in the 18th century a
determined effort was made to crush by means of heavy duties the
flourishing rival silk trade in Winterthur. It was reckoned that
about 1650 the number of privileged burghers was 9000, while
their rule extended over 170,000 persons. The first symptoms of
active discontent appeared later among the dwellers by the lake,
who founded in 1794 a club at Stafa and claimed the restoration
of the liberties of 1489 and 1531, a movement which was put down
by force of arms in 1795. The old system of government perished
in Zurich, as elsewhere in Switzerland, in February 1798, and
under the Helvetic constitution the country districts obtained
political liberty. The cantonal constitution was rather
complicated, and under it the patrician party obtained a small
working majority. That constitution was meant to favour the town
as against the country districts. But under the cantonal
constitution of 1814 matters were worse still, for the town
(IO,000 inhab.) had 130 representatives in the Great Council,
while the country districts (200,000 inhab.) had only 82. A
great meeting at Uster on the 22nd of November 1830 demanded
that two-thirds of the members in the Great Council should be
chosen by the country districts; and in 1831 a new constitution
was drawn up on these lines, the town getting 71 representatives
as against 141 allotted to the country districts, though it was
not till 1837-38 that the town finally lost the last relics of
the privileges which it had so long enjoyed as compared with the
country districts. From 1803 to 1814 Zurich was one of the six
"directorial cantons," its chief magistrate becoming for a year
the chief magistrate of the Confederation, while in 1815 it was
one of the three cantons, the government of which acted for two
years as the Federal government when the diet was not sitting.
In 1833 Zurich tried hard to secure a revision of the Federal
constitution and a strong central government. The town was the
Federal capital for 1839-40, and consequently the victory of the
Conservative party there in 1839 (due to indignation at the
nomination by the Radical government to a theological chair in
the university of D. F. Strauss, the author of the famous Life
of Jesus) caused a great stir throughout Switzerland. But when
in 1845 the Radicals regained power at Zurich, which was again
the Federal capital for 1845-46, that town took the lead in
opposing the Sonderbund cantons. It of course voted in favour of
the Federal constitutions of 1848 and of 1874, while the
cantonal constitution of 1869 was remarkably advanced for the
time. The enormous immigration from the country districts into
the town from the "thirties" onwards created an industrial class
which, though "settled" in the town, did not possess the
privileges of burghership, and consequently had no share in the
municipal government. First of all in 1860 the town schools,
hitherto open to "settlers" only on paying high fees, were made
accessible to all, next in 1875 ten years' residence ipso facto
conferred the right of burghership, while in 1893 the eleven
outlying districts (largely peopled by working folk) were
incorporated with the town proper. The town and canton continued
to be on the Liberal, or Radical, or even Socialistic side,
while from 1848 to 1907 they claimed 7 of the 37 members of the
Federal executive or Bundesrat, these 7 having filled the
presidential chair of the Confederation in twelve years, no
canton surpassing this record. From 1833 onwards the walls and
fortifications of Zurich were little by little pulled down, thus
affording scope for the extension and beautification of the
town.
Text based on the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.