Publication details
Auf schmalem Grat: Von der Nutzung marginaler Flächen zum politischen Gemeinwesen : Wirtschaftliche Erfolgsfaktoren ländlicher Kommunen
| Title in English | On a fine line: From the use of marginal land to political community : Economic success factors of rural communities |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
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| Description | In simplified terms, the Swiss Confederation comprises urban and rural localities. While the increasing participation of towns in governance is a general phenomenon of the European Late Middle Ages, only a few rural communes were able to maintain their political agency beyond the Late Middle Ages. The article illuminates the economic and political preconditions of rural scope for action on the basis of selected examples. The development of the founding Cantons (Uri, Schwyz, Nidwalden, Obwalden) is used as a contrasting foil to the "borderline cases" examined in the paper. The focus is on developments in Glarus, Appenzell, the Gaster, Toggenburg and Saanen/Oesch from the end of the 13th century to the beginning of the 16th century. Based on the case studies, it can be shown that numerous rural communes were formed in the area of the later Confederation, of which only a few remained politically "on top". These owed their political development to specific constellations as well as to a dynamic exploitation of their socio-economic potential. These examples can be used to classify the different strategies of late medieval "communalisation" and their specific potential for success. These include, in particular, the development of marginal land in the alpine zones, the added value of which could be skimmed off collectively or individually by the local elites. Methodologically, the scope for action of rural communities is primarily illuminated along the lines of their economic and social potential and the contemporary formal characteristics of collective agency. As a consequence, the formal "degree of autonomy" of rural municipalities can be assessed more closely on the basis of the alliances and contracts entered into on the one hand, and their de facto enforcement in the long run on the other. In a brief outlook, the dichotomous division into cities and provinces will be replaced by a differentiated view in terms of the history of interdependence. |
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