Page 28 RAIN Winter/Spring 1991 Empire, which emerged along with the revolution in commerce, was built on the strength of local princes. These nobles elected the Emperor- the seat could not be inherited. Emperors acted as mediators of disputes and representatives of noble interests. The Empire itself was a rather light structure that served the needs of ·most noble families. Its purpose was to organize larger policy, stabilize noble claims to territory, and generally ensure that there were always plenty of wars for knights to get involved in (never a real problem). True power was exercised on a local level by princes - very different from the ancient Roman empire, and indeed much less centralized than most nation states today. During the Great Interregnum in the 13th century, the people of the Waldstiitten were not bothered by the Empire that had claimed them. The three districts around the lake were in three different Small country towns like Schwyz were both friendly with rural folk and familiar with traders. In the absense of nobility, this urban/rural alliance became the foundation for independence. Woodcut ofSchwyzfrom Chronik Stumpf, 1548. states of official ownership: the Hapsburgs claimed Schwyz, Unterwalden was not clearly administered, and Uri, the district of St. Gotthard's pass, was under the direct administration of the Empire. But since there really was no Empire, this became a time that tested and enhanced the Swiss capacity for rural and village based self-rule. The interregnum ended in 1273 with the election of Rudolf IV as the first Holy Roman Emperor from the Hapsburg dynasty. Prior to this, Rudolf spent much of his life violently and cleverly accumulating land for his family. The Hapsburgs held their possessions collectively, unlike other families that split their lands among their progeny, resulting often in the disappearance of both the family and its inheritance. Rudolf inherited seven lordships, and by the time of his death he had nearly 50, captured through marriage, purchase and pressure. The Bishop of Basle experienced this pressure- he was under siege by Hapsburg troops when he heard of Rudolf's Ascension to the throne, and then prayed out loud: "Hold onto your seat Lord, or else Rudolf will surely grab it". Rudolf wanted to restore power to the German throne, though his particular strategy for accomplishing this would have severely changed the nature of the Empire. He planned to use his position to make his family so much richer than other noble families, that the throne would become a Hapsburg inheritance. revenue, and this tax was apparently paid willingly in return for the continued independence of the region. In 1291, Rudolf died. The Imperial electoral princes, having had their fill of Hapsburg inheritance building, elected an Emperor from a different noble family. Reacting bitterly to the sudden decline in their fortune, the Mter his election Rudolf controlled all three of the Swiss forest cantons: Schwyz and Unterwalden through his family and Uri through direct Imperial rule. The Waldstiitten were to him a stable source of needed tax Seals of Schwyz, Uri and Unterwaldenfrom the ''founding" document of the Swiss Confederation, written in 1291. The treaty, written to reaffirm an old alliance after Rudolfs death, is written in Latin and shows these rural folk to be quite canny.
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