Growth of The Town
While the town of Einsiedeln is first mentioned in 1073, monastery and the area around were settled earlier. At the time of the foundation of the Abbey, the local hunters and small farmers of the forest, placed themselves under the authority of the noble-born Abbot. The surrounding population was known as Waldleute (forest people) because of the forests around the Abbey. The Abbey encouraged the Waldleute to settle in surrounding villages and begin farming. The alpine valleys were used to raise cattle, which became increasingly more important to the village. By 1250 the major business in the village was breeding and raising cattle. Expansion of grazing land into nearby alpine valleys led to a two century conflict with Schwyz.
As early as 1100, the villages of Einsiedeln and Schwyz were in conflict over land near the two Mythen mountains. Over the following century, conflicts over the land led to many court battles and actual battles. In 1173 when the Habsburgs gained rights over the village of Schwyz and in 1283 when they raised the Abbey to an independent principality under the Habsburgs, this raised a local conflict into a regional one. The Habsburgs were able to quiet the conflict for a few years, until 1291 when Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden revolted against the Habsburgs. In 1314 the conflict flared up again with an attack by Schwyz into Einsiedeln. This attack triggered a series of border raids that, along with other events, in 1315 led to a Habsburg invasion and their crushing defeat at the Battle of Morgarten. It wasn't until 1350 that the conflict was resolved and the borders between Einsiedeln and Schwyz were fixed.
In 1394 the Abbey came under the protection of Schwyz and the rights of high justice went over to Schwyz. Low justice though remained with the Abbey. In 1399 the Drei Teile (lit. Three parts-a council that included the Abbey, the Waldleute from the surrounding villages and Schwyz) is first mentioned. Initially the Drei Teile only addressed any issues that affected the free Waldleute. In 1564 they were able to issue a binding ordinance for all three groups. In 1657 the Drei Teile changed its name to the "Session".
The relationship between the three parties was not always smooth. In 1764, an attempt by the Abbot to require tradesmen to only practice their trade in Einsiedeln and preventing skilled workers from settling in among the Waldleute led to open conflict. Schwyz supported the Abbey against the Waldleute and in 1766 crushed the revolt. However, the Abbey lost a lot of independence and thereafter was treated more as a subject of Schwyz instead of a partner.
During Napoleon's invasion of Switzerland in 1798, the Abbey was suppressed for about three years and the land was added to the city of Schwyz. Following the collapse of the post-invasion Helvetic Republic, in 1803 as part of the Act of Mediation Einsiedeln became a Bezirk (or District) in the Canton of Schwyz. During the Restoration starting in 1815, the Abbey's power began to grow in the Canton. A desire for reform lead the Districts of March, Küssnacht and Pfäffikon to declare themselves Kanton Schwyz äusseres Land (Canton of Schwyz, Outer Lands) with a liberal constitution in 1832. The Abbey stood on the side of the conservative faction in the Canton, which caused tense relations between them and the surrounding villages until the creation of the Federal State in 1848
Read more about this topic: Einsiedeln, Switzerland, History
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