Golden Charter of Bern

The charter's 54 articles provided for extensive privileges, including the free election of the

The issue of whether the charter — regarded as Bern's founding document for centuries — is authentic has been contentious among historians since the 1860s. Modern researchers now seem to agree that it is a forgery done on behalf of Bern's government during the middle of the 13th century, done to establish in writing the rights the city had in practice seized decades previously. They point out that the exceptional liberties granted by the charter were very atypical for the time, and that the writing seems to match that of one writer in the