William Tell

William Tell (German: Wilhelm Tell, pronounced [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈtɛl] ⓘ; French: Guillaume Tell; Italian: Guglielmo Tell; Romansh: Guglielm Tell) is a legendary folk hero of Switzerland.
According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a
Set in the early 14th century (traditional date 1307, during the rule of Albert of Habsburg), the first written records of the legend date to the latter part of the 15th century, when the Swiss Confederacy was gaining military and political influence. Tell is a central figure in Swiss national historiography, along with Arnold von Winkelried, the hero of Sempach (1386). He was important as a symbol during the formative stage of modern Switzerland in the 19th century, known as the period of Restoration and Regeneration, as well as in the wider history of 18th- to 19th-century Europe as a symbol of resistance against aristocratic rule, especially in the Revolutions of 1848 against the House of Habsburg which had ruled Austria for centuries.[1]
Legend


The first reference to Tell, as yet without a specified given name, appears in the White Book of Sarnen (German: Weisses Buch von Sarnen). This volume was written in c. 1474 by Hans Schriber, state secretary (Landschreiber) Obwalden. It mentions the
An equally early account of Tell is found in the Tellenlied, a song composed in the 1470s, with its oldest extant manuscript copy dating to 1501. The song begins with the Tell legend, which it presents as the origin of the Confederacy, calling Tell the "first confederate". The narrative includes Tell's apple shot, his preparation of a second arrow to shoot Gessler, and his escape, but it does not mention any assassination of Gessler.[3] The text then enumerates the cantons of the Confederacy, and says was expanded with "current events" during the course of the Burgundy Wars, ending with the death of Charles the Bold in 1477.[3]
Aegidius Tschudi, writing c. 1570, presents an extended version of the legend. Still essentially based on the account in the White Book, Tschudi adds further detail. Tschudi is known to habitually have "fleshed out" his sources, so that all detail from Tschudi not found in the earlier accounts may be suspected of being Tschudi's invention.[4] Such additional detail includes Tell's given name Wilhelm, and his being a native of
It is Tschudi's version that became influential in
In Tschudi's account, on 18 November 1307, Tell visited Altdorf with his young son. He passed by the hat, but publicly refused to bow to it, and was consequently arrested. Gessler was intrigued by Tell's famed marksmanship, but resentful of his defiance, so he devised a cruel punishment. Tell and his son were both to be executed; however, he could redeem his life by shooting an apple off the head of his son Walter in a single attempt. Tell split the apple with a bolt from his crossbow. Gessler then noticed that Tell had removed two crossbow bolts from his quiver, so he asked why. Tell was reluctant to answer, but Gessler promised that he would not kill him; he replied that, had he killed his son, he would have killed Gessler with the second bolt. Gessler was furious and ordered Tell to be bound, saying that he had promised to spare his life, but would imprison him for the remainder of his life.
Tschudi's continues that Tell was being carried in Gessler's boat to the dungeon in the castle at
Early modern reception
Chronicles
There are a number of sources for the Tell legend later than the earliest account in the White Book of Sarnen but earlier than Tschudi's version of ca. 1570.
These include the account in the chronicle of Melchior Russ from Lucerne. Dated to 1482, this is an incoherent compilation of older writings, including the Song of the Founding of the Confederation, Conrad Justinger's Bernese Chronicle, and the Chronicle of the State of Bern (in German, Chronik der Stadt Bern).[7] Another early account is in Petermann Etterlin's Chronicle of the Swiss Confederation (German: Kronika von der loblichen Eydtgenossenschaft) of 1507, the earliest printed version of the Tell story.[8]
The Chronicon Helveticum was compiled by Aegidius Tschudi of Glarus in the years leading up to his death in early 1572. For more than 150 years, it existed only in manuscript form, before finally being edited in 1734–1736. Therefore, there is no clear "date of publication" of the chronicle, and its date of composition can only be given approximately, as "ca. 1570", or "before 1572". It is Tschudi's account of the legend, however, which became the major model for later writers, even prior to its edition in print in the 1730s,[9]
Popular veneration
A widespread veneration of Tell, including sight-seeing excursions to the scenes of his deeds, can be ascertained for the early 16th century. Heinrich Brennwald in the early 16th century mentions the chapel (Tellskapelle) on the site of Tell's leap from his captors' boat. Tschudi mentions a "holy cottage" (heilig hüslin) built on the site of Gessler's assassination. Peter Hagendorf, a soldier in the Thirty Years' War, mentions a visit to 'the chapel where William Tell escaped' in his diary.[10]
The first recorded
The church of Bürglen had a bell dedicated to Tell from 1581, and a nearby chapel has a fresco dated to 1582 showing Tell's death in the Schächenbach.[12]
The Three Tells
The Three Tells (die Drei Tellen, also die Drei Telle) were symbolic figures of the
By the 18th century, the Drei Tellen had become associated with a
Tell during the 16th century had become closely associated and eventually merged with the
In 1653, three men dressed in historical costume representing the Three Tells appeared in Schüpfheim. Other impersonations of the Three Tells also appeared in the Freie Ämter and in the Emmental.
The first impersonators of the Three Tells were Hans Zemp, Kaspar Unternährer of Schüpfheim and Ueli Dahinden of
Dahinden and Unternährer returned in their roles of Tells, joined by Hans Stadelmann replacing Zemp. In an ambush, they managed to injure Dulliker and killed a member of the Lucerne parliament, Caspar Studer. The assassination attempt — an exceptional act in the culture of the Old Swiss Confederacy — was widely recognized and welcomed among the peasant population, but its impact was not sufficient to rekindle the rebellion.[13]
Even though it did not have any direct political effect, its symbolic value was considerable, placing the Lucerne authorities in the role of the tyrant (Habsburg and Gessler) and the peasant population in that of the freedom fighters (Tell). The Three Tells after the deed went to mass, still wearing their costumes, without being molested. Dahinden and Unternährer were eventually killed in October 1653 by Lucerne troops under Colonel Alphons von Sonnenberg. In July 1654, Zemp betrayed his successor Stadelmann in exchange for pardon and Stadelmann was executed on 15 July 1654.[13]
The Three Tells appear in a 1672 comedy by Johann Caspar Weissenbach. The "sleeping hero" version of the Three Tells legend was published in Deutsche Sagen by the Brothers Grimm in 1816 (no. 298).[14] It is also the subject of Felicia Hemans's poem The Cavern of the Three Tells of 1824.
Modern reception
This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2018) |



Throughout the long nineteenth century, and into the World War II period, Tell was perceived as a symbol of rebellion against tyranny both in Switzerland and in Europe.
Antoine-Marin Lemierre wrote a play inspired by Tell in 1766 and revived it in 1786. The success of this work established the association of Tell as a fighter against tyranny with the history of the French Revolution. The French revolutionary fascination with Tell was reflected in Switzerland with the establishment of the Helvetic Republic. Tell became, as it were, the mascot of the short-lived republic, his figure being featured on its official seal. The French Navy also had a Tonnant-class ship of the line named Guillaume Tell, which was captured by the British Royal Navy in 1800.
Tschudi's Chronicon Helveticum continued to be taken at face value as a historiographical source well into the 19th century, so that Tschudi's version of the legend is not only used as a model in Friedrich Schiller's play William Tell (1804) but is also reported in historiographical works of the time, including Johannes von Müller's History of the Swiss Confederation (German: Geschichte Schweizerischer Eidgenossenschaft, 1780).[9]
Gioachino Rossini used Schiller's play as the basis for his 1829 opera William Tell.[17] The William Tell Overture is one of his best-known and most frequently imitated pieces of music; in the 20th century, the finale of the overture became the theme for the radio, television, and motion picture incarnations of The Lone Ranger, a fictional American frontier hero.
Around 1836 the first
In 1858, the Swiss Colonization Society, a group of Swiss and German immigrants to the United States, founded its first (and only) planned city on the banks of the Ohio River in
John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, was inspired by Tell. Lamenting the negative reaction to his action, Booth wrote in his journal on 21 April 1865 "with every man's hand against me, I am here in despair. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for and what made Tell a Hero. And yet I for striking down a greater tyrant than they ever knew am looked upon as a common cutthroat."[19] (He himself was shot to death, without standing trial, days later.)
Following a national competition, won by Richard Kissling, Altdorf in 1895 erected a monument to its hero. Kissling casts Tell as a peasant and man of the mountains, with strong features and muscular limbs. His powerful hand rests lovingly on the shoulder of little Walter, but the apple is not shown. The depiction is in marked contrast with that used by the Helvetic Republic, where Tell is shown as a landsknecht rather than a peasant, with a sword at his belt and a feathered hat, bending down to pick up his son who is still holding the apple.

The painting of Tell by Ferdinand Hodler (1897) became iconic. Tell is represented as facing the viewer, with his right hand raised, the left holding the crossbow. The representation was designed as part of a larger scene showing "Gessler's death", one of seven scenes created for the Swiss National Museum competition. Hodler's depiction of Tell was often described as sacral, and compared to classical depictionons of God Father, Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus, or the Archangel Michael. In Tell's bearded face, Hodler combines self-portrait with allusion the face of Christ.[20]
The first film about Tell was made by French director Charles Pathé in 1900; only a short fragment survives.[citation needed]
A version of the legend was retold in
Charlie Chaplin parodies William Tell in his famous 1928 silent movie The Circus. Salvador Dalí painted The Old Age of William Tell and William Tell and Gradiva in 1931, and The Enigma of William Tell in 1933. Spanish playwright Alfonso Sastre re-worked the legend in 1955 in his "Guillermo Tell tiene los ojos tristes" (William Tell has sad eyes); it was not performed until the Franco regime in Spain ended.[citation needed]
In Switzerland, the importance of Tell had declined somewhat by the end of the 19th century, outside of Altdorf and Interlaken which established their tradition of performing Schiller's play in regular intervals in 1899 and 1912, respectively. During the
After
Schweizer Helden ("Swiss Heroes", English title Unlikely Heroes) is a 2014 film about the performance of a simplified version of Schiller's play by asylum seekers in Switzerland.[27]
The Japanese historical fantasy manga series Wolfsmund, written and illustrated by Mitsuhisa Kuji and published by Enterbrain, is a retelling of the rebellion started by William Tell. The story revolves around the oppression that took place during the Middle Ages in the middle cantons of Switzerland.
In the 2019 Spanish comedy film The Little Switzerland, a Spanish town (Tellería) discovers the tomb of Tell's son and tries to become a Swiss canton (Tellstadt), affecting a Swiss identity.[28]
Historicity debate
The historicity of William Tell has been subject to debate. François Guillimann, a statesman of Fribourg and later historian and advisor of the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II, wrote to Melchior Goldast in 1607: "I followed popular belief by reporting certain details in my Swiss antiquities [published in 1598], but when I examine them closely the whole story seems to me to be pure fable."
In 1760, Simeon Uriel Freudenberger from
The skeptical view of Tell's existence remained very unpopular, especially after the adoption of Tell as depicted in
From the second half of the 19th century, it has been largely undisputed among historians that there is no contemporary (14th-century) evidence for Tell as a historical individual, let alone for the apple-shot story. Debate in the late 19th to 20th centuries mostly surrounded the extent of the "historical nucleus" in the chronistic traditions surrounding the early Confederacy.
The desire to defend the historicity of the Befreiungstradition ("liberation tradition") of Swiss history had a political component, as since the 17th century its celebration had become mostly confined to the Catholic cantons, so that the declaration of parts of the tradition as ahistorical was seen as an attack by the urban Protestant cantons on the rural Catholic cantons. The decision, taken in 1891, to make
Later proposals for the identification of Tell as a historical individual, such as a 1986 publication deriving the name Tell from the placename Tellikon (modern
Comparative mythology
The Tell legend has been compared to a number of other myths or legends, specifically in Norse mythology, involving a magical marksman coming to the aid of a suppressed people under the sway of a tyrant. The story of a great outlaw successfully shooting an apple from his child's head is an
Such parallels were pointed out as early as 1760 by Gottlieb Emanuel von Haller and the pastor Simeon Uriel Freudenberger in a book titled "William Tell, a Danish Fable" (German: Der Wilhelm Tell, ein dänisches Mährgen).[34] This book offended Swiss citizens, and a copy of it was burnt publicly at the Altdorf square. Von Haller underwent a trial, but the authorities spared his life, as he made abject apologies.[35]
Rochholz (1877) connects the similarity of the Tell legend to the stories of Egil and Palnatoke with the legends of a migration from Sweden to Switzerland during the Middle Ages. He also adduces parallels in folktales among the Finns and the Lapps (Sami). From pre-Christian Norse mythology, Rochholz compares
The Danish legend of Palnatoke, first attested in the twelfth-century Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus,[36] is the earliest known parallel to the Tell legend. As with William Tell, Palnatoke is forced by the ruler (in this case King Harald Bluetooth) to shoot an apple off his son's head as proof of his marksmanship.[37] A striking similarity between William Tell and Palnatoke is that both heroes take more than one arrow out of their quiver. When asked why he pulled several arrows out of his quiver, Palnatoke, too, replies that if he had struck his son with the first arrow, he would have shot King Harald with the remaining two arrows.[36] According to Saxo, Palnatoke later joins Harald's son
See also
- Arnold Winkelried, Swiss cultural hero
- Stauffacherin, Swiss cultural hero
- Tell City, Indiana
Non-Swiss figures:
- Punker of Rohrbach
- Robin Hood
- Toni Bajada
- William Wallace, (historical) medieval Scottish hero
General:
Notes and references
- ISBN 0-321-33394-2.
- ^ Bergier, p 63.
- ^ a b Rochus von Liliencron, Historische Volkslieder der Deutschen, vol. 2 (1866), no. 147, cited by Rochholz (1877), p. 187; c.f. Bergier, p. 70–71.
- Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. . In 349–350.
...Tschudi's historical credit is thus hopelessly ruined...
- ^ Hohle Gasse in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ a b Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, Leipzig und Wien, Fourth edition, 1885–1892, entry on "Tell, Wilhelm," pp. 576–77 in volume 15. In German.
- ^ a b Bergier, p. 76.
- ^ Bergier, p. 77.
- ^ a b Bergier, p. 16.
- ^ Helfferich, Tryntje, The Thirty Years' War: A Documentary History (Cambridge, 2009), p. 279.
- ^ Head, p. 528.
- ^ Kaiser, P.: Liberation myths in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 20 May 2002. URL last accessed 6 November 2006.
- ^ a b c Drei Tellen in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- better source needed]
- ISSN 1405-4558.
- ISBN 970-32-4290-1. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
- ^ "William Tell: Fact Or Legend?". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
- ^ Pattern Sheet 90 - Tell pattern Type I at i-p-c-s.org. Retrieved 29 Nov 2019.
- ISBN 9780739116845.
- .
- ^ dpa: Hitler verbot Schillers "Tell", news agency announcement of a speech by Rolf Hochhuth, May 11, 2004. In German. URL last accessed 11 February 2008.
- ^ a b Ruppelt, G.: Hitler gegen Tell Archived 2007-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, Hannover, 2004. In German. URL last accessed 11 February 2008.
- ^ Sapan, A.: Wilhelm Tell (Friedrich von Schiller) Archived 2010-04-20 at the Wayback Machine. In German. URL last accessed 11 February 2008.
- ^ de Capitani (2013)
- ^ Adolf Muschg, Apfelschuß war nicht verlangt, Spiegel 9 August 1971.
- ^ "According to a 2004 survey of 620 participants performed by the LINK-Institut of Lucerne for Coopzeitung. 58% of those asked held that Tell was historical, compared to 29% who held that Tell was unhistorical". Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
- Festival del Film Locarnoofficial website. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
- ^ Jiménez, Jesús (26 April 2019). "'La pequeña Suiza', Berlanga inspira una comedia sobre los nacionalismos". RTVE.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- " (in French).
- ^ Heidi Bossard-Borner: Joseph Eutych Kopp in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 2008.
- ^ De Capitani (2013): "From this time [late 18th century] the debates surrounding Tell took place on two separate levels: The historicity question was left to experts, who increasingly doubted the existence of Tell as historical figure, because it could not be reconciled with the documentary tradition regarding the origin of the Confederacy. This circumstance could no longer be ignored, at the latest, with the post-1845 publications by Joseph Eutych Kopp, who in contrast to [Johannes von] Müller relied on documentary evidence and consequently rejected the folkloristic elements of the liberation tradition such as Tell or the Rütli oath." "Von nun an liefen die Diskussionen um T. auf zwei Ebenen: Die Frage nach der Historizität blieb den Fachleuten vorbehalten, die immer mehr an der hist. Figur T. zweifelten, weil sie nicht mit der urkundl. Überlieferung zur Entstehung der Eidgenossenschaft in Einklang gebracht werden konnte. Spätestens mit den Arbeiten Joseph Eutych Kopps nach 1845, der sich im Gegensatz zu von Müller auf urkundl. Überlieferungen stützte und entsprechend die volkstüml. Elemente der Befreiungstradition wie T. oder den Rütlischwur verwarf, liess sich dieser Sachverhalt nicht mehr ausblenden."
- ^ Wilhelm Oechsli, Die Anfänge der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. Zürich, 1891.
- ^ Arnold Claudio Schärer, Und es gab Tell doch (1986). Schärer cites the historical record of one Wilhelm Gorkeit of Tellikon and argues that Gorkeit is equivalent to Armbruster ("crossbow maker"). Historians were not convinced, but the theory was welcomed in part of the nationalistic right in Switzerland, being referenced by Rudolf Keller, at the time president of the Swiss Democrats, on 1 August 2004 in a speech in Basel. Keller, R.: Speech held on August 1, 2004 Archived June 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Bergier, p. 80f.
- ^ Wernick, Robert. "In Search of William Tell". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
- ^ a b Bergier, p. 82.
- ^ see e.g. Keightley, Thomas. Tales and Popular Fictions: Their Resemblance and Transmission from Country to Country. London: Whittaker, 1834, p. 293.
- ISBN 978-87-12-04745-2.
Bibliography
- Bergier, Jean-François. Wilhelm Tell: Realität und Mythos. München: Paul List Verlag, 1990.
- de Capitani, François: Tell, Wilhelm in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 2013.
- Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1887). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. XXII (9th ed.). pp. . 155–156.
- Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). pp. . 574–576.
- ISBN 0-226-22482-1
- Fiske, John. Myths and Myth-Makers: Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology, 1877. Ch. 1: (On-line) Quotes Saxo Grammaticus, the ballad of William of Cloudeslee, and instances other independent occurrences.
- Head, Randolph C. "William Tell and His Comrades: Association and Fraternity in the Propaganda of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Switzerland." in The Journal of Modern History 67.3 (1995): 527–557.
- Marabello, Thomas Quinn (2023). "The Origins of Democracy in Switzerland," Swiss American Historical Society Review, Vol. 59: No. 1. Page 95-97. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol59/iss1/4
- Rochholz, Ernst Ludwig, Tell und Gessler in Sage und Geschichte. Nach urkundlichen Quellen, Heilbronn, 1877 (online copy).
- Salis, J.-R. v.: Ursprung, Gestalt, und Wirkung des schweizerischen Mythos von Tell, Bern, 1973.
External links
- The Legend of William Tell by Markus Jud.
- The birth of the Swiss Confederation.
- Translation of Grimm's Saga No. 298 "The Three Tells"
- Tell City, Indiana
- Translation of Grimm's Saga No. 517 "Wilhelm Tell"
- "The Contradiction"
- Wilhelm Tell Festival, New Glarus
- William Tell is a lie; Coopzeitung 28/2004, interview with historian Roger Sablonier, Zurich, translated
- William Tell, Swissinfo special