The Reformation in the Three Leagues (Grisons)

chapter 8 The Reformation in the Three Leagues (Grisons)

Jan-Andrea Bernhard

8.1 Introduction

The Freistaat Gemeiner Drei Bünde, the political unit known as the Three Leagues,1 originated in the late Middle Ages, when three separate alliances— the League of God’s House (Gotteshausbund), the Upper League or Gray League (Oberer Bund or Grauer Bund), and the League of the Ten Jurisdictions (Zehngerichtebund)—were formed within a territory bordered by the Swiss Confederation, the duchy of Milan, the county of Tyrol, and the Holy Roman Empire.2 The three alliances came together in the years after 1450 as their common political interests grew, and they became more like the later Graubünden. Their relations with Milan, France, and the Swiss Confederation contributed to their awareness of common interests.3 With the Three Leagues’ defeat of the Schwabian League at the Battle of Calven in 1499, Austrian influence was reduced, and the Three Leagues remained largely unaffected by the new legal and political climate in the Empire.

1 An extensive treatment can be found in Bündner Geschichte, 1: 246–94, and 2: 85–112. 2 The Gotteshausbund (founded 1367) comprised the Vinschgau, Münstertal (Val Müstair), Engadin with Val Bregaglia (Bergell) and Val Poschiavo (Puschlav), Oberhalbstein (Surses), Domleschg, the Vier Dörfer, and Chur. It had been formed in an attempt to involve cathe- dral chapter, ministerials, and the town of Chur and communes in the episcopal exercise of authority. The Oberer Bund (founded 1395/1424) covered the Bündner Oberland (Surselva), Lugnez (Val Lumnezia), Valsertal, Safiental Schams (Val Schons), Val Mesolcina (Misox), and Val Calanca (Calancatal); the alliance had been formed at the initiative of the abbey of Disentis (Mustér) und the nobility of the Oberland to maintain peace through involvement of the communes. The Zehngerichtebund had been created after the death of the ruler of Toggenburg in 1436 as a means of preserving the privileges of its individual members when authority changed hands. Its members were the ten jurisdictions, that is, Maienfeld, the Prät- tigau, Davos with Belfort, and Schanfigg. See Roger Sablonier, “Politik und Staatlichkeit im spätmittelalterlichen Rätien,” in Bündner Geschichte, 1: 276–82. 3 Sablonier, “Politik,” 282–84; Martin Bundi, “Zur Dynamik der frühen Reformbewegung in Graubünden. Staats-, kirchen- und privatrechtliche Erlasse des Dreibündestaates 1523–1526,” Zwingliana 38 (2011), 1–34, here at 1–2.

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Map 8.1 The Three Leagues COPYRIGHT: INSTITUT FÜR KULTURFORSCHUNG GRAUBÜNDEN

From 1486/87 the Three Leagues were drawn together in particular by their attempts to acquire the Valtellina (Veltlin). After the Swiss Confederation and the Three Leagues had together, in 1512, expelled the French from the duchy of Milan, the Three Leagues quickly occupied Bormio, the Valtellina, and Chi- avenna, and claimed these lands as subject lands. Their claim was officially conceded by the dukes of Milan, and from 1515 the Valtellina was governed by representatives of the Three Leagues.4 Internal and external developments reinforced and extended the common interests of the Three Leagues, and on 23 September 1524 they subscribed to

4 Martin Bundi, “Die Aussenbeziehungen der Drei Bünde,” in Bündner Geschichte, 2: 177–80; Guglielmo Scaramellini, “Die Beziehungen zwischen den Drei Bünden und dem Veltlin, Chi- avenna und Bormio,” in Bündner Geschichte, 2: 148–49.