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Albrecht Gessler, also known asHermann,[1] was a legendary 14th-centuryHabsburgbailiff (German:Landvogt) atAltdorf,[2] whose brutal rule led to theWilliam Tell rebellion and the eventual independence of theOld Swiss Confederacy.[3][4]
According to theChronicon Helveticum byAegidius Tschudi (1505–1572), in 1307 Gessler raised a pole in the market square ofAltdorf,Uri,Switzerland, placed his hat atop it, and ordered all the townsfolk to bow before it. Tell, whose marksmanship and pride were legendary, publicly refused. Gessler's cruel wrath was tempered by his curiosity to test Tell's skill, so he gave Tell the option of either being executed orshooting an apple off his son's head in one try. Tell succeeded in splitting the apple with his arrow, saving his own life. When Gessler asked why he had readied two crossbow bolts, he lied and replied that it was out of habit. After being assured that he would not be killed, Tell finally admitted that the second was intended for the tyrant if his son was harmed.
Gessler, enraged, had Tell arrested and taken by boat acrossLake Lucerne toKüssnacht to spend the life he had saved in a dungeon. A sudden fierce storm made the crew terrified and, since William Tell was a better sailor, they handed the wheel to him but, instead of heading towards the dungeon, he escaped to shore. There he ambushed and killed Gessler with an arrow, launching the young Confederacy's rebellion against Austrian rule.
A Gessler family ofministeriales is documented from the 13th century onwards but atWiggwil in theAargau region, the original homeland of the Habsburgs and the basis for their rise after the extinction of the SwabianHouse of Hohenstaufen. The Gesslers profited from the election of CountRudolph of Habsburg asKing of the Romans in 1273 and his acquisition of theAustrian andStyrian duchies after the victory over KingOttokar II of Bohemia at the 1278Battle on the Marchfeld.
TheWhite Book of Sarnen, written around 1470, mentioned onegesler who wasvogt atUri andSchwyz. In the late 14th century one Hermann Gessler ruled the domain ofGrüningen (which today belongs toZürich); the domain of Grüningen had been pawned to the Gessler family by the House of Habsburg.[5] His stern measures against the peasant population made the nameGessler an epitome of tyranny.
No sources that predate the earliest references to the Tell legend of the late 15th century refer to a bailiff Gessler in central Switzerland, and it is presumed that no such person existed. Gessler's role in Tell's story is analogous to that of KingNiðung in the story ofEgil in theÞiðrekssaga.
Friedrich Schiller perpetuated the figure in his 1804 dramaWilhelm Tell. In theTale Spinners For Children recording of the story, Gessler is working under orders from the Emperor of Austria, who wishes to deliberately provoke the people of Switzerland into a rebellion which will serve as an excuse for Austria to invade Switzerland.
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