40. Switzerland, Historical documents, "White Book of Sarnen," 1470-1607

In the website of Swiss history, you noticed or figured out that in the early centuries, there were many treaties and alliances made among the peoples of the lands which today is Switzerland.    There were the Hapsburgs who needed to be beaten at the Battle at Morgarten in 1315 (important date!).   The Swiss Confederacy consisted of Lucerne and and Zurich, then Glarus, and Zug, and Bern.   By 1353 there were 8 members of the Confederacy.   (I am reporting all this from the timeline.)   This is not including all the minor treaties.

In 1474 these treaties and alliances of the Old Confederation (77 of them) were compiled and all the words copied onto new pages.   One "country scribe" did the copying, Hans Schriber of Sarnen.    [Maybe he picked that name for himself, or maybe he was born into it.   What a great name for him to have, as that sounds like scrivening and scribing!]  Here in one book were all the cantonal archives!    The pages were bound in white parchment (pigskin).   One source says it has 258 pages, another says it has 506 pages.   It depends on the way the pages were counted.

The book was entitled, "The White Book of Sarnen." 

The book was lost, and then it was found, in 1856!  (so it is said.)   It was found in Sarnen (strangely enough), and it has been preserved ever since in the city archives.    

Naturally, for something so old, there are many controversies surrounding it.   What happened to the original treaties and alliances?   Was the White Book recopied from a previous book of 1426?   [Where does that date come from?]   Are other copies of the White Book extant that possibly Herr Schriber or somebody else took time to write?

Here are a couple of websites describing the White Book of Sarnen:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/specials/tell/White_Book_of_Sarnen.html?cid=251958


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Book_of_Sarnen

And now, the most astonishing thing of all.    You can view this book on the Internet!!!!    You can admire Hans Schriber's even handscribe, and it is readable, more readable than quite a few other country scribes I've tried to decipher.    It was put online on 03/22/2012.   Try it!

http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/staow/Shelfmark/20/0

Here is what is said about the "White Book of Sarnen."  

Sarnen, Staatsarchiv Obwalden, Sig. A.02.CHR.0003
Paper - 508 pp. - 30-30.5 x 21-22 cm - Sarnen - 1470-1607

"The White Book of Sarnen was assembled by Obwald Chancellry Clerk Hans Schriber (1436-1478).  It is called the "White Book" because it was originally bound in a white pigskin cover.   It contains copies of Privileges, Covenants, and important decisions rendered by the arbitral tribunals and Landesgemeinde beginning in 1316, written for the most part in the years 1470/1471.   It is the most important cartulary from the Obwald Chancellry during the late middle ages, and, as such, is still part of the city archives today.   However, this book is famous above all because it contains the oldest version of the story of the founding of the Swiss Confederation on about 25 of its pages (S.441-465).  The volume also includes the story of Wilhelm Tell and the famous shooting of the apple:  ("Weisses Buch", S.447:   Nu was der Tall gar ein güt Schütz er hat oüch hübsche kind die beschigt der herre zü imm / vnd twang den Tallen mit sinen knechten / das der Tall eim sim kind ein öbfel ab dem höupt müst schiessen...)."  

Note: That "oüch" could refer to a hand that hurts from handwriting 77 documents in a year!
Thank you, Hans!