The Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs was fought between the Old Swiss Confederacy and French (mostly Armagnac) mercenaries, on the banks of the river Birs. The battle took place on 26 August 1444 and was part of the Old Zürich War. The site of the battle was near Münchenstein, Switzerland, just over 1 km outside the city walls of Basel, today within Basel's St-Alban district.

Background

In 1443, the seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy invaded the canton of Zürich and besieged the city. Zürich had allied with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, who now appealed to King Charles VII of France to send an army to relieve the siege.

Charles, seeking to send away the "écorcheurs", troublesome troops made idle by the truce with King Henry VI of England in the Hundred Years' War, sent his son the Dauphin (later King Louis XI) with an army of about 30,000 of these écorcheurs into Switzerland, most of them Armagnacs, to relieve Zürich. As the French forces entered Swiss territory at Basel, the Swiss commanders stationed at Farnsburg decided to send an advance troop of 1,300, primarily young pikemen. These moved to Liestal on the night of 25 August, where they were joined by a local force of 200.

Battle

In the early morning, they managed to surprise and rout French vanguard troops at Pratteln and Muttenz. Enthused by this success, and despite strict orders to the contrary, the Swiss troops crossed the Birs to meet the bulk of the French army of some 30,000 men,

In terms of military tactics, the battle exposed the weakness of pike formations against artillery, marking the beginning of the era of gunpowder warfare.

Legacy in Swiss historiography and patriotism

thumb|[[St._Jakobs_Memorial|Memorial for the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs of Ferdinand Schlöth]]

While the sheer bravery or foolhardiness on the Swiss side was recognized by contemporaries, it was only in the 19th century, after the collapse of the Napoleonic Helvetic Republic, that the battle came to be stylized as a kind of Swiss Thermopylae, a heroic and selfless rescue of the fatherland from a French invasion.

The battle became a symbol of Swiss military bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. It was celebrated in 19th-century Swiss patriotism, finding explicit mention in Rufst du, mein Vaterland, the Swiss national anthem from the 1850s to 1961. The first monument at the battle site was erected in 1824, the current monument by Ferdinand Schlöth dates to 1872. Memorial ceremonies at the site were held from 1824, from 1860 to 1894 yearly, and afterward every five years (discontinued after 1994).

The death of knight Burkhard VII. Münch, according to the chroniclers at the hands of a dying Swiss fighter, became symbolic of the outcome of the battle and the strategy of deterring powers of superior military strength from invading Switzerland by the threat of inflicting disproportionate casualties even in defeat, pursued by Swiss high command during the World Wars.

See also

  • List of battles of the Old Swiss Confederacy

References

Additional sources

  • Werner Meyer, "Also griffen die Eidgenossen das Volk an. Die Schlacht bei St. Jakob an der Birs – Hintergründe, Verlauf und Bedeutung" in: Meyer/Geiser (eds.), Ereignis, Mythos, Deutung. 1444–1994 St. Jakob an der Birs, Basel 1994, pp. 9–57.
  • Hans Georg Wackernagel, "Die Schlacht bei St. Jakob an der Birs", in: Gedenkbuch zur Fünfhundertjahrfeier der Schlacht bei St. Jakob an der Birs vom 26. August 1444, Historische und Antiquarische Gesellschaft zu Basel (1944), pp. 1–72.
  • Marco Tomaszewski, "Zwischen Stadt- und Nationalgedächtnis: die Schlacht bei Sankt Jakob an der Birs von 1444 und ihre Erinnerung vom 15. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert", Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde 111 (2011), .
  • Miller, Douglas & Embleton G.A. The Swiss at War 1300–1500. London: Osprey Publishing, 1981.
  • Peter Keller, "Vom Siegen ermüdet", Weltwoche 16/2012.