Many people know the legend about William Tell. The legendary folk hero of Switzerland, who lived in the late XIII - early XIV centuries, a native of the canton of Uri, a skilled archer, a fighter for the independence of his country from Austria and the Holy Roman Empire, a proud Swiss peasant who refused to bow to the hat of the Austrian governor.
For this, the cruel Landvogt sentenced him to a sophisticated test: he had to shoot from a bow at an apple that stood on the head of his young son. Tell fired an arrow that hit the target, although in case of a miss he was ready to send the next arrow into the stone heart of the governor. What is the grain of truth in this legend? In Switzerland, there are many monuments to the freedom-loving hero, but are they erected in honor of a real person, or is it some kind of collective image of freedom-loving and independence? Did this archer really exist, with phenomenal accuracy?
The story of William Tell adjoins the cycle of stories about the formation of the confederation that took place at the end of the 13th century. At that time, Switzerland was conquered by the Austrians. The trade route to Italy passed through the Alpine mountains, and Switzerland was a key point on this road. The Austrian Habsburgs wanted to annex Switzerland to their dominions and put their cruel and greedy governors at the head of it.
The forest cantons (that is, independent regions) located in the alpine valleys, Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden concluded a secret alliance among themselves in 1291. Peasants and highlanders rose to fight for the independence of their homeland. A particularly fierce struggle was fought between the Swiss and Austrians at the end of the 13th century. The heroes of the struggle for independence Walter Fürst, Werner Staufacher and Arnold Melchtal (indisputably historical figures) decided to resist the cruel governor. They convened a popular assembly in the Rütli valley near Lake Lucerne, where they entered into an "eternal alliance" and vowed to fight for the independence of their homeland.
Although the events in which Wilhelm Tell took part took place in the 13th century, the first written sources mentioning them date back to the second half of the 15th century. This is the work of an anonymous chronicler, which is called the White Book, and the manuscript is kept in the archives of Sarnen. Around 1470, the first recordings of the ballads about William Tell began to appear.
The White Book tells the story of Wilhelm Tell in detail. Everything happened at the end of the 13th century on the territory of the Swiss cantons of Uri and Schwyz, which at that time were in the possession of the Counts of Tyrol. Landvogt there was Hermann Gessler Count von Bruneck. He was placed by Emperor Albrecht in these cantons in order to subordinate them to Austrian rule. The count ruled these lands very cruelly, did many injustices, and also had a craving for the fair sex.
Once he issued a decree that everyone, under threat of a fine, bowed to his hat, hung on a pole “under the lindens of Uri,” as the chronicler wrote. “And so there lived a worthy man named Tell, who also took the oath [of the independence of the cantons] along with Werner Stauffacher [one of the heroes of the struggle for independence] and his comrades. He often walked past the pole, and he did not want to bow."
Upon learning of Tell's behavior, Gessler ordered to call him and asked what prompted him to disobey. Tell apologized, saying that he did it without bad intentions, that he did not think that the Landvogt attached such importance to this bow. Finally, he added: "If I were smart, I would not be called le Thall (simpleton)."
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Gessler looked at Tell and his little son in thought, saw a bow hanging from Tell behind him, and decided to have some fun. As punishment for disobedience, he ordered the rebellious Tell to shoot down an apple from the head of his son with an arrow. At a signal from the Landvogt, guards surrounded them, so that resistance was useless.
Tell complied. He put the boy by a tree (in the legends, of course, an oak is mentioned), put an apple on his head and walked away. The annals do not say anything about the distance from which Tell was shooting, and the ballads mention the distance of 12, 20 or more steps. Tell took out two arrows from the quiver, hid one of them under his jacket, and put the other in the bow, prayed to God, took aim and knocked the apple off the child's head. A sigh of relief swept through the crowd, which had already gathered by that time.
Gessler noticed that Tell had hidden a second arrow under his jacket and asked why he had done this. Tell tried to dodge the answer, but the Landvogt insisted: “Tell me the truth. I promise you that you will stay alive. " Tell surrendered: "Since you promise me that I will stay alive, I will tell you the truth: if my arrow had not hit the target and I would have killed my son, I would have aimed my bow at you."
Landvogt got angry (put it mildly!): "Yes, it's true, I promised you life, but I will put you in a place where you will no longer see the sun or the moon." He ordered Tell to be tied up and put in a boat. The bow was placed behind him (why?). Gessler also got into the boat, and they sailed across the lake to Aksen.
When the boat reached this cliff, a strong wind rose, and Gessler and his companions were seized with great fear. One of the boatmen turned to Gessler: “You see what threatens us. Tell Tell to untie and order him to save us. He is strong and knows how to steer a boat. " Landvogt told Tell: "If you promise to save us, then I will command you to be untied."
Tell agreed and began to row, while he kept looking at his bow. Reaching the platform now called Tell's platform, he grabbed his bow, jumped ashore and pushed the boat away with his foot. By the time Gessler's satellites managed to cope with the boat and land, Tell was already far away.
He went all the way to Schwyz and reached the Kussnakht Gorge, through which Gessler was sure to pass. Tell waited for the Landvogt and killed him, and then returned through the mountains to his native Uri.
This was the end of the story about William Tell. Tell takes part in the struggle for independence in the chronicler, but is already a minor figure. In the tradition of the canton, Uri Tell is one of the main heroes of the struggle for the formation of the union of cantons. It is believed that from the time Tell shot Gessler, a massive uprising against the Austrians began. On Christmas Eve 1315, the Swiss celebrated the victory and liberation from the yoke of the Austrians. Wilhelm Tell became one of the national heroes of Switzerland, many places in the country were named after him, chapels dedicated to him were built and monuments were erected.
Another source that speaks of Tell as a real historical person is the Swiss Chronicle. This story is mentioned in 1570 by the Swiss historian Aegidus (Gilg) Chudi (1505 - 28.2.1572) in the Chronicle of Helveticum, the main work of his life. It covers 1000-1400 years, and it includes many of the first collected sources. When, after 3 centuries, they began to study it in detail, it turned out that Chudi, for completeness and harmony, included legends and fictional information in the chronicles. His reputation as a serious historian suffered, but the legend of William Tell survived.
In presenting the facts and the names of the heroes, Aegidus Chudi does not disagree with the anonymous author of the White Book. Those of the historians who consider the legend of William Tell to be a legend explain the coincidences by simple borrowing: Aegidus Chudi quoted the White Paper without reference to the source. Well, at that time this was the order of things, there was no copyright law, and the scribe could well equate himself with the author of the text. Supporters of the reality of the story of William Tell, on the contrary, see the coincidence of details as evidence of the authenticity of events, about which two sources write equally.
True or Fiction? Similar legends in different countries
Well, the first documents, which question the veracity of the stories set out above, appeared back in 1607. As you can see, historical criticism is not asleep! It was pointed out that in historical sources there is no mention of either Tell or Gessler, although many stories have survived about the abuse of power by the Land Vogt. Attention was drawn to the strange route of movement of Tell and Gessler (it was possible to move by a shorter road), etc.
The main argument of the critics was the fact that legends about such an arrow can be found among many peoples at different times. Scandinavians, the Cretan Alkop, the Bulgarian Digenis, the Ukrainian Danilo Khanenko and other heroes of myths and legends fired in exactly the same way. Such stories are found among the Asian peoples, in the Rhine regions, but the most famous are Danish, Icelandic and English legends.
The skillful arrow motif plays an important role in the songs and legends of the Germanic peoples. Already in one of the songs of Edda, dating back to the 6th century, then in the Vilkina saga and Niflunga saga, the legend of the skillful arrow Eigil appears. King Nidung (i.e. the envious) puts an apple on the head of Aigil's 3-year-old son Orvandil. Eigil was forced to obey under threat of punishment. He takes out three arrows, inserts the first into the bow and hits the middle of the apple. The king praises him for his dexterity, and then asks why he prepared three arrows when he needed only one?
Eigil replied: "If I had killed my son with the first arrow, the other two would have hit you." The monarch was delighted with the response of the brave warrior and took him into his army. It is believed that the Eigil saga originated in Northern Germany, penetrated the Scandinavian Peninsula, and from there returned to Germany in a Scandinavian treatment.
The legend of the skillful shooter can be found many times in Norwegian history. So, Olaf II the Saint (d. 1030) compels the brave warrior Eindridi to such a dangerous shooting. King Harald III (d. 1066) forces the hero Geming to shoot a nut placed on his brother's head. In the Pharos Islands, there is a story about how Gayty, the son of Aslak, at the request of the king, shot down a hazelnut from his brother's head with an arrow.
The Danish legend is very similar to the Icelandic one. The legend of the skillful arrow is in the 12th century Danish writer Saxon Grammar (d. 1203) in the tenth book of his ShvShpa Oaxa, written about 1185. But the translation into German was made only in 1430, literary processing appeared in 1480, and it was published in 1514. It is difficult to talk about borrowing the plot of the legend from Saxon Grammar, although this was precisely what the first critics insisted on. Here is a summary of the story of Saxo the Grammar.
King Harald Bluetooth, who lived in the 10th century, had the skillful marksman Toki or Tokko in his service. He boasted drunk that he could shoot down the smallest apple at the top of the pole with an arrow. The cruel Harald ordered to put the little son of Toki instead of the pole. Toki also took out three arrows and hit the apple with the first arrow. When the king asked why he took out three arrows, Toki replied: "To take revenge on you if the first did not hit the target." The king got angry and wanted to subject the shooter to a new test, but Toki, like Tell, was able to hide, and subsequently kill Harald with an arrow during the battle of Harald with his own son who rebelled against him. Both in Switzerland Gessler and in Denmark Harald provoke popular indignation with their cruelties and die at the hands of a clever shooter.
Along with the Germanic and Scandinavian legends about the skillful arrow, there are also Finnish ones. The memory of the national hero, who was distinguished by marksmanship, in Estonia and Finland is tied to many local names, and this hero bears the name Tell or Tolya. Estonians, Karelians and Finns point to Tell's stone, Tell's tomb, and the ruins of his castle.
There are a number of legends about a skillful arrow among the peoples inhabiting Hungary, Bukovina and Transylvania. A legend similar to the story of Tell can be found in the "Language of the Birds" by the Persian writer of the first half of the 12th century Ferid-Eddin-Attar. Here the king knocks down an apple from the head of his beloved page, who died of fear, although the arrow did not touch him. We should also remember the ancient legend about Cambyses, transmitted by Herodotus: Cambyses shoots at the son of his courtier Preksaspes and struck him in the heart. Even more interesting is the classic legend of the Cretan Alcopus, who knocked a snake off his son's head without hitting him.
The Slavic world is also not alien to legends about a skillful arrow, similar to Tell. In the Bulgarian legend, the hero bears the same name with the main hero of the modern Greek heroic epic Digenis. There are similar legends among the Serbs. In Ukraine, a similar legend entered the family history of the Khanenko family: Danilo Khanenko knocked down the headdress of a beautiful Cossack woman with a bullet and married her.
And all these legends are very similar, although the Swiss one has its own specifics: two arrows, a trip on the lake, etc.
It can be considered almost proven that Wilhelm Tell, the legendary hero of the war of liberation of the Swiss people, is a legendary and not historical person. But the legend, based on the ancient folk tale of the well-aimed arrow, has merged with reality to such an extent that the chronicle of the 16th century even reports the "exact" date of the famous shot of William Tell - November 18, 1307. This shot, as they say, was the signal for a popular uprising … Eight years later (in 1315), the free highlanders defeated the Habsburg army at the Battle of Morgarten and forever expelled the Austrians from Switzerland. According to legend, William Tell took part in this battle. Therefore, we can say that in the legends about him, most likely, the memory of the real heroes of the popular uprising is realized.
For a long time, there were disputes about what weapon William Tell (if he existed) used: a bow or a crossbow? The historian Fritz Karl Mathis questioned the existence of the shooter himself and proved that even if Tell existed in reality, he did not knock an apple off his son's head and did not kill the evil ruler of the country with arrows from a crossbow. The fact is that William Tell could not have had a crossbow. This weapon appeared in Switzerland much later, 100 years after the events described in the legend. The scientist proved that the legend itself came into fashion at the same time as the new weapon. On the eve of the national holiday - the 695th anniversary of the founding of the Swiss Confederation, Mathis told about the results of his research, which caused chagrin among the Swiss.
Supporters of the reality of the legend of William Tell tried to substantiate their theories. They give many arguments, referring, in particular, to the fact that other names in the story with the participation of Wilhelm Tell are genuine: Walter Furst, Werner Staufacher, and Arnold Melchtal do not raise doubts about the fact of their existence.
So, the debate about this story has been going on for several centuries. In conclusion, we can quote the lines of the Swiss historian Antoine Gessler (perhaps a relative of the evil Landvogt?): “The Swiss can console themselves with this legend and be proud of it. The Tell story is a wonderful symbol of the love of freedom and the strength of our democracy. It has a right to a place in our hearts, and no one can take it away from us. A bronze statue of Tell stands proudly on Altorfa Square. It has nothing to fear from either the judgment of historical criticism or the judgment of moralists."
M. Zgurskaya