THE HISTORY

1. TELL – A SWISS PHENOMENON

There’s little to no doubt: Wilhelm Tell is world-famous. How he got there, if he really lived and if his story actually happened in Switzerland, in Denmark or in Persia does not actually matter. Since his first mention in 1470, Tell has moved generations. As a freedom fighter he inspired the underdog, as a tyrant killer he appalled rulers and usurpers. Tell’s influence and impact, his “Wirkungsgeschichte”, is a true thriller which makes him not only a phenomenon but in a sense a historical figure as well.

1.1 World-famous 
Tell’s legend is probably the most famous Swiss myth of them all. Nevertheless, current culture seems reserved when it comes to the legendary archer from the Swiss Alpes. How else could we explain Tell’s cinematic absence since an attempt try to picturize him 59 years ago?
That being said, Hollywood made lots of efforts to pay Tell tribute. There was a failed attempt in 2008 staring Brendan Fraser. The actor appears to have acquired rights to any kind of US-Tell-Project and juristically blocked a subsequent project, staring Jeremy Renner.
Despite numerous reports on Hollywood’s futile ambitions to get Tell on the big screen, no Swiss filmmakers seemed to pick up on the idea to turn Tell into a movie. It is not only surprising but flat out incomprehensible, how a USP like Tell has been dormant and a fascinating and famous legend that makes for a popular Swiss brand is being forgone.

1.2 The Swiss aversion to history
A reason to neglect Tell may be the fact that not only Swiss film makers but also the Swiss ministry of cultural affairs itself seem to have a hard time when it comes to history. At least any part of it that is set prior to the second world war or before modern Switzerland was established in 1848. This is quite surprising as audience ratings for historical movies (such as “Die Wanderhure” or the two-part movie “Maximilian”) are through the roof at state-owned TV-stations in Germany and Austria.

1.3 Tell – An international brand
The Gospel of Luke states: “A prophet has no honor in his own country.” And indeed, the potential of Tell’s story seems a lot more obvious abroad than in its native country. The agent of one of our German actresses noticed how shocking it was that no one had had the idea to make a Tell-movie yet. In fact, our project appears to stagger the industry and is already being talked about in the German scene.

Tell is not a historical figure. At least the majority of historians is convinced of that. In fact, more and more evidence suggests that the author of the first Tell-story, Hans Schriber, was inspired by various components of existing sagas when writing his chronicle that would become known as “The White book of Sarnen”. The legendary scene where the father shoots an apple off his son’s head may be borrowed from the Danish saga of Toko. This seems like, especially once you know that Schriber spent two years in Denmark prior to writing about Tell.

2. DID TELL EXIST?

2.1 A small Tellography
It was between 1185 and 1200 when Saxo Grammaticus, at Bishop von Roskilde’s court, wrote down the story of Toko that became part of the chronicle “Gesta Danorum”. His saga is set in the 10^th century, under the harsh regime of Norwegian King Harald Blauzahn.   
Although Toko’s apple-shot is rather well-known, the legend itself seems to stem from an even older tale from Persia. In 1177 poet Farid du-Din Attar writes about a master shooter who was so confident in his skills, he rose to the challenge of shooting an apple off his beloved servant’s head with bow and arrow. It seems plausible that the Vikings, whose raids and expeditions lead them to the Orient, brought this story back to Scandinavia, from where it found its way to Iceland and the Faroe Islands as well. There the Persian and Danish apple turns into a nut and even the giant leap with which hero Toko (called Palna-Toki in the Faroe Island-version and Heming As-Iaakson in Iceland) escapes from certain death comes to Switzerland. Like this a Persian-Nordic saga becomes the base of the world-famous Swiss legend.
The White Book tells the story of the origins of the Swiss Confederation. Although a lot of Schriber’s chronicle is now known to be historically inaccurate. There are aspects that were attributed meaning in Hans Schriber’s texts that are no longer justifiable. The legendary oath called Rütlischwur is known to be mistaken for a pivotal event in the history of the Swiss confederation. It was actually merely a rather meaningless renewal of an existing alliance of safety and defense between the three central Swiss valleys of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden.

2.2 Bailiff Gessler – a fictional character?
The famous storm of Habsburg’s castles around New Year’s Day 1291/92 never happened and likewise bailiff Gjissler (later Gessler) is not historically warranted. His character may be based on bailiff Ritter Eppo I. of Küssnacht, who clearly seems to have harassed the general public quite a bit. We know at least that locals nearly beat Ritter Eppo to death and evidently chased him off his castle in 1302.
However, besides the written Rütlischwur-treaty from 1291, the only historically verifiable fact in the White Book is the murder of a guy called Wolfenschiessen. Interestingly, his brothers refused their duty to pursue blood vengeance in the face of their brother’s murder, a historical curiosity mentioned in the movie.

3. TELL AND HISTORY

Even if Tell himself might not be historically verifiable, his myth sure is.  And the Tell-myth has proven to be incredibly strong in the Swiss tradition. As early as the 15^th century, mainly however in the 16^th and 17^th century, the archer turns into a symbolic prototype of the fearless freedom fighter. Tell becomes the embodiment of the Swiss confederation and soon the three men swearing the famous oath in August 1291 on the Rütli are dubbed “the three Tells”. In the 17^th and 18^th century, however, Tell’s attributes of freedom fighting and tyrant killing start turning into a nuisance to the ones in power. Tell-songs get banned and the establishment hopes the legend will fall victim to oblivion.

3.1 Tell is historically proven
Tell-songs are going around and during the big Swiss peasant uprising of summer 1653 only few deployments are not featuring “the three Tells” manifesting the connection to the ancestral fighter of Switzerland. The craze even animates one of the followers to emulate his hero by shooting mayor Dulliker of Lucerne with a musket.
The cult of the tyrant killer and liberator was celebrated by a nation, suppressed by authorities and naturally against the will of the challenged Swiss government. In turn, they tried to make Tell one of theirs: At least since the “Chronicon Helveticum“ by patrician Aegidius Tschudi, Tell is no longer a hero of commoners. In the 16^th century patricians seek to turn Tell into a confederate patrician who, amongst other local gentry, endowed the confederacy. The illustration in his chronicles shows how little Tschudi cared for the idea of Tell. There, Tell is a spidery stick figure, despite being sketched in a time when perspective portrayals had long been standard.
The freedom fighters of 1291, according to Tschudi, were not fighting for the commoner. The confederation was made for patricians and was never thought to liberate serfs or bondsmen. To a degree because this would have been against the divine order; God shows himself no less status-conscious in the dawning modern era than he has ever been and he himself wishes, according to the church and authorities of the Middle and New Ages, that there are masters and servants on earth. That is why authorities persecute the singing of revolutionary Tell-songs with great conviction. Revolutionary Tell-scripts are publicly and ritually destroyed by headsmen. One of the Tell-poets, a certain Samuel Henzi, is executed as a rioter in 1749’s Bern.     

3.2 Tell – the US-American hero
But Tell would not be pushed aside that quickly. On the contrary; his reputation even reached the New World: Tell becomes one of the most important symbols of the American revolution which peaks in the Declaration of Independence of 1776. Pretty much at the same time, Guillaume Tell establishes himself as the figurehead of the French revolutionaries. After the decapitation of the subverted King, streets, squares and entire villages are named after Tell. There’s a Tell-theatre in Paris and even a warship of the French fleet is called Tell, at least until it gets capered by the British in 1800. They rename it “HMS Malta”. The French revolutionists feel inspired by Tell and they want to carry Tell’s liberating fire to Switzerland. On April 5^th, 1799 the Swiss city of Altdorf in the area where Tell suppose to live,  is on fire and the revolutionary flames destroy not only 225 homes but also the cantonal archive. The majority of sources from the Tell era disappear irrevocably and forever.

3.3 Tell turns into a killer
In the 17^th century the catholic public of Central Switzerland worships Tell like a saint. There are, however, controversies over the assassinate nature of Tell’s character. Aforementioned Aegidius Tschudi accuses Tell of acting impetuously and endangering the confederation. The assassination of Gessler is now mostly concealed and tends to be conveniently forgotten. A 1653 church register states it would not be becoming to talk about Tell’s murder of the bailiff in presence of God or while on pulpit. The ruling patricians welcome the fact that Tell swore the oath on the Rütli but shooting an oppressor did not quite fit the authorities’ idea of a hero. German poet Friedrich Schiller, inspired and encouraged by his older colleague Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, creates “Wilhelm Tell”, one of the most famous dramas in German literature. Only two decades later, Rossini delivers a fitting soundtrack with his opera of the same title which premiers in Paris in 1829. Tell turns into official world heritage, inspiring generations of lovers of freedom in manifold ways.

3.4 Tell’s role
This is exactly why it does not matter anymore if Tell was a real person or if he – just like King Arthur or Robin Hood – is an illustration of many different people. Maybe he really was purely an invention of White Book author Schriber to pep up his propagandist chronicle with a keen hero. The fact remains that Tell has a stable spot in the heart of the Swiss public and that the impact of his myth turned into a historical certainty itself.

4. TELL – A SWISS USP

Not only the crossbow on Swiss product labels is world-famous. Tell has left Dane Toko far behind and claims the infamous apple-shot all to himself on the international stage. The plagiarized Tell figure is amongst the most popular legends in the world and it surprises how little space there is for the character in Swiss pop culture. Without a doubt Tell is one of the most famous Swiss overall. A circumstance that is even more noteworthy given the fact that the existence of the Swiss national hero, as mentioned, cannot be proven and it must be assumed that he never actually lived.

Tell, the legendary figure, the literary figure, the killer is the bearded national hero with a crossbow we have become accustomed to. But how about Tell the adventurer? Tell the movie star? He was the hero of a US adventure series that became a motion picture in 1960. The movie is very close to Schiller’s drama and shows Tell as a patriotic stereotype. Why should Tell’s story be picturized as a cinema saga? There are many reasons, these are four important ones:

• Claiming unclaimed territory.
• The story’s potential.
• The protagonist’s interesting character.
• Total freedom in dramatization and visualization.

5. TELL THE PERSON

The story of Tell’s adventure is, no doubt, truly world-famous. A tale that bears a universal truth and evidentially draws parallels to modern heroic epics; the protagonist acts like the lonesome retaliator of a western. At the same time, Tell’s person is interesting for his psychology. His role as Maverick and lone wolf (another analogy to western heroes) is obvious and does not require a complex psychological profile for conceptual dramaturgy. In Schiller’s version of the story he is an overt loner and egoist who cares little for other people’s fate. Fittingly, Schiller puts the following words in Tell’s mouth: “The strong man is the strongest when alone.”

5.1 Tell’s psychological profile
Tell is driven by an internal flame, a passion for justice maybe, a feeling that may bear the markings of the german character Michael Kohlhaas. This character trait is heavily developed in the movie. But how far can you go to demand your right and push your principles? As far as homicide? Murder? And is eventually even a civil war, like the one instigated by Michael Kohlhaas, justifiable with the right motive and for the sake of justice? Questions the movie cannot answer but their themes are touched upon and show the relevance of the subject in present days.
All Tell trusts is his own power and his own courage. Ready to go to extremes, he plots a risky mission: He murders the bailiff in broad daylight. Or was he driven by anger and blindness? Is Gessler’s death the end of a bloody feud rather than the killing of a tyrant? The interpretations are exciting, there is a plethora of possibilities. Nothing but an unlucky stroke of fate that gets Tell caught within the Habsburgian-Austrian power politics.
In this version of the plot, all Tell wants is justice, which pulls him into the mills of the regime’s brute despotism. In the end, Tell is probably not about the fight for freedom at all, at least the original saga does not suggest so. He is about retaliation. He preys on bailiff Gissler and shoots him close to his castle. This is not the killing of a tyrant but the revenge of a man in despair over despotism. This is the frantic retaliation of Achilles in “Ilias”, when he avenges his fallen companion Patroklos. This is the ice cold and leaden retribution of Clint Eastwood in “Unforgiven”. 

5.2 A disputed national hero
Tell disappears from history after murdering Gissler. Stories of him saving a child from drowning in a stream and him fighting in the battle of Morgarten in 1315 are likely products of fiction rather than reality. Roman poet Ovid stated the end of a creation crowns its success. The original Tell story however, seems too short and misses a heroic ending. Hence tradition adds story to history and lets Tell drown selflessly while attempting to save a child from the torrential Schächenbach.
It is undeniable: Tell in the original myth is not really part of the looming struggle for freedom, the incipient rebellion of the Swiss, he is not a conspiracist for freedom and justice. And essentially he is not really a forefather of the Swiss confederation. His tyrant killing is a stand-alone episode, just like the story of the cheated husband who beats frivolous reeve Wolfenschiessen to death in his bath. Nevertheless, it stays a convoluted affair as eventually Tell’s hasty deed is what forces the hands of the freedom fighters.

6. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The aforementioned “White Book of Sarnen” by Hans Schriber, the first account of the founding history of Switzerland, written around 1470, is the historical source of the movie. The most pertinent characters are mentioned in it and later on adapted and padded by German poet Friedrich Schiller for his world-renowned drama about freedom fighter and tyrant killer Wilhelm Tell. In how far the White Book accurately depicts the events of 1291 is contested. Unchallenged, however, is the motive of author Hans Schriber, of invoking a  founding myth for the aspiring Swiss confederation that tries to find its place between super powers and small states.

6.1 Journey through the High Middle Age
A renewal of the alliance of safety and defense of the valleys Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden took place, as a matter of fact, in summer 1291. Historically proven are also some of the people who appear in the Tell saga. The Tell story itself, however, lacks any historical evidence and signs indicating that Tell must have been a literary construct of Hans Schriber are glaring. The assumption that the apple-shot is borrowed from a Scandinavian myth substantiates with the fact that the author had spent an extended amount of time in Denmark, where he will have been exposed to the Toko-saga, before writing the White Book. Based on historical sources and consultation with specialists, we are of the opinion that the Tell story is a myth rather than history.

6.2 Motives of the tyrant killer
In the beginning of the 16^th century Ägidius Tschudi adapted the Tell story further and it became popular with the public. During a trip to Switzerland German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe learned about it and, back in the city of Weimar, told his younger colleague Friedrich Schiller about Tell. Schiller was fascinated by the subject and saw in Gissler’s killing the epitome of an allegory to the tyrant killing. A theme that was of high interest to German intellectuals at that time, especially in connection to French invaders. Schiller’s drama premiered in 1804 and lead the Tell saga to world fame.
Schiller’s play, however, was less relevant for the development of this version of Tell’s story as Schiller’s drama is strongly influenced by the mental state of the early 19^th century. Various names of protagonists, settings and neologisms in Schiller’s version are naturally based on his own ideas and imagination which indeed influenced the popular understanding of the story vastly. This understanding, however, only presents a limited depiction of historical facts and conveys little about the ethnic soul of the indigenous Swiss mountain people. Schiller had never been to Switzerland and his image of the raw Alpine country was fed by ideas of his time and the zeitgeist of classicism and later romanticism which saw the Alps and their inhabitants mainly as a synonym for everything aboriginal. 
And just like the English hero and freedom fighter Robin Hood has undergone significant transformation in the past centuries and especially the last three decades, the story of archer and tyrant murder Tell seems to adapt itself to every epoch. It is a story. Nothing more, but nothing less either. It is a story that had a lasting effect on Switzerland and its national soul.

6.3 A complex situation
The political situation of the middle European area in the High Middle Age is a highly complex affair. The clarification and moreover the portrayal thereof seem close to impossible. Numerous small states, small and medium principalities and duchies as well as competing noble families create a true patchwork of stakeholders. Naturally the area of what then was Switzerland is all but homogenous. The power relationships in the valleys at the end of the 13^th century were complex, especially as a few abbeys still claimed power (for example the abbeys of Einsielden in Schwyz and Engelberg in then-Nidwalden or cloister Murbach in Obwalden who were protected by Habsburgian law). It was paramount to simplify the situation and make it more easily understandable for the movie.
The High Middle Age was an epoch shaped by feudalism. At the top there was the king, who was not necessarily determined by succession. In the 13^th century the king of the German empire was elected by a board of political nobility and the elector. Only in the 14^th century the dynasty of Habsburg developed. They occupied the throne of the king and later emperor until the beginning of the 20^th century. (Their dynastie ended with World War I.) Their subordinates were a conglomerate of nobility and gentry, dukes, counts, margraves and princes. All ground belonged to the king or emperor who lent it to the nobility. The majority of people however were unfree peasants and bondsmen who had to pay taxes and fees and in turn got protection through the gentry and, more notably, the knights.
In 13^th century central Switzerland the gentry ruled. Rich and free clans and families who pocketed taxes and fees from unfree peasants and shepherds. Certificates of freedom guaranteed patricians exclusive privileges like direct subordinance to the king or the “Kaiser”. This meant the local rulers were direct subordinates of the king and there were no reeves between them. Jurisdiction and most importantly blood jurisdiction, a strong sign of sovereignty in that time, rested with the leading families who also supplied the “Landamman”, the president or chief of a dale-ship.
The Federal Charter of summer 1291 was not an alliance of freedom in the sense of the American Declaration of Independence of 1776, which made all people to citizens and gave them equal rights. The Federal Charter of 1291 was the revival of a former alliance of safety and defense in which the patriciate of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden agreed on mutual support in the protection of interests. The wellbeing of the commoners and the bondsmen was therefore not subject of this alliance.
As a matter of fact, the local patriciate was on its decline, which was not so much caused by political pressure from the outside but by increasing impoverishment. From that perspective, the local gentry had reason to fear for the loss of their benefice. The direct subordinance to the king was an important tool. With the election of Rudolf of the house Habsburg to king of the Holy Roman Empire the privileges of the leaders in the valleys started to be questioned, also due to the new pass to Italy that leads through the valleys. 
King Rudolf I of Habsburg supposedly promised subordinance to the king to the freemen of Uri and Schwyz. However, the certificates were never sealed. The king’s death in 1291 worried the gentry in that they may lose their traditional privileges and freedoms forever once duke Albrecht of Habsburg started his rule.  It is quite possible that King Rudolf’s death generated a short-term vacuum which caused tension especially because the Habsburg-Dynasty did not want to lose the throne and subsequently the control over the recently accessed Gotthard-pass, a pass that gave way to the south and to Italy.
This power vacuum and the tensions it involved will have been the reason why an already existent but pretty insignificant alliance of safety and defense among the freemen of the valleys got renewed.

6.4 A controversial alliance
How important, respectively historically significant the charter of August 1291 actually is, is subject to a lot of controversy. In fact, Hans Schriber, author of the White Book and person in authority a short 200 years after the “Rütli-oath”, seems unaware of any document or federal charter. And weirdly after only 200 years there is no trace of a copy of the charter in Uri either. The federal charter of 1291 was only discovered at random in 1858 and only in 1891 political interests lead to the declaration of the charter as the founding document of the Swiss confederation.

7. ETHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS

The oldest corporate body was the “Teilsamen”, a corporation which precedes political parties. The Teilsamen owned and managed forests, meadows and alps. Part of the corporation were all free farmers (later the “old-established”), joint owners of the grassland, the alps and the forests. Condition of admission was personal sovereignty and, to this day, to own “one’s own fire and water” meaning an own household. The ones who were not old-established (called socmen or in Swiss German “Biisäss”) had only limited usage rights and nonlocals (called “Hindersäss”) had no usage rights for the common land. Refusal to use the common land made it economically unviable for a farmer to exist.

7.1 Life in the 13^th century
Powerful and influential local families, like the Attinghausen in Uri, the Wolfenschiessen in Nidwalden and the Rudenz in Obwalden – basically warlords – are indebted to the nobility of the Habsburgian Austrians, in parts they even mingled. Even the wicked reeve of the castle of Landenberg could have been a local noble man originally. A man protected by the grace of the Habsburgian Austrians and made into a reckless warlord with local lordship.
The influence of the powerful Habsburgs increases steadily throughout the 13^th century and their latent control remains. The question was, who the clans of the valleys felt closer to: The aristocratic Habsburgs or the bondsmen, the unfree and the serfs in the valleys. After all, they counted themselves as noble and free, in about the same way small-scale companies solidarize with multi-million-dollar industries. They are the same tribe, or are they? One of the paragraphs of the federal charter of 1291 suggests that the new alliance confirms all existing claims to power by the general public in their entirety and without exception. Based on this it can be said with confidence that the “Rütli”-oath was indeed an alliance of the valleys’ free and rich, who wanted to ensure they could keep all their privileges and claims facing the turbulences caused by King Rudolf’s death in 1290. Is this why the character of Tell did not care about the supposed call of freedom? Did he know that eventually it would not make a difference if obedience and tribute were paid to the own gentry or the Habsburgs?
The federal charter of 1291 did not attract much attention by German politics and whether the alleged 1291 storm of the castles by the confederates of a few hours’ standing really happened is doubted heavily – historically as well as archeologically. But even if there was no event such as a violent storm of the reeves’ castles, at the end of the 13^th century, between 1291 and 1300, the Austrian reeves and warlords begin to disappear. Something must have happened that started a movement. And it so happens that the complex political structures of the young Swiss confederation were suddenly catapulted into the European power politics when the valley of Schwyz attacks the monastery of Einsiedeln a short two decades later. The monastery is still under protection of the Habsburgian Austrians; the great power has no choice as to make an example of this. Unfortunately for the Austrians, the alliance of safety and defense kicks in and the Swiss valley people stick together and defeat the Habsburgian knights, with all their allies from Luxemburg to Tirol, in the legendary battle of Morgarten on November 15^th, the day before St. Othmar. The blossom of the entire Central European nobility falls victim to the sharp blades of the Swiss’ halberds.
Morgarten is the first of many military conflicts and battles. Näfels, Laupen, Sempach, and eventually 3 battles at Grandson, Murten and Nancy in the Burgundy war follow, as well as the battles of the Schwabenwar at the very end of the 15^th century. Not only but decisively due to these military victories the Swiss turn into a military power and their history becomes meaningful and sort of monumental as the hordes turn into armies and axes and halberds are replaced by over four-yard long lances and phalanxes.
The warriors loot the gold of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and it takes two decades for it to be distributed justly.

7.2 Feudalism’s blossoms
The ban on interest is introduced by Pope Martin V and around 1450 the money economy finds its way to the Alpes. Once simple farmers realize that they cannot only milk their cattle, but they can also exchange it for shiny coins in Milan. And if you can hawk cattle then why not people? And with it the skill of Swiss warriors who apparently do not fear death in their bloodlust, even argue over the privilege to fight in the first row, the so called “lost crowd”. Swiss warriors turn into an export hit: Not only does it bring money to the valleys, but it also helps overpopulation. What else should be done with the young men if the law of succession only favors the oldest son? Where else should the brutes go with nothing to do and no perspective for their lives? Should we just wait for them to gang up and get what they are denied by force? Obviously not! It is far better to give the market what it desires. Once the roughnecks are gone there is order in the valley. And the noble families even get fat pensions, the devil may care if they come from the French or the Spanish king, the Pope or the prince of Milan. Soon the young battle each other for foreign rulers. Peace and unity within the confederation is something people are only concerned with at home. What happens in Italy, stays in Italy, as long as the money – the “thaler” and the “pfennig” – come in.
The mercenary industry becomes more and more grotesque and the Swiss leaders are paid off by kings and princes of surrounding countries to a shameful extent. Free Swiss? As if! While the influential families are insatiable the heavy-built Swiss youth fights each other under various foreign banners, gut each other for foreign rulers and to the benefit of the rich in their homeland. The Swiss develop a taste for big power, but the battle of Marignano in 1515 lets their cravings drown in the blood of the ones who died for nothing.
But back to 1291: The valleys and dale-ships are rather sparsely inhabited. Eventful days are rare and with a handful of soldiers, knights and mercenaries, the province princes manage to retain their power. It is easy for the Habsburgs to retain their dominance by threatening a much stronger war contingent and by working with the local noblemen. Their regime however, is predominantly limited to enforcing the collection of taxes. Further regulations, like the ban on the right to carry weapons or on hunting big game are difficult to enforce in the swamplands and forests of the valleys. The German-roman emperor is just as far as the Pope in Rome. Circumstances that benefit the stubborn individualism of shepherds and hunters in Central Switzerland.

7.3 Buildings and houses
People lived in single-story timber houses with shingle roofs. More noble and richer families could afford beam constructions and up to three stories. In the middle of the main room there was a fireplace, but they made do without a chimney, the smoke dissolved through the niches in the roof. Common people were not allowed to build with stone. Stone houses were a privilege of the gentry. In the first story of Tell that was passed down, in the White Book of Sarnen of 1470, the author writes about an argument between bailiff “Gjissler“ and the Landamman of Schwyz, “Staupbacher“, who dared to build a stone house. The debate may be seen as a sign of the bailiff treating the Landamman not as local gentry but as a common peasant.

7.4 Customs and fashion
The High Middle Age was a pragmatic and rough epoch when it came to customs and fashion. Law was often taken into one’s own hands, blood feuds and blood vengeance – in the Alemannic understanding a duty of the next of kin – were a daily occurrence. Mountain people predominantly had long hair. Beards and moustaches were common, and clothes were usually a simple tunic with breeches-like legwear and leather shoes. Woolen coats helped against the cold and people also wore coats and cloaks from leather or fur.  Goat fur was very popular for its ability to keep out the icy winds in the mountains. The color scheme was based on natural shades although reddish colors could be made. Deep blue was more difficult. It was made from indigo, which was expensive and nothing for commoners. In the movie, Landamman Attinghausen’s costume is not overly endowed but it is blue which means he could afford indigo.
Interestingly, the High Middle Age was one of the more exemplary epochs in regard to hygiene in Central Switzerland. Bathing and removing hair knots were daily routine for the mountain people and due to the much lower intake of grain in comparison to urban regions dental hygiene was not as demanding and well taken care of. A man bathing with a woman implies sexual acts through the entire Middle Age and is seen as foreplay.

7.5 Agriculture
Swiss agriculture is not limited to dairy farming and ranching. The invention of hard cheese which made milk nonperishable was much later which is why dairy farming at that time was mainly done for self-supply. Up until the 15^th century dairy farming was only of marginal importance and it is known that farming was much more important, even the father of Swiss mystic and national holy Niklaus von Flüe was wont to go farming. The climate was ideal for large-scale agriculture in the High Middle Age and in Unterwalden, wine was successfully cultivated in the 12^th and 13^th century.   

7.6 Faith and religion
Most of Switzerland was Christianized in the 13^th century. However, it was a form of Christianity that has little to nothing to do with today’s type. If people believed in a redeeming death and the resurrection of Christ, it was not in the modern context of Jewish Christian theology. Outside the clergy few were able to read or write so that people were dependent on the interpretation of the holy scriptures through said clergy. Frescos in churches aimed to illustrate the stories of the bible to people, especially the passion of Christ. The depiction of Christ changed and Jesus’ suffering on the cross became more important. Towards the middle of the 13^th century the Jesus of romanticism triumphed on the cross and replaced Gothic style suffering Jesus.
The Christianization of Central Europe and particularly of the Alpes was theoretically completed by the end of the 14^th century, definitely with the start of the Council of Constance (1414-1418). The old Alemannic-Germanic myths, however, did not disappear with the advent of Christianity and people kept worshipping old Germanic gods like Wotan, Donar and Freya, way past the 14^th century, at the very least they kept playing and important role in the understanding of the public. Psychoanalyst and C.G. Jung scholar Marie-Louise von Franz pointed out a clear connection to Germanic myths in the recorded visions of Swiss mystic Niklaus von Flüe. The mysterious pilgrim with big hat and hiking pole he describes is obviously Wotan, and his later vision of a bear skinner (Berserker) is unlikely to stem from a Jewish Christian context.
Cult places kept their meaning, which is shown in the movie through the setting of the court: A moor glade with a small turf pond and an oak tree. Oak trees were not only of high importance for the Celts but also for Germanics tribes. Moors and bodies of water in which Germanic tribes sacrificed precious things to their gods by sinking them were equally symbolic.  In the movie court takes place under the big oak, not on the village square, a notion that must have seemed peculiar, maybe even ridiculous to a nobleman brought up in the court like bailiff Gissler. This location shows the archaic and mystic aspects as well as the ethnological understanding of time and human in 12^th and 13^th century Central Switzerland.

7.7 Judiciaries
Jurisdiction was ruled by the Landamman, the leader of the valleys. They took pride in blood jurisdiction which is still visible to this day in some cantons’ insignia: For example, the Landesschwert (the national sword) which symbolizes the right to blood jurisdiction and therefore the full sovereignty. The sword was in use as a symbol up until 1998.
It is disputed in how far reeves actually restricted or even prevented the jurisdiction, it may be, however, that certain reeves questioned sovereignty.
There were various ways of execution based on the crime committed by the culprit. Negligent homicide or politically motivated homicide was punished by so called “honest punishment” – decapitation. Thieves however were hanged dishonorably. General murder was punished by the wheel, which meant a dishonorable death too. The hanged and the ones on the wheel were left to the crows and decay and refused a burial in “holy earth”. If this was supposed to contribute to denying the unburied their peace of mind is not entirely clear but suspected.