FAMOUS TALE: WILLIAM TELL

The tradition dates the heroic action of William Tell and the oath of the Swiss confederates against the counts of Habsburg on the Rütli back to 1307. But one cannot find any document concerning a person named Wilhelm Tell, nor the assassination of a bailiff in central Switzerland. Only in 1470, more than a century after the alledged events, a chronicle named the "White Book of Sarnen" reports the legend for the first time. A few years later, William Tell takes a prominent role in a ballad singing the praises of the beginnings of the Swiss Confederation. One generation later, a drama (Urner Tellspiel) is played in Central Switzerland. Centuries later, William Tell is mentioned in the standard history book Chronicon Helveticum (1734) by Aegidius Tschudi. In the 19th and 20th centuries the legend was severely questioned by historians.