Person

William Tell

Also known as Wilhelm Tell

William Tell is the legendary hero of the founding of the Swiss Confederacy, a marksman from Uri said to have been forced by the Habsburg bailiff Gessler to shoot an apple from his son's head at Altdorf. He then killed Gessler. The story is first recorded around 1470 in the White Book of Sarnen; Friedrich Schiller's play of 1804 and Rossini's opera of 1829 made it famous.

William Tell
Image: Hans Sandreuter; photograph: Roland zh · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 profile

Old Swiss ConfederacyFoundation

Mentioned in 1 state history

Canton of Uri

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). William Tell. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-tell
MLA
“William Tell.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-tell. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “William Tell.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-tell.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘William Tell’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-tell (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻