Canton of Appenzell

Origins

The Appenzell districts belonged to the Imperial Abbey of Saint Gall. From 1401 the peasants rebelled against the abbot's officials and, with help from the Canton of Schwyz, defeated his and Habsburg forces at Vögelinsegg in 1403 and Stoss in 1405. Their League above the Lake briefly spread across eastern Switzerland before its defeat at Bregenz in 1408.

Rule and society

Appenzell governed itself through the Landsgemeinde, the assembly of all men, which elected the Landammann. It became an associate of the Confederacy in 1411 and a full member, the thirteenth canton, in 1513. The economy rested on cattle and dairy farming and later on linen weaving. The Reformation split the inner, Catholic districts from the outer, Reformed ones.

Decline and legacy

To avoid civil war the canton was divided in 1597, with Swiss mediation, into Appenzell Innerrhoden, which stayed Catholic, and Appenzell Ausserrhoden, which became Reformed. The two half-cantons still exist.