gn yoke. His son, Albert, Archduke of Austria, who succeeded him
in 1298, inherited none of his sympathies for Switzerland. On his
accession to the throne Albert resolved to curtail the liberties still
enjoyed by the inhabitants of some of the cantons, and to bend the
whole of the Swiss people to his will.

The mountaineers of the cantons of Schwytz, Uri, and Unterwalden
recognized no authority but that of the emperor; while the peasants of
the neighboring valleys were at the mercy of local tyrants--the great
nobles and their allies.

In order to carry out his project of subjecting all to the same yoke,
Albert of Austria appointed governors to rule over the semi-free
provinces or cantons. These governors, who bore the official title of
Bailiffs of the Emperor, exercised absolute authority over the people.
Men, women, and children were at their mercy, and were treated as mere
chattels--the property of their rulers. Insult and outrage were heaped
upon them until their lives became almost unendurable.

An instance of the manner in which these petty tyrants used their
authority is related of the bailiff Landenberg, who ruled over
Unterwalden.

For some trumped-up offense of which a young peasant, named Arnold of
Melcthal, was accused, his oxen were confiscated by Landenberg. The
deputy sent to seize the animals, which Landenberg really coveted for
his own, said sneeringly to Arnold, "If peasants wish for bread, they
must draw the plow themselves." Roused to fury by this taunt, Arnold
attempted to resist the seizure of his property, and in so doing broke
an arm of one of the deputy's men. He then fled to the mountains; but
he could not hide himself from the vengeance of Landenberg. The
peasant's aged father was arrested by order of the bailiff, and his
eyes put out in punishment for his son's offense. "That puncture," says
an old chronicler, "went so deep into many a heart that numbers
resolved to die rather than leave it unrequited."

But the crudest and most vindictive of the Austrian or German bailiffs,
as they were interchangeably called, was one Hermann Gessler. He had
built himself a fortress, which he called "Uri's Restraint," and there
he felt secure from all attacks.

This man was the terror of the whole district. His name was a synonym
for all that was base, brutal, and tyrannical. Neither the property,
the lives, nor the honor of the people were respected by him. His
hatred and contempt for the peasants wer