m, though toward the end of the fourteenth century they seem to have
been but simple men without the honors of knighthood, and not always
using their prefix "von." Among its members we find an Erni Winkelried
acting as a witness to a contract of sale on May 1, 1367; while the same
man, or perhaps another member of the family, Erni von Winkelried, is
plaintiff in a suit at Stanz, on September 29, 1389, and in 1417 is the
landamman (or head-man) of Unterwalden, being then called Arnold
Winkelriet. We have, therefore, a real man named Arnold Winkelried
living at Stanz, about the time of the battle of Sempach. The question
is thus narrowed to the points, was he present at the battle, and did he
then perform the deed commonly attributed to him? The determination of
this question requires a minute investigation of the history of that
battle, to ascertain if there are any authentic traces of this
incident, or any opportunity for it to have taken place.

1. EVIDENCE OF CHRONICLES.--The earliest known mention of the incident
is found in a Zurich chronicle (discovered in 1862 by Herr G. von Wyss),
which is a copy, made in 1476, of a chronicle written in, or at any rate
not earlier than, 1438, though it is wanting in the sixteenth century
transcript of another chronicle written in 1466, which up to 1389
closely agrees with the former. It appears in the well-known form, but
the hero is stated to be "ein getruewer man under den Eidgenozen," no
name being given, and it seems clear that his death did not take place
at that time. No other mention has been found in any of the numerous
Swiss or Austrian chronicles, till we come to the book "De Helvetiae
Origine," written in 1538 by Rudolph Gwalther (Zwingli's son-in-law),
when the hero is still nameless, being compared to Decius or Codrus, but
is said to have been killed by his brave act. Finally we read the full
story in the original draft of Giles Tschudi's chronicle, where the hero
is described "as a man of Unterwalden, of the Winkelried family," this
being expanded in the first rescension of the chronicle (1564) into "a
man of Unterwalden, Arnold von Winkelried by name, a brave knight;"
while he is entered (in the same book, on the authority of the
"Anniversary Book" of Stanz, now lost) on the list of those who fell at
Sempach, at the head of the Nidwald (or Stanz) men, as "Herr Arnold von
Winkelried, ritter," this being in the first draft "Arnold Winckelriet."

2. BALLADS.--There ar