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| 1481 |
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| Solothurn and Fribourg were admitted to the confederation after a long dispute among the members. The Diet of Stans drew up a covenant by which federal relations were regulated until 1798. Thenceforth the urban cantons were in a majority. | 1 |
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| 1499 |
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| War with the emperor over disputed territories in the east. The emperor was supported by the South German cities, while the Swiss enjoyed the support, especially financial, of the French. The Swiss won a series of victories and forced the emperor to conclude the Treaty of Basel (Sept. 22), which granted the confederation independence of the empire in fact, if not formally (this came only in 1648). With the inclusion of Basel and Schaffhausen (1501) and later Appenzell (1513), the confederation rounded out its northern frontier. | 2 |
| The Swiss at the end of the 15th century enjoyed immense military prestige, but within the confederation there was much social unrest, especially among the peasants, and a good deal of demoralization in the towns. Hans Waldmann, bürgermeister of Zurich (1483–89), was only the most outstanding of the typically ruthless, mercenary, cynical figures who dominated the scene, reminding one of the contemporaneous Italian despots. (See The Swiss Confederation) | 3 |
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