Zug - History

History

The town, first mentioned in 1240, was called an "oppidum" in 1242 and a "castrum" in 1255. In 1273, it was bought by Rudolph of Habsburg from Anna, the heiress of Kyburg and wife of Eberhard, head of the cadet line of Habsburg. Part of its territory, the valley of Aegeri, was pledged by Rudolph in 1278 as security for a portion of the marriage gift he promised to Joanna, daughter of Edward I of England. She was betrothed to his son Hartmann, but his death in 1281 prevented the marriage from taking place. The town of Zug was governed by a bailiff, appointed by the Habsburgs, and a council, and was much favored by that family. Several country districts (e.g., Baar, Menzingen, and Aegeri) each had its own "Landsgemeinde" but were governed by one bailiff, also appointed by the Habsburgs; these were known as the "Aeusser Amt," and were always favorably disposed to the Swiss Confederation.

On June 27, 1352, both the town of Zug and the Aeusser Amt entered the Confederation, the latter being received on exactly the same terms as the town, and not, as was usual in the case of country districts, as a subject land; but in September 1352, Zug had to acknowledge its own lords again, and in 1355 was obliged to break off its connection with the league. About 1364, the town and the Aeusser Amt were recovered for the league by the men of Schwyz, and from this time Zug took part as a full member in all the acts of the league. In 1379, the Holy Roman Emperor Wenceslaus exempted Zug from all external jurisdictions, and in 1389 the Habsburgs renounced their claims, reserving only an annual payment of 20 silver marks, which came to an end in 1415. In 1400 Wenceslaus gave all criminal jurisdiction to the town only. The Aeusser Amt, in 1404, then claimed that the banner and seal of Zug should be kept in one of the country districts and were supported in this claim by Schwyz. The matter was finally settled in 1412 by arbitration, and the banner was to be kept in the town. Finally in 1415, the right of electing their landammann was given to Zug by the Confederation, and a share in the criminal jurisdiction was granted to the Aeusser Amt by German king Sigismund.

In 1385, Zug joined the league of the Swabian cities against Leopold III of Austria and shared in the victory of Sempach, as well as in the various Argovian (1415) and Thurgovian (1460) conquests of the Confederates, and later in those of Italy (1512), having already taken part in the occupation of the Val d'Ossola. Between 1379 (Walchwil) and 1477 (Cham), Zug had acquired various districts in its own neighborhood, principally to the north and the west, which were ruled till 1798 by the town alone as subject lands. At the time of the Reformation, Zug clung to the old faith and was a member of the Christliche Vereinigung of 1529. In 1586, it became a member of the Golden League.

In 2001, 11 members of the local (cantonal) parliament and three members of the (cantonal) government were shot and killed in Zug by the assassin Friedrich Leibacher.

The oldest human traces date back to the time of around 14,000 BC. There have been Paleolithic finds on the north bank of Lake Zug, which come from nomadic hunters and collectors. Archaeologists have also been able to prove the existence of over forty lake-shore settlements (pile dwellings), on the shores of Lake Zug, from the epoch of the first settled farmers in the Neolithic period (5,500-2,200 BC). The peak in these lake-shore village settlements was in the period between 3800 and 2450 BC. For the same epoch, the first pre-alpine land use has been proven in Menzingen and in the Ägeri valley. The well-known, historically-researched and interesting lake-shore village, ‘Sumpf’ (the swamp), dated from the late Bronze Age (up until 850 BC). These rich finds result in a quite differentiated picture of life in former times, attractively represented in the Zug Museum for Prehistory. In addition, many traces from the Iron Age (850-50 BC) and the Roman and Celtic-Roman time (from 50 BC) have been discovered.