William Tell
A classic tale from Switzerland of overbearing authority and a father with a very steady hand.
?1307
A classic tale from Switzerland of overbearing authority and a father with a very steady hand.
?1307
Whenever royal families married, fought and died in Mediaeval Europe, the borders of their realms changed, and their long-suffering peoples were told to forget whatever loyalties they had sworn last, and swear new ones. There were always those willing to prosper by spying on their fellows, and according to legend, one day a Swiss archer named William Tell was spotted in an act of lese-majesty.
EARLY in the fourteenth century, Albert I, the Habsburg Emperor, appointed one Albrecht Gessler as governor of Switzerland, with the task of subduing the Swiss to Austrian rule. Gessler had the bright idea of putting his hat on a pole in the prosperous town of Altdorf, and ordering every passer-by to bow respectfully before it.
After William Tell and his son walked by the hat without so much as a nod, Gessler’s men arrested them and brought them before the Governor. But such was Tell’s reputation as an expert with the crossbow, that Gessler could not resist a sporting wager: Tell could be executed at once, with his son, or he could have one attempt to shoot an apple off the boy’s head, and if he succeeded, go free.
Tell drew two bolts from his quiver, and fired the first, straight and true, through the centre of the apple. Gessler was grudging in defeat, but fair, and ordered Tell released.
“Why” the Governor asked in parting “did you pick out two bolts? You were allowed only one shot.”
“Because had I missed,” said Tell, “the second was for you.”*
* A real person, was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1282 and King of Germany from 1298, until his assassination in 1308. Albrecht Gessler appears to be a legendary figure.
* Cumbria has its own answer to William Tell (with a bit of Robin Hood thrown in): see William of Cloudsley.