Whilst this year sees the 150th anniversary of the conquest of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper, the canton of Valais – or Wallis as they call it in Zermatt – celebrates its bicentenary as a full member of the Swiss Confederation.
What did the Romans do?
For the last 2000 years, the upper Rhone valley has had an interesting but complex history, which started with its inclusion in the Roman empire in 57 BC and the ‘civilization’ of its original Celtic inhabitants.
From the 5th century on, the area came under the control of the Kingdom of Burgundy who in 999 (presumably it was an emergency decision…!) put the Bishop of Sion in charge.
Roman amphitheatre in Martigny
The rise of the Zehenden…
The following 400 years were peppered with various invasion attempts by both the Duchies of Savoy and of Zähringen, until the late 14th century when Savoy finally got ‘an in’ by acquiring the Bishopric of Sion.
In the meanwhile, the principal towns of the region or “Zehenden” had grown in importance and gained special status from the Holy Roman Emperor – their ultimate overlord.
The Zehenden won out
The result was a fight between the Bishop of Sion, the old feudal lords of the eastern end of the valley and the Zehenden who ultimately won and therefore got control of everything along the Rhone Valley going west, as far as Sion.
With the election of Walther von Supersax as Bishop of Sion in 1457, the conflicting sides made up and as a united force, went on to take territory held by Savoy as far as Martigny and latterly, the area including St Maurice and Monthey.
The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 to the sixteenth century
Associate membership as a republic
Having become an associate member of the already established Swiss Confederation in 1529 but resisting the influence of the protestant reformation, the Republic of the Seven Zehenden was established in catholic Valais in 1628, with the Bishop of Sion as its figurehead.
French possession to Swiss canton in 17 years
The next significant event was when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded and created the Revolutionary Republic of Valais in 1798, which was then absorbed into a much larger Napoleonic puppet state known as the Helvetic Republic.
This however collapsed in 1802 so Valais became part of the new French controlled Rhodanic Republic, only to be fully absorbed into France in 1810 as the “Département du Simplon”.
As the Napoleonic Empire started to fade, Valais’ independence was restored in 1813 and on 4th August 1815, it joined the Swiss Confederation as a canton.
Valais Simplon in the First Empire
And that’s it……
Apart from the Sonderbund civil war in 1845 when Valais signed up on the side of the Catholics but had little to do with the fighting, and then the threat of Nazi invasion during the second world war, the canton has been at peace and has developed into the prosperous place it is today.
Join in with the bicentenary festivities throughout Valais this summer and visit Zermatt whilst you’re there.
Article by Ed Mannix, owner of www.matterhornchalets.com