William Tell (legend)

The legendary Swiss hero who shot an apple off his son's head with a crossbow and defied Habsburg rule.

Life

Hunter

According to 15th-century Swiss chronicles, William Tell, a hunter from Uri, refused to bow to the hat that the Habsburg bailiff Gessler had hung on a pole, and was punished by being made to shoot an apple off his son's head with a crossbow. He hit it with one bolt, but admitted that had he missed, his second bolt would have been aimed at the bailiff.

Shooting the apple

He was arrested for this, escaped during a storm while being taken away, and then ambushed and shot Gessler. Legend holds that this act sparked the Swiss struggle against the Habsburgs.

Assassination of the bailiff

Most historians believe Tell was not a real person, and the apple-shooting episode already appears in earlier Scandinavian legends; but the Swiss independence movement was real: in 1291 the three cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden formed the Perpetual League.

Legacy

William Tell is a symbol of the Swiss nation; Schiller made his story into a play, and the overture to Rossini's opera William Tell, based on it, is known to everyone.

Did you know? A statue of Tell and his son stands in the square of Altdorf in the canton of Uri, said to be on the very spot where he shot the apple.

Key dates

• 1291Three cantons formed the Perpetual League
• 1307Shooting the apple and assassination of the bailiff (legend)