Federal Charter and the Rütli oath

In early August 1291 the valley communities of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden sealed a charter promising one another help against outside attack, a document later treated as the founding of Switzerland. Fifteenth-century chroniclers added the oath sworn on the Rütli meadow and the story of William Tell. The Rütli became a national shrine, where General Guisan rallied his officers in 1940.