In this kingdom was comprehended the country of Helvetia, and continued part of it till about 1032, when Rudolph, the third and last king of Burgundy, dying without children, left all his kingdom to the Emperor Conrad II., whose successors enjoyed it for two centuries, when it was broken into several petty sovereignties. Feudalism had been rapidly growing up, and, like other parts of Europe, Helvetia fell under the rule of military chiefs and of powerful bishops and abbots. A numerous and ancient nobility divided the possession with ecclesiastical lords; of the former, conspicuous were the Dukes of Zähringen and Counts of Kyburg, Rapperswyl, and Hapsburg; and of the latter, the Bishop of Coire, the Abbot of St. Gallen, and the Abbess of Seckingen. There is no country whose history better illustrates the ambiguous relation, half property and half dominion, in which territorial aristocracy under the feudal system stood with respect to their dependants. The power under these princes, to which the country was subjected, was so limited that it might properly be said to be under their protection rather than their dominion. In the thirteenth century the race of the Dukes of Zähringen became extinct, which made way for the Counts of Hapsburg to enlarge their authority, being raised afterwards to the Austrian Duchy, and invested with the imperial dignity in Germany. The Helvetic people placed themselves under the protection of Rudolph of Hapsburg, with permission to send governors or bailiffs among them. They were governed with mildness while he lived. He died, and his son Albert did not tread in his father’s footsteps. This was the beginning of the fourteenth century, the memorable period of Rütli and William Tell. A resolution was taken to form a general insurrection in each Canton, in order to surprise and demolish all the castles and drive the governors and adherents out of the country. “They judged that a sovereign unjust towards a vassal, ceased to be himself protected by justice, and that it was lawful to employ force against him.”[1] The confederates pursued so well the measures agreed on that their object was easily accomplished, and with rare examples of moderation. A few years later, a further attempt was made to bring them under the yoke of the empire, when the brave peasants routed the imperial army, under Leopold, Duke of Austria, at Morgarten, on the 15th of November, 1315. This victory confirmed the independence of the three original Cantons. Soon afterwards followed the perpetual league of Brunnen, on December the 9th of the same year; there is at Brunnen this inscription: “_Hier geschah der erste Bund, Anno 1315, die Grundfeste der Schweiz_” (“Here was the first perpetual league, the foundation of Switzerland”).