CONTENT 4
Foreword
7
Introduction
13
A history of Basel in 50 objects
65
Dates of Basel history
71
Power, sovereignty and democracy
75 On the path to democracy 81 The Basel population and the Great Council
87
Townscape and urban development
88 Paintings, models, maps 115 City and population growth 119 Walls and gates 125 Expansion of the urban infrastructure 131 Mobility and traffic 137 Changing worlds of work 143 Hotspot Barfüsserplatz 149 Basel, city of architecture
155
Spotlights on contemporary history
156 Separated yet linked – The relationship between the two Basel cantons 158 Arriving and staying – Migration and integration 160 Prosperity and dependence – Basel and the life sciences 162 Hazardous accident and turning point – The Schweizerhalle chemical spill 164 Space and open spaces – Alte Stadtgärtnerei 166 Passion in red-blue – FC Basel
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Appendices
169 Selected reading 171 List of illustrations 172 Acknowledgement and imprint
Content
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FOREWORD When in 1981 the Historisches Museum Basel was re-opened in the Barfüsserkirche, following a major renovation and expansion, a comprehensive history of the city with numerous texts and objects was set up in the basement under the aegis of Hans Lanz. Up until 2006, this exhibition was gradually dismantled in order to make space for temporary displays and a new permanent exhibition of the historical collection. A systematic survey of the historical fate of the city and region of Basel and its residents has remained high on the wish list ever since. The new presentation of 2019, ‘Leaps in Time’, marked both the 125th anniversary of the Basel Historical Museum and a starting point for the Museum to once again fulfil part of its mission: to offer a guide to the past and present of Basel and its territories, and to do so for local residents and guests equally. The concept of this presentation aims to highlight events, processes and issues that are considered essential or controversial from today’s perspective, in an altogether smaller space than in 1981 and in a limited number of stations, but with a stringent choice of objects presented with concise texts. Thus, the present is to be reflected in the light of the past and ultimately our power of judgement in historical and political matters to be advanced. In addition, the new ‘Leaps in Time’ presentation offers a timeframe which allows for the thematic embedding of other historical collection items. Its individual themes and questions are structured dynamically and its installations can be modified in an easy and cost-effective way. This presentation of history at the Basel Historical Museum need not remain static over the next few years but rather will keep pace with new insights and situations. Moreover, the migration of artefacts and their ever-changing meanings can be given sufficient consideration. One of the more recent developments concerns the way we deal with ‘contested histories’, i.e. disputed narratives in historiography: since the 1990s, museums have been increasingly confronted with questions as to how they should present problematic past events and difficult legacies. Ultimately, every society is latently influenced by traditional narratives that may occasionally cause new conflicts. Though meanwhile accepted narratives have been reflected on more critically, a cultural history museum needs time to change a traditional concept of preservation into a critical presentation of history. Still, this new history of the city offers
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Foreword
FOREWORD some instances of ‘contested histories’, for example on the Basel Mission, on migrants, and on the Basel pharmaceutical industry. Also of more recent interest are indications of how people engage with the environment, as in the presentation of the Schweizerhalle disaster, and the effects of climate change in Basel. The new presentation was conceived by a team from the Basel Historical Museum led by Gudrun Piller. Which seemed like a reasonable setup in the light of Marc Bloch’s dictum (in ‘The Historian’s Craftʼ) that any historian working alone will only ever grasp no more than half of history and that a solid understanding of the past will only be achieved through mutual connectivity. On the other hand, and once again we must consult Bloch, ignorance of the past will unavoidably lead to misunderstanding the present – which our museum strives to work against. The achievement of these aims in the Basel Historical Museum’s new presentation ‘Leaps in Time’ and in the present publication was only possible thanks to many helpers. First of all, for the generous financing of ‘Leaps in Time’ my sincerest thanks go to the following donors: Stiftung für das Historische Museum Basel, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, UBS Kulturstiftung, E. E. Zunft zu Rebleuten, and E. E. Zunft zum Schlüssel. I would also like to gratefully acknowledge the Berta Hess-Cohn Stiftung for covering the printing costs of the present publication. In addition, a special thanks to the contributing authors, Manuela Frey for the confidently stylish design, Andreas Niemz and Natascha Jansen for the gorgeous object photos, Rosmarie Anzenberger for the careful editing, and to the Christoph Merian Verlag for accepting this volume into its publishing programme. My final thankyou goes to Gudrun Piller, Jonathan Büttner and Daniel Suter for their conscientious supervision of the project. May this publication reach a wide and interested readership and may it contribute to a profounder engagement with both our past and our present.
Marc Fehlmann Director Basel Historical Museum
Foreword
5
INTRODUCTION Leaps in time – a brief history of Basel Gudrun Piller
Some 200,000 people from 200 nations live in Basel today. The city is the centre of a tri-national catchment area covering 1.3 million people. The canton of Basel-Stadt lives in close neighbourly co-existence with the canton of Basel-Landschaft, and with France and Germany. The region is regarded as a globally leading life sciences cluster. Yet how has the city become what it is today? Answering this question will be on top of every history museum’s ‘to do’ list and is tackled by exhibition centres in various ways: the Amsterdam Museum innovatively decodes the city’s genetic building plan in ‘Amsterdam DNA’, with the aid of four typical Amsterdam qualities and in seven time windows, the latter in ten languages. With ‘Frankfurt Once? Frankfurt Now!’ on show in six galleries spread over 3,000 square metres, the Historisches Museum Frankfurt shows an impressive abundance of contents and exhibits. And at the Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum the history of Zurich has been evoked since 2019 in the form of a stimulating multi-media event called ‘Simply Zurich’. For all their differences, the exhibitions’ aim is always to familiarise locals and visitors with the city’s character and its main historical trajectories. In the exhibition medium, this is meant to happen in a condensed form and more gracefully and entertainingly than in a book, for an exhibition can be viewed in a shorter time and appeals more to the senses.
A brief history of Basel To mark its 125th anniversary, the Basel Historical Museum has opened a new section to deal with the following questions. What defines the city of Basel? Which characteristics have shaped it? How do people live in Basel? What are their relations with one another, with neighbours, and with foreigners? What nurtures the city? What threatens it? In which ways does it change? Thus, the exhibition ‘Leaps in Time – A Brief History of Basel’ that opened in 2019 in the Barfüsser Church focusses on some 500 square metres on the historical highlights of Basel and its environs, from the earliest human traces to the present day. More than 2,000 years ago Celtic people settled on the site of what is now the Novartis Campus. They were followed by the Romans, then the Alamanni and the Franks, and they all left their traces at the ‘Rhine knee’. From the 10th century onwards, Basel began to spread beyond the Cathedral Hill. Indications of an upswing after the turn of the millennium are the consecration of the HeinrichsMünster and the construction of the first city wall (Burkhard’s wall) as well as the first castles in the surrounding countryside. Basel gradually became
Introduction
7
a city in which the bishop ruled jointly with an aristocratic elite. In the early 13th century under Bishop Heinrich von Thun, the first bridge over the Rhine was built and a number of new monasteries and the first craft guilds were founded. Over time, the latter took over from the bishop and the nobility. Following the Reformation, the guilds dominated Basel politics until the end of the 18th century. For many centuries, Basel was surrounded by a wall, which was rebuilt and enlarged after the great earthquake of 1356. In the 19th century Basel became an industrial city. Different industries developed, including the production of textiles and chemical dyes. An immense population growth caused by the immigrating workforce extended the city rapidly beyond its walls, which meanwhile had been laid down, and to its cantonal and national borders. In economic terms, Basel transformed from a medieval city of craftsmen and guilds to a leading location for the pharmaceutical industry at the end of the 20th century. The importance of trade runs through the centuries as a constant thread. Basel profited from the 15th century onwards from the imperial privilege to hold trade fairs, and in the 20th century the port developed into an important hub for Swiss freight traffic, where enormous quantities of goods have been turned over. Time and again the Basel region has been shaped by the influences of numerous migrants: the Romans introduced today’s writing, Germanic tribes left their mark on the language, Humanists promoted book printing, Huguenot refugees drove forward silk ribbon production, workers kept the factories running, and innovative minds in science advanced Basel as a research location. In the history of every city, important events stand out, such as in the case of Basel the earthquake of 1356, the Reformation in 1529 or the fire and chemical spill at Schweizerhalle in 1986. At the same time processes span centuries, all the while shaping the city’s development, as can be shown
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Introduction
with the silk ribbon production in Basel. The character of the city is also determined by its geographical location on the Rhine and on the border to two countries repeatedly at war with one another. There are individuals, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam or the mayor Johann Rudolf Wettstein, who through their singular actions have entered history. More frequently, however, transformation is pushed forward by groups, as with the peasants’ uprisings in the 16th and 17th centuries, the workers’ strikes of the early 20th century, or the women’s, youth and ecology movements of the late 20th century. Even beyond these histories, there are mass phenomena affecting all of society, like the shift towards mobility or the changes in consumer behaviour. Many of these developments, such as Basel’s population growth in the late 19th century, ran their course in a way similar to other cities. Others, by contrast, such as the formation of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, are specific to Basel.
Laying tracks All these aspects must be addressed, and it goes without saying that a short overview of Basel history from the Neanderthals to the present day demands a strict selection of themes and giant leaps in time. Thus, ‘Leaps in Time’ does not tell a complete history of events, nor of politics or the economy. Rather, the selection of exhibits lays down various thematic tracks for pursuing the political, economic and cultural evolution, complimented by the history of different social groups, gender relations, migration or religious diversity. Also covered are singular catastrophes, conflicts and unrest, the relations between city and country, the change in the cityscape or in the ways of treating space and nature. The exhibition structures this survey into around one hundred exhibits, six short films, four interactive media installations, and diversely pre-
sented facts, texts and images. The six short films – edited footage from historical film material, as well as documentary and animated films created especially for the exhibition – show turbulent times through the medium of moving images. The accompanying publication presents the contents of the exhibition in edited form, so that visitors can engage more deeply with the themes they have seen. Yet the catalogue also offers a compact overview of the highlights of Basel history and does not depend on an exhibition visit.
A history in 50 objects A Stone Age hand axe, a Celtic pot, the crook of a bishop’s staff, the fragment of a Jewish gravestone, bread from a period of famine or a rapper’s sweater: the exhibition’s first part undertakes a wide chronological tour through fifty objects from the museum’s collection. Each of the selected objects becomes a springboard for a part of Basel history. With an 18th century pattern book, the Basel silk ribbon production is shown as an industry that dominated for centuries. A battered bowl from an eating house for the poor serves as evidence of the permanently
precarious situation of the lower social strata. The history of combating epidemics is told with the aid of a waste bin, and a ballot box documents the introduction in 1966 of women’s voting rights at cantonal level. Worn items of no material worth stand side-by-side with precious objects such as the Wettstein Cup or the University sceptre. This form of object-based narration, made popular by the former director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, with the BBC radio series ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’, is often used in telling historical stories in a museum setting.1 Because museums preserve the material legacy of a region. In our case, the disparate things have in common that they are all related to the history of Basel and its environs. Each one of them has been selected to convey an episode, an event or a development in this history – the bread sledge as much as the Crossair airplane model, the executioner’s cupboard as much as the Freedom Hat from 1798. The viewer of the exhibition or the reader of the book is encouraged to find analogies and contrasts, to establish contexts and connections.
What about political history? In years gone by, historical surveys were by and large told by taking the route of political history, with detours down the paths of economic and cultural history. An up-to-date presentation requires the inclusion of the everyday, the perspective on relations between the genders, the consideration of the meaning of nature and space. Still, any city history should include a close look at the persons in power and how power relations have changed in the course of time. Today, political participation irrespective of one’s faith, gender and social situation is taken for granted. Politically, the canton is led by the one hundred members of the Great Council, in which the disparate political and social views of voters are represented.
Introduction
9
and more workers. Between 1850 and 1910, the population grew from 27,000 to 130,000 inhabitants, with nearly 40,000 immigrants in the last decade of the 19th century alone. In order to allow new construction and build new districts, the city walls were demolished from 1860 onwards. City maps provide impressive documentation of this enormous rise in the population and the city. Yet urban development includes far more than just spatial change. Photographs – a new medium of the 19th century – illustrate the evolving city infrastructure with schools, hospitals, jails, cemeteries and leisure facilities, the constantly changing working world and urban mobility. Moreover, the building boom kicked off a new style of urban architecture. Yet the democratic process as we know it today is the result of protracted negotiating processes. Many social groups had to fight hard for a political say in the 19th and 20th centuries. The fact that today only marginally more than half the population are allowed to vote shows that this process of democratisation is still in progress and that political participation constantly needs to be negotiated. The exhibition’s second part is therefore devoted to the question of political power and the shift in power relations. Centre stage is taken by the stall for the city elders in the Münster from 1598. This representational furniture, in which the council elders took their places during cathedral services, manifests the power of the guild ruling class up until 1798. It is the starting point for presenting the path to democracy. That the legislative body of a state in no way mirrors the population one-to-one is shown by a study of January 2019, which compared the data of the Great Council with that of the wider Basel population.
Townscape and urban development In the exhibition’s third part, the focus is on the city’s rapid development since the mid-19th century. Basel became an industrial centre attracting more
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Introduction
Spotlights on contemporary history Today’s academic history draws much of its relevance from the challenges of the present, which in part have become urgent questions concerning the future: how are we supposed to successfully solve global, social and ecological challenges when close up we cultivate historical bogeymen and fears in the partnership with our neighbouring canton? Given worldwide anti-democratic tendencies, how can we manage to actively further our democracy? How
can we maintain peaceful co-existence between people from 200 nations and various generations in the confined and highly utilised city space? The exhibition’s last part is dedicated, therefore, to recent and most recent history. What has driven Basel and the region in recent decades and what preoccupies people at the moment? What supports the city, what animates it, which conflicts are a source of worry? Six themes are addressed from the realms of society, the economy, space, politics, nature and leisure, all of which have vitally influenced the city and formed Basel’s selfconception to the present day. Topics such as the FC Basel or the fight for open spaces waged by the youth movements of the 1980s show the city’s many faces, which take shape through the various spaces its inhabitants identify with.
1
MacGregor, Neil: A History of the World in 100 Objects, London 2010.
Introduction
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A HISTORY OF BASEL IN 50 OBJECTS In the Basel region the earliest human traces go back to the Neanderthals. First settlements existed in the Bronze Age. Innumerable events and developments have shaped the history and people’s identity ever since. Some of these found expression in historical evidence and objects and a number of these things are preserved in museums as our cultural heritage – they constitute the region’s material memory. The forms in which such memories are handed down differ greatly: political developments and revolutions tend to be well-documented with documents, medallions or representational signs. Religious movements have left their traces in the form of symbols and ritual objects. Objects for protection and security recall wars and endangerment. Economic achievements find expression in products and advertising. But by far not all historical developments or milestones are passed down in objects or other sources. Crises like natural disasters, pandemics, great fires and constant social plight have drastic effects, yet can only be evidenced in material terms with great difficulty or indirectly. GP
A history of Basel in 50 objects
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1
Mammoths and Neanderthals Hand axe site: Bettingen BS, c. 58000– 38000 BCE // silex (flintstone) // on loan from Archäologische Bodenforschung Basel-Stadt // Inv. 1991/46.52.
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A history of Basel in 50 objects
Around 100,000 years ago the local environment was similar to today’s Alaska. A thick layer of ice covered vast parts of Europe, though not the region around Basel. Various types of grasses and the occasional tree grew in a tundra, providing food for herbivores. Mammoths, deer, reindeer and antelopes roamed the area – easy prey for Stone Age hunters. The Neanderthals hunted these animals and left their traces in the form of stone tools and debris from hunting. They used tools like this hand axe to skin the animals and chop up their bones. PK
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Out of Africa Around 43,000 years ago a new hominid emigrated from Africa to Europe: homo sapiens. Thanks to his new tools, weapons and methods of organisation he was superior to the native Neanderthals and replaced them over time. Homo sapiens made jewellery and musical instruments and painted cave walls. Around 20,000 years ago he reached the north-western parts of Switzerland. 292 painted and broken pebbles found in a cave near Arlesheim suggest ritual practices. PK
Painted pebbles site: Birseck-Ermitage cave near Arlesheim BL, c. 12600 –11300 BCE // limestone gravel, colour haematite // on loan from Museum der Kulturen, Basel // Inv. 2019.45.1–25. // [MdK I 15704–15807]
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Warm times Shaft-hole axe (wooden shaft not preserved) // site: Basel-Rheinhafen, c. 3300– 2500 BCE // serpentinite // on loan from Museum der Kulturen Basel // Inv. 1940.660. // [MdK I 21000]
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A history of Basel in 50 objects
From around 9700 BCE onwards the climate started warming up significantly and the Basel region was covered by dense forests. Humans adapted to the changing habitat by developing new weapons – the bow and arrow for instance – to hunt the forest animals. The nomadic hunters became sedentary over a period of a few thousand years, though hunting and gathering remained important. Some 5,000 years ago people started to clear the woods in the area around Riehen-Bettingen with stone axes. They built settlements, created fields for crops and reared animals. PK
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The oldest ‘Basler’ This 3,000-year-old bronze knife is decorated with a human head, which is regarded as the oldest human figure in Switzerland. For a culture that neither left written sources nor depictions of deities, this is extraordinary. The first settlements along the river Rhine near Basel developed during the Bronze Age, proof that the once so mighty glacial river with its numerous tributaries had settled down and found its course. The knife originates from the North and bears witness to already extensive trade links. PK
Knife with human head Schleswig-Holstein or Denmark, site: Basel-Voltaplatz, Bronze Age, 10th century BCE // bronze // donated by the Delegation fĂźr die antiquarischen Funde, Basel // Inv. 1912.98.
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City of Celts Painted jar site: Basel-Gasfabrik, Iron Age, 150–95 BCE // ceramic // find // Inv. 1915.362.
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A history of Basel in 50 objects
The first city-like settlement on Basel ground was built around 170 BCE by Celts. It was situated at today’s Novartis Campus. The inhabitants made their living with farming and handicraft, as shown by this jar with its ornamental painting. It is evidence of professional pottery work. The upper class of this Celtic city could afford imported luxury goods both from the coasts of the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean. The Rhine thereby served as a trade route which made its banks a favoured settlement area. PK
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Rome on the Rhine Between 58 and 52 BCE, the Roman general Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, today’s France. He set up military bases along the Rhine to secure supplies for the Roman troops, including on today’s Cathedral Hill. When they withdrew around 400 CE the Romans not only left behind stone buildings, cemeteries and a network of roads, but also cultural innovations, altered customs and new ways of living. The introduction of writing, Latin and money transactions as well as the contacts with a new religion – Christianity – have had lasting effects to the present day. PK
Grave stone for Prima and Araurica Inscription: PRIMA C(AI) COTEI LIB(ERTA) ANN(ORUM) XVI ET SOROR ILLAEVS ARAURICA ANNIC(VLA) ET MEN(SES) VI H(IC) S(ITAE) S(VNT) PATRONVS PO(SVIT). Prima, freedwoman of Caius Coteius, 16 years old, and her sister Araurica, 1 year and 6 months old, lie buried here. Their protector has put up (the stone). // site: Roman Villa of Liestal-Munzach BL, 2nd – 3rd century CE // limestone // old inventory // Inv. 1904.140.
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Pawn in the hands of foreign powers Spear head (angon) site: Franconian burial site BaselBernerring, 6th century CE // iron // given by Baudepartement BaselStadt, excavation by the museum // Inv. 1932.135.
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A history of Basel in 50 objects
Towards the end of the Roman rule a realignment of powers occurred. Beyond the Rhine, Alemannic settlements sprung up. The Germanic newcomers were wealthy warriors with their entourage who secured the Rhine borders – presumably following Roman orders – and left the local inhabitants alone. In the 6th century the Franconian King Clovis conquered the Alemannic territories. Members of the Franconian upper class moved to Basel to control important connecting roads. Under Franconian rule Basel was raised to an episcopal town with its own mint. PK
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Between Burgundy and Henry II In the Middle Ages the king was sovereign over city and country. But which king’s subject was Basel? For nearly one hundred years the city belonged to the kingdom of Burgundy which ranged from Lyon and Arles to Lausanne and Basel. In 1006, Basel fell to the powerful East Frankish-German King Henry II who also claimed the succession to the kingdom of Burgundy. Accordingly, the image on the coins changed from the portrait of the Burgundy king to the crown of the East Frankish-German king. MM
Denarius of the Münzstätte Basel Conrad of Burgundy (937– 93, left) and Henry II (1002–24, right) // Basel, c. 950– 80 and c. 1006–10 // silver // donated by Ms Ewig-Thurneysen and acquisition // Inv. 1905.2922. and Inv. 2018.868.
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The bishop as city ruler Crook of a bishop’s staff from the Münster tomb of Bishop Johann von Venningen († 1478) // Limoges, 13th century // gilded and enamelled copper alloy // old inventory // Inv. 1870.330.
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A history of Basel in 50 objects
The head of the church in medieval Basel was the bishop. Over time, he also received sovereign rights, which he continued to expand. Soon, he was no longer just a spiritual leader but also a secular prince, owning whole tracts of land. For this reason, his area of influence was also known as a ‘princebishopric’. The sign of the bishop was a shepherd’s staff with a crook that was usually gilded. It became a central symbol of power in the form of the ‘staff of Basel’, which decorates the city’s coat of arms to this day. JB
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Scramble for power Under the bishops’ rule, the town experienced an economic boom. Now the financially strong elite wanted to govern their own affairs. However, Bishop Henry of Thun († 1238) managed to take control of the council that was made up of the aristocracy and wealthy bourgeoisie. This is evident on the great town seal, with which the council established by the bishop authenticated all legal documents: the Münster, i.e. the bishop’s church, is placed in the centre of town. This seal was used up to the 17th century. MM
Silver stamp (crest) of the great town seal of Basel Inscription: SIGILLVM CIVIVM BASILIENSIVM. Seal of the citizens of Basel // Basel, c. 1360, 3rd version (first testified c. 1225) // silver // deposited by Staatsarchiv Basel-Stadt // Inv. 1936.125.
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Murder of the Jews Fragment of a Jewish grave stone site: Basel, Petersplatz, 13th century // stone // given by Baudepartement Basel-Stadt // Inv. 1939.785.
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A history of Basel in 50 objects
The first Jewish community in Basel formed around 1200. Like everywhere else the Jews were discriminated against. They were neither permitted to join a guild nor to pursue a trade. Thus their main profession was the lending of money; many people, also from the upper classes, were in their debt. When the Great Plague hit Europe, the Jews were accused of poisoning the wells. In Basel, too, nearly all the Jews were killed in 1349 – five months before the plague reached the city. The Jewish cemetery was destroyed and its gravestones used to build the outer city walls. GP
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Knights jousting in Basel In the 13th century Basel was a city of knights, famous for its splendid tower houses and tournaments. These mostly took place during carnival or Whitsun time on Münster Square. There were processions throughout town, dancing and heavy drinking. Tournaments would be duels between two contestants or group fights. Special equipment was worn to help reduce the danger of injury to contestants. This pot helmet shows traces of thrusts by a ‘little tournament crown’ which was used to make the spear blunt for the tournament. Despite these precautions, accidents occurred repeatedly. PK
Pot helmet site: Castle Madeln near Pratteln BL, before 1356 // iron // deposited by Archäologie Baselland // Inv. 2007.474. Little tournament crown site: Castle Waldeck near Leymen (F), before 1356 // iron // donated by A. Petitjean, Basel // Inv. 18 81.195.
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Symbol of sovereignty Basler Vogteischwert c. 1274, hilt 16th century // steel // old inventory // Inv. 1870.529.
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A history of Basel in 50 objects
A sword not only served to defend or to kill. The Vogteischwert was a symbol of justice and rightful sovereignty. Jurisdiction over any place always meant sovereignty as well. Thus it was a smart move by King Rudolf I of Habsburg to appoint a high judge in Basel as imperial governor. He thereby put the town under direct royal command. In 1386, Basel acquired this sword from the King to attain full independence. MM
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Fast reconstruction On 18 October 1356, Basel was shaken by an earthquake – the strongest ever reported north of the Alps. Churches and houses collapsed and subsequent fires and floods caused devastation. Despite a magnitude of 6.6 on the Richter scale the number of victims was low, a preliminary tremor having warned inhabitants. The town was quickly rebuilt and in the same year this new wine measure was cast. It was apparently indispensable as a standard gauge for calculating the wine tax. Its revenues fed the treasury and were used to finance the reconstruction. GP
Wine measure of the Vintners’ Guild inscription: In the year of the great earthquake 1356 – thus I want to truthfully recount – I was moulded by the good people of Basel. These verses were written by Ulrich as well as he could, may God and the Virgin Mary save him. // Basel, 1356 // bronze // deposited by E. E. Zunft zu Weinleuten // Inv. 1884.168.
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Banished from Basel Border stone Basel, 14th/15th centuries // red sand stone // given by Baudepartement Basel-Stadt // Inv. 1900.49.
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A history of Basel in 50 objects
Basel had its own jurisdiction in the Middle Ages. Its scope of application (Bannmeile) also covered a certain radius outside the city walls that was marked by stones carved with a cross. If someone in town broke the law, he or she could be banished, depending on the severity of the crime, ‘outside the cross’. The convicted criminal then had to take an oath at the cross stone never again to set foot in the Bannmeile. So these blocks of sandstone were emblems of juridical sovereignty, reinforced with religious symbols. JB
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Subsidised fire safety In 1417, one night in July, a labourer set fire to one of the bathhouses in Streitgasse, apparently as an act of revenge for being sacked by his master. A vast town fire resulted, which destroyed around 250 houses. Fires with devastating impact occurred every few years, but after the fire of 1417 the council decreed that all shingle roofs had to be replaced by tiled roofs. In order to implement the new building regulation, the council granted all house owners financial support to buy roof tiles. GP
Roof tile with engraved figure of a woman site: Basel, Petersplatz 17, c. 1510 // clay // acquired with federal financial support // Inv. 1940.902.a.
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Centre of Christianity Lead seal of the Basel Council rear inscription: + SACRO SCA : GENERALIS : SINODVS : BASILIENSIS + Sacrosanct General Church Council in Basel // Basel, 1431– 48 // lead // old inventory // Inv. 1905.1557.
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A history of Basel in 50 objects
One of the last great Church Councils of the Middle Ages was held in Basel from 1431 to 1448. The aim was to reform the Church. But soon a quarrel arose between the congregation and the Pope. The Council even ousted him and in 1439 elected an antipope, Felix V. With a special seal created to authenticate deeds, the Church Council made its position as the highest ecclesiastical authority clear. For Basel the congregation of church men and their entourage meant thriving business: the economy prospered, as did cultural life. MM
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Switzerland’s oldest university After the flourishing years of the Church Council, Basel wished for a university. And indeed, in 1459 the city council managed to persuade Pope Pius II to grant a deed of foundation for a university. Pius II held Basel in high esteem, since he had participated at the recent Church Council as Enea Silvio Piccolomini, lawyer and secretary. After the foundation in 1460 the city council gifted the university this sceptre, which was used for public ceremonies. Financing the university was not always easy, and more than once it faced the threat of closure. GP
Sceptre of Basel university manufacturer: Master Andres, presumably Andreas Überlinger // Basel, 1461 and later // silver, partially gilded // deposited by Universität Basel // Inv. 1942.533.
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