Federal Charter of 1291

E928938

constitutional document founding document medieval alliance treaty

The Federal Charter of 1291 is a foundational medieval alliance pact among the original Swiss forest cantons that is traditionally regarded as the birth document of the Swiss Confederation.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Federal Charter of 1291 canonical	4
Federal Pact of 1291	1
Swiss federal charters	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T11491647 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Federal Charter of 1291
Context triple: [Unterwalden, mentionedIn, Federal Charter of 1291]

A. Privilegium Maius
Privilegium Maius is a forged 14th-century document created to elevate the status and privileges of the Habsburg rulers of Austria within the Holy Roman Empire.
B. Charter of 1337
The Charter of 1337 is the royal grant by King Edward III that created the Duchy of Cornwall as a hereditary estate for the English king’s eldest son.
C. Privilegium Minus
Privilegium Minus was a 1156 imperial charter issued by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I that elevated Austria to a duchy and granted it special hereditary and succession privileges.
D. Golden Bull of 1356
The Golden Bull of 1356 was a foundational decree of the Holy Roman Empire issued by Emperor Charles IV that codified the process for electing the emperor and formalized the status and privileges of the prince-electors.
E. Magna Carta
Magna Carta is a landmark 1215 English charter that limited royal power and established foundational principles of rule of law and individual rights that shaped later constitutional traditions.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Federal Charter of 1291
Target entity description: The Federal Charter of 1291 is a foundational medieval alliance pact among the original Swiss forest cantons that is traditionally regarded as the birth document of the Swiss Confederation.

A. Privilegium Maius
Privilegium Maius is a forged 14th-century document created to elevate the status and privileges of the Habsburg rulers of Austria within the Holy Roman Empire.
B. Charter of 1337
The Charter of 1337 is the royal grant by King Edward III that created the Duchy of Cornwall as a hereditary estate for the English king’s eldest son.
C. Privilegium Minus
Privilegium Minus was a 1156 imperial charter issued by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I that elevated Austria to a duchy and granted it special hereditary and succession privileges.
D. Golden Bull of 1356
The Golden Bull of 1356 was a foundational decree of the Holy Roman Empire issued by Emperor Charles IV that codified the process for electing the emperor and formalized the status and privileges of the prince-electors.
E. Magna Carta
Magna Carta is a landmark 1215 English charter that limited royal power and established foundational principles of rule of law and individual rights that shaped later constitutional traditions.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	constitutional document ⓘ founding document ⓘ medieval alliance treaty ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Bundesbrief von 1291 ⓘ Federal Pact of 1291 ⓘ linked to: Federal Charter of 1291
associatedWith	Old Swiss Confederacy ⓘ Swiss National Day ⓘ Swiss national identity ⓘ
authoredBy	representatives of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden ⓘ
commemoratedOn	Swiss National Day ⓘ
country	Old Swiss Confederacy ⓘ
countryOfArchive	Switzerland ⓘ
dateSigned	1291-08-01 ⓘ
documentType	parchment charter ⓘ
followedBy	Pact of Brunnen ⓘ
genre	political charter ⓘ
governingBody	allied communities of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden ⓘ
hasPart	clauses on arbitration of disputes ⓘ clauses on collective punishment of criminals ⓘ clauses on mutual defense ⓘ
historicalSignificance	earliest surviving constitutional pact of the Swiss forest cantons ⓘ symbol of Swiss independence ⓘ traditionally regarded as the founding document of the Swiss Confederation ⓘ
influenced	later federal pacts of the Swiss Confederation ⓘ
language	Latin ⓘ
legalStatus	treaty under medieval customary law ⓘ
locatedInCollection	Swiss Federal Archives ⓘ
location	Bern ⓘ
placeOfOrigin	Forest Cantons of Central Switzerland ⓘ linked to: Central Switzerland Schwyz ⓘ Unterwalden ⓘ Uri ⓘ
predecessor	earlier local alliances in central Switzerland ⓘ
purpose	collective security against external threats ⓘ defensive alliance ⓘ maintenance of internal peace and order ⓘ mutual assistance pact ⓘ
region	Central Alps ⓘ
relatedEvent	formation of the Old Swiss Confederacy ⓘ
relatedTo	Swiss Federal Constitution ⓘ linked to: Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation
script	medieval Latin script ⓘ
signatory	Canton of Schwyz ⓘ linked to: canton of Schwyz Canton of Unterwalden ⓘ linked to: canton of Nidwalden Canton of Uri ⓘ linked to: canton of Uri
subject	collective decision-making among cantons ⓘ mutual legal assistance ⓘ regulation of judicial cooperation ⓘ
timePeriod	Middle Ages ⓘ
yearSigned	1291 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (6)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Unterwalden → mentionedIn → Federal Charter of 1291 ⓘ

Forum of Swiss History Schwyz → hasSubject → Swiss federal charters ⓘ

linked to: Federal Charter of 1291

Forest Cantons → associatedWithEvent → Federal Charter of 1291 ⓘ

Forest Cantons → foundingDocument → Federal Charter of 1291 ⓘ

Rütli Oath → associatedWithDocument → Federal Charter of 1291 ⓘ

Federal Charter of 1291 → alsoKnownAs → Federal Pact of 1291 ⓘ