Schwyz Canton, Switzerland Genealogy

Guide to Schwyz canton ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

History
On 1 August 1291, the cantons of Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden entered into an Eternal Alliance that would eventually become the Swiss Confederation. As early as 1320 the name of the canton was applied to the whole of the confederation. It was only in 1803, however, that the name Schweiz as derived from the canton of Schwyz became the official name of Switzerland. As the Confederation expanded, Schwyz took a leading role in the new organization. The aggressive, expansionist foreign policy of Schwyz led to its name being applied to the entire Confederation. In 1655 the canton of Schwyz began prosecuting those Protestant families who had remained in Schwyz. After the Protestant victory at the Second Battle of Villmergen, religious equality was established in the Confederation. Switzerland following the Congress of Vienna, with the borders of Outer Schwyz and Inner Schwyz. The two half-cantons were reunited under a constitution that guaranteed equal rights for all residents in 1833. In the mid-1890s, the liberals began to push for another constitutional revision. Their revisions included language that would give the government authority over the monasteries and their assets. The conservatives fought back with a platform of protecting the religion of most Schwyzer. In response, the government created a second version, which dropped the controversial religious portions but was otherwise unchanged. Schwyz is a German speaking canton.