Zürich

Zürich was an imperial city state on the Limmat at Lake Zürich. In 1337 guild leader Rudolf Brun, who had overthrown the old council and given guilds a share in government in 1336, defeated his aristocratic opponents at Grynau.

Zürich joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1351, was expelled during the Old Zürich War in 1440 and readmitted in 1450. In 1519 Zwingli began the Reformation at the Grossmünster; the Catholic cantons won the Wars of Kappel. Oligarchic rule ended in the Helvetic Revolution of 1798, and in 1803 city and subject lands became a city and a canton.