Precursor to the Renaissance

Coming out of the Middle Ages (400-1500) and entering the Renaissance (1300-1700), the Swiss confereration with its Bundesbrief of 1291 led the way forward in representative democracy and self government throughout Europe. Surrounded by monarchs and powerful external forces, the people of the forest kingdom fought to establish a protective pact and organization of self rule. The Bundesbrief Society seeks to spread the news of this courageous endeavor and to also support other nations with growing interest in democracy and constitutional formulation.

Parchment Bundesbrief

The Bundesbrief bespeaks of reason, authority, liberty, fairness and permanence and seems the platonic ideal of a renaissance confederal document; a structure rising above the evanescent details of time. The Bundesbrief is a postage stamp of history and we seek to explain its context, vernacular and epochal phenomenon. The Bundesbrief will stand preserved as it is, a bearer of a message that defies time and change and appeals to our democratic sensibilities.

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