Canton of Valais

31 January 2022

The canton of Valais (Wallis in German) became a member of the Swiss Confederation of twenty-two cantons in 1815. Until the French invasion in January 1798, the Republic of the Seven Tithings (Republik der Sieben Zenden or Zehnden, Républik des sept Dizains) in the Upper Valais (Haut-Valais, Oberwallis) ruled the territory.

From 1476 onwards, this Republic occupied the Lower Valais (Bas-Valais, Unterwallis), the area of western Valais to St Gingolph, the current border with France.

Celts, Romans and Franks

The Celtic tribes of Nantuates, Verager, Seduner and Uberer inhabited this region. After the Roman rule ended in 410, the tribe of the Burgunder appeared. This tribe came from the vicinity of Worms in Germany (before from Bornholm (Denmark) in the Baltic Sea).

They adopted the local language (vulgar Latin and the predecessor of today’s French). They founded the (first) Burgundian kingdom (443-534).

The Franks ruled from 534 until the collapse of the Carolingian Empire in 888. From 888-1032, Valais was part of the second Burgundian Empire.

During this period, more and more (German-speaking) immigrants settled in the Upper Valais. The language border also shifted to the west.

1000-1798

From 1032 onwards, the region was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Local dynasties ruled over small and huge territories.

The (French-speaking) Dukes of Savoy governed for a long period. Sion (Sitten) was the episcopal city. However, the German-speaking communes (Zenden) in the Upper Wallis resisted their rule.

Savoy, an ally of the Duke of Burgundy, was permanently expelled from the Valais after the Burgundian wars (1474-1477).

The Republic of the Seven Tithings (Goms, Brig, Sitten, Visp, Raron, Siders, Leuk) was founded, and the (French-speaking) Lower Valais became a subject area (Untertanegebiet) of Upper Valais until 1798.

1798 to 1815

From 1798 to 1815, Valais had six different constitutions. The Lower Valais became independent on 5 February 1798. The Republic of the Ten Communes (Tithings) was founded, comprising the seven old Tithings and three new communes of the Lower Valais: Monthey, Saint-Maurice and Entremont.

This independence ended on 6 May 1798, when Valais became part of the unitarian Helvetic Republic. This political entity ceased to exist on 5 September 1802. Valais became an independent republic divided into twelve communes (with the addition of Martigny and Hérémence in the Lower Valais).

Although an independent state, the Republic was supervised by France. The Valais was not a member of the Confederation of 1803-1813 (Act of Mediation).

This republic ceased to exist on 12 November 1810. Napoleon created the Department Simplon because the Simplon Pass and the Great St. Bernard Pass were strategically important roads.

The defeat of Napoleon in 1813 and the arrival of Austrian troops marked the end of this Republic on December 31, 1813.

Valais became a canton of the Confederacy in 1815. It did not happen with a stroke of the pen. The canton was bilingual and divided into catholic and protestant regions. The Lower Valais demanded the same rights as the Upper Valais in the canton’s administration and parliament and no restoration of the Ancien Régime.

Lower Valais won the dispute with the support of England and Austria (Congress of Vienna 1814-1815). The ‘old’ cantons of the Confederation were also divided but agreed. Valais became a new canton of the new Confederation on 4 August 1815.

The thirteen stars in the coat of arms of Valais symbolise the thirteen communes (the districts) of the canton: the seven old from the Upper Valais and the six new communes from the Lower Valais. Conthey was added on 4 August 1815.

(Quelle: G. Andrey, La Suisse Romande, une histoire à nulle autre pareille !, Pontarlier, 2012).