Alpine Valley society was dominated by the Markgenossenschaft, consisting of all the valley inhabitants regardless of social position. It would meet in general assembly to elect its own leaders and decide trade policy. Its functions were purely economic - providing an enclosed co-operative market, but it gave a sense of solidarity and unity to each valley.
Justice over the people of the valleys was held by the local count or duke. In valleys owned by the monastries, like Uri, the Lay Advocate would have judicial rights. In practice these would appoint local men as 'Ammanes' with right to give low justice (i.e. with no blood involved). The senior among these was known as the 'Landammen'. In 1231 the Markgenossenschaft of Uri bought these rights for itself from the Emperor, who had replaced the Zahringen as lay advocates for the Fraumunster of Zurich which owned the land. In 1240, Schwyz did the same, although the Hapsburgs later debated the legality of this second dispostion.
The valleys were well established communites by the 13th century, with a much greater proportion of free men than elsewhere in the Empire. [In Germany proper, 9 in 10 people were unfree, including most knights, known as Ministrales]. Since most of the valleys were owned by Abbeys even the unfree had greater rights than most, as ecclesiastical serfs were a privalaged class barely distinguishable from free men.
The valley communities were led by the large landowners who were resident there. In Schwyz these were the Stauffacher and the Ab Yberg; in Uri, the Attinghusen, Meier von Silenen and von Moos; in Obwalden, the Hunwil and Wattersburg; and in Nidwalden, the Wolfenschiessen.
As the valleys grew richer after the opening of the St Gotthard pass, they bought privalages from their overlords and gained a more independant slant to their thinking. Whilst the St Gotthard had been traversible earlier, major traffic only started after the Schollenen gorges were bridged in the early 13th century, using planks suspended from iron chains. This bridge was, according to legend, built at the instigation of the Devil, and paid for by the first soul to cross it - a billy goat driven accross by the crafty people of Uri. However since it caused an increase in wealth and greed in the area the Devil could probably be well happy with his work.
When the Hapsburgs attempted to subdue the valleys at the end of the century, they were badly defeated. The unusually high protein diet, a well established system of warlike sports and games, and the nature of their work (many were carriers of goods and litters, or caravan guards), made the Alpine peasant a formidable opponent in warfare. Although denied swords, the spears, axes, hammers and halberds they used proved to be fearsome weapons.
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