This page gives some background on the major comital and ducal families of the area. All this information is historical as opposed to mythic, but by no means complete.
The Zahringen
The Zahringen are the ducal family of Trans-Jurane Burgundy (modern W. Switzerland) during the saga period. Schloss Zahringen is situated by Freiburg-im-Bresigau (a city founded by one of the Dukes).
The first Duke was Berthold II, who was brother-in-law to Berthold of Rheinfelden. When Rheinfelden died his estates in Swabia and Burgundy fell to Zahringen. The opponents of Henry IV chose him as Duke of Swabia in 1092. In a deal with Henry IV he renounced the title in favour of Frederick Hohenstaufen(Henry's son-in-law). In return Henry enfeofed him with the Imperial Estates around Zurich and giving him the right to use the title of Duke.
In 1152 Berthold IV (brother-in-law of Henry the Lion) gains rights in the Kingdom of Arelat-Burgundy (The lower Rhone), but loses them to the Staufen Barbarossa who marries Beatrice, the heiress to Burgundy. He is compensated in 1156 with the lay advocacies of Geneva, Lausanne and Sion, with the right to invest these bishop's himself (although their actual appointment was the province of the church, he could refuse to invest this appointment). When Barbarossa is crowned King of Burgundy in 1178, Berthold loses all rights there.
Berthold V secures the areas up to the alps, including Thun, and indulges in huge village and town building projects. During the C12th the Zahringen found over 100 towns and villages in the Black Forest alone, as well as endowing several monasteries. In the Alps he founds Fribourg and Berne ( named after the first beast he hunted in the nearby woods). In 1198 he gains Schaffhausen in return for supporting the election of Philip II.
The Zahringen also held the title of Reichsvogte of Zurich, giving oversight of civil justice for the lands held by the Abbey there. These lands included the Alpine valley of Uri.
The Zahringen line died out in 1218 and most of their alpine possessions fall into th hands of the Kyburg family. The towns of Solothurn, Berne and Fribourg become Imperial cities. From this date both the Counts of Hapsburg and the Counts of Savoy gain incresing influence in the region.
Peter of Savoy
Although the Counts of Savoy had become powerful in Piedmont by the early C13th (see Medieval Tapestry supplement), it was not until the middle of the century that they gained large tracts of Trans-Jurane Burgundy under Count Peter.
By 1207 the Savoy had taken Moudon, but from 1237 on Peter conquered the small feudatories of the Pays de Vaud. By 1255 his power was such that Berne and Morat put themselves under his protection to save themselves from the Kyburgs.
From 1265 until his death in 1268 he unsuccessfully disputed the Kyburg inheritence (the senior line of that family having died off) with Rudolf II Hapsburg (later Emperor).
The Hapsburgs
Originally from the Habichtsburg (Castle of the Hawk) between Lenzberg and Windisch, the Counts of Hapsburg owned large lands in Alsace as well as near Zurich. As Allies of the Staufen they often profited from that families successes, but seemed to have the knack of avoiding the downsides.
By 1135 they were Lay Advocates for the Abbey of Murbach which owned manors along the line Basle-Luzern, as well as the abbey in Luzern itself. This gave them the rights of mundane justice over these manors and lands, which included the valley of Obwalden. In 1173 when the last of the Lenzberg's dies, the Hapsburg gain Sempach and Willisau, plus comital rights in the Zurichgau, which included public jurisdiction over Schwyz and Nidwalden.
After the death of the last Zahringen in 1218, Frederick II gives them judicial rights in Uri. However they lose this in 1231, to the valley inhabitants who buy the rights from the Emperor. In 1264 they gain most of the lands of the Kyburgs, who have died out, and in 1277 they buy the lordship of Burgdorf from a lesser branch of the Kyburgs. During this period they also aquire Glarus from the Abbess of Sackingen.
In 1291 they buy Luzern from the Abbey of Murbach, but start to lose to the valley men who swear a pact of mutaual assistance - the start of the Swiss Confederation. However by this time the focus of Hapsburg attention is on Austria, which became their home after its conquest by Rudolf, the first Hapsburg Emperor, elected in 1273.
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