History of the Grisons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Most of the lands of the Grisons were part of the Roman province Raetia, 15 BC. The area later was part of the lands of the diocese at Chur.
In 1367 the League of God's House (Cadi, Gottes Haus, Ca' di Dio), was founded to resist the rising power of the Bishop of Chur. This was followed by the establishment of the Grey League (Grauer Bund), sometimes called Oberbund, in 1395 in the Upper Rhine valley. The name Grey League is derived from the homespun grey clothes worn by the people. The name of this league later gave its name to the canton of Graubünden. A third league was established in 1436 by the people of ten bailiwicks in the former Toggenburg, as the dynasty of Toggenburg had become extinct. The league was called League of the Ten Jurisdictions (Zehngerichtebund).
The first step towards the canton of Graubünden was when the league of the Ten Jurisdictions allied with the League of God's House in 1450. In 1471 the two leagues allied with the Grey League, forming the Three Leagues. This was caused when the Habsburgs inherited the possessions of the extinct Toggenburg dynasty in 1496.[citation needed] This meant that the leagues allied with the Swiss Confederation. The Habsburgs were defeated at Calven Gorge and Dornach, helping the Swiss confederation and the allied leagues of the Grisons to be recognized.
The last traces of the bishop of Chur's jurisdiction were abolished in 1526. The Musso war of the 1520 drove the Three Leagues closer to the Swiss Confederacy. The lands of the canton of Graubünden were part of the Helvetic Republic, but the "perpetual ally" of Switzerland became a canton in 1803. The constitution of the canton dates from 1892.
The arms of the three original leagues are now all part of the arms of coat of the canton of Graubünden.
