William Tell allegedly shoots an apple off his son's head - November 18th, 1307

On this day in 1307, a legend was born when a Swiss farmer and skilled hunter named William Tell shot an apple off his son’s head with a crossbow.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that charts the hits and misses of everyday history.

(00:20):
I'm Gabe Bluesier, and in this episode we're looking at
the potentially tall tale of William Tell, the Swiss marksman
who disrespected a hat, shot an apple, and founded a country,
all in the same day. The day was November seven.

(00:47):
According to legend, a Swiss farmer and skilled hunter named
William Tell shot an apple off his son's head with
a crossbow. The spectacle occurred after Tell offended the agent
of an Austrian duke and was ordered to prove his
marksmanship to save he and his son's lives. Tell became

(01:09):
a folk hero from that day forward after making the shot,
and he remains a symbol of political freedom in Switzerland
even today. In some ways, the legend serves as a
kind of origin story for the country. It takes place
at the turn of the fourteenth century, when the valley
communities of the Central Alps first formed an alliance known

(01:32):
as the Old Swiss Confederacy, the precursor to the modern
state of Switzerland. By th oh seven, these communities had
fallen under the control of the Austrian Dukes of the
House of Habsburg, a powerful German dynasty that still exists today.
Among the most tyrannical of these foreign rulers was a

(01:55):
man named Albrecht Guessler. He was positioned as a represent
ative of the dukes in Altdorf, the largest town in
the Swiss Canton of Uri. In a petty show of strength,
Guessler placed a Hapsburg style hat on a pole in
the center of the town square and declared that all

(02:16):
passers by must take off their own hats as a
show of respect to their subjugators. One day, a local
farmer named William Tell strolled into town with his son,
and when they reached the market square, Tell didn't take
off his hat. He was immediately seized and taken before

(02:36):
a guessler, who had heard that Tell was a crack
shot with a crossbow. Guessler decided to toy with the
man and put that claim to fame to the test.
He ordered an apple to be placed on the head
of Tell's son. Then he told the farmer to march
a hundred and twenty paces back and to shoot the

(02:57):
apple with a single arrow. If he failed or refused
both he and his son would be executed. Tell took
his position, loaded his crossbow, took aim, and fired an
arrow directly into the apple. When it was over, Guessler
asked why Tell had placed a second arrow inside his jacket,

(03:21):
since the contest only allowed him a single shot. Tell
replied that if the first arrow had pierced his son,
he would have shot the second at Guessler and he
wouldn't have missed, as you might expect. Guessler didn't take
kindly to the threat. He ordered that William Tell be
tied up again and this time taken to a dungeon

(03:43):
on the other side of Lake Lucerne. Guessler was so
eager to witness Tell suffering that he accompanied him to
the dungeon himself, or at least that was the plan.
While making their way across Lake Lucerne, a violent wind
is said to have kicked up, and since Tell was
the only man aboard strong enough to steer through the storm,

(04:05):
he was released from his bonds. Tell steered the boat
to the safety of a flat rock along the lake's
south shore. Then he jumped ashore and kicked the boat,
along with Guessler and his crew, back out into the
choppy waters from there, Tell trekked through twenty miles of
dark forests and mountain passes until he arrived at the

(04:27):
main road leading to the castle where he was meant
to be taken. Here, he lied in wait until Guessler
and his men finally made it to shore. When he
had the man in his sights, Tell appeared from behind
a tree and shot Guessler dead with that trusty second arrow.
After dispatching his foe, William Tell traveled to the nearby

(04:51):
meadow of Route Lely, where he met with leaders from
three neighboring cantons who longed to overthrow the Habsburgs who
sees the or land. The four men swore a legendary
oath that day, the most popular version of which comes
from the William Tell play by Friedrich Schiller. One English
translation reads as follows. We shall be a single people

(05:16):
of brethren, never to part in danger nor distress. We
shall be free just as our fathers were, and rather
die than live in slavery. We shall trust in the
one Highest God and never be afraid of human power.
Once the Rootly oath was taken, the representatives ordered bonfires

(05:37):
to be lit on the mountain tops, a signal that
the uprising against Austrian rule had officially begun. The story
of William Tell is a cherished part of Swiss culture,
and that remains the case whether or not it actually happened.
The revolt against the Hapsburgs and the birth of the
Swiss Confederacy that all happened for sure, though evidence now

(06:01):
points to it occurring in twelve ninety one, not thirteen
o seven. In case you're wondering, we're sticking with the
thirteen o seven date for tradition's sake. After all, that's
the date they still use an ury. But as for
William Tell, there's no proof he ever existed or that
anyone in the region actually made the two famous arrow

(06:24):
shots that made him a legend. In fact, the first
written account of Tell's feats didn't appear until the late
sixteenth century, about two hundred and fifty years after the
events it describes. In reality, the story of William Tell
and the Apple Shot was probably borrowed from a similar

(06:45):
legend that got its start in Denmark. The story then
became intertwined with the true history of the founding of
the Swiss Federation. The apple Shot gets most of the attention,
but it's that meeting in Routely that was truly notable.
It was a risky prospect that a loose collection of
towns and villages could come together to rebel against a

(07:08):
common oppressor and establish their own form of government. The
people of the old Swiss Cantons were bold enough to
take that chance. Whether an Apple was involved or not,
no one knows for sure if William Tell really existed,
but his story has been a symbol of Swiss pride
for over seven hundred years in counting. The truth is

(07:30):
that his spirit of defiance has real meaning either way.
It's an inspiration not just to the Swiss, but to
anyone who stands against the bullies of the world, the
type who would rather see you dead than let you
disrespect their hat. I'm Gabe Lousier and hopefully you now

(07:51):
know a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
If you liked what you heard, you can keep up
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D i HC Show. You can also rate and review
the show on Apple Podcasts. That's always appreciated. And lastly,
you can also write to us at this day at

(08:13):
I heeart media dot com. I'd love to hear what
you'd rather shoot with, an arrow, an apple, or a hat,
and in either case, which kind. Thanks to Chandler Mays
for producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll
see you back here again tomorrow for another day in
history class. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit

(08:42):
the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
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