Hubler history W. R. Hubler, Jr., M. D

Switzerland

Modern Switzerland encompasses the area from Lake Geneva to Lake Constance, from the Jura and the Rhine Rivers to the valley of the Southern Alps. The historical HUBLER village of Twann lies on the northern edge of Lake Bienne, now known as Bielersee, in the district of Nidau about 15 miles northwest of Bern and 2 miles southwest of Biel in Canton Bern, Switzerland.⁸ Before the late Middle Ages, Switzerland was a territory in Europe without political or cultural autonomy.⁹

The region around Lake Bienne, Switzerland has been populated for millennia. Paleolithic lake-dwellers and their predecessors, the cave-dwellers, lived along the shores of Lake Bienne in prehistoric times; and these hunter-gatherers settled between the Alps and Jura and moved along the hospitable shores of the lakes of Switzerland. Iron artifacts in central Europe appeared about 2,000 BCE.¹⁰ The Neolithic Ligurian people occupied northern Italy and Switzerland and lasted until the peaceful Villanovas settled in the area. In turn, the Villanovas lived there until the invasion of Etruscans.

The shadowy, primitive and warlike Etruscans probably migrated from Asia Minor about 900 BC when the Hittite Empire shattered, and they established a homeland in northern Italy and Switzerland by ousting and enslaving the native Villanovas. The Etruscans, who left little lasting effects, worshipped a pantheon of gloomy gods and prophesied by consulting flatus. The Etruscans built a series of fortified cities that offered security from the equally warlike Celts who followed them into Switzerland.¹¹

The origin of the Celts is not known. Celtic speaking peoples migrated throughout much of Europe during the Neolithic period, and diverse groups of Celts occupied and controlled Europe, including the area from the Balkans of Greece and Central Europe to Spain and Italy. Various Celtic tribes inhabited the Lake Bienne area, and the most important group was the Helvetians who settled in the sub-Alpine area between the Alps and the Jura River. The Celts displaced the Etruscans until their subsequent defeat by the Roman Empire.

While northern Italy and the Alpine area were crisscrossed with cold mountains and fertile valleys, southern Italy with its warm seacoasts and lubricious plains became the home for the great empire of Rome. The foundations of Rome began about 753 BC in Italy south of the Tiber River when the Latins banded together to fend off the Etruscans, Celts and Gauls of France. Rome changed the face and future Europe forever.

After centuries of internal conflict, war and mobilization, Rome became a cohesive military might that dominated Europe by decimating the Gauls and Germanic tribes under the guidance of its consul and leader, Julius Caesar. In the battle of Bibracte against the Gauls and Helvetians in 58 AD, Caesar's victory began the Roman rule of the country now known as Switzerland.

The peaceful and fruitful Roman occupation of Switzerland meant prosperity for two centuries. The major Roman town of Aventicum (now Avenches) held 50,000 people within its fortified walls and was the hub for a network of roads and aqueducts (portions of which remain today) which extended throughout Switzerland. But, Utopia did not last.

The Roman Empire was invaded by Germanic tribes (Alemannians and Burgundians) in 260 AD, and Helvetia became an impoverished border province of Rome. Finally, in 400 AD, Rome evacuated Switzerland leaving behind the two successful invaders, the Alemannians (who adopted the Latin lingo and accepted Christianity) and the Burgundians (who retained their Germanic language and religion)

By the 5th century, after hundreds of years of commingling of cultures, the modern populace of the Lake Bienne area began to emerge. The Celts disappeared, most likely the victims of mixed marriages and a cultural melting pot. The northern edge of Lake Bienne was settled by Gallo-Romans who spoke the ancient Roman dialect called Franco-Provential and named the central northern shore "Tuana.” By the 8th century, Germanic tribes finally reached the northern shores of Lake Bienne; and the "Germanization" of Tuana began. The process was gradual, and the ultimate fusion of German, French and Italian cultures is still found in Twann today. One half of the families who live in modern Twann have a Germanic origin (surnames include Engel, Krebs, Feitknect, HUBLER, etc.), and the remaining are Roman (such as, Murset, Irlet, Gurlet, Perrot, etc.); but because of intermarriage and intermingling, few can claim a homogenous bloodline. HUBLER families have populated Twann for centuries and probably came from southern Germany.¹²

Medieval Europe was agrarian. The commerce and communication that was built by the Romans decayed. A system of manorial dependency developed as the nobles and serfs became self-sufficient. Towns and money dissolved, and the fine balance of self-reliance was too dependent on climatic calamities. Since the system rarely produced a surplus, famine was a constant threat. Many regions of Switzerland were composed of uncultivated forest terrain.

In the 12th century, times began to change. The population increased; new implements for farming were invented; cultivable lands were cleared; productivity soared; trade with far off nations revived; monetary patterns began anew; towns proliferated. By the 14th century, an interlocking, but patchwork, feudal system of fiefdoms developed.

Twann was first mentioned in historical accounts in 1136.¹³

In 1291, three cantons of Switzerland (Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden) formed a loose alliance (the League of the Three Forest Cantons) against the noble and dominant power in the duchy of Swabia, the Hapsburgs. The fight continued throughout the 14th century, and the infantry of the confederacy won a series of battles against the troops of the High German nobility. The confederacy was joined by five other Swiss cantons and was called the "Eight Cantons.” The Swiss cantons were united loosely by a federal diet, but the areas enjoyed great autonomy and often self-serving separateness. By 1499, the Swiss had earned prestige and a reputation for military prowess (and had even sent troops for war well beyond the Swiss borders); but the Swiss society was riddled with social unrest.¹⁴, ¹⁵

Swiss soldiers continued their militarism in the 1500's, and began a tradition of mercenary service that would last for centuries; but civil turmoil continued at home. The Swiss Reformation that began in 1519 was an outgrowth of the social climate and the rise of the power of the individual Swiss. Beginning in the 1500's, charismatic Huldrych Zwingli (who was ecclesiastically aligned with Luther in Germany) sought to retake church lands and remove clerical domination of spiritual events (which would make Christianity more accessible to the general masses). His efforts were opposed by a powerful Spain and the influential Holy Roman Empire; however, the Swiss overwhelmingly adopted the changes. John Calvin furthered the cause and religious refugees from the many areas of European Catholicism that flooded Switzerland. Many of the refugees were tradesmen who brought skills to Switzerland, which remain today in the country's craft and financial markets. Zwingli was more radical than Luther and called for abandoning musical instruments (e.g., organs) and images in church, outlawing monastism, allowing priests to marry, ending infant baptism, banning the Mass, simplifying the Holy Communion, and more. The cantons of Bern and Basel followed his lead, but others resisted. Zwingli died in battle in 1531, and unlike Luther, his reforms did not last; however, his admonitions against infant baptism were perpetuated by Anabaptist groups (e.g., Baptists and Mennonites) who still perform adult baptisms.¹⁶

The nadir of Swiss history was from 1650 to 1750. Tens of thousands of Swiss mercenary soldiers fought in other countries (mostly France), and their wages constituted the major Swiss industry. Cantons were only loosely allied, and patrician oligarchies ruled in a reactionary fashion. In fact, the Swiss Federal Diet did not even meet for over 100 years—a sure sign of its weakness. Protestant cantons (e.g., Twann) resented and resisted providing mercenary troops to France when the Catholic country used the soldiers against Protestant countries, especially the Netherlands. The Swiss schism further weakened Switzerland. [It was during this tumultuous period that Hans Jacob HUBLER was born (1710), left Twann for a Dutch port (probably in 1736) and immigrated to America (1737)].

In the early 1800's, after the fall of Napoleon, Switzerland became a stable democracy composed of 22 cantons whose claim to neutrality was recognized by the countries of Europe, many of them former clients of Swiss mercenaries!

Switzerland in 2001 is one of the richest countries in the world. The population of Switzerland is about 6.5 million; however, since 75% of Switzerland is mountainous, everyone is crammed into a small space; and the country has one of highest population densities. Switzerland is only 137 miles long (north to south) and 216 miles across (east to west), but with so many mountains, travel can be slow and circuitous. The highest point is 15,203 feet. The Rhine River is the only navigable river, but many of the 1,484 lakes are covered with boats.

The Jura is the northwestern one-third of the country, and Twann is in that portion. The Jura results from the folding of the Alps and consists of calcareous formations—chalk base and cultivable prairies. Most people live and work in the central plateau region.

Swiss citizens speak four languages—a soft or high dialect of German (73%), French (20%), Italian (5%) and Romanish (Rhaeto-Roman) (1%). Twann is in a German-speaking region, but it is on the edge of the French linguistics part. Fifty percent of Swiss are Protestant, and 44% are Roman Catholic.¹⁷ Most modern Swiss are multilingual.