Gersau

Gersau
Coat of arms
Gersau
Location of Gersau
Coordinates: 46°59′N 8°31′E / 46.983°N 8.517°E / 46.983; 8.517Coordinates: 46°59′N 8°31′E / 46.983°N 8.517°E / 46.983; 8.517
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Schwyz
District	Gersau
Area
• Total	14.37 km2 (5.55 sq mi)
Elevation	435 m (1,427 ft)
Population (Dec 2015)
• Total	2,240
• Density	160/km2 (400/sq mi)
Postal code	6442
SFOS number	1311
Surrounded by	Arth, Beckenried (NW), Buochs (NW), Emmetten (NW), Ennetbürgen (NW), Ingenbohl, Lauerz, Vitznau (LU)
Website	www.gersau.ch SFSO statistics

Free State and Republic of Gersau
Freistaat und Republik Gersau
City-republic and an allied protectorate of the Old Swiss Confederacy
1433–1798 1814–1818
Capital		Gersau
Government		Republic
Historical era		Early Modern Age
•	Purchased liberty from the Counts of Habsburg	1390
•	Gained Reichsfreiheit	1433
•	Annexed to Helv. Rep.	1798
•	Act of Mediation:     Joined Schwyz	February 19, 1803
•	Regained independence	1814
•	Annexed by Switzerland	1818
Preceded by Succeeded by Counts of Habsburg Canton of Schwyz Canton of Waldstätten Canton of Schwyz

Gersau is a municipality and district in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland, sitting on the shores of Lake Lucerne. Gersau was for many centuries an independent micro-state in permanent alliance with the Swiss Confederation.

Gersau is first mentioned in 1064 as Gersouwe. The estates of Gersau gradually came into the hands of the Habsburgs, but in 1333, under dukes Albert II and Otto IV the Merry of Austria, the jurisdiction and rights over Gersau fell into the hands of Lucerne nobility. On 1359, Gersau allied with the Old Swiss Confederacy as a protectorate of the Confederacy, for its protection and to gain arms from the confederates. On July 9, 1386, the citizens of Gersau fought with the Swiss for the first time, on the battlefield of Sempach, where the banner of Count Rudolf of Hohenzollern was captured.

Gersau purchased its liberty from the counts of Habsburg in 1390 for the sum of 690 Pfunds in pfennigs. The fate of the Vogtei and whether or not the municipality pledged to the Confederacy was then in the hands of Lucerners John, Peter and Agnes von Moos; as a result, the jurisdiction, Vogtei and tax rights went to the courtiers of Gersau, allowing a free municipality without being mortgaged to some other power. In Basel, in 1433, Gersau received original confirmation of the ancient freedoms, rights and privileges from Emperor Sigismund, thus becoming a Reichsunmittelbar municipality under the direct protection of the Holy Roman Emperor, with its own courts, covering an area of 24 km² (9.3 sq mi).