Was legendary crossbowman William Tell a real man or a total myth?

A centuries-old symbol for political freedom and unrestricted individualism, William Tell is a long-debated figure of Swiss history. He is the subject of a stage drama, movies, artworks, children’s stories, and an opera with a famous overture—he is even featured on a decorated crossbow in SLAM’s arms and armor galleries. He is an undeniable aspect of Swiss art and oral history, but did the celebrated marksman ever actually exist?

According to legend, first recorded by Swiss historian Aegidius Tschudi around 1570, Tell was a mountain climber and hunter in Bürglen, a municipality in the central area of what is now known as Switzerland, during the 13th or early 14th century. Austria’s royal family, the Hapsburgs, were vying for control of the area at the time. The House of Hapsburg’s tyrannical rule was oppressive, stirring a people’s revolution.

On view in Gallery 138, both side panels of this full-size hunting crossbow depict narratives of Tell’s legend. The cheek side of Sporting Crossbow, inlaid with ingrained and stained bone, illustrates Tell’s nearly fatal act of rebellion. Legend states Albrecht Gessler, an officer of the House of Hapsburg, placed his hat on a pole under a village linden tree and demanded villagers bow to it upon passing. Defiant against Hapsburg rule, Tell led his son past the hat and pole without bowing. This offense led not only to his arrest but also to a cruel and unusual punishment for his crime, recounted on the opposite side of the bow. 

The counter-cheek side portrays a similar landscape with Tell shooting an apple from his son’s head. As punishment, Gessler forced the hunter to endanger his son. Both father and son were sentenced to execution, but if Tell could shoot the apple from his son’s head without killing him, they would both be pardoned. A practiced marksman, Tell split the apple clean down the middle. However, Gessler still declared Tell would spend the rest of his life in prison, a declaration that enabled Tell to become the legendary figure he is today. 

Legend states that Tell had placed a second arrow in his pocket before shooting the apple from his son’s head. Tell told Gessler that if Tell’s son had been killed, the second arrow was to kill Gessler. Angry at his words, Gessler ordered Tell to be arrested and placed on a boat headed for the dungeon of the castle of Küssnacht. At the last second, Tell escaped his prison sentence by leaping from the boat during his transportation to the dungeon across Lake Lucerne. The marksman landed amongst the rocks on the shore of the lake, a spot which is now marked with Tellskappelle, a memorial chapel. A storm passing over the lake made it too difficult for the officers to follow him. This fortuitous escape allowed Tell to assassinate the Austrian officer, thus sparking the people’s rebellion that eventually led to the foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy, the collection of states that would become modern Switzerland.  

There is no definitive proof of Tell’s existence; early records recount his presence in legend as a symbol of revolution, including the 15th century Altes Tellenlied (Old Song of Tell) and Hans Schriber’s 15th century Das Weisse Buch von Sarnen (the White Book of Sarnen), but there is no solid evidence of a hunter turned tyrant-killer from Bürglen, Switzerland. Nonetheless, his legacy is undeniable and will continue to live on in SLAM’s arms and armor collection.