Konrad Baumgarten
Konrad Baumgarten or
Conrad von Baumgarten is a hero of the Swiss liberation legend and, according to
Friedrich Schiller's play ''
William Tell'', oath-taker at the famous
Rütli-oath of 1 August 1291 forming the
Old Swiss Confederacy. There, Baumgarten was acting in his function as one of the representatives of
Unterwalden, together with the somewhat younger
Arnold von Melchthal. Baumgarten was a free and wealthy man who has killed, in his own residence, the local Habsburg sheriff Wolfenschiessen with an axe in defence of his wife Itta Baumgarten against the sheriff's trespass and inappropriate attempts to approach her. With the assistance of
William Tell, Baumgarten managed to escape from the sheriff's warriors and to flee to
Werner Stauffacher on the other side of
Lake Lucerne.
Provided by Wikipedia