Assassination of the Emperor
William Tell (P. G. Wodehouse Edition)The Assassination of the Emperor is reported as the turning point that lets the Swiss revolution proceed without check. The Emperor is killed by the lords of Eschenbach and Tegerfelden while riding from Stein to Baden; the successor’s struggle against his father’s killers leaves the Swiss free to grow too strong to attack. The narrative makes the consequence of the murder larger than the violent encounter itself: the death of one ruler changes the balance of power and the course of the Swiss struggle.
The News Reaches the Swiss
Rosselmann, the pastor, approaches with what the narrative calls stirring news. Tell sees that he seems excited and guesses that he may bring news; when Rosselmann arrives, the gathered people ask what has happened. He begins with the Emperor, and then announces, “The Emperor is dead.” The brief exchange makes the revelation land first as a shock: the news is repeated in disbelief before Rosselmann explains how the death occurred.
The report has a named source. Rosselmann says that John Muller of Schaffhausen brought it and vouches for him as a truthful man. The account therefore presents the killing as news carried to the group, not as an event witnessed directly by them. The sequence moves from suspense at the approaching messenger, through confirmation, to an explanation of the circumstances and their political consequences.
The Killing on the Road
As Rosselmann reports it, the Emperor was riding from Stein to Baden when the lords of Eschenbach and Tegerfelden fell upon him with their spears. The account attributes their attack to jealousy of his power, while qualifying that motive with “it is said”; it does not present their reason as certain. The violence is swift, and the Emperor dies instantly.
The Emperor’s bodyguard cannot intervene. They are on the other side of a stream that the Emperor has just crossed, leaving them separated from him when the attack takes place. The stream is a concrete circumstance with decisive effect: the protection is close enough to be part of the account, yet unable to reach him in time. The report links the sudden death not to a prolonged battle but to the attackers’ assault and the bodyguard’s separation.
Political Consequences
The narrative makes the Emperor’s death the condition that allows the revolution in Switzerland to proceed without check. His successor has too much to do defending himself against the men who killed his father to turn his attention to attacking the Swiss. By the time he is free to do so, the Swiss have become too strong to attack. The sequence is explicit: the murder occupies the successor, the delay gives the Swiss time to strengthen, and that changed balance makes an attack no longer possible.
The consequence is stated plainly: “So the Swiss became free.” The event thus closes the account of the struggle not with a Swiss victory in the reported encounter, but with a shift in the political circumstances surrounding it. The Emperor’s death removes the immediate prospect of an attack and gives the Swiss revolution room to succeed. In the story’s final movement, this public change is followed by William Tell’s retirement to his home, where he lives happily with Hedwig and their two sons. The sons grow nearly as skilful with the cross-bow as their father, carrying the family story forward after the political struggle has reached its conclusion.
