Urphede Oath

The Urphede Oath is a pledge used to settle a feud after the person who has invaded an opponent’s lands is defeated. Its force lies in the specific obligation it imposes: the defeated party must leave and never return with hostile intent. The play’s note presents it as a means of ending conflict through a sworn restriction on future action, rather than as a general political alliance.

Definition and Circumstances

The accompanying note calls the Urphede an oath of peculiar force. It describes a situation in which one person is already at feud with another, invades the other’s lands, and is worsted. The defeated person may then make terms with the enemy by swearing the oath. The account thus sets out both the circumstances that prompt the pledge and its use as a settlement after defeat.

Obligation and Legal Effect

The oath binds the swearer to depart and not to return with a hostile intention. Its terms address the prospect of renewed violence directly: departure removes the defeated party from the contested lands, while the prohibition on hostile return extends the settlement into the future. The note specifies this obligation but does not describe a penalty for breaking it or further procedures for enforcing it.

Place Among the Play’s Oaths and Authorities

The Urphede is distinct from the collective pledge made by the Swiss Confederates. They swear to be brothers who will not part in danger or death, and to trust in God rather than yield to human power; the Urphede, by contrast, is an individual undertaking by a defeated adversary to withdraw and refrain from hostile return. The play also describes the cantons as having sought the Empire’s protection freely while governing themselves through their own laws and usages, with the emperor holding a defined judicial authority. This broader presentation of layered obligations gives context to the note’s attention to sworn terms, but the text does not identify the Urphede as a rule of the Confederates’ political compact.