How did william tell die

Berchtold, Alfred. Guillaume Tell: Résistant et Citoyen du Monde. Geneva, Switzerland: Editions Zoé, 2004.

Berchtold has a short introduction of the Tell legend before Friedrich Schiller but focuses most of his attention on how Schiller’s version changed the uses of William Tell and how later versions of the story evolved.

Bergier, Jean-François. Guillaume Tell. Paris: Fayard, 1988.

This “biography” of William Tell is about the memory of a hero, whose actual existence cannot be verified. Bergier attempts to discuss the context from which the William Tell stories arise. There are three parts: the context of the origins of the Tell story, the testing of the legend, and the transformation of Tell. Bergier allows for the possibility of Tell having existed, though not in the same form as the retellings of the tale.

Blatter, Michael, and Valentin Groebner. Wilhelm Tell Import-Export: Ein Held unterwegs. Baden, Switzerland: Hier und Jetzt, 2016.

This accessible book, based on recent research, provides historical background and discusses the chronicles’ development in their own political context, the different versions of the tale in content and medium (chronicles, songs, plays), and the international spread of the story over time.

De Capitani, François. “Wilhelm Tell.” In Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz. Bern, Switzerland: HLS, 2013.

The introductory entry in the premier online historical dictionary of Swiss history, written by qualified experts. De Capitani was a leading commentator on early modern Swiss cultural history and popular symbols. He covers the historical origins of the tale, the evolving cultural representation of the hero, the international spread, and the critical response to the stories.

Heinemann, Franz. Tell-Iconographie: Wilhelm Tell und sein Apfelschuss im Lichte der Bildenden Kunst eines halben Jahrtausends (15.–20. Jahrhundert). Lucerne, Switzerland: Geschwister Daleschal’s Buchhandlung, 1902.

Introduction of the iconography side of Tell research. An older book, but covers much of the early iconography and symbolic importance of the William Tell image and character.

Heuser, Mechthild, and Irmgard M. Wirtz, eds. Tell im Visier. Bern, Switzerland: Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess, 2007.

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek, Bern, 16 November 2007–30 March 2008.

Labhardt, Ricco. Wilhelm Tell als Patriot und Revolutionär 1700–1800: Wandlungen der Tell-Tradition im Zeitalter des Absolutismus and der französischen Revolution. Basler Beiträge zur Geschichtswissenschaft 27. Basel, Switzerland: Verlag von Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1947.

Labhardt provides background on the first recordings of the Tell legend in song and chronicle form. He traces these recordings through the 17th century before focusing on the 18th century in Switzerland and France. It is an in-depth work, which includes important details on the spread of Tell to France and the expansion and high point of the Tell cult in the French Revolutionary arena, but it does not go beyond Switzerland and France.

Morerod, Jean-Daniel, and Anton Näf, eds. Guillaume Tell et la libération des Suisses. Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Société d’Histoire de la Suisse Romande, 2010.

This is an explicit attempt to bring the Tell discussion to the French-speaking public. It provides an overview of the early Swiss liberation stories from 1420 to 1525 and provides excerpts of sixteen of the texts of the liberation stories. The editors see a narrow version of the Liberation myth that does not involve Tell and a later, inclusive version that includes the figure of William Tell.

Stunzi, Lily, ed. Tell: Werden und Wandern eines Mythos. Bern, Switzerland, and Stuttgart: Hallwag Verlag, 1973.

Broad-ranging and accessible introduction to many different aspects of Tell scholarship: the debate over origins, the international spread of the tale in the 18th century, and a presentation of many images of Tell in all of his varieties. This was an outgrowth of a Du magazine issue from August 1971 (see Stunzi 1971, cited under Global Turn).

Tschan, Reto. “The Re-Appropriation and Transformation of a National Symbol: Wilhelm Tell 1789-1895.” Masters Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2000.

Tschan's work is a useful general introduction and specifically useful for Schiller's relationship with Müller and the initial, uneven reception of Schiller's Tell in Switzerland.