September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 102 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events[link]

• 1058 – Agnes de Poitou and Andrew I of Hungary meet to negotiate about the border-zone in present-day Burgenland.
• 1187 – Saladin begins the Siege of Jerusalem.
• 1260 – the Great Prussian Uprising among the old Prussians begins against the Teutonic Knights.
• 1378 – Cardinal Robert of Geneva, called by some the Butcher of Cesena, is elected as Avignon Pope Clement VII, beginning the Papal schism.
• 1498 – The 1498 Meiō Nankaidō earthquake generates a tsunami that washes away the building housing the statue of the Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan; since then the Buddha has sat in the open air.
• 1519 – Ferdinand Magellan sets sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda with about 270 men on his expedition to circumnavigate the globe.
• 1596 – Diego de Montemayor founds the city of Monterrey in New Spain.
• 1697 – The Treaty of Rijswijk is signed by France, England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic ending the Nine Years' War (1688–97).
• 1737 – The finish of the Walking Purchase which forces the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km²) of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony.
• 1792 – French troops stop allied invasion of France, during the War of the First Coalition at Valmy.
• 1835 – Ragamuffin rebels capture Porto Alegre, then capital of the Brazilian imperial province of Rio Grande do Sul, triggering the start of ten-year-long Farroupilha Revolution.
• 1848 – The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created.
• 1854 – Battle of Alma: British and French troops defeat Russians in the Crimea.
• 1857 – The Indian Rebellion of 1857 ends with the recapture of Delhi by troops loyal to the East India Company.
• 1860 – The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII of the United Kingdom) visits the United States.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga ends.
• 1870 – Bersaglieri corps enter Rome through the Porta Pia and complete the unification of Italy.
• 1871 – Bishop John Coleridge Patteson is martyred on the island of Nukapu, a Polynesian outlier island now in the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. He is the first bishop of Melanesia.
• 1881 – Chester A. Arthur is inaugurated as the 21st President of the United States following the assassination of James Garfield.
• 1893 – Charles Duryea and his brother road-test the first American-made gasoline-powered automobile.
• 1906 – Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania is launched at the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
• 1909 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the South Africa Act 1909, creating the Union of South Africa from the British Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony.
• 1910 – The ocean liner SS France, later known as the "Versailles of the Atlantic", is launched.
• 1911 – White Star Line's RMS Olympic collides with British warship HMS Hawke.
• 1920 – Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
• 1930 – Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is formed by Archbishop Mar Ivanios.
• 1942 – Holocaust in Letychiv, Ukraine. In the course of two days the German SS murders at least 3,000 Jews.
• 1961 – Greek general Konstantinos Dovas becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
• 1962 – James Meredith, an African-American, is temporarily barred from entering the University of Mississippi.
• 1967 – RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland. It is operated by the Cunard Line.
• 1970 – Syrian tanks roll into Jordan in response to continued fighting between Jordan and the fedayeen.
• 1971 – Having weakened after making landfall in Nicaragua the previous day, Hurricane Irene regains enough strength to be renamed Hurricane Olivia, making it the first known hurricane to cross from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific.
• 1973 – Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in The Battle of the Sexes tennis match at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas.
• 1977 – The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations.
• 1979 – A coup d'état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokasa I.
• 1982 – The National Football League players begin a 57-day strike.
• 1984 – A suicide bomber in a car attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing twenty-two people.
• 1990 – South Ossetia declares its independence from Georgia.
• 2000 – The British MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building is attacked by unapprehended forces using a Russian-built RPG-22 anti-tank missile.
• 2001 – In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "war on terror".
• 2002 – The Kolka-Karmadon rock/ice slide.
• 2003 – Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner Hassan Evan Naseem sparks a day of rioting in Malé.
• 2007 – Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana, in support of six black youths who had been convicted of assaulting a white classmate.
• 2008 – A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others.
• 2011 – The United States ends its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.

Births[link]

• 524 – Kan B'alam I, ruler of Maya state of Palenque (d. 583)
• 1486 – Prince Arthur Tudor, son of King Henry VII of England (d. 1502)
• 1593 – Gottfried Scheidt, German composer and organist (d. 1661)
• 1599 – Christian the Younger, German Protestant military leader (d. 1623)
• 1608 – Jean-Jacques Olier, French catholic priest, founder of The Sulpicians (d. 1657)
• 1685 – Giuseppe Matteo Alberti, Italian Baroque composer and violinist (d. 1751)
• 1746 – Móric Benyovszky Hungarian count (d. 1786)
• 1758 – Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Emperor of Haiti (d. 1806)
• 1778 – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian naval officer and explorer (d. 1852)
• 1800 – Benjamin Franklin White, shape note "singing master", and compiler of the shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp (d. 1879)
• 1820 – John F. Reynolds, American Civil War general (d. 1863)
• 1831 – Kate Harrington, American teacher, writer and poet (d. 1917)
• 1833 – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1918)
• 1842 – Sir James Dewar, Scottish chemist (d. 1923)
• 1844 – William H. Illingworth, American photographer (d. 1893)
• 1851 – Henry Arthur Jones, English writer (d. 1929)
• 1853 – Chulalongkorn, King of Thailand (d. 1910)
• 1861 – Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress (d. 1955)
• 1872 – Maurice Gamelin, French army general (d. 1958)
• 1873 – Sidney Olcott, Canadian film director (d. 1949)
• 1873 – Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian race car driver (d. 1944)
• 1878 – Upton Sinclair, American writer (d. 1968)
• 1880 – Louise Peete, American murderess (d. 1947)
• 1884 – Maxwell Perkins, American editor and publisher (d. 1947)
• 1885 – Jelly Roll Morton, American jazz pianist, bandleader and composer (d. 1941)
• 1886 – Charles Williams, British author (d. 1945)
• 1889 – Charles Reidpath, American athlete (d. 1975)
• 1892 – Roy Turk, U.S. songwriter/lyricist (d. 1934)
• 1893 – Hermann Lux, German footballer (d. 1962)
• 1899 – Leo Strauss, German-born philosopher (d. 1973)
• 1902 – Stevie Smith, British poet (d. 1971)
• 1906 – Jean Dréville, French Film director (d. 1997)
• 1911 – Shriram Sharma Acharya, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1991)
• 1913 – John Collins, jazz guitarist (d. 2001)
• 1914 – Kenneth More, English actor (d. 1982)
• 1916 – Malik Meraj Khalid, Former Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 2003)
• 1917 – Red Auerbach, American basketball coach (d. 2006)
• 1917 – Fernando Rey, Spanish-born actor (d. 1994)
• 1917 – Don Starr, American-born actor (d. 2005)
• 1917 – Clarice Taylor, American actress (d. 2011)
• 1920 – Alberto de Lacerda, Portuguese poet (d. 2007)
• 1920 – Jay Ward, American animated cartoonist (d. 1989)
• 1921 – Chico Hamilton, American jazz drummer and bandleader
• 1922 – William Kapell, American pianist (d. 1953)
• 1923 – Geraldine Clinton Little, Irish-born poet (d. 1997)
• 1923 – Maurice Sauvé, Canadian economist and politician (d. 1992)
• 1924 – Gogi Grant, American singer
• 1924 – Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Indian actor
• 1925 – James Bernard, English film composer (d. 2001)
• 1925 – Ananda Mahidol, King of Thailand (d. 1946)
• 1925 – Bobby Nunn, American singer (The Coasters) (d. 1986)
• 1926 – Jackie Paris, American jazz singer and guitarist (d. 2004)
• 1927 – Colette Bonheur, Canadian singer (d. 1966)
• 1927 – Johnny Dankworth, English musician and composer (d. 2010)
• 1927 – Red Mitchell, American jazz bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet(d. 1992)
• 1927 – Rachel Roberts, Welsh actress (d. 1980)
• 1928 – Donald Hall, American poet and US Poet Laureate
• 1928 – Kirsten Rolffes, Danish actress (d. 2000)
• 1929 – Anne Meara, American comic and actress
• 1930 – Eddie Bo, American singer and pianist (d. 2009)
• 1931 – Cherd Songsri, Thai filmmaker (d. 2006)
• 1933 – Dennis Viollet, English former footballer (d. 1999)
• 1933 – Steve McCall, American jazz drummer (d. 1989)
• 1934 – Takayuki Kubota, Japanese martial artist
• 1934 – Sophia Loren, Italian actress
• 1935 – David Pegg, English footballer (d. 1958)
• 1935 – Keith Roberts, British science fiction author (d. 2000)
• 1935 – Jim Taylor, American football player
• 1937 – Birgitta Dahl, Swedish politician
• 1937 – Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (d. 2005)
• 1938 – Eric Gale, American jazz and session guitarist and record producer (d. 1994)
• 1939 – Robert L. Gerry III, American businessman
• 1940 – Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan
• 1941 – Dale Chihuly, American glass artist
• 1941 – Jim Cullum, Jr., American jazz cornetist noted for his contributions to the Dixieland jazz tradition
• 1942 – Gérald Tremblay, Canadian politician
• 1946 – Pete Coors, American businessman
• 1947 – Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, French TV journalist and writer
• 1947 – Steve Gerber, American comics writer (d. 2008)
• 1947 – Mia Martini, Italian singer (d. 1995)
• 1947 – Billy Bang, American jazz violinist and composer (d. 2011)
• 1947 – Chris Ortloff, former New York state Republican politician and admitted pedophile
• 1947 – Bruce Pasternack, American CEO
• 1948 – George R. R. Martin, American writer
• 1948 – Chuck Panozzo, American musician (Styx)
• 1948 – John Panozzo, American musician (Styx) (d. 1996)
• 1949 – Mahesh Bhatt, Indian film director
• 1949 – Anthony Denison, American actor
• 1951 – Cornelia Behm, German politician
• 1951 – Guy Lafleur, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1951 – Javier Marías, Spanish author, translator and academic
• 1954 – Henry Samueli, American NHL team owner
• 1956 – Gary Cole, American actor
• 1956 – Debbi Morgan, American actress
• 1956 – John Harle, English saxophonist/composer
• 1956 – Steve Coleman, African American saxophone player, spontaneous composer, composer and band leader
• 1957 – Alannah Currie, New Zealander musician (Thompson Twins)
• 1957 – Rich DiSilvio, American new media developer & artist
• 1957 – Michael Hurst, New Zealand actor
• 1958 – Arn Anderson, American wrestler
• 1959 – Danny Devos, Belgian artist
• 1959 – Joanna Domańska, Polish classical pianist and music teacher
• 1960 – Deborah Roberts, American journalist and TV reporter
• 1960 – Dave Hemingway, British musician, songwriter, and vocalist
• 1961 – Lisa Bloom, American lawyer and television personality
• 1963 – Velcrow Ripper, Canadian documentary filmmaker
• 1964 – Randy Bradbury, American musician (Pennywise)
• 1964 – Maggie Cheung, Hong Kong actress
• 1965 – Robert Rusler, American actor
• 1966 – Nuno Bettencourt, Portuguese rock musician
• 1967 – Martin Harrison, American football player
• 1967 – Kristen Johnston, American actress
• 1967 – Gunnar Nelson, American musician (Nelson)
• 1967 – Matthew Nelson, American musician (Nelson)
• 1968 – Van Jones, American attorney and activist
• 1968 – Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress
• 1968 – Ben Shepherd, American bassist (Soundgarden)
• 1968 – Darrell Russell, American race car driver (d. 2004)
• 1969 – Victoria Dillard, American actress
• 1969 – Megumi Kudo, Japanese pro-wrestler
• 1969 – Tim Rogers, Australian musician
• 1969 – Patrick Pentland, Canadian musician (Sloan)
• 1969 – Richard Witschge, former Dutch footballer
• 1971 – Todd Blackadder, New Zealand rugby player
• 1971 – Masashi Hamauzu, Japanese composer
• 1971 – Henrik Larsson, Swedish footballer
• 1971 – Dominika Peczynski, Swedish singer (Army of Lovers)
• 1971 – Sebastian Roth, German musician
• 1973 – Ronald McKinnon, American football player
• 1974 – Michael Waddington, American defense lawyer
• 1975 – Asia Argento, Italian actress
• 1975 – Moon Bloodgood, American actress
• 1975 – Jason Robinson, American jazz saxophonist, electronic musician, and composer
• 1975 – Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombian race car driver
• 1976 – Jon Bernthal, American actor
• 1976 – Agata Buzek, Polish actress
• 1976 – Yo Hitoto, Japanese pop singer
• 1976 – Yui Horie, Japanese seiyuu
• 1976 – Enuka Okuma, Canadian actress
• 1976 – Reuben Singh, British entrepreneur
• 1977 – Namie Amuro, Japanese pop singer
• 1977 – Chris Mooney, American writer
• 1978 – Jason Bay, Canadian baseball player
• 1978 – Patrizio Buanne, Italian singer
• 1978 – Sarit Hadad, Israeli singer
• 1978 – Dante Hall, American football player
• 1978 – T.J. Tucker, American baseball player
• 1979 – Sean Davis, English footballer
• 1979 – Dan Gillespie Sells, British musician The Feeling
• 1980 – Mariacarla Boscono, Italian fashion model
• 1980 – Vladimir Karpets, Russian cyclist
• 1980 – Jonathan Le Billon, British actor
• 1980 – Mehrzad Marashi, German singer
• 1980 – Madison Young, American pornographic actress
• 1980 – Ryan Donowho, American actor
• 1981 – Joanie Dodds, American model
• 1981 – Feliciano López, Spanish tennis player
• 1981 – Jordan Tata, American baseball player
• 1982 – Jason Bacashihua, American ice hockey player
• 1982 – Aaron Burkart, German rally driver
• 1982 – Brian Fortuna, American dancer
• 1982 – Sarah Glendening, American actress
• 1982 – Athanasios Tsigas, Greek footballer
• 1983 – Yuna Ito, Japanese singer and actress
• 1983 – Freya Murray, Scottish athlete
• 1983 – Ángel Sánchez, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1984 – Brian Joubert, French figure skater
• 1986 – Aldis Hodge, American actor
• 1987 – Tito Tebaldi, Italian rugby player
• 1987 – Jack Lawless, American drummer
• 1987 – Sarah Natochenny, American actress, film editor and fashion model
• 1990 – Erich Gonzales, Filipina actress
• 1990 – Marilou, Canadian pop singer
• 1990 – John Tavares, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1991 – Spencer Locke, American actress
• 1995 – Laura Dekker, Dutch sailor
• 1995 – Sammi Hanratty, American actress

Deaths[link]

• 1246 – Mikhail of Chernigov of Kiev (b. 1185)
• 1384 – King Louis I of Naples (b. 1339)
• 1460 – Gilles Binchois, Flemish composer (b. 1400)
• 1586 – Chidiock Tichborne, English conspirator and poet (b. 1558)
• 1586 – John Ballard, English Jesuit priest and conspirator
• 1590 – Lodovico Agostini, Italian composer (b. 1534)
• 1625 – Heinrich Meibom, German historian and critic (b. 1555)
• 1627 – Jan Gruter, Dutch critic (b. 1560)
• 1630 – Claudio Saracini, Italian composer (b. 1586)
• 1639 – Johannes Meursius, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1579)
• 1643 – Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland, English politician and writer (b. 1610)
• 1684 – Kim Seok-ju, korean Neo-Confucian scholars, politicians and writers. (b. 1634)
• 1721 – Thomas Doggett, Irish actor (b. 1640)
• 1803 – Robert Emmet, Irish patriot (b. 1780)
• 1810 – Mir Taqi Mir Urdu poet (b. 1723)
• 1815 – Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist (b. 1725)
• 1839 – Sir Thomas Hardy, Royal Navy Vice-Admiral and First Lord of the Admiralty (b. 1769)
• 1840 – José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Paraguay dictator and National Hero (b. 1766)
• 1852 – Philander Chase, American university founder (b. 1775)
• 1855 – José Trinidad Reyes, Honduran Catholic priest and educator (b. 1797)
• 1863 – Jacob Grimm, German writer and folklorist (b. 1785)
• 1884 – Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist (b. 1802)
• 1898 – Theodor Fontane, German writer (b. 1819)
• 1906 – Robert R. Hitt, American politician (b. 1834)
• 1908 – Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (b. 1844)
• 1927 – George Nichols, American actor and film director (b. 1864)
• 1930 – Gombojab Tsybikov, Russian explorer (b. 1873)
• 1932 – Wovoka, American Northern Paiute religious leader (b. 1856)
• 1933 – Annie Besant, English suffragette (b. 1847)
• 1939 – Paul Bruchési, French Canadian Catholic archbishop (b. 1855)
• 1945 – William Buehler Seabrook, American occultist (b. 1884)
• 1945 – Augusto Tasso Fragoso, Brazilian president (b. 1869)
• 1945 – Eduard Wirths, Nazi physician (b. 1909)
• 1946 – Raimu, French actor (b. 1883)
• 1947 – Fiorello La Guardia, American politician (b. 1882)
• 1948 – Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian writer (b. 1881)
• 1957 – Heino Kaski, Finnish composer (b. 1885)
• 1957 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (b. 1865)
• 1958 – Oscar O'Brien, Canadian catholic priest and folklorist (b. 1892)
• 1970 – Alexandros Othonaios, Greek general, 126h Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1879)
• 1971 – Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
• 1972 – Pierre-Henri Simon, French historian, essayist and novelist (b. 1903)
• 1973 – Jim Croce, American singer and songwriter (b. 1943)
• 1975 – Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
• 1979 – Ludvík Svoboda, Czech politician (b. 1895)
• 1980 – Sanpei Hayashiya, Japanese comedian (b. 1925)
• 1984 – Steve Goodman, American folk music singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
• 1985 – Ruhi Su, Turkish folk music singer and songwriter
• 1987 – Michael Stewart, American playwright (b. 1924)
• 1989 – Richie Ginther, American race car driver (b. 1930)
• 1993 – Erich Hartmann, German fighter pilot (b. 1922)
• 1994 – Jule Styne, American songwriter (b. 1905)
• 1994 – Abioseh Nicol, Sierra Leonean diplomat (b. 1924)
• 1996 – Paul Erdős, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1913)
• 1996 – Paul Weston, American arranger and conductor (b. 1912)
• 1997 – Nick Traina, American singer (Link 80) (b. 1978)
• 1998 – Muriel Humphrey Brown, American politician (b. 1912)
• 1999 – Raisa Gorbachova, wife of Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1932)
• 1999 – Robert Lebel, Quebec ice hockey administrator (b. 1905)
• 2000 – Gherman Titov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1935)
• 2002 – Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Russian actor (b. 1971)
• 2003 – Lord Williams of Mostyn, British politician (b. 1941)
• 2003 – Gordon Mitchell, American actor (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwe politician (b. 1922)
• 2004 – Brian Clough, English footballer and football manager (b. 1935)
• 2004 – Townsend Hoopes, American politician (b. 1922)
• 2005 – Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Nazi hunter (b. 1908)
• 2006 – Armin Jordan, Swiss conductor (b. 1932)
• 2006 – John W. Peterson, American songwriter (b. 1921)
• 2007 – Johnny Gavin, Irish footballer (b. 1928)
• 2010 – Kenny McKinley, American football player (b. 1987)
• 2010 – Leonard Skinner, American high school gym teacher; namesake of rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd (b. 1933)
• 2011 – Burhanuddin Rabbani, President of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996. (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances[link]

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Agapitus (Western Christianity)
  • Eustace (Western Christianity)
  • John Coleridge Patteson (Anglican Communion)
  • Korean Martyrs, including Andrew Kim Taegon and Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert
  • September 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Farroupilha Revolution (Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul)
• Independence Day of South Ossetia (not fully recognized)
• National Youth Day (Thailand)
• The seventh day of the Eleusinian Mysteries, when the secret rites in the Telesterion began. (ancient Greece)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: September 20

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

Steve Lonegan
Mayor of Bogota, New Jersey
In office 1995–2007
Preceded by	Leonard Nicolosi
Succeeded by	Pat McHale
Personal details
Born	( 1956 -04-27) April 27, 1956 (age 56) Teaneck, New Jersey
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lorraine Rossi
Alma mater	William Paterson University Fairleigh Dickinson University
Occupation	Business Owner
Religion	Roman Catholic

Steven M. Lonegan (born April 27, 1956) was mayor of Bogota, New Jersey from 1995–2007 and a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey in 2005 and 2009. He is the Director of the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

Early life and background[link]

Lonegan was born in Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey. He graduated from Ridgefield Park High School where he set several high school track records. He was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at the age of 14, and is now legally blind.^[1]

Lonegan has owned a custom homebuilding business and a cabinet-making business.^[2][3] He has a B.A. in Business Administration from William Paterson College and an Master of Business Administration degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

He is married to Lorraine Rossi Lonegan and they have two daughters. The Lonegan family attends St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Bogota.

Mayor of Bogota[link]

In 1995 Lonegan was elected Mayor of Bogota, defeating incumbent Democrat Leonard Nicolosi. He was reelected in 1999^[4] and 2003 by double-digit margins.

The 2003 mayoral election in Bogota was chronicled in the documentary Anytown, USA.^[5]

As Mayor, he cut municipal spending, merged several municipal departments and privatized some services. Lonegan ordered the municipality to hire civilian emergency dispatchers at lower pay than uniformed officers, angering the local Police union; successfully fought the implementation of LOSAP (Length of Service Award Program), which extended pension payments to volunteer fire and rescue personnel; and required that local union contracts exceeding inflation be put to voters for approval. While he was in office Republicans, long in the minority in Democratic-leaning Bogota, controlled the municipal council for 11 straight elections.

Lonegan did not seek reelection in 2007.

Political activism[link]

Since 2007 Lonegan has been state director for Americans for Prosperity, a conservative public policy organization.^[6][7][8] . ^[9] In 2009 he took a hiatus to run for Governor and resumed his post as director after the election. .^[10]

The organization fought three ballot questions in the state's 2007 election as well as paid family leave, Low Income Housing mandates and new mandates for sprinklers in fireproof high rise buildings and Gov. Corzine's proposed budget.

In 2003 Lonegan and the group "stopthedebt.com" filed lawsuits against the State of New Jersey in New Jersey's Supreme Court, challenging state debt sold without voter approval in violation of the state constitution's "debt limitation clause". In its finding against Lonegan and the group, the court stated two reasons for not requiring voter approval of that debt. First, that the debt was issued to finance a constitutional mandate: the requirement that "The Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all children in the State between the ages of five and eighteen years" (Article VIII Section IV). Second, that the debt was technically not backed by the full faith and credit of New Jersey, and future lawmakers could refuse to honor that contract at any time.^[11]

Lonegan was active in the opposition to a proposed 2003 fifteen-cent per gallon gasoline tax increase and developed the website www.nogastaxhike.com to oppose the increase.

On July 28, 2008, Lonegan filed a third lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court in Bergen County against Governor Jon Corzine and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority challenging the sale of $3.9 billion in additional state debt, purportedly for school construction, without voter approval. That suit was dismissed.^[12]

Campaigns for Governor, Congress[link]

Steve Lonegan addresses protestors at the Philadelphia Tea Party protest on April 18, 2009.

On December 1, 2008 Lonegan announced that he would run for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey, his second run for the seat. Lonegan promised to cut the size of state government by more than 20% and said he would run on the issues of property taxes, school funding and affordable housing.^[13][14] Lonegan sought to run as a conservative alternative to the more centrist candidate, former U.S. Prosecutor Christopher Christie.^[15] On June 2, Lonegan lost the primary to Christie by a 55–42% vote.^[16]

Lonegan ran for the Republican nomination for Governor in the state's 2005 elections and finished fourth after the nominee, businessman Doug Forrester, former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler and Morris County Freeholder John Murphy.^[17]

In 1998 Lonegan ran unsuccessfully for New Jersey’s Ninth Congressional District seat against then-freshman Rep. Steve Rothman.

Controversies[link]

In 2006, Lonegan asked the outdoor advertising company, CBS Outdoor, to remove a McDonald’s advertisement in Spanish from a local billboard. The company refused.^[18] Without apparent legal remedy, Lonegan filed papers for a public referendum in Bogota on making English the official language for the municipality. The public question was rejected by the County Clerk’s office, which is partly responsible for officiating elections, on legal advice that it violated state and federal law.^[19]

The next year, Lonegan hired two illegal aliens, paying them each $80 to put together political signs for Americans for Prosperity. Lonegan left the men to do the work at a property he owned in town, where they were picked up by police after a neighbor spotted them. Lonegan said the men had told him they had legal documentation and later argued that local police, angered by tough labor negotiations with his office, had targeted him.^[20]

On January 19, 2008, Lonegan and a local radio talk show host were arrested by New Jersey State Police troopers for trespassing at a town hall meeting scheduled by Gov. Corzine at a high school in Middle Township, New Jersey.^[21] Lonegan and the radio host were standing on the school's lawn protesting when police and school officials asked them to move to a designated protest area and remove a sign they were holding. Police arrested them when they refused. School officials later apologized and police dropped the charges.^[22]

Quotes[link]

"We cannot allow the pen to be mightier than the sword." - Steve Lonegan, addressing a rally held by a coalition of conservative groups on Capitol Hill to express opposition to the health care legislation under consideration in the U.S. Senate.(28 Dec 2009)^[23]

References[link]

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (December 2011)

Gerald Celente (born November 29, 1946) is an American trend forecaster,^[1][2] publisher of the Trends Journal, business consultant^[3] and author who makes predictions about the global financial markets and other events of historical importance. Celente has described himself as a "political atheist" and "citizen of the world".^[4] He has appeared as a guest on television news shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Morning News, The Glenn Beck Show, NBC Nightly News, The Alex Jones Show and Russia Today.^[5][6][7]

Background[link]

Celente was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York. He had early political experience running a mayoral campaign in Yonkers, New York and served as executive assistant to the secretary of the New York State Senate, which Celente called the worst job he ever had.^[8] From 1973 to 1979 Celente traveled between Chicago and Washington D.C. as a government affairs specialist.^[8] In 1980 Celente founded The Trends Research Institute (at first called the Socio-Economic Research Institute of America), now located in Kingston, New York, publisher of the Trends Journal which forecasts and analyzes business, socioeconomic, political, and other trends.^[9]

Forecasting[link]

His forecasts since 1993 ^[10] have included predictions about terrorism, economic collapses and war. More recent forecasts involve fascism in the United States, food riots and tax revolts.^{[3][11][12][13][14][15]} Celente has long predicted global anti-Americanism, a failing economy and immigration woes in the U.S.^[11] In December 2007 Celente wrote, "Failing banks, busted brokerages, toppled corporate giants, bankrupt cities, states in default, foreign creditors cashing out of US securities ... whatever the spark, the stage is set for panic in the streets" and "Just as the Twin Towers collapsed from the top down, so too will the U.S. economy ... when the giant firms fall, they’ll crush the man on the street." He has also predicted tax revolts.^[16][17] In November 2008 Celente appeared on Fox Business Network and predicted economic depression, tax rebellions and food riots in the United States by 2012.^[18] Celente also predicted an "economic 9/11" and a "panic of 2008."^[19]

In 2009 Celente predicted turmoil which he described as "Obamageddon" and he was a popular guest on conservative cable-TV shows such as Fox News Sunday and Glenn Beck's television program.^[6] In April 2009 Celente wrote, "Wall Street controls our financial lives; the media manipulates our minds. These systems cannot be changed from within. There is no alternative. Without a revolution, these institutions will bankrupt the country, keep fighting failed wars, start new ones, and hold us in perpetual intellectual subjugation."^[20] He appeared on the Glenn Beck show and criticized the U.S. stimulus plan of 2009, calling government controlled capitalism "fascism" and saying shopping malls in the U.S. would become "ghost malls."^[21] Celente has said, "smaller communities, the smaller groups, the smaller states, the more self-sustaining communities, will 'weather the crisis in style' as big cities and hypertrophic suburbias descend into misery and conflict," and forecasts "a downsizing of America."^[14]

Revolution in the USA[link]

On Russia Today, he predicted that the USA would face a revolution.^[22]

Neosurvivalism[link]

Celente's website has stated that:

Predictions[link]

2009[link]

"The Crash of '09 was as dramatic as the crash of '29. The New Depression had begun." (Trends Journal, Summer 2008, pg. 12)

2010[link]

Some areas of the U.S. are experiencing resurgences in real estate values due to highly localized factors, and some investors profit from this. However, the rises will almost all stop and reverse with time, and the overall national trend in real estate values is downward. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 8)

Ghost malls have become a common sight across America. Especially hard-hit are big chain stores (Sears, Home Depot, etc.). (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 8)

2011[link]

Developers have begun rehabbing some of the ghost malls for more productive uses. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 9)

2012[link]

The economic policies of the U.S. government over the past few years have failed to fix America's fundamental problems and have merely papered over them and in fact made them worse. By 2012, the "American Empire" is collapsing. In the U.S., basic staple goods like quality food and water are too expensive for most people to afford,(T.J. Summer 08, pg. 1) and "food riots" happen across the country (T.J. Summer 09, pg.1). Major American cities look like disaster zones, and mass homelessness exists across the country. Crime is rampant, with much of it being directed at the rich. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 1) Kidnappings and ransomings of rich people are on the rise. Average people fed up with big government, high taxes and out-of-control spending join tax revolts. (T.J. Summer 09, pg. 1) The world is also experiencing major environmental problems and "the blackest of plagues." The global financial system has also "melted down" and the situation is very bad outside the U.S.(T.J. Summer 08, pg. 1) The advanced industrial economies collapse first, and their sagging consumer spending drags down the export-based economies of emerging economies next.(T.J. Summer 09, pg. 2) The economy is as bad as it was during the Great Depression in many ways. In spite of all this, the U.S. government, power elites, and mainstream media continue to insist that the fundamentals of the world economy are sound, and that official policies can lead to a recovery. A growing number of average people, however, doubt this. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 1)

While the Mayan and Hopi prophecies of global destruction do not come to pass, 2012 is indeed a watershed year that sees the death of an ailing and unsustainable global economic system and lifestyle and its replacement with something better. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 2)

By 2012, Obama is viewed by most as a stale president who sold himself as a fresh, visionary candidate in 2008 and instead proved to be a servant of the big corporations and the military-industrial complex like his predecessors.(T.J. Summer 09, pg. 5) His economic policies only delayed disaster and in fact have made the situation worse: Expansionary monetary policy and the various government bailouts and stimulus programs create a "Bailout Bubble" that invariably bursts in a cataclysm for the U.S. and world economy.(T.J. Summer 09, pg. 11) Obama blames other factors for this and might have even tried to start a war by 2012 to distract attention from the domestic misery.(T.J. Summer 09, pg. 12) Obama's foreign policy has also failed to accomplish anything significant on the world stage, and Pakistan is a mess and the Afghan war continues to drag on without hope of conclusion.(T.J. Summer 09, pg. 12)

In the 2012 U.S. elections, online news sites, bloggers and independent journalists wield as much influence on voters as mainstream media outlets (TV, cable, magazines, newspapers) for the first time. This breaks the corporate and moneyed stranglehold on American politics and allows a third party to attain nation-level recognition. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 5)

Broad future trends[link]

Americans will adapt to lower standards of living and will travel less, both on a daily basis and for vacations. Higher fuel costs, advances in telecommuting and an aging American population will push many more people to work from home or close to home. Walking-distance communities will be constructed and will become popular. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 7)

Geographically isolated resort destinations like Las Vegas will wither due to higher fuel costs, lower American incomes and increased overseas competition while vacation spots closer to population centers will revive. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 9)

Government-run lotteries, on the other hand, will thrive. (T.J. Summer 08, pg. 9)

In America and to a lesser extent overseas, consumer spending habits will be motivated out of fear and escapism. Businesses that capitalize upon this will succeed. (T.J. Summer 09, pg. 24)

Publications[link]

• Trend Tracking: The System to Profit from Today's Trends (1991), ISBN 978-0446392877
• Trends 2000: How to Prepare for and Profit from the Changes of the 21st Century (1997), ISBN 978-0446519014
• What Zizi Gave Honeyboy: A True Story about Love, Wisdom, and the Soul of America (2002), ISBN 978-0066212661

References[link]

External links[link]

• trendsresearch.com
• geraldcelente.com

Detail from the Statue of William Tell and his son in Altdorf, Switzerland (Richard Kissling, 1895)

William Tell (in the four languages of Switzerland: German: Wilhelm Tell; French: Guillaume Tell; Italian: Guglielmo Tell; Romansh: Guglielm Tell) is a folk hero of Switzerland. His legend is recorded in a late 15th-century Swiss chronicle.

It is set in the period of the original foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the early 14th century. According to the legend, Tell — an expert marksman with the crossbow — assassinated Gessler, a tyrannical reeve of Habsburg Austria positioned in Altdorf, Uri.

Along with Arnold Winkelried, Tell is a central figure in Swiss patriotism as it was constructed during the Restoration of the Confederacy after the Napoleonic era.

The legend[link]

Tell's leap (Tellensprung) from the boat of his captors at the Axen cliffs 46°55′57″N 8°36′42″E / 46.9326°N 8.6118°E / 46.9326; 8.6118. Study by Ernst Stückelberg (1879) for his fresco at the Tellskapelle.

There are several accounts of the Tell legend. The earliest sources give an account of the apple-shot, Tell's escape and the ensuing rebellion. The assassination of Gessler is not mentioned in the Tellenlied, but is already present in the White Book of Sarnen account.

The legend as told by Tschudi (ca. 1570) goes as follows: William Tell, who originally came from Bürglen, was known as a strong man and an expert shot with the crossbow. In his time, the Habsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate Uri. Albrecht (or Hermann) Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf, raised a pole in the village's central square, hung his hat on top of it, and demanded that all the townsfolk bow before the hat. On 18 November 1307, Tell visited Altdorf with his young son and passed by the hat, publicly refusing to bow to it, and so was arrested. Gessler — intrigued by Tell's famed marksmanship, yet resentful of his defiance — devised a cruel punishment: Tell and his son would be executed, but he could redeem his life by shooting an apple off the head of his son, Walter, in a single attempt. Tell split the apple with a bolt from his crossbow.^[1]

But Gessler noticed that Tell had removed two crossbow bolts from his quiver, not one. Before releasing Tell, he asked why. Tell replied that if he had killed his son, he would have used the second bolt on Gessler himself. Gessler was angered, and had Tell bound. He was brought to Gessler's ship to be taken to his castle at Küssnacht to spend his newly won life in a dungeon. But, as a storm broke on Lake Lucerne, the soldiers were afraid that their boat would founder, and unbound Tell to steer with all his famed strength. Tell made use of the opportunity to escape, leaping from the boat at the rocky site now known as the Tellsplatte ("Tell's slab") and memorialized by the Tellskapelle.

The Hohle Gasse between Immensee and Küssnacht

Tell ran cross-country to Küssnacht. As Gessler arrived, Tell assassinated him with the second crossbow bolt along a stretch of the road cut through the rock between Immensee and Küssnacht, now known as the Hohle Gasse.^[2] Tell's blow for liberty sparked a rebellion, in which he played a leading part. That fed the impetus for the nascent Swiss Confederation. He fought again against Austria in the 1315 Battle of Morgarten. Tschudi also has an account of Tell's death in 1354, according to which he was killed trying to save a child from drowning in the Schächenbach river in Uri.^[3]

Earliest mentions (15th century)[link]

The first reference to William Tell appears in the White Book of Sarnen (German: Weisses Buch von Sarnen). This volume was written in 1475 by a country scribe named Hans Schreiber. It makes mention of the Rütli oath (German: Rütlischwur) of 1291, the Burgenbruch and Tell's heroic deeds.^[4]

A roughly equally early account of Tell is found in the Tellenlied, a song composed during the 1470s, its oldest extant manuscript copy dating to 1501. This song begins with the Tell legend, which it presents as the origin of the Confederacy, calling Tell the "first confederate". The narrative presented includes Tell's apple-shot, his preparation of a second arrow to shoot Gessler in the event of his killing his son, and his escape, but it omits the assassination of Gessler. The text then goes on to enumerate the cantons of the Confederacy, and it was expanded with "current events" in the course of the Burgundy Wars, ending with the death of Charles the Bold in 1477.^[5]

Early Modern period[link]

Chronicles[link]

Depiction of the apple-shot scene in Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia (1554 edition).

Der Apfelschuss. Fresco by Ernst Stückelberg (1831–1903) in the Tellskapelle, Switzerland

Further reference to William Tell is found in Petermann Etterlin's Chronicle of the Swiss Confederation (German: Kronika von der loblichen Eydtgenossenschaft). Etterlin's 1507 chronicle is the earliest printed version of the Tell story.^[6]

An account of William Tell's deeds is also given in the chronicle of Melchior Russ from Lucerne. This book, which its author dates to 1482, is an incoherent compilation of older writings, including the Song of the Founding of the Confederation, Conrad Justinger's Bernese Chronicle, and the Chronicle of the State of Bern (in German, Chronik der Stadt Bern).^[7]

The version of the legend compiled by Aegidius Tschudi from Glarus in his monumental Chronicon Helveticum (ca. 1570) became the major model for later writers dealing with William Tell.^[8] Not only did Tschudi's chronicle become the main source for Johannes von Müller's History of the Swiss Confederation (German: Geschichte Schweizerischer Eidgenossenschaft, 1780), it also served as a model for Friedrich Schiller's play William Tell (1804).^[8] Tschudi is known to have manipulated documents.^[9]

Veneration[link]

A widespread veneration of Tell, including sight-seeing excursions to the scenes of his deeds, can be ascertained for the early 16th century. Heinrich Brennwald in the early 16th century mentions the chapel (Tellskapelle) on the site of Tell's leap from his captors' boat. Tschudi mentions a "holy cottage" (heilig hüslin) built on the site of Gessler's assassination. The church of Bürglen had a bell dedicated to Tell from 1581, and a nearby chapel has a fresco dated to 1582 showing Tell's death in the Schächenbach.^[10]

William Tell can be found in a Tell play (Tellspiel), whose first performance was probably in the winter of either 1512 or 1513 in Altdorf.^[7] The oldest existing written version of a Tell play is known as the Urner Tellspiel (The "Tell Play of Uri").^[11]

The Three Tells[link]

The Three Tells (die Drei Tellen, also die Drei Telle) were symbolic figures of the Swiss Peasant War of 1653. They expressed the hope of the subject population to repeat the success story of the rebellion against Habsburg in the early 14th century.

By the 18th century, the Drei Tellen had become associated with a sleeping hero legend. They were said to be asleep in a cave at the Rigi. The return of Tell in times of need was already foretold in the Tellenlied of 1653 and symbolically fulfilled in the impersonation of the Three Tells by costumed individuals, in one instance culminating in an actual assassination executed by these impersonators in historical costume.

Tell during the 16th century had become closely associated and eventually merged with the Rütlischwur legend, and the "Three Tells" represented the three conspirators or Eidgenossen Walter Fürst, Arnold von Melchtal and Werner Stauffacher.

In 1653, three men dressed in historical costume representing the Three Tells appeared in Schüpfheim. Other impersonations of the Three Tells also appeared in the Freie Ämter and in the Emmental.

The first impersonators of the Three Tells were Hans Zemp, Kaspar Unternährer of Schüpfheim and Ueli Dahinden of Hasle. They appeared at a number of important peasant conferences during the war, symbolizing the continuity of the present rebellion with the resistance movement against the Habsburg overlords at the origin of the Swiss Confederacy. Unternährer and Dahinden fled to the Entlebuch alps before the arrival of the troops of general Sebastian Peregrin Zwyers; Zemp escaped to the Alsace. After the suppression of the rebellion, the peasants voted for a tyrannicide, directly inspired by the Tell legend, attempting to kill the Lucerne Schultheiss Ulrich Dulliker. Dahinden and Unternährer returned in their roles of Tells, joined by Hans Stadelmann replacing Zemp. In an ambush, they managed to injure Dulliker and killed a member of the Lucerne parliament, Caspar Studer. The assassination attempt — an exceptional act in the culture of the Old Swiss Confederacy — was widely recognized and welcomed among the peasant population, but its impact was not sufficient to rekindle the rebellion. Even though it did not have any direct political effect, its symbolic value was considerable, placing the Lucerne authorities in the role of the tyrant (Habsburg and Gessler) and the peasant population in that of the freedom fighters (Tell). The Three Tells after the deed went to mass, still wearing their costumes, without being molested. Dahinden and Unternährer were eventually killed in October 1653 by Lucerne troops under Colonel Alphons von Sonnenberg. In July 1654, Zemp betrayed his successor Stadelmann in exchange for pardon and Stadelmann was executed on 15 July 1654.^[12]

The Three Tells appear in a 1672 comedy by Johann Caspar Weissenbach. The "sleeping hero" version of the Three Tells legend was published in Deutsche Sagen by the Brothers Grimm in 1816 (no. 298).

Reception 1789–1945[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2011)

An allegorical Tell defeating the chimera of the French Revolution (1798)

Sketches of Gessler and Tell by Ernst Stückelberg (1880)

Official seal of the Helvetic Republic

Throughout the long nineteenth century, and into the World War II period, Tell was perceived as a symbol of rebellion against tyranny both in Switzerland and in Europe.

Antoine-Marin Lemierre wrote a play inspired by Tell in 1766 and revived it in 1786. The success of this work established the association of Tell as a fighter against tyranny with the history of the French revolution.

The French revolutionary fascination with Tell was reflected in Switzerland with the establishment of the Helvetic Republic. Tell became, as it were, the mascot of the short-lived republic, his figure being featured on its official seal. The French Navy also had a Tonnant class ship of the line named Guillaume Tell, which was captured by the British Royal Navy in 1800.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe learned of the Tell saga during his travels through Switzerland between 1775 and 1795. He obtained a copy of Tschudi's chronicles and considered writing a play about Tell, but ultimately gave the idea to his friend Friedrich von Schiller, who in 1803–04 wrote the play Wilhelm Tell, first performed on March 17, 1804, in Weimar. Schiller's Tell is heavily inspired by the political events of the late 18th century, the French and American revolutions, in particular. Schiller's play was performed at Interlaken (the Tellspiele) in the summers of 1912 to 1914, 1931 to 1939 and every year since 1947. In 2004 it was first performed in Altdorf itself.

Gioachino Rossini used Schiller's play as the basis for his 1829 opera William Tell. The William Tell Overture is one of his best-known and most frequently imitated pieces of music; in the 20th Century, the "coda" of the Overture became the theme for the radio, television, and motion picture incarnations of The Lone Ranger, a fictional Western hero.

John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, was inspired by Tell. Lamenting the negative reaction to his action, Booth wrote in his journal on April 21, 1865 "with every man's hand against me, I am here in despair. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for and what made Tell a Hero. And yet I for striking down a greater tyrant than they ever knew am looked upon as a common cutthroat."

Following a national competition, won by Richard Kissling, Altdorf in 1895 erected a monument to its hero. Kissling casts Tell as a peasant and man of the mountains, with strong features and muscular limbs. His powerful hand rests lovingly on the shoulder of little Walter, but the apple is not shown. The depiction is in marked contrast with that used by the Helvetic Republic, where Tell is shown as a landsknecht rather than a peasant, with a sword at his belt and a feathered hat, bending down to pick up his son who is still holding the apple.

The first film about Tell was made by French director Charles Pathé in 1900; only a short fragment survives.^{[citation needed]} A version of the legend was retold in P.G. Wodehouse's William Tell Told Again (1904), written in prose and verse with characteristic Wodehousian flair.

The design of the Federal 5 francs coin issued from 1922 features the bust of a generic "mountain shepherd" designed by Paul Burkard, but due to a similarity of the bust with Kissling's statue, in spite of the missing beard, it was immediately widely identified as Tell.

Adolf Hitler was enthusiastic about Schiller's play, quoting it in his Mein Kampf, and approving of a German/Swiss co-production of the play in which Hermann Göring's mistress Emmy Sonnemann appeared as Tell's wife. But on June 3, 1941, Hitler had the play banned. The reason for the ban is not known, but may been related to the failed assassination attempt in 1938 by young Swiss Maurice Bavaud^[13] (executed on May 14, 1941, and later dubbed "a new William Tell" by Rolf Hochhuth), or the subversive nature of the play.^[14][15] Hitler is reported to have exclaimed at a banquet in 1942: "Why did Schiller have to immortalize that Swiss sniper!"^[14]

Salvador Dalí painted The Old Age of William Tell and William Tell and Gradiva in 1931, and The Enigma of William Tell in 1933.

Charlie Chaplin parodies William Tell in his famous 1928 silent movie The Circus (film).

Reception after 1945[link]

Max Frisch in his "William Tell for Schools" deconstructed the legend, portraying the bailiff as a well-meaning administrator suffering from being placed in a barbaric back-corner of the empire, while Tell is a simpleton who stumbles into his adventure by a series of misunderstandings.^{[citation needed]}

Spanish playwright Alfonso Sastre re-worked the legend in 1955 in his "Guillermo Tell tiene los ojos tristes" (William Tell has sad eyes); it was not performed until the Franco regime in Spain ended.^{[citation needed]}

William Tell lives on as a hero in popular culture. He is still a powerful identification figure, and according to a 2004 survey, 60% of the Swiss believe that he existed.^[16]

Historicity debate[link]

François Guillimann, a statesman of Fribourg and later historian and advisor of the Habsburg Emperor Rudolph II, wrote to Melchior Goldast in 1607: "I followed popular belief by reporting certain details in my Swiss antiquities [published in 1598], but when I examine them closely the whole story seems to me to be pure fable."

In 1760, Simeon Uriel Freudenberger from Luzern anonymously published a tract arguing that the legend of Tell in all likelihood was based on the Danish saga of Palnatoki. A French edition of his book, written by Gottlieb Emmanuel von Haller (Guillaume Tell, Fable danoise), was burnt in Altdorf.^[17]

The skeptical view of Tell's existence remained very unpopular. Friedrich von Schiller used Tschudi's version as the basis for his play Wilhelm Tell in 1804, interpreting Tell as a glorified patriot assassin. This interpretation became very popular, especially in Switzerland, where the Tell figure was used in the early 19th century as a "national hero" and identification figure in the Helvetic Republic, and later in the beginnings of the Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, the modern democratic federal state that developed. When historian Joseph Eutych Kopp dared to question the legend in the 1830s, his effigy was burnt on the Rütli, a meadow above Lake Lucerne where — according to the legend — the oath was sworn that concluded the alliance between the founding cantons of the Swiss confederacy.

Historians continued to argue over the saga until well into the 20th century. In 1891 Wilhelm Öchsli published a scientific account of the founding of the confederacy (commissioned by the government for the celebration of the first National holiday of Switzerland on August 1, 1891), dismissing the story as fiction. Still, 50 years later in 1941, when Tell had again become a national identification figure, historian Karl Meyer tried to tie the saga's events to known places and events. Modern historians generally regard the saga to be fiction, since neither Tell's nor Gessler's existence can be proven. The legend also tells of a Burgenbruch, a coordinated uprising including the slighting of many forts; however, archeological evidence shows that many of these forts were abandoned and destroyed long before 1307–1308.

A possible historical basis of the legend was suggested by Arnold Schärer in 1986. He identified a Wilhelm Gorkeit of Tellikon (modern Dällikon in the Canton of Zurich) as the real William Tell. "Gorkeit", he claimed, was a version of the surname Armbruster (crossbow maker). Historians were not convinced, but the theory was once referred to by Rudolf Keller, at the time president of the nationalistic right Swiss Democrats, on 1 August 2004 in Basel.^[18]

Comparative mythology[link]

The Tell legend has been compared to a number of other myths or legends, specifically in Norse mythology, involving a magical marksman coming to the aid of a suppressed people under the sway of a tyrant. The story of a great hero successfully shooting an apple from his child's head is an archetype present in the story of Egil in the Thidreks saga (associated with the god Ullr in Eddaic tradition) as well as in the stories of Adam Bell from England, Palnatoki from Denmark and a story from Holstein.

Such parallels were pointed out as early as 1760 by Gottlieb Emmanuel von Haller and the pastor Simeon Uriel Freudenberger in a short leaflet with the title William Tell, a Danish Fable (German: Der Wilhelm Tell, ein dänisches Mährgen).^[19]

Rochholz (1877) connects the similarity of the Tell legend to the stories of Egil and Palnatoki with the legends of a migration from Sweden to Switzerland during the Middle Ages. He also adduces parallels in folktales among the Finns and the Lapps (Sami). From pre-Christian Norse mythology, Rochholz compares Ullr, who bears the epithet of Boga-As ("bow-god"), Heimdall and also Odin himself, who according to the Gesta Danorum (Book 1, chapter 8.16) assisted Haddingus by shooting ten bolts from a crossbow in one shot, killing as many foes. Rochholz further compares Indo-European and oriental traditions and concludes (pp. 35–41) that the legend of the master marksman shooting an apple (or similar small target) was known outside the Germanic sphere (Germany, Scandinavia, England) and the adjacent regions (Finland and the Baltic) in India, Arabia, Persia and the Balkans (Serbia).

The Danish legend of Palnatoki, first attested in the twelfth-century Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus.^[20] is the earliest known parallel to the Tell legend. As with William Tell, Palnatoki is forced by the ruler, (in this case King Harald Bluetooth), to shoot an apple off his son's head as proof of his marksmanship.^[21] A striking similarity between William Tell and Palnatoki is that both heroes take more than one arrow out of their quiver.^[20] When asked why he pulled several arrows out of his quiver, Palnatoki, too, replies that if he had struck his son with the first arrow, he would have shot King Harald with the remaining two arrows.^[20]

See also[link]

• Historiography of Switzerland
• Robin Hood
• William Wallace
• Arnold Winkelried

Notes[link]