Around the year 1380, some local noblemen challenged the Bishop of Basle’s
rights of lordship over Pieterlen, a village located about 80 kilometres south of
the city of Basle, at the periphery of the Bishop’s secular territory. The Bishop
summoned witnesses whom he expected to confirm that he was the rightful lord
over the village and that the local bailiffs had been serving the bishops of Basle
since time immemorial. One witness underscored this position with an anecdote
that brings to mind a famous scene in Friedrich Schiller’s play Wilhelm Tell:
Allegedly, the witness once asked an officer who held court at Pieterlen: ‘Who
is your lord?’ The officer replied: ‘The Bishop of Basle.’ The witness continued,
asking: ‘And who is the Bishop of Basle?’ To this, the bailiff took the emblem of
his juridical power, his pole, poked it into the soil, attached his hat to it, pointed
his finger at it and said: ‘There is my lord, the Bishop of Basle.’1
