The handsome man of the female captain

The history of the Foreign Service is one man's story – but only half the story. Mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, aunts and cousins ​​work in the family payroll company, invest their own money, are co-owners and have inheritance rights.

Nathalie Büsser / Swiss National Museum

They were supposed to be “beautiful,” Maria Jakobea Zurlauben (1658-1716) men. He is tall and strong. “Des beaux hommes”, as her brother Beat Heinrich Josef (1663-1706) used to say. They came from all over the world: central Switzerland, today's Allgäu, March, the Zurich countryside, eastern Switzerland, southern Germany and even Bohemia.

They didn't stay long. Their accommodation and food in Zug “Löwen” were too expensive. “Lady Captain” Zurlauben gathered a dozen people who had accepted deposits and promised to serve, and immediately sent the new recruits to march westward, accompanied by heavily armed soldiers.

At the French court, the Zurlauben family owned half a company of guards, which they had managed for generations. It was the core of the family payroll company because it had exclusive access to court society. As part of the Swiss Guard, the Guard forms part of the Sovereign's Peripheral Guard. She guarded the residence, accompanied the king on his travels and carried out military operations.

Anyone so close to the king had to do something. That's why the guard company boss and commander Beat Heinrich Josef Zurlauben only recruited recruits with guard qualities – “beautiful men”. He assigned the less “good” men sent to him by his sister from Zug among the family's other French payroll companies.

Women in payroll

In fact, it was more of a rule for women like Maria Jacoba Zurlauben, a member of Zug's wealthy mercenary and magistrate family, to organize mercenary recruitment, rather than exceptions. But women like her remain missing from historiography. They are just extras.

Historians—mostly men—tell the stories of premodern mercenary families just as the protagonists of their studies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries told them in their grand family chronicles, heraldry, and genealogies: as a Series great people. This is a story about war heroes who fought in battle, received royal titles of honor, and passed their companies on to their sons as separate legacies.

This is often pure wishful thinking, as women often have equal inheritance rights and are sometimes co-owners or even sole owners of companies. Many companies have capital from female relatives, either through inheritances or loans. Many women work in family wage companies. They do not perform these services purely out of family affection. The wage business was a family business in which almost all relatives had to be involved, but some also benefited from the benefits it brought – albeit slightly more: financial rewards, social prestige, access to court society and a place for training . boys.

Maria Jakobea Zurlauben ran the office in Zug for many years and served as a link with her brothers abroad. There was much to do, especially in times of war, and during the reign of King Louis XIV (1638-1715). Those willing to serve report directly to the “Lady Captain.” She also coordinated a network of recruiters who specialized in recruiting men. There are many activities in winter. The company's inventory must be replenished in time to prepare for spring assembly.

In order to keep each other updated, the siblings often send each other letters several times a week: How many more employees does the company need? How many people were abandoned along the way or had to be left in the hospital? How much cash was left to pay tavern bills, security deposits, wages for recruiters, guides and messengers, and tobacco, clothes and new shoes for recruits? By the way, the soldiers had to return most of them to the company bosses when they arrived in France.

Beat Heinrich Josef Zurlauben Letter to Maria Jakobea Zurlauben, married in Andermatt and living in Zug.Image: Aarau State Library

It's not uncommon for entire families like the Zurlaubens to live paycheck to paycheck. The Pfyffer family from Lucerne is also active in this industry. While Franz Pfyffer was commander of the Swiss Guard in France, his wife, Maria Magdalena, was responsible for the “backstage” work at home.Image: Swiss National Museum

Mercenaries were also recruited through advertising letters. This was a call issued in 1783 to join the Swiss Legion and serve in France.Image: Swiss National Museum

These mercenaries were recruited for the French royal family in Zug. 17th century city engravings.Image: Swiss National Museum

Maria Jakobea's sister Maria Barbara Zurlauben (1660-1724), “Lady Landa Manning”, was also recruiting soldiers in Zug. Existing documents show that she was also responsible for the actual management of the company: she received monthly accounts and reports from French officials and corresponded with them on current issues. Women are not just substitutes for absent men.

For example, Maria Jakobea Zurlauben paid for advertising out of her own funds. After Bethe Heinrich Joseph died, she traveled to Paris to view his estate and claim her money. She also shared in the financial gains from the payroll business, and her husband obtained a senior position in his brother-in-law's company. In return, Maria Jacobia had to take her elderly mother into her home and take care of her.

Ornamented portraits of mercenary leaders, their palatial mansions, heroic tales and far-reaching family trees provide a glorious backdrop to the seductively simple story of the pay system of dynastic organizations: according to this, the different genders Payroll companies are passed down from generation to generation. The eldest son, as the new head of the family, demands obedience from other relatives.

However, a look at these women reveals that the story is much more complex. Rather, the payroll business is a collective ownership embedded in an incomprehensible intergenerational network of diverse relationships and kinship needs that need to be constantly balanced. The head of the family must take this into consideration.

Regiment of the Swiss Guard at the court of Louis XVI. 18th century engraving.Image: Swiss National Museum

On Wednesday, the United States expressed its criticism of Switzerland. Background: Two Zurich lawyers have been charged with managing Russian assets. US Ambassador Scott Miller told the Daily Mirror: “Switzerland can and must do more to ensure that its legal framework is not abused for illegal financial activities.” The two lawyers were therefore included in the cantonal list. sanctions list.