The play was written by Friedrich Schiller between 1803 and 1804,[REF] and published that year in a first edition of 7000 copies [REF].
Most of Schiller's information about the history of the Swiss confederation is drawn from Aegidius Tschudi's Chronicon Helveticum (Latin: 'Swiss Chronicle'), Johannes von Müller's History of the Swiss Confederation (German: Geschichten Schweizerischer Eidgenossenschaft), as well as two chronicles of Petermann Etterlin and Johannes Stumpf [REF].