MORGARTEN, the name of the pasture slopes that descend westwards to the south end of the lake of Aegeri in the Swiss canton of Zug, about 2 m. by road from the Sattel station on the railway line from Schwyz to Zürich. It was at the foot of these slopes and on the shore of the lake that the small Swiss force defeated the large Austrian army, advancing from Zug on Schwyz, on the 15th of November 1315, and so laid the foundations of Swiss liberty. As the lake has shrunk, the exact site of the battle has been disputed. It seems most probable that it took place near the Haselmatt Chapel, in the territory of Zug, where is the official monument, but some hold that the real site was in Schwyz territory, near the old tower and battle chapel of Schornen, in the gorge between the lake and Sattel.
The original accounts of the battle are collected in part iii. (1884) of the Mitteilungen of the Historical Society of Schwyz. See also the careful study in K. Bürkli’s Ein Denkmal am Morgarten wo ist sein Platz? (Zug, 1895).