Rudolf Brun

Who was Rudolf Brun?

Rudolf Brun was the leader of the Zürich guilds' revolution of 1336, and the city's first independent mayor.

Since 1234, Zürich had been governed by an aristocratic council. One third of the council's members were representatives of the nobility, and two thirds were drawn from the city's patriciate, consisting mainly of influential merchants. The city's mayor was appointed from among these by the abbess of the influential Fraumünster.

Rudolf was the son of Jakob Brun, a member of the city council, and of Mechthild. He was married to Margaretha Fütschi, daughter of Ulrich, another councillor. Rudolf was himself a member of the council from 1332 to 1336.

Brun overthrew the former city council with the help of the city's craftsmen in June 1336. According to the new constitution, the council was now composed of 26 members, of whom 13 were of the Konstaffel, consisting of the former patriciate; at least seven of these were required to hold knighthood. The remaining 13 councillors were the guild masters of the city's 13 guilds. In this sense, Brun's reform was not so much a revolution as the creation of a balance of power between the patriciate and the guilds.