William Tell

NPC Description

Type: Craft

Beyond Atlantica, history and legend:

William Tell was a legendary hero of disputed historical authenticity who is said to have lived in the Canton of Uri in Switzerland in the early fourteenth century. The myth symbolizes the struggle for political and individual freedom. The legend began seven hundred years ago when the Austrians controlled what is now Switzerland. The Austrian ruler, Landburgher Gessler, tyrannically demanded every passerby of the marketplace salute his hat, that hung on a pole. Tell, walking into the marketplace for the first time following the edict, refused to salute and was immediately arrested. Gessler, who knew of Tell's skill as a bowman, ordered that Tell's only hope of avoiding execution was to shoot an arrow into an apple placed on his son's head from a distance of 20 paces (approximately 60 feet). According to the legend, Tell successfully split the apple on his son's head and later killed Gessler and thus initiated the movement which secured Switzerland's independence. However, like most folklore, the story as well as Tell's own existence is open to dispute.

Source: New World Encyclopedia