Vogt (Switzerland)

A Vogt (plural Vögte) was a title and office in the Old Swiss Confederacy, inherited from the feudal system of the Holy Roman Empire, corresponding to the English reeve.

Reichsvogt was the term for a Vogt, that was nominated by the king as the representative of the Holy Roman Empire, and was especially in today's Switzerland in the High Middle Ages a very influential position.

The notion of fremde Vögte ("foreign reeves") is central to Swiss national mythology, since the early Confederacy in the 14th century is commonly believed to have had the main purpose to expel imperial judges.

One of the core points of the Federal Charter of 1291 is that the Eidgenossen "will accept or receive no judge in the aforesaid valleys, who shall have obtained his office for any price, or for money in any way whatever, or one who shall not be a native or a resident with us."

The term fremde Vögte is still in use polemically in Swiss politics, particularly by conservatives, in the context of Switzerland and the European Union.