Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a collection of semi-autonomous cantons. As membership of the confederation has fluctuated throughout history, each of these cantons has its own unique history and nobility. Typically, each canton had its own constitution, currency, jurisdiction, habits, customs, history, and nobility.
In the Middle Ages, various cantons had families with only local and, in the broad scheme of things, insignificant lands, whereas other cantons had ennobled families abroad. In Switzerland, there was a great number of families of dynasties who were members of the Holy Roman Empire. Other cantons had rulers from the House of Savoy, or from the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Burgundy. This diversity prevented the birth of a state with monarchical central authority.
As a general rule, Swiss nobility since the 14th century can be divided into three categories:
nobility acquired by inheritance, under the terms of the family right; nobility resulting from the ennoblement of a commoner, or from the creation of a new title for someone who is already a noble; nobility acquired by integration, as was the case in Reyff (1577) or Pontherose (1443). This integration frequently results from a social event, or from one or more alliances with families which already belong to the nobility. Sometimes this was accompanied by the acquisition of a noble domain, for example when the seigniory of Mézières was bought by Jost Freitag in 1547. As a result of this, Jost consequently became a noble.
In Switzerland, where the social classes were historically closer than they were in other countries, there was neither a misalliance nor a loss of nobility due to a noble engaging in manual work or taking up a trade. This is why, for example, the noble Jean Gambach was able to be a manufacturer of scythes in 1442, and the noble Louis de Daguet was able to be a carter at the end of the 18th century. The only cases where individuals lost their nobility were due to illegitimacy or voluntary renunciation.
Bern, Fribourg, Solothurn, Lucerne
From the 15th c. onwards, rising economic and political pressure from the city states enticed more and more families of the traditional feudal nobility to seek membership in the higher echelons of the citizenry. These late-mediaeval urban upper classes were already composed of wealthy commoners (merchants, landowners, and craftspeople) but also of aristocrats from nearby fiefdoms or the descendants of ministeriales (i.e. knightly, originally unfree nobles in the service of eccleastical or secular fiefs). While a distinction between noble and common patrician families was still upheld for some time, with quotas for certain government positions reserved for each group, these distinctions became less and less rigid in the early modern era. Non-noble families could still be ennobled by letters patent, be it through the favour of foreign monarchs (most notably the kings of France) or by the cities themselves. For instance, in 1547 Bern set up the of Batie-Beauregard as a barony for one Jacques Champion; in 1665 Solothurn granted letters of nobility to the brothers Marcacci of Locarno; in 1712 Bern created the of Bercher for a member of the de Saussure family.
Bern
In Bern a constitutional law created in 1643 the privileged class of the eligible families to the Great Council. Since 1731 the Sovereign prohibits to use titles of nobility conferred by foreign sovereigns; Since 1761 the patricians were authorised to be called ; then on 9 April 1783 the patricians were authorised to use the nobiliary particle "von" (or "de").
Fribourg
The city-state of Fribourg defined its patrician ruling class through the so-called Lettre des Deux-Cents in 1627, and closed their ranks to non-privileged families in 1684. Towards the end of the Ancien Régime, this aristocracy comprised four categories: titled noble families (Affry, Alt, Diesbach, Maillardoz, Castella de Berlens) untitled noble families (Boccard, Fégely de Vivy, Fivaz, Gléresse, Griset de Forel, Lenzbourg, Maillard, Praroman, of Prel, Reyff de Cugy, Reynold) patrician families of noble origin whose nobility is not taken into consideration by the state (Fégely de Prez, for example) patrician families of common origin (Buman, Castella, Reynold, Weck, Wild, etc.) As defined in the constitution of 1404, members of the first two categories were barred from certain higher offices (banneret and secret, i.e. secret council) unless they renounced their noble privileges.