Career
Elected chief magistrate for Lucerne in 1571, Pfyffer ruled there until his death. He made the city the centre of Catholic Counter-Reformation activity in Switzerland. His Golden League (1586) (also called the Borromean League after Cardinal Carlo Borromeo) nearly led to the destruction of the Swiss Confederation.
The alliance of the seven Catholic cantons pledged itself to use armed force to expel heretics.
Its elevation of religious interests severely strained the civil union. The canton of Appenzell divided along religious lines.
Pfyffer established close relations with the Catholic League of Philip II of Spain and Henri I, Duc de Guise. He concluded a Swiss alliance with Spain (1587) against the accession of Henry of Navarre (Henry IV) to the French throne.
Pfyffer also acquired a substantial fortune from foreign pensions and as a supplier of mercenaries to the pope.