In the years 1529-1531 the St. Gall humanist, reformer, and politician Joachim Vadian wrote a history of the abbey and city of St. Gall during the high and late middle ages (1199-1491). It goes by the title Grössere Chronik der Äbte (Great Chronicle of the Abbots). In this work, Vadian describes the way the abbey town changed into a self-reliant, independent city and became wealthy from the cloth weaving industry. The historical work is simultaneously a work of heated reformist protest, exposing and often bitingly commenting upon the increasing corruption of church dignitaries and institutions, particularly the Abbots and Abbey of St. Gall since the investiture conflict. (gam)

Online Since: 12/19/2011

This manuscript, an autograph, contains a historical-topographical description of “Turgöuw” or Eastern Switzerland (pp. 1-3) as well as of the “Oberbodensee” (pp. 201-227), that is, the villages and areas on the northern (from Bregenz to Überlingen) and southern (from Rheineck to Kreuzlingen) shore [of Lake Constance]; it further contains a historical overview of the development of monasticism and ecclesiastical institutions and of the process of their decay (pp. 3-138), a history of Saint Gall and of the monastery of St. Gall (pp. 138-193), and the history of the Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Caligula (pp. 229-323). (goe)

Online Since: 12/14/2018