16 October 2024
Languages remain the most important means of communication, both orally and in writing, through the use of words and gestures. Multilingual and multicultural Switzerland has long been aware of this. However, neighbouring regions also have a fascinating linguistic history and development. It applies to Savoy in France, South Tyrol (Adige), the Aosta Valley, Piedmont and … Read more » “Alsatian German and the Little Prince in Alsace”
8 October 2024
Emperor Augustus (63 BC-14 AD), whose statue stands on the Castelen Estate in Augst (Canton of Basel-Landschaft), rightly turns his gaze to the Clavel-Villa. Basel did not yet exist in his time, and the Rhine still flowed in various tributaries through uninhabited land. There were only a few small Celtic settlements, including on Münster Hill … Read more » “The Clavel-Villa, Emperor August and Augusta Raurica”
21 September 2024
Politically, linguistically, economically, and culturally, the Lac Léman area has always been a region of intense mutual contact. The bishops of Geneva, the city of Geneva, abbots, counts, and dukes of Savoie, kings of the kingdom of Piedmont-Savoie and France, the Swiss Confederation, Wallis (Valais), and other players determined politics, trade, war, and peace until … Read more » “Evian, Vevey, Savoie and the Ancient Swiss Confederation of Cantons”
20 September 2024
While many Protestant citizens from the (Habsburg) Low Countries and later the Republic of the Seven United Provinces were students at the academy (founded in 1559) of John Calvin (1509-1564) in Geneva, other Protestant citizens fled the Netherlands precisely for Calvin and his teachings. Martin Luther (1483-1546) initiated the Reformation in 1517. Many predecessors had … Read more » “The Anabaptists of Zurich, Zollikon, the Netherlands and humanists from Basel”
19 September 2024
Napoleon’s (1769-1821) famous march over the Great St Bernard (2469 metres) in 1800 went in a different direction from that of Emperor Claudius (10 BC-54 AD) in 43 AD. Claudius marched south to north toward Britannia, and Napoleon marched north to south towards Habsburg Italy and its allies. In both cases, Martigny (Forum Claudii Vallensium, … Read more » “A Small History of the Litte and Great St Bernard Passes, their Hospices and Bernadiner Dogs”
16 September 2024
Maximilian I (1469-1519), Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, called the Rhine from Chur to Utrecht the ‘Pfaffengasse’. The Rhine offers this sight from Chur to Constance, Basel, Strasbourg, Worms, Speyer, Mainz, Bonn, Cologne, Xanten, Nimwegen and Utrecht. Utrecht, cathedrale The region on the shores of Lake Constance (the Bodensee) can then be referred to as … Read more » “The Monastery Road of Lake Constance”
15 August 2024
Only a few cities have a double name, and certainly not when it is a repetition of the same name. The name of the German town of Baden-Baden (Baden-Württemberg) serves to differentiate it from Baden (canton Aargau) and Baden in Austria (near Vienna). Then there is Badenweiler in southern Baden-Württemberg. Aargau was administered by the Habsburgs … Read more » “Baden, Baden-Baden and Badenweiler and their bathing Complexes”
12 August 2024
What do Utrecht, Rastatt (Baden-Württemberg) and Baden (Canton Aargau) have in common? These cities not only played a role in the constitutional history of the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland, respectively. The most relevant (bilateral) treaties to end the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713) took place in these cities in 1713 … Read more » “The Peace Treaties of Utrecht, Rastatt and Baden and Catalans”
10 July 2024
Porrentruy (Pruntrut in German, canton of Jura) was the seat of the bishop of Basel for a long time after he left his episcopal palace at the Münster in Basel during the Reformation in 1529. The large episcopal complex on the hill still bears witness to this period. The canton’s coat of arms still shows … Read more » “Porrentruy, the Bishop and the canton of Jura”
6 July 2024
Is Stans, the main town (Hauptort) of Canton Nidwalden, a village, ‘Flecken‘ or a city after all? Like the other ‘Hauptorte’ of cantons in the Urschweiz (and both Appenzeller), Stans has the appearance of a town. Monumental buildings, colossal churches, large monastery complexes and other (public) buildings dominate the street scene. St Peter and Paul … Read more » “A Town, Village or Flecken, the history of Stans”
