The Middle Ages, Arts and State Building News

Swabians become Swiss

Johann Stumpf (1500-1578), Schlacht bei Schwaderloh. Foto: Meyer, F.: Schweizergeschichte von der Bundesgründung bis Marignano, Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Thurgau, Frauenfeld 1976.

8 November 2021

Thurgau was first mentioned as a region in the Duchy of Swabia in the 9th century. After the extinction of the Counts of Kyburg in 1264, the Habsburgs inherited the rights. Medieval Thurgau was not yet a clearly defined region and it included large parts of the present-day cantons of St. Gallen, Zurich and the … Read more » “Swabians become Swiss”

Switzerland and the Carolingian Empire

Klooster Müstair, c. 780-790 door Karel de Grote gesticht. Foto: www.muestair.ch

29 October 2021

The territory of today’s Switzerland was part of the Roman Empire and the Carolingian Franconian Empire. In the years 774-790, the King of the Franks, Charles The Great (Charlemagne), who ruled from 768 to 814, conquered Raetia, the eastern part of Switzerland, with Chur as the most important city, and also the seat of the … Read more » “Switzerland and the Carolingian Empire”

Swiss Transition to Christianity

Cathedral of Chur. Photo: www.kath.ch

19 October 2021

The beginning of the end of the ancient Roman world and the transition to the Middle Ages is usually called Late Antiquity. This age of transition from Roman to Christian Switzerland was far from the dark or obscure world that posterity made of it. The dissolution of the western part of the Roman Empire was … Read more » “Swiss Transition to Christianity”