De rebus Helvetiorum
The historical work De rebus Helvetiorum , sive antiquitatum libri V ("Five books on the affairs or antiquities of the Swiss") was published in 1598 in Freiburg im Üechtland by Franz Guillimann , teacher and then director of the Solothurn Latin School .
In this work he described Swiss history up to 1315 and thus presented the first complete scientific treatise on it. It was printed by Wilhelm Mäss . It was honored by Bernhard Studer in 1863 in the history of the physical geography of Switzerland until 1815 as "purely historical, but an important authority for the conditions under the Romans and in the Middle Ages, and for explaining the remains and names of the old days. » For example, on page 362 you can read the article on Tugium , which later means the city of Zug . And Guillimann made the first statement that Wilhelm Tell lived in Bürglen in this factory.
Objective of the work
The work was intended to be a counterpoint to the Reformation view of the theologians Johannes Stumpf , also a chronicler and historian, and Josias Simler , also a regional historian . However, it was badly received by the governments and readers of the Catholic cantons in particular, as it describes the beginnings of the Confederation as a movement for emancipation from serfs of ecclesiastical manors at the time of Frederick II's conflict with the papacy . Arnold von Brescia also presented it - albeit critically - for the first time as a forerunner of Zwingli , which fell on fertile ground in the environment of the emerging Switzerland and was gratefully taken up by Reformed historians.
Web links
- De rebus Helvetiorum on Google Books
- Marianne role: Guillimann, Franz. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz .
- Georg von Wyß: Guillimann, Franz . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 107-111.
References and comments
- ↑ a b The Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie gives the printer and the year incorrectly ("Wilhelmi Möss. MDLXXXVIII" = 1588). Correct would be according to the title page: «VVilhelmi Mæſs. MDXCVIII »= Mäss 1598.
- ↑ Bernhard Studer: History of the physical geography of Switzerland until 1815. Stämpflische Verlagshandlung, Bern, and Friedrich Schulthess, Zurich, 1863, p. 160.
- ^ Wilhelm Vischer : The legend of the liberation of the forest cities and their gradual formation. Friedrich Christian Wilhelm Vogel, Leipzig, 1867, p. 140.
- ^ Romedio Schmitz-Esser : Arnold von Brescia in the mirror of eight centuries of reception: an example. LIT Verlag, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-7000-0620-6 , p. 112.