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and the town, was (as his name suggests) an Irishman, a follower of St. Columbanus, who began work as a missionary among the tribes of the region from a hermitage by the Steinach river in about AD620. A religious community gathered around him, which about 120 years later was developed into a great Benedictine monastery. In the Middle Ages this monastery became very famous as a centre of learning, and also did much to add to the security and prosperity of the lands under its rule. In St. Gallen, and in other parts of Switzerland, the role of the Church in protecting its lands from invaders led to an increase in its secular power, and to the recognition of Church leaders by the Emperors as having temporal power as well as spiritual authority.

Since Bräker spent a good deal of his time in the town of St. Gallen, and in Herisau, which is in Canton Appenzell, their government and economic conditions also formed part of his environment, and they provide an interesting comparison with those of the Toggenburg. The political divisions of the region reflected the religious divisions caused by the Reformation. The town of St. Gallen, which had formerly also been under the rule of the Prince-Abbot, was officially Protestant, the Alte Landschaft was officially Catholic. Appenzell had at first been about evenly divided, but religious hostility had been so strong that in 1597 it was divided into Inner Rhoden (officially Catholic) and Ausser [outer] Rhoden (officially Protestant). In the Toggenburg a Catholic ruler governed a land officially Catholic, but in which the Protestants outnumbered Catholics by about three to one.

At the beginning of the 18th century, however, the inhabitants of the Toggenburg had for a long time been very restive under the Prince-Abbot's rule. This was partly because the Protestant majority were demanding equal rights with the Catholics, but also, as is often the case in colonies, the Toggenburgers had nothing against the Prince-Abbots personally but detested many of their agents, at all levels, for abusing their position. A revolt by Protestants against an imposition of forced labour by the Prince-Abbot caused the Second Villmergen War of 1712 [see the notes to Bräker's autobiography, chapter 1]. Mediation by Zürich and Bern brought an end to the war but this did not bring independence to the Toggenburg. It clarified the legal position of the Prince-Abbot, gave the Toggenburg a separate administration from his other lands, and ensured freedom of religion to the Protestants. In Bräker's time the ruler of his homeland was elected, but only by the chapter of the monks of St. Gallen, in all other respects he resembled a hereditary monarch. His chief agent was the Landvogt [usually translated "bailiff", but "provincial governor" gives a better idea of his status] whose headquarters was in Lichtensteig, and about thirty lower officials, most of them appointed by the Landvogt.

The government of the town of St. Gallen was described by Coxe [v 1 p 26] as "aristo-democratical", by which he meant that like many Swiss cities it was ruled by an oligarchy of upper-class clans. It was a prosperous town, its wealth coming chiefly from the textile industry, but arts and sciences (according to Coxe) also flourished there. Appenzell, on the other hand, was a canton and had been a member of the Confederation since 1513. Both halves of it were ruled by assemblies of all males over the age of sixteen. According to Coxe [v 1 p 30] each half had two magistrates who alternated between leading the administration and acting as Bannerherr [commander of the militia]. Coxe describes the people of Appenzell as "frugal and laborious", secure in their property and not heavily taxed. They exported cattle, hides, cheese and butter, and manufactured coarse calico and muslin. Their houses were made of wood, very clean, with good water supplies and a field or two attached to each.

The inhabitants of the Toggenburg had little say in the appointing or decision-making of their government, and even less in the judicial system. They had a Landsgemeind [annual assembly of all males over voting age] and a Landrat [provincial council] with sixty members elected by the (male) people, but neither of these bodies had any legislative powers. They were empowered only to protect the rights of the people, and to complain to the Prince-Abbot if these rights were infringed. The Landrat also set, raised and distributed revenues, most of which went to pay and maintain the Landvogt and his officers. The Prince-Abbot could not set new taxes or raise existing ones, but he collected numerous feudal dues such as fines, fees for licences for inn-

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