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must have told the prince, in no uncertain terms, that if he does not perform his part they will depart again and leave him to his fate." On the 18th he continues: "Yesterday there was again much uproar in the monastery and the town, eight hundred peasants, all incensed against the prince and the monastery, which takes them all for fools, have again taken possession of the gates: 'Now, you priests, come and close the gates! We want to see an end to the matter, and we'll stay here for as long as we must, and if you will not meet our demands we'll drive you to the - ! [...]We will make camp here, you must give us straw

[to lie on]
, and even if we starve we'll stay here and none of you shall get away". The Pater Bibliocarius
[librarian]
[...] comes with bared head and a very politely worded request that they should go home and not make uproar here. "Go to hell, you -, we'll debag you first of all. We stay here. Go fetch the Canons.'"

Künzle tried unsuccessfully to calm the mob, who were eventually persuaded to depart by the Schirmorte delegates. Schlatter's next letter describes the festivities held to celebrate the centenary of the local grenadiers. More than five thousand people watched their manoeuvres. Schlatter records that as the peasants dispersed some pointed to two wagon-loads of the straw that had been unloaded for them, and said "That's just what we need, we could set fire to the monastery, we'll have our fireworks too."

"On Wednesday [the 19th] [...] at half past six in the morning the Abbot, with two clergymen and Landvogt Müller went to The Vine [inn] to consult with the delegates...at eight o'clock came the peasants on all sides and so it continued all day. At three o'clock came women and girls, who were just as fiery, or more so, than their menfolk, and some of them...forced their way into the enclosure. The Dean and two others tried to prevent them. "You women, seek out the - , have all the rooms opened, the priests let their girls in, and they are womenfolk like you, if they did not hanker after such they would not let them in." To the Dean and the others they said: "You are three of the ninety lazybones and idle mouths who eat up our tithes, our blood and sweat". The Dean said: "I am an old man and will put up with whatever turn the matter takes". Both gates were so crowded that nobody could have got in or out.

The prince and his escort were at the same time at The Vine, neither he nor his advisers had a safe passage. At four o'clock one came to say there were already more than two thousand peasants here, and before six o'clock there would probably be three to four thousand. At that I left my desk and went to see what was happening [...]. One of [the peasants] came past us and one of the gentlemen said to him: "You here too, Johannes?" "I should think so", and he took a cord out of his pocket. "I want to catch a little priest too", and he went on to the monastery [...]. I said "This evening is to be devoted to seeing the end of the matter, I won't let any of it out of my sight". And since Herr Erpf

[an innkeeper]
was there, I said that in my opinion we should pay him a visit, then we could see everything that happened, and if it grew tedious we could try his wine, if it was still drinkable [...] The fountain in the cloister was half covered with planks, to serve as a platform for the speakers [...] Künzlein [Künzle] began to speak. "I have the pleasure of telling you that the gracious prince has agreed to all the articles which it was our duty to demand, and moreover, we may hold a council, which, if any attempt is made on our rights, will be able to protect them"[...]. Everyone jumped for joy and in a few minutes the courtyard was clear and empty. As one of them passed The Vine he said to the abbot "You can go home now, we are satisfied." We were told that if there was any trouble, a drumbeat would sound for us to assemble in arms [...] the peasants have respect for our militia. It was well for Landvogt Müller that they did not meet him on the way [...] he has made himself as hateful as possible to the people." The delegates of the Schirmorte had told the Prince-Abbot that he should allow the formation of a Landrat on the Toggenburg model, which was one of the chief demands of the revolutionaries. The hatred of Müller-Friedberg was due to the fact that he was Landvogt of the Toggenburg, so had no official role in the affairs of St. Gallen. (Earlier, Schlatter mentions that one of the abbey's inhabitants was his brother, which might explain his concern.)

On 23rd July the Prince-Abbot fled to Mehrerau, in Austrian territory; on the 28th Schlatter writes: "The prince has gone away, and taken with him what he could, so that the silver bell in


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