Landschlacht, Switzerland, 20 November 2017
Last week ago I began to tell a story.
(See Canada Slim and the Road to Reformation of this blog.)
A story of how a religion and a continent tore itself apart over questions of how to worship a God who cannot be proven to exist.
Ah, the folly of man!
My quest for one of the two dominant figures of the Swiss Reformation, Huldrych Zwingli (the other being Jean Calvin) began as a daytripper´s excursion rather than yet another “let´s follow someone else´s footsteps” project.
Above: Statue of Huldrych Zwingli (1484 – 1531), Wasserkirche, Zürich
A book I bought last year, Thomas Widmer´s Schweizer Wünder: Ausflüge zu kuriosen und staunenswerten Dingen (Swiss wonders: Excursions to curious and astonishing things) recommended that I ride the Selunbähnli to Strichboden from Starkenbach in Canton St. Gallen.
I had already visited the Swimming Island of Berchet Lake in Canton Thurgau and had been delighted by the experience, so I eagerly set my sights on yet another of Widmer´s suggestions.
In search of hiking maps I visited a local bookshop in St. Gallen, close to the Starbucks where I work, and stumbled across Marcel and Yvonne Steiner´s Zwingli-Wege: Zu Fuss von Wildhaus nach Kappel am Albis : Ein Wander- und Lesebuch. (Zwingli Ways: On Foot from Wildhaus to Kappel am Albis: A Hiking and Reading Book)
To my delight the Selunbähnli I wished to ride and the starting section of the Zwingli Ways coincided.
Thus my Zwingli Project began.
To be fair, the Steiners do not claim that the paths they recommend were actually walked on by Zwingli himself or even thematically connected to his life.
Rather they show hiking trails of scenic and historical interest near the Swiss sites where Zwingli had been.
So it is known for certain that Zwingli had been in Wildhaus, Wessen, Glaurus, Einsiedeln, Zürich and Kappel am Albis, all locations within eastern and central Switzerland.
Other locations like Basel, Bern, Konstanz and Vienna were also important in Zwingli´s life, but the Steiners did not include these in their book.
(Of these latter aforementioned places, I have visited these before and will include them in future posts.)
Though the Steiners recommended that the hiker begin the Ways from Zwingli´s birthplace and walk from there to Starkenbach, I decided that I wanted to rediscover Wildhaus as a hiker entering the town on foot rather than a traveller simply dropped off in the middle of town.
(I say “rediscover” for I had visited Wildhaus before, but had not as yet seen the Zwingli House…)
Let us begin….
Starkenbach, Canton St. Gallen, Switzerland, 10 October 2017
A superbly wonderful day for hiking, perfect summerlike conditions.
The Toggenburg is a region of Switzerland that corresponds to the upper valley of the Thur River and that of its main tributary, the Neckar River.
The valley descends in a northwestern direction from the watershed between the Rhine and the Thur and is encircled on the northeast by the chain of the Säntis (2,504 metres / 8,216 feet) and on the southwest by that of the Churfirsten (2,306 metres/7,566 feet) and of the Speer (1,954 metres/6,411 feet).
This is farming country within this valley that stretches 45 km (28 miles) from the source of the Thur River to Wil on the railway line between St. Gallen and Winterthur.
Wildhaus is the valley´s highest village at 1,107 metres/3,632 feet.
To get to Starkenbach a person without his own mode of transportation must either take a train to Neu St. Johann or Buchs, then ride Bus 790 from Neu St. Johann via Stein or in the opposite direction from Buchs via Grabs, Gams, Wildhaus, Unterwasser and Alt St. Johann.
I travelled from my village of residence to Neu St. Johann (the S8 Train travels from 0500 until midnight between Schaffhausen, Romanshorn, St. Gallen, Wattwil and Neu St. Johann) then Bus 790 from there.
I had previously walked from Wildhaus to Neu St. Johann following the Thur Trail, which takes the hiker eventually to the Thur River´s point of entry into the mighty Rhine River, so I had a passing acquaintance with the region.
The bus stop marked Starkenbach is in front of a guesthouse, so already being lunchtime I fuelled the body with a Chinese dish.
Yellow diamond signage compells the hiker to go behind the guesthouse, cross a pasture and walk about ten minutes to a house that has instead of a garage a shed with old cablecars ascending from and descending to it.
This ancient-looking cablecar service, dubbed the Cabriobahn, has been in operation since 1911 and it must be admitted that upon first viewing it a person wonders – and hopes – that the system has been maintained since.
For, unlike its regional counterparts that are built of ultramodern materials and maintained by smartly dressed personnel in uniforms, the Cabriobahn seems not much more than a wooden box held together by decaying materials – like miracles and spit – and ran by farming folk who begrudingly operate the machinery for those too lazy to walk up the damn mountain.
It looks like a family-sized wooden coffin, suspended upon creaking cables that lead to isolated Heaven or down to civilised Hell.
It is a family-run affair. so don´t try showing them any of your fancy reduction discount cards accepted by the new-fangled bunch of cablecar operators.
It´s full price for everyone.
Take it or leave it.
I take it, along with a mother, her children and their dog.
I make jokes about bringing a second pair of underpants as I am afraid that the swinging car and the dizzying height might make me soil the ones I have on.
I again marvel that I as a tall man frequently find myself at dangerous heights, yet remain extremely uncomfortable with these heights that I stupidly choose to climb.
But apparently today I am not scheduled for the afterlife and I find myself, after an eternity, once again on solid ground looking down from a height of 1,600 metres upon the mountain Strichboden.
Happily the day´s walk is neither long nor steep and is well-signposted, for this trail is part of the Toggenburger Höhenweg that takes the wanderer a distance of 87 km from Wildhaus to Wil.
Close by the lonely cabin that serves as the mountaintop station for the Cabriobahn, the walker comes to the Wildenmannslisloch (the wild man´s hole), the site of the story of Johannes Seluner (1828 – 1898).
Wildenmannsloch is a limestone cave on the northern slope of the Churfirsten range, two kilometres due north of the peak of Selun, at an elevation of 1,640 metres.
The cave extends for 142 metres.
Sixty metres from the entrance is a chamber.
This great cave is at first very broad and high, so that it could be entered by a horse and wagon.
The cave then becomes narrower, then again wider, and in such alteration continues along various bends for a quarter of an hour before its end is reached.
On 9 September 1844, atop Selun Alp, a cow herder, Niklaus Baumgartner discovered a half-naked, deaf and mute feral child estimated to be 15 years old.
Police investigation proved futile as no proof of the boy´s identity or origins could be found.
It was unclear how he had survived isolated in the mountains, despite the wild child being studied by doctors and anthropologists.
The press dubbed him “the Puzzle of Selun”, “the Wild Man”, “the Wolf´s Child” and “the Idiot”.
In August 1845, the foundling was given the name “Johannes Seluner” – “Johannes” for the Commune of Alt St. Johann that took responsibility for his care and “Seluner” for the Alp where he was found.
On 20 January 1898, Johannes was baptised in the local Catholic Church and formally registered by the town of Neu St. Johann.
Above: Johannes Seluner
He died, after a short illness, on 20 October of the same year and is buried in the cemetery of Neu St. Johann.
An examination of Wildmannlisloch on 15 July 1906 yielded bones of cave bears.
A more detailed survey, conducted from 1923 to 1928, found a large number of bones, mostly of bears, with a number of stone tools.
The bones were artifically deposited in heaps.
The cave is presumed to have been used, either as a habitation or as a storage site for meat or as a sacrificial site, by prehistoric man about 40,000 years ago.
It has been presumed that Johannes lived in the cave for a number of years.
Photographs and documents of Johannes can be seen at the Toggenburger Museum in Lichtensteig. (Open: April to October, weekends, 1300 – 1700)
Further along the Höhenweg the walker discovers that the Sagenweg (the Saga Trail) joins and crosses the path.
Imagine Grimm´s Fairy Tales, then imagine if this sort of storytelling had instead been done by Swiss people recounting Swiss tales instead.
Now presuming you could read German, each brightly coloured saga sign encourages the thinking hiker to stop, relax, read and then take a tale with you in your mind as you continue to enjoy nature and anticipate the next sign down the trail.
Such is the Saga Trail of Toggenburg.
Having left home rather late and concerned about catching a cable car down from the mountains before the descent of darkness, I end my hiking of the day at the Alpine resort of Sellamatt, having accomplished only a couple of hours of walking and about 10 km distance covered.
Still I don´t mind.
It is nice to walk without putting too much pressure on oneself.
Wildhaus can wait for me until tomorrow.
I take the cable car down to Alt St. Johann, a village of about 1,500 people.
Alt St. Johann is historically the site of a monastery dedicated to St. John the Baptist and was first mentioned in 1152.
Around 1200, Castle Starkenstein (Starkenstein is German for the French Montfort.) was built by the Counts of Werdenburg-Montfort.
Starkenstein passed into the hands of the Counts of Toggenburg in 1414, and after their lineage was extinct, ownership was in the hands of St. Johann Abbey.
Above: The Catholic church in present day Alt St. Johann
A village named Sant Johann was first mentioned in 1439.
In 1626, St. Johann Abbey was moved, after a series of calamities – the Reformation and a great fire – to what is now Neu St. Johann to contrast with the new site of the monastery.
Bus ride to Buchs, train to St. Gallen, another train back home.
Alt St. Johann, Switzerland, 11 October 2017
Earlier start today, repetition of train ride to Neu St. Johann, bus ride back to Alt St. Johann, back up the mountain to Sellamatt via the Sessellift cable car.
The Toggenburger Höhenweg begins to be incorporated with another footpath called the Klangweg, that leads from the foot of the Churfirsten range from Oberdorf to Alp Sellamatt.
Twenty-six “klang installations” encourage passers-by to bang and clang to their heart´s delight on the various metallic structures set up to encourage interactive fun and instruction.
Opened in 2004, the Klangweg already sees more than 10,000 visitors a year, and on this day I see dozens of school groups joyfully expressing their delight at being permitted and encouraged to make noise.
The Höhenweg continues to descend gradually from over 1,400 metres to 1,339 metres at another Alpine resort Iltios, the end station for the Unterwasser-Iltios Railroad descending to the town of Unterwasser and the cable car system that carries the traveller up to Mount Chäserrugg (at an altitude of 2,262 metrres).
I continued to follow the Höhenweg towards Wildhaus, as I had already been to Unterwasser (as in “below the water”)(with the Thur River waterfalls)(the home of ski jumper and Switzerland´s most decorated Olympian Simon Ammann, fourtime gold medal winner in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games)….. during my walking of the Thur Way and I had no desire to ascend up to Mount Iltios today.
Above: Simon Ammann
From Iltios I walk on, following the Höhenweg overlooking the Schwendlisee, ever descending to the Oberdorf cable car station and the town of Wildhaus.
Above: Schwendlisee
Wildhaus, population just over 1,200, at an altitude of 1,095 metres, attracts tourists for three main reasons: it is the starting point of both the Thurweg (which follows the Thur River through St. Gallen and Thurgau Cantons) and the Toggenburger Höhenweg (which ends in Wattwil) and holds the birthplace of Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli.
Above: Zwingli Haus
Being the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Wildhaus also offers the history afficiando the Zwingli Monument as well as the Zwingli Fountain, and until the end of 2017 a special Reformation exhibition.
Above: The Zwingli Reformation Exhibition, Wildhaus
This house is one of the oldest farmhouses in Switzerland and also served as a schoolhouse before it was purchased by the Evangelical Reform Church and converted into a museum and Zwingli library.
Huldrych Zwingli was born in this house on New Year´s Day 1494, to a family of farmers, the 3rd child of nine.
His family may have produced oats, rye, cabbage, wheat, carrots, garlic, wild flax, parsnips, turnips, celery, a variety of herbs and garden flowers as well as raising livestock, like cows, pigs and poultry.
They would have probably sold their produce at the regional market in Lichtensteig.
His father, Ulrich, played a leading role in the administration of the community as the chief local magistrate.
The greatest problem for the population was the payment of tithes and taxes.
Prior to Zwingli´s birth, in 1436, following the death of the last Duke of Toggenburg, the representatives of the “right of initiative” of the Regional Assembly of Wattwil won contracts with Canton Glarus and Schwyz.
In addition the Assembly ensured a guarantee of security with the protecting power of Canton Zürich against the demands of the Prince Abbey of St. Gallen.
In 1468, the Abbott of St. Gallen bought the Toggenburg for 14,500 gulden.
In 1475, Huldrych´s grandfather Heini Zwingli led the Toggenburg Delegation which successfully mediated between the Abbott and Glarus.
Huldrych felt the family´s love of the Swiss Confederacy.
Even in his time, Heini Zwingli exported cattle and other specialities from Toggenburg to Milano by the Septimer or Splugen Passes.
On the return journey Heini brought back wine and textiles.
Huldrych`s grandfather and father were repeatedly on business trips and had many personal contacts as far away as Milano.
The family had become internationally active as the combination of alpine farming and transalpine trade brought them better living standards.
Huldrych´s attitude to faith was the consequence of his mother, Margaretha, who kept extensive contact with many religious figures, including the Abbott of Fischingen.
Consequently two of Huldrych´s brothers studied theology and two of his sisters took the veil.
Huldrych would remain in Wildhaus for six years before he was sent away for schooling in Weesen, Bern, Vienna and Basel.
He would only return for family visits and would later celebrate his first mass as priest on 29 September 1506 before beginning his ten-year service in Glarus.
So what would it have been like to grow up in Wildhaus in the 15th century?
Would the Zwingli family have been aware of the great changes happening in the world beyond the Toggenburg?
Would they have heard about the Treaty of Tordesillas dividing the New World between Portugal and Spain (7 June 1494)?
Did the new highly contagious STD known as “the French pox” reach the Toggenburg?
Had they heard about Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) and his voyages to Newfoundland and Labrador? (1497)
Had they learned about American tobacco and Chinese toothpaste?
Did they learn of the Battle of Fornovo between the French and Italians, the latter allied with the Swiss? (6 July 1495)
Were they aware of Girolamo Savonarola, the Black Friar of Firenze and his defiance of the Pope in setting up his own puritanical republic (25 December 1497) or of the Inquisition happening in Spain (1498)?
Difficult to say, but it is possible.
Did Huldrych play with his brothers and sisters around the abandoned Wild Castle, once built (in 1200) and owned by the nobility (the Counts of Sax, the Dukes of Toggenburg, the Lords of Raron) but at this time belonging to the Abbey of St. Gallen?
Above: Castle Wildenburg, Wildhaus, Canton St. Gallen, Switzerland
History doesn´t say.
I diligently visit the Zwingli Museum and the Zwingli Monument and the Zwingli Fountain and the Evangelical Reform Church, and am pleasantly surprised to discover that there is some literature in English, informing the uninformed about Zwingli´s CV, his background, life and influence, and the Zürich reform done by him.
I leave Wildhaus and the Zwingli Way behind….only eight more walks to accomplish….bus back to Neu St. Johann, Train back home.
I have learned and seen so much beauty and wonder today.
This is truly God´s country.
Sources: Wikipedia / Google / Facebook / Marcel and Yvonne Steiner, Zwingli-Wege: Zu Fuss von Wildhaus nach Kappel am Albis / Zwingli Geburtshaus, Wildhaus / Zwingli Zentrum Toggenburg, Wildhaus
