Online Encyclopedia

SCHAFFHAUSEN

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 312 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

SCHAFFHAUSEN  , the

capital of the Swiss canton of that name, situated entirely (for its suburb, Feuerthalen, is in the canton of Zurich) on rising ground above the right
See also:
bank of the Rhine . Its streets are narrow (save in the
See also:
modern quarters), while it is dominated by the fortress of Unnoth (wrongly called Munoth) . It is by
See also:
rail 31 M . W. of Constance and S9 M . W. of Basel . It is a city of contrasts,
See also:
medieval architecture of the true Swabian type and modern manufactures mingling curiously together . Three of the sixteen
See also:
town gates survive, and many )ld houses, though few have preserved traces of the frescoes which formerly adorned their
See also:
external walls . The chief ancient
See also:
building in the town is the Munster (now
See also:
Protestant) of All Saints, formerly a
See also:
Benedictine monastery . It was consecrated in 1052, and is a good specimen of the " sternest and plainest Romanesque, finished with a single side tower near the east end, that is architecturally connected both with
See also:
Italian campaniles and the so-called Anglo-Saxon towers of England " (E . A . Freeman) . Close to it is deposited the famous 15th-century bell that suggested Schiller's
See also:
Song of the Bell and the opening of Longfellow's
See also:
Golden Legend .

The

castle of Unnoth, above the town,
See also:
dates in its
See also:
present form from the second
See also:
half of the 16th century . It has enormously thick casemates and a tower, the platform of which (now used as a restaurant) is reached by a
See also:
spiral ascent . The museum contains antiquarian and natural
See also:
history collections, as well as the town library, which possesses the
See also:
MSS. and books of the Swiss historian J. von Muller (q.v.) . A monument to his memory is on the
See also:
promenade of the Fasenstaub, west of the town . Opposite is a building constructed in 1864 by a citizen (G . C. im Thurn) who had made his fortune in
See also:
London . It is named after him the Imthurneum, and houses a theatre, a picture gallery, concert rooms and the school of
See also:
music . There are a number of factories in the town, while at Neuhausen, its suburb, are aluminium
See also:
works, railway
See also:
rolling stock works and a manufactory of playing cards and railway tickets .
See also:
Industrial development has been furthered by the
See also:
hydraulic works for the utilization of the forces in the Rhine; founded 1863–1866 by H . Moser (1805-1874), a wealthy citizen, these are now the
See also:
property of the town and since 1900 are worked by
See also:
electricity . In 1900 the town had 15,275 inhabitants (14,684 German-speaking), while there were 11,144 Protestants, 4085
See also:
Roman Catholics and 21 Jews . The spot is first mentioned in 1045, "
See also:
Villa Scafhusun," while in 1050 we hear of the " ford " there across the Rhine .

Hence it is probable that the name is really derived from scapha, a skiff, as here goods coming from Constance were disembarked in consequence of the falls of the Rhine a little below . Some writers, however, prefer the derivation from Schaf (a

sheep), as a ram (now a sheep) formed the ancient arms of the town, derived from those of its founders, the
See also:
counts of Nellenburg . About 1050 those counts founded here the Benedictine monastery of All Saints, which henceforth became the centre of the town . Perhaps as early as 1190, certainly in 1208, it was an imperial
See also:
free city, while the first seal dates from 1253 . The powers of the abbot were gradually limited and in 1277 the emperor Rudolf gave the town a charter of liberties . It ran considerable
See also:
risk of becoming a
See also:
part of the private estates of the Habsburgs, as the emperor Louis of Bavaria pledged it in 1330 to that
See also:
family, which held it till Duke Frederick with Empty Pockets was placed under the
See also:
ban of the
See also:
empire in 1415, its freedom being finally
See also:
purchased in 1418, while from 1411 the trade gilds ruled the town . But it was much harassed by the neighbouring
See also:
Austrian nobles, so that in 1454 it made an
See also:
alliance with six of the Swiss confederates (
See also:
Uri and
See also:
Unterwalden coming in in 1479), by whom it was received as an " ally," being finally admitted a full member in 1501 . The Reformation was adopted in 1524, finally in 1529 . The town suffered much in the
See also:
Thirty Years' War from the passage of
See also:
Swedish and Bavarian troops . It was not till the early 19th century that the arrested industrial development of the town took a fresh start . E . Im-Thurn, Der Kanton Schaffhausen (St Gall and Bern, 1840) ; A .

Pfaff, Das Staatsrecht d. alten Eidgenossenschaft (Schaffhausen, 187o) (pp . 89-97 contain a history of Schaffhausen) . In 1901 there appeared at Schaffhausen two elaborate
See also:
historical " Festschriften," one for the canton and one for the town, while in 1906–1907 there were published at Schaffhausen two parts (from 987 to 1530) of an official Urkundenregister fur den Kanton Schaffhausen . (W . A . B .

End of Article: SCHAFFHAUSEN
[back]
PHILIP SCHAFF (1819-1893)
[next]
SCHAFFHAUSEN (Fr. Schaffhouse)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.