The Romansh people (also spelled Romansch, Rumantsch, or Romanche; rm, links=no, rumantschs, ''rumàntschs'', ''romauntschs'' or ''romontschs'') are a

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

ethnic group, the speakers of the

Romansh language Romansh (; sometimes also spelled Romansch and Rumantsch; Sursilvan: ; Vallader, Surmiran, and Rumantsch Grischun: ; Putèr: ; Sutsilvan: , , ; Jauer: ) is a Gallo-Romance language spoken predominantly in the Swiss canton of the Gr ...

, native to the

Swiss canton The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Co ...

of Grisons (Graubünden). The Romansh speaking population is collectively known as Rumantschia in Romansh (alternatively ''rumantschadad'', Vallader: ''rumantschità'', Sursilvan: ''romontschadad''). This term has come to replace the German official legal term of "Gemeinschaft der Bündner Romanen" introduced in 1982.Lexicon istoric retic
s.v. Rumantschia , they make up close to 45,000 inhabitants of Switzerland, or 0.85% of its population, and close to 30,000 inhabitants of the canton of Grisons (or 14.7% of Grisons' population). cited as 44,354 ± 4.0%. This amounts to a confidence interval of 42,500–46,200. 28,699 ± 4.9% (27,300–30,100). The largest community of speakers outside of Grisons, some 5,000 people, is in the canton of Zürich (cited as 5,265 ± 12.6%).

History

The territory of Switzerland was Romanized in the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, and its population spoke a form of

Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...

by the time of the

collapse of the Western Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...

in the 5th century. The province of

Raetia prima Raetia ( ; ; also spelled Rhaetia) was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west with T ...

, established c. 300 (under Diocletian) became known as

Raetia Curiensis Raetia Curiensis (in Latin; german: Churrätien, rm, Currezia) was an early medieval province in Central Europe, named after the preceding Roman province of ''Raetia prima'' which retained its Romansh culture during the Migration Period, while t ...

, ruled by the

bishops of Chur The Bishop of Chur (German: ''Bischof von Chur'') is the ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chur, Grisons, Switzerland (Latin: ''Dioecesis Curiensis'').Duchy of Swabia from the 10th century). This included

Sarganserland The Sarganserland is a constituency (''Wahlkreis'') of the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, with a population of 36,892 (). The constituency corresponds to the historical county of Sargans (13th to 15th century) and the later '' Landvogtei'' Sa ...

(now

Canton of St. Gallen The canton of St. Gallen, also canton of St Gall (german: link=no, Kanton St. Gallen ; rm, Chantun Son Gagl; french: Canton de Saint-Gall; it, Canton San Gallo), is a canton of Switzerland. The capital is St. Gallen. Located in northeastern ...

), as far as

Lake Walen The Walensee, also known as ''Lake Walen'' or ''Lake Walenstadt'' from Walenstadt, is one of the larger lakes in Switzerland, with about two thirds of its area in the Canton of St. Gallen and about one third in the Canton of Glarus. Other towns an ...

and the

Linth River The Linth (pronounced "lint") is a Swiss river that rises near the village of Linthal in the mountains of the canton of Glarus, and eventually flows into the Obersee section of Lake Zurich. It is about in length. The water power of the Linth ...

, the Ill basin in what is now

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the ...

, and the upper

Vinschgau The Vinschgau, Vintschgau () or Vinschgau Valley ( it, Val Venosta ; rm, Vnuost ; lld, Val Venuesta; medieval toponym: ''Finsgowe'') is the upper part of the Adige or Etsch river valley, in the western part of the province of South Tyrol, Italy. ...

in what is now

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province , image_skyline = ...

Rhaeto-Romance Rhaeto-Romance, Rheto-Romance, or Rhaetian, is a purported subfamily of the Romance languages that is spoken in south-eastern Switzerland and north-eastern Italy. The name "Rhaeto-Romance" refers to the former Roman province of Raetia. The questi ...

linguistic unity broke down from the end of the

Carolingian period The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

, with the establishment of the imperial counties of Werdenberg and

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

to the north and east, and the March of Verona to the south. Nominally under Frankish rule from the 6th century, the local bishops of Chur still retained ''de facto'' control. In the mid-8th century a surviving '' Lex Romana Curiensis'', a "Roman Law of Chur", was an abbreviated epitome of the

Breviary of Alaric The ''Breviary of Alaric'' (''Breviarium Alaricianum'' or ''Lex Romana Visigothorum'') is a collection of Roman law, compiled by unknown writers and approved by referendary Anianus on the order of Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, with the a ...

. After the death of the last Victorid bishop Tello of Chur in 765, King

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

took the occasion to issue a document of protection declaring Tello's successors his vassals. From the 770s onwards, Charlemagne appointed the bishops of Chur himself, increasing Frankish control over the territory. Upon the death of Bishop Remedius in 806/7 he legislated a division between episcopal and comital property, ending the ''de facto'' secular rule of the Chur bishops. He appointed

Hunfriding The Hunfridings or Burchardings (''Bouchardids'') were a family of probably Alemannic origin who rose to prominence in their homeland, eventually becoming the first ducal dynasty of Swabia. The first known member of the family was Hunfrid, Margrav ...

counts, but the ecclesiastical and secular claims to power remained a source of contention. The Hunfriding count Burchard II was able to proclaim himself a duke of Swabia in 917. In the high medieval period, with the advance of Alemannic Germans, the linguistic boundary of Latin (Romance) speakers was pushed back to what would become Grisons (the

Three Leagues The Three Leagues, sometimes referred to as Raetia, was the alliance of 1471 of the League of God's House, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions, and the Grey League, leading eventually to the formation of the Swiss canton of Graubünden (Grison ...

Sargans Sargans is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Sargans is known for its castle, which dates from before the founding of the Swiss Confederation in 1291. Sargans was al ...

was part of the county of Werdenberg from the 12th century. The territory of Grisons, the southern part of Raetia Curiensis (in the medieval period known as Upper Raetia, ''Raetia superior'', ''Oberrätien'') remained predominantly Latin-speaking throughout the early modern period (with the exception of the high pastures settled by the

Walser The Walser people are the speakers of the Walser German dialects, a variety of Highest Alemannic. They inhabit the region of the Alps of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, as well as the fringes of Italy and Austria. The Walser people are named a ...

When Grisons became part of Switzerland in 1803, it had a population of roughly 73,000, of whom around 36,600 were Romansh speakers—many of them monolingual—living mostly within the Romansh-speaking valleys. The number of Romansh speakers has remained roughly constant since that time (while, in the same period, the population of Switzerland has nearly quintupled). The language border with German, which had mostly been stable since the 16th century, now began moving again as more and more villages shifted to German. One cause was the admission of Grisons as a Swiss canton, which brought Romansh-speakers into more frequent contact with German-speakers. Another factor was the increased power of the central government of Grisons, which used German as its administrative language.Furer, Jean-Jacques (2005), Eidgenössische Volkszählung 2000 – Die aktuelle Lage des Romanischen, Neuchâtel: Bundesamt für Statistik, , pp. 9, 23 Some people even welcomed the disappearance of Romansh, in particular among progressives. In their eyes, Romansh was an obstacle to the economic and intellectual development of the Romansh people. Around 1880, the entire Romansh-speaking area still formed a single continuous geographical unit. But by the end of the century, the so-called "Central-Grisons language bridge" began to disappear. Rumantschia lost its contiguity in the early 20th century, with the weakening of Sutsilvan in the

Posterior Rhine The Hinterrhein (German; Italian: ''Reno Posteriore''; Sutsilvan: ''Ragn Posteriur''; Sursilvan: ''Rein Posteriur''; Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader, and Puter: ''Rain Posteriur''; Surmiran: ''Ragn posteriour''; en, Posterior Rhine) is one of the ...

valley. Sutsilvan is now limited to some 1,000 speakers concentrated in a language island on the left bank of the Posterior Rhine, centered on

Casti-Wergenstein Casti-Wergenstein or Casti-Vargistagn is a former municipality in the Viamala Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2021 the former municipalities of Casti-Wergenstein, Donat, Lohn and Mathon merged to form the new municipal ...

(the former

Schams thumb , The Schams north of Cagliatscha_Castle.html"_;"title="Andeer.__In_the_top_left,_the_ruins_of_Cagliatscha_Castle">Andeer.__In_the_top_left,_the_ruins_of_Cagliatscha_Castle_ The_Schams_(_rm.html" ;"title="Cagliatscha_Castle_.html" ;"tit ...

subdistrict). Starting in the mid-to-late 19th century, a revival movement began, often called the "Rhaeto-Romansh renaissance". In 1919, the Lia Rumantscha was founded to serve as an umbrella organization for the various regional language societies. In 1937, the Swiss government proposed the recognition of the Romansh language as Switzerland's fourth national language (alongside German, French and Italian). The political background for this was the

irredentist Irredentism is usually understood as a desire that one state annexes a territory of a neighboring state. This desire is motivated by ethnic reasons (because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent st ...

propaganda by Fascist Italy, which claimed Grisons along with the

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

as ethnically Italian territory. In a popular vote on 20 February 1938, a majority of 91.6% voted for the recognition of Romansh as an official language for use within the canton of Grisons.

Contemporary situation

In the late 1980s and 1990s, debate about the future role of Switzerland within what was going to become the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

prompted a reawakening of "the long-dormant Romansh national movement". Elements within this movement advocated an ultimate transfer of sovereignty from the Swiss Confederation to a future

Federal Europe The United States of Europe (USE), the European State, the European Federation and Federal Europe, is the hypothetical scenario of the European integration leading to formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of Americ ...

. A 1996 referendum strengthened the status of Romansh in Switzerland, permitting its use at the federal level. There is no general sense of unity within "Rumantschia" due to regional separation and dialectal variations. ''Rumantsch Grischun'' was an attempt launched in the 1980s to introduce an artificial standard version of Rumantsch; but acceptance of this standard has been limited. There are instead five written dialects, each with its own orthography: Sursilvan, Sutsilvan,

Surmiran Surmiran (Surmiran, Vallader, Sutsilvan, Rumantsch Grischun: ''surmiran''; Puter: ''surmiraun'') is a dialect of the Romansh language Romansh (; sometimes also spelled Romansch and Rumantsch; Sursilvan: ; Vallader, Surmiran, and Rum ...

Putèr Puter (also spelled Putèr; rm, puter ) is a variety of Romansh spoken in the Engadin valley in Graubünden, which is in the southeastern part of Switzerland. It is spoken in the central northwestern end of the valley between S-chanf and St. ...

and

Vallader Vallader (Vallader, Sursilvan, Puter, Surmiran, and Rumantsch Grischun: ''vallader'' ; Sutsilvan: ') is a variety of the Romansh language spoken in the Lower Engadine valley (''Engiadina Bassa'') of southeast Switzerland, between Martina ...

. As of 2000, areas with a majority of native Rumantsch speakers were separated into four disconnected parts: Surselva (Sursilvan,

Tuatschin Romansh (; sometimes also spelled Romansch and Rumantsch; Sursilvan: ; Vallader, Surmiran, and Rumantsch Grischun: ; Putèr: ; Sutsilvan: , , ; Jauer: ) is a Gallo-Romance language spoken predominantly in the Swiss canton of the Gri ...

(Sutsilvan), Albula/Surmeir (Surmiran) and

Engadin The Engadin or Engadine ( rm, ;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ...

with

Val Mustair Val may refer to: Val-a Film * Val (film), ''Val'' (film), an American documentary about Val Kilmer, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS ...

(Putèr, Vallader, Jauer). A renewed effort to introduce course material in Rumantsch Grischun for primary education was started in 2006. A cantonal law of 2006 aims to preserve the trilingual (Romansh, Italian, German) character of Grisons. It prescribes that primary schools, public signage and correspondence by the municipal authorities are to be exclusively in the historically predominant language as long as this language is spoken by at least 40% of the population. In cases where the population speaking the historically predominant language numbers between 20% and 40%, municipal authorities are obliged to offer official communication and primary education in this language alongside the majority language. In cases where the fraction of Romansh or Italian speakers is between 10% and 20%, authorities are obliged as a minimum to offer Romansh or Italian as a subject in primary education.Sprachengesetz des Kantons Graubünden (SpG; 2006), Art. 16–20 / S. 5 f.

Notable people

H. R. Giger Hans Ruedi Giger ( ; ; 5 February 1940 – 12 May 2014) was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines, an art style known as " biomechanical". Giger later abandoned airbrush for pastels, mark ...

(1940–2014), painter, sculptor, set designer, film director; better known for having designed the visual effects for the film '' Alien'' *Salis family ( Soglio) ** Carl Ulisses von Salis-Marschlins ** Meta von Salis *Planta family (Upper Engadin) **Thomas Planta,

bishop of Chur The Bishop of Chur (German: ''Bischof von Chur'') is the ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chur, Grisons, Switzerland (Latin: ''Dioecesis Curiensis'').Alfred von Planta **British librarian and diplomat

Joseph Planta Joseph Planta GCH (2 July 1787 – 5 April 1847) was a British diplomat and politician of Romansh- Swiss descent. He was the MP for Hastings, England. Planta's father, also named Joseph Planta (1744–1827), moved from Switzerland to Engla ...

(1744–1827) was born at Castasegna, the son of Reverend Andrew (Andreas) Planta (1717–1773). The family moved to London in 1752. *

Jörg Jenatsch Jörg Jenatsch, also called Jürg or Georg Jenatsch (1596 – 24 January 1639), was a Swiss political leader during the Thirty Years' War, one of the most striking figures in the troubled history of the Grisons in the 17th century. Protesta ...

(1596–1639), political leader during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

References

{{Authority control Romansh people Ethnic groups in Switzerland Romance peoples

History

Contemporary situation

Notable people

See also

References