John of Winterthur (c. 1300 – after 1348) was a Swiss historian who wrote a chronicle of history up to 1348.

Background

Born in

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria ...

, in what is now Canton Zurich, Switzerland, John attended school in his native village from 1309 to 1315 and then joined the

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

s. As a member of the order, he lived at Baslein in 1328, at Villingen in 1336, and at

Lindau Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major town and island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the county (''Landkreis' ...

from 1343 onwards. His chronicle (''Chronicon a Friderico II Imperatore ad annum 1348'') began in 1340 and gives a history of events up to that year. His record of the later years consists more of notes or annals. Whether he updated his chronicle later is a matter of uncertainty.

Assessment

The chronicle is a source of information on the first half of the fourteenth century, and gives an idea of the conflicts which arose between the cities and the nobles of

Upper Swabia Upper Swabia (german: Oberschwaben or ) is a region in Germany in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.''Brockhaus Enzyklopädie.'' 19. Auflage. Band 16, 1991, p. 72. The name refers to the area between the Swa ...

. They also provide a general view of events in the empire, especially of

Louis the Bavarian Louis IV (german: Ludwig; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328. Louis' election as king of Germany ...

's conduct toward the

papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

and of the Franciscan Order's attitude toward the controversies. John was a man of culture, well-versed in spiritual and in secular literature, but he frequently showed great credulity, and took delight in reporting the observations of others, which has made his work of such great value for medievalists. 1300 births 14th-century deaths Swiss chroniclers Swiss Franciscans 14th-century Swiss historians People from Winterthur Swiss male writers {{RC-clergy-stub