Valerius Anshelm (1475 – 1546/1547), born as Valerius Rüd (or Ryd), was a Swiss chronicler working in Bern. Anshelm was born in Rottweil, a city in Swabia that was allied with the Old Swiss Confederacy. His grandfather „Boley der Rüd genannt Anshelm“ had fought on the side of the ''

Eidgenossen ''Eidgenossenschaft'' () is a German word specific to the political history of Switzerland. It means "oath commonwealth" or "oath alliance" in reference to the "eternal pacts" formed between the Eight Cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy of th ...

'' in the

Burgundy Wars The Burgundian Wars (1474–1477) were a conflict between the Burgundian State and the Old Swiss Confederacy and its allies. Open war broke out in 1474, and the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the battlefield in th ...

. After studies in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

(1493–1495) and

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

(until 1499) he spent some time as a travelling

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...

(in 1501, he was in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

). He then settled in Bern, where he was appointed on 22 August 1505 the

headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

of the Latin school. In 1508, he became the city physician. As a sympathizer of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, he corresponded with reformers such as

Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Univ ...

and Vadian. A critical remark of his wife on the

veneration Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Ety ...

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

earned him a reprimand by the city council and a substantial pay cut in 1523, and as a consequence the family moved to Rottweil two years later. However, there he got involved in the conflicts between

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

s and

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

s, too, and even spent some time in jail. When the Protestants were banned from Rottweil in 1529, he more than gladly followed a call of Bern (which had become Protestant in 1528) to serve as the city's chronicler. From 1535 to 1537 he again served also as the

city physician City physician (German: ; , , from Latin ) was a historical title in the Late Middle Ages for a physician appointed by the city council. The city physician was responsible for the health of the population, particularly the poor, and the sanitary ...

(). He died between 1 August 1546 and 21 February 1547; the exact date is unknown. Anshelm's appointment as chronicler was based on his having written a Latin chronicle of world history already during his first stay in Bern. Written in 1510, it was not printed until 1540, but Anshelm had distributed handwritten copies before. His main opus, however, was the ''Berner Chronik'', a history of the city of Bern on which he worked in his position as city chronicler until his death. After a brief introduction to the early history, it covered especially the time from the Burgundy Wars until 1536, although only fragments of the period of 1526 to 1536 survived. It remained buried in the municipal archives of Bern and was thus not widely known until the 17th century, when

Michael Stettler Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

was commissioned to continue Anshelm's work. Stettler's own ''Schweizerchronik'', a history of Switzerland that was based on Anshelm's work, appeared first in 1626.

Notes

* * * *Zahnd, U.M.,
«Wir sind willens ein kronick beschriben ze lassen» Bernische Geschichtsschreibung im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert
', in ''Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Heimatkunde'' 67/1, pp. 37–61; Historical Society of the Canton of Berne ("Historischer Verein des Kantons Bern"), 2005. In German. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anshelm, Valerius 16th-century Swiss historians Swiss chroniclers 1475 births 1540s deaths Year of death uncertain