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blick zurück
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looking back
Engelberg and its Abbey – or is it the Abbey and
its Engelberg? The two have formed an insepara-
ble entity for almost 900 years – ever since a
group of Benedictine monks founded the Abbey
in 1120 and set about taming this wild, remote
valley and encouraging people to settle here. For
centuries, the Abbey had dominion over the
valley, and Engelberg was an autonomous state.
Under the direc tion of the Abbot, the Ab-
bey decided the destinies of the va lley commu-
nity for many years. Yet the day came when the
inhabitants no longer wished to be regarded as
mere subjec ts. Instead, they
began demanding civ il rights
and liber ties. The Abbey suc-
cessively granted priv ileges
f rom 1422 onwards; and the
monks and va lley dwellers
proceeded to coex ist in a
remarkable fellowship, collec tively adminis-
tering justice and enac ting legislation for the
nex t 400 years or so. The va lley cour t played an
impor tant role in this regard, and its ru lings
had a direc t impac t on daily life in Engelberg.
A highpoint in relations between the
Abbey and the loca l community came with the
reign of Abbot Barnabas Bürki (f rom 1505 to
1546). Weathering the storms that came with
the Reformation, he managed to introduce
impor tant innovations in the va lley. Under
Barnabas, new laws were passed, the Abbey
School improved, conf lic ts with neighbour-
ing communities set tled, and the course of the
Aa river diver ted to reduce the risk of f lood-
ing. The reign of Abbot Jakob Benedik t Sigrist
(f rom 1603 to 1619) was more problematic. The
zea lous reformer fell fou l of the va lley dwell-
ers and the surrounding cantons, par ticu larly
through his at tempts to govern as an absolute
ru ler. Jakob failed to bring Engelberg under
his thumb and, u ltimately, the situation de-
esca lated. A blaze at the Abbey in 1729 rev ived
a sense of solidarity between the monks and
the people as they worked together to reas-
semble the wrecked building. But the Abbey
was much more than a politica l and religious
entity for the popu lace – it a lso took care of
their materia l needs. During the reign of Ab-
bot Leodegar Sa lzmann (f rom 1769 to1798), for
example, a silk-combing workshop was set up
to a llow loca ls to earn additiona l income.
However, when French troops marched
into the va lley in 1798, ever y thing changed.
The Abbey renounced its
dominion over the va lley,
handing sovereignty to the
loca l community instead.
And thus, Engelberg ceased
to ex ist as an independent
state. Af ter severa l years
of strife and uncer tainty, the Abbey and the
va lley joined the canton of Obwa lden in 1815.
Thanks to its geographica l distance f rom the
rest of the canton and the specia l rights it had
negotiated, Engelberg was, however, able to
retain a degree of autonomy. Strong ties a lso
remained between the Abbey and the people
of the va lley. It cared for the poor, and helped
promote tourism in the region. As a land-
owner and even a shareholder, it suppor ted
the construc tion of new hotels, the railway to
Engelberg, and the mountain cableways. It a lso
promoted the education of the loca l popu lation
by set ting up schools. The va lley dwellers have
long appreciated this cordia l cooperation with
their erstwhile overlords, and the close, happy
union remains unabated to the present day.
blick zurück
|
looking back
The Abbey and the valley com-
munity have remained a big
happy family to this day.