Tschudi
Tschudi names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Tschudi EGIDIUS, or, as he wrote himself
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
EGIDIUS, or, as he wrote himself, GILG SCHUDI, the father of Swiss history; born in Glarus in 1505, of a family of which several members were distinguished in war, politics and science. He studied under Glarean in Basel and Paris; was in 1533 and 1549 high baliff at Baden, and for some time a captain in the French service; afterward traveling much among the Swiss mountains in search of materials for his historical studies. He several times acted as a mediator in the religious disputes of his time, but himself continued a Roman Catholic. In 1558 he became "Landammann" of Glarus; in 1559 was envoy to the Kaiser Ferdinand I. The chief of his numerous historical works is the "Chronicon Helveticum," embracing the period 1000-1470. The dramatic description of this book Schiller declared to be "both homely and Herodotean, nay Homeric," and used amply in giv giving local color to his "Wilhelm Tell." Rilliet notes that it was Tschudi who first gave precision to the circumstances, dates and persons of the Tell legend. Many unpublished MSS. of Tschudi are preserved in the libraries of St. Gallen and Zürich. He died in Glarus, Feb. 28, 1572.
Tschudi JOHANN JAKOB VON (tshö'dē)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JOHANN JAKOB VON (tshö'dē), a Swiss naturalist; born in Glarus, Switzerland, July 25, 1818. He traveled extensively in South America in 1838-1843 and again in 1857-1861. He wrote: "The Kechua Language" (1853); "Peru: Sketches of Travel" (1846); "Peruvian Antiquities" (1851); in South America" (5 vols. 1866-1869). He died in Jakobshof in Lower Austria, Oct. 8, 1889.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's called Aegidius Tschudi "the father of Swiss history" and noted, via Rilliet, that he "first gave precision to the circumstances, dates and persons of the Tell legend" — that verdict has hardened considerably. Modern scholarship treats large parts of the "Chronicon Helveticum" as embellished and in places fabricated, with Tschudi inventing documents and supplying invented dates such as 1307 for the Rütli oath; Switzerland instead reckons its origin from the Federal Charter of 1291, first celebrated nationally in 1891. William Tell himself is now taught as legend rather than history. A full critical edition of the Chronicon appeared in the second half of the 20th century, letting readers see exactly where Tschudi departed from his sources. Johann Jakob von Tschudi's 1853 grammar of Quechua, by contrast, still turns up in bibliographies of Andean linguistics.
Written for this edition, 2026.