The Walser trains

The Romans usually avoided the high mountains of the Alps, which they called “terra maledicta”, i.e. “cursed earth”. The unforgiving landscapes of the Alps, inhabited by hostile, barbaric peoples, seemed a world away from the cultivated fields and urban centers with which they were familiar. After the Romans withdrew from what is now Switzerland, the Alemanni settled in the Mittelland, while the Burgundians settled in Valais in the fifth century.

In the seventh and eighth centuries the Alemanni moved to Upper Valais and in the ninth century they reached the area around Goms. In the tenth century, the Hungarian and Arab invasions briefly prevented migration from the Bernese Oberland to the upper Rhone valley, but around 1000 conditions were favorable for further settlement and increased population growth. Transalpine trade slowly increased. This stimulated the growth of new towns and villages near major mountain passes. Customs posts, accommodation and transport services sprang up along the ancient Roman roads and passes, and other routes quickly opened up.

Large farming families in the upper Rhone Valley began to move small herds of cows, goats and other livestock to the higher elevations of today’s Upper Valais in search of fresh pasture. Many farmers already had “alps” or pastures in the high mountains in the Middle Ages, where they let their animals graze in the summer. They were used to the great dangers such as avalanches, bears and wolves, but also sudden bad weather and traveled the high mountains up to 1600 meters.

The Walser emigrated in all directions, establishing farms and small settlements scattered over an area of ​​about 350 kilometers from what is now France to Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Germany. It is believed that the Walsers settled or founded about 150 villages between 1150 and 1450. Although the Walser emigration has historical parallels and similarities with the Ostsiedlung of the Germans to Eastern Europe, which occurred almost at the same time, the reasons for the Walser migration are still the subject of intense speculation, debate and research.

Two factors that probably contributed to the migration were the overcrowding of the upper Rhone valley and the end of the Medieval Warm Period (around 800–1300). Agricultural and economic pressures also played a role. The rapid growth of urban centers in northern Italy and the Swiss interior after 1100 fundamentally changed agricultural production in the Alps. Meat, milk and fresh cheese from Swiss farmers in the Alps and the foothills of the Alps were increasingly in demand in the young towns and villages.

To meet the increasing demand, farmers not only needed more animals, but also new land. Because the Walser had already developed a kind of economy that was adapted to the high mountains and the competition for space became increasingly fierce, they sought their luck elsewhere.

Church disputes over land and bloody feudal feuds also forced the Walser to leave. In the High Middle Ages, feudal lords in the Bernese Oberland sold the inhabitants of the Lötschental as serfs to Interlaken Abbey. On the other hand, many feudal lords and representatives of the spiritual elite welcomed the Walser when they claimed uninhabited areas like Davos, Langwies and Safien. Feudal deeds and other medieval documents prove that the Walsers had already acquired rights in the Graubünden Rheinwald at the end of the 12th century.

The resulting increase in population and the steadfastness of the Walser gave the feudal lords in the Rheinwald a greater sense of security. At the same time, the Walsers themselves were very keen to organize their lives independently of their neighbors. Walser law (feudal settler law) gave the Walser land in exchange for moderate interest payments and compulsory military service. In Davos, in addition to full personal freedom of movement, the Walsers were even given the right to their own legal entity.

The Walser were so adept at self-government that the Walser courts in Switzerland were not dissolved until 1805. Written records indicate that the Walsers held important military and political positions during the Three Leagues period, and some researchers suggest that the Walsers therefore played a vital role in establishing democratic institutions in the region.

The Walsers, who moved south towards Italy, were gladly employed by the nobles to defend mountain paths and pastures. In the Val Formazza, they not only received the rights to settle and cultivate the land, but also permits to clear the forest. Later, the Walser fulfilled the important function of seasonal workers. The Walsers, moving west along the Rhône to towns such as Raron and Saillon, took up arms to reduce the power of the Prince-Bishop of Sitten and the local feudal lords.

Contrary to popular belief, Walser architecture is characterized by diversity and variety. Depending on the topography of the area and the resources available, the Walser built their houses, barns, stables and churches from wood or stone. Wooden or stone planks served as a base. The reason for this was, firstly, to protect them from bandits and secondly, to protect their livestock from wild animals and storms.

When building houses with wood, the Walser used block constructions, usually connecting larch trunks. The most important room in a traditional Walser house was the kitchen or “fireplace”. Here the Walsers stoked the fire, cooked their meals and made cheese or other dairy products. In addition, the kitchen served as a room in which the Walser received neighbors or visitors. Thanks to the steep roofs, the Walser houses were protected from the risk of collapse due to heavy snow masses, and the firewood that was so urgently needed at the door made it possible to bake bread in large ovens around the clock.

Hay was stored in sturdy barns and barns made of larch wood to feed the animals during the long winters. In most Walser settlements there were small schools, often with only one classroom, or very small cheese dairies, the so-called alpine cheese dairies. Probably the most unique aspect of Walser architecture is that of the “soul window”. It was said to be an opening above a window of the house through which the soul of a deceased person could pass out and into heaven in peace.

The language is the most characteristic feature of the Walser cultural identity. About 10,000 people still speak Walser dialects with their many proverbs and colorful sayings. Walser German differs significantly in pronunciation and grammar from other Alemannic dialects. A common feature of Walser German is the pronunciation of the Germanic «s» as «sch».

It should be remembered that the Walser emigration strongly influenced the Romansh-speaking communities of what is now eastern Switzerland and what is now northern Italy. Due to the Walser migration, the Rhaeto-Romance communities were so separated and isolated that new Rhaeto-Romance dialects emerged soon after the arrival of the Walser. The independence of the communities allowed the Walser and Romansh communities to coexist for hundreds of years. Although the Walser lived in unique cultural niches in the Rhaeto-Romanic and Alemannic regions, intermarriage with local people in the early modern period resulted in the adaptation and eventual disappearance of many Walser communities.

The Walsers in the Bernese Oberland and in Savoy had a similar experience. The rigors of life at the highest altitudes and the social changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century further eroded the Walser’s cultural identity. Nevertheless, Swiss poets, philosophers and other artists have long praised the independent spirit of the Walser people and their ability to live in complete solitude in harmony with nature. The poem “The Alps”, written by Albrecht von Haller in 1729, is a paean to rural life and many of the Enlightenment thinkers, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, admired the Walser’s wild self-determination and their free life away from the excesses of a degenerate urban population.

This is how Walser German was spoken in northern Italy a hundred years ago: “The Merry Fasnacht”, told by Gaspare Pala, farmer and mountain guide from Macugnaga (Piedmont), 1929.
^{walsermuseum.ch}