Montafon
The population of Montafon was heavily interspersed by the Walser.
Ulricus Campellus recounts in 1570 that the Walser dialect was very strong if
not predominant in Montafon. The “Germanisierung” of the Montafon already started before the
Walser but their settlement gave an important impulse for this development. The
Walser are historically tracebal in the document of consecration of the first
church in Silbertal in 1332. The bishop of Chur, Ulrich, consecrated the new
chapel in Silbergerg to the glory of the Holy Trinity, Virgin Mother, Holy Nikolaus,
Holy Mauritius with companions and all saints. The newly founded church was
provided with a document of indulgence which had been signed by twelve bishops
from Avignon. The Walser settlers collected relicts of the Holy Theodul from
Sitten in Valais when the church was renovated for the first time in 1450.
The Walser probably received their properties one or two decades before the
church in Silbertal was constructed. They erected their farms at the slopes of Kristberg, in Buchen and the
shady sides in the parcels Ganlätsch, Frauenlob, Höfle, Schoffel, Wühre and
Brief. The latter lies in Silbertal but is part of Schruns.
The Walser met the Reatoroman court followers of the court Bludenz on the favourable sites of the valley’s base. The miners occupied the Kristberg-slope where they digged for silver, copper and iron. They already had their own chapel which had been rebuilt in the outgoing 15th century as “St. Agatha Bergknappenkapelle” (mountain miners’ chapel of the Holy Agatha) according to a legend.
The three different groups of settlers formed the “folk” of Silbertal
and left its marks in field and family names to this day.