District of Domleschg

	The boundaries of the District of Domleschg are the 
Viamala in the south and Schin and the ranges of the 
Stätzerhorn in the east, the terrace of Feldis in the north, 
and the Hinter Rhine in the west.  It comprises the political 
communes of Almens, Feldis/Veulden, Fürstenau, Paspels, 
Pratval, Rodels, Rothenbrunnen, Scharans, Scheid, Sils i.D., 
Trans and Tumegl/Tomils.

	The name Domleschg is derived from the old Roma "tumba" 
- hill - referring perhaps to the bill on which the church of 
St. Lorenz stands.

	Various finds in graves are proof of a settlement in 
this district during the prehistoric period.  It is expected 
that new light will be thrown on this period by the scientific 
evaluation of the prehistoric frescoes discovered in 1965 on 
the Maiensäss Carschenna above Sils i.D.

	Proof of a continuing settlement during Roman times is 
provided by numerous finds of coins and other small objects.  
At the time of the Franks the valley was part of the 
Ministerium Tumilasca.

	During the Middle Ages two parts, separated by the 
Riedbach near Rodels, can be distinguished:  the inner and 
outer Domleschg.

	In the inner Domleschg the Bishop of Chur became the 
lord.  The centre was the small town of Fürstenau, for which 
the Emperor Karl IV had given the bishop the usual market and 
court rights in a document dated 1354.  As the Emperor had 
ordered his people to use only those roads that were in the 
possession of the bishop, Fürstenau, which was on the road to 
the Septimer, prospered.  When the way through the Viamala was 
improved in 1470 the bishop's position in the Domleschg was no 
longer on the main trade route.  To compensate this he acquired 
Sils on the other side of the river Albula, a village which at 
one time had belonged to Schams.

	The outer Domleschg, with its centre Ortenstein, was at 
first a domain of the Lords of Vaz, and later of their heirs, 
the Dukes of Werdenberg-Sargans, whose castles were destroyed 
by the rebel subjects during the War of Schams (cf. District of 
Schams).  The arbitration of 1452 only allowed them the 
reconstruction of Ortenstein.  The Dukes of Werdenberg 
succeeded in defending their property in the outer Domleschg 
against the claims of the Bishop of Chur in the quarrels of 
1472.

	In the old organisation ofthe land by the League of 
God's House, according to which the High Court was divided into 
the two jurisdictions of Fürstenau and Ortenstein, the old 
boundaries ofthe territories are still recognisable.  The 
purchase of the sovereign rights by the communes was made in 
1527 for the inner Domleschg, and in 1709 for the outer 
Domleschg.

	During the Reformation Tomlis, Paspels and Rodels 
remained true to the old faith, at Almens there was parity of 
faith,  The remaining villages became Protestant.

	At the time of the conflicts in the Grisons, the 
Domleschg was the focus of political interest, when, in 1621, 
Jörg Jenatsch, at first a clergyman at Scharans, murdered the 
spiritual leader of the Spanish party, Pompeius Planta, at 
Riedberg Castle.  Planta's son-in-law, Rudolf Travers, who 
resided at Ortenstein Castle, helped to plan the murder of 
Janatsch in 1639.

	In the second half of the 18th century a bitter quarrel 
arose in the outer Domleschg, between the communes in the 
valley and those on the mountain, about the election of the 
magistrate.  Johann Viktor von Travers from Ortenstein wanted 
to take revenge on the Salis party, but his plan failed, which 
led to the division ofthe jurisdiction of Ortenstein into 
mountain and valley fractions.

	According to the census taken in 1960, the linguistic 
situation is a follows:  Scheid, completely Sutsilvanian 
Romansh; Feldis, predominantly Romansh; Paspels and Tomils, 
half Romansh; the remaining villages are completely or 
predominently German-speaking.

Famous people from Domleschg:

	Robert von Planta (1864-1937) Master of Fürstenau, he 
became famous in philological circles with his Grammar of the 
"Oskian-Umbrian Dialects" -the most complete and competent 
survey of the old Italian dialects.  His intensive studies made 
him the most outstanding expert of the linguistic history of 
the Grisons, and to him we owe the founding of the "Dicziunari 
rumantsch grischun", and the "Räetian Book of Names" edited by 
Andrea Schorta.  Being a well-known authority on questions of 
philology, Planta became the first adviser to the Lia 
Rumantscha; he also worked for the preservation of the 
Swiss-German dialects.

	Thomas Conrad von Baldenstein (1784-1978) was a 
well-known natural scientist, and made a name for himself as an 
entomologist and apiarist.  Chiefly, however, he was renowned 
as an ornithologist, and his scientific works on the bird-life 
of the Alps was recognised by various societies in Switzerland 
and abroad, who conferred honorary membership on him.

	District Coat of Arms: Silver, rooted apple tree green 
with twelve apples gules.  Blazonry: The green apple tree 
symbolises the rich fruit-growing district of the Domleschg, 
and the number of apples corresponds to the twelve communes of 
the district.  District colours: green-white-red.