District of Safien

	The district of Safien comprises the geographical unit 
of the valley through which the Rabiusa flows, confined in the 
south by the Bärenhorn, in the north by the Gorge of Versam.  
In the two communes Safien and Tenna there are a number of 
small scattered settlements. 

	The first documentary evidence dates from 1219 and 
calls the valley Stosavia, Romansh Stussavgia, a name which 
philologists connect with a pre-Roman river or tribal name.

	In the early Middle Ages the valley was used by Romansh 
people, which is shown by a number of Romansh place and 
field-names such as Camana, Malönia etc.  As the Versam Gorge 
and other gorges made the passage to the north difficult, the 
valley's main connection up to the 15th century was the Glas 
Pass, which was also much used later.  It leads to Thusis and 
was called Stäga by the Walsers and Scala in Romansh.

	The Barons of Vaz probablv settled the first Walsers in 
these parts at the beginning of the 14th century; they came 
over the Safierberg and gradually took possession of the land.  
Germanisation was practically completed by 1350 and Safien 
already formed a politically closed commune of Walsers.  The 
Bishop of Chur was the sovereign lord,  who ceded the bailiwick 
together with the sovereign rights, such as the penal 
judicature and the recruiting rights, to the Barons of Vaz and, 
after their line died out in 1338, to the Dukes of Werdenberg- 
Sargans.  In 1383 the fief was inherited again by the 
Werdenberg-Sargans.  They sold it in 1493 to the owner of the 
Duchy of Misox i.e.  the Duke Gian Giacomo Trivulzio of Milan.  
It seems, however, that the farmers at Safien enjoyed a high 
degree of political freedom quite early, as already in 1362 
there was an independent magistrate, a jury, and a commune at 
Safien.  After long proceedings in 1675 the people of Safien 
were bought from the sovereignty of the Trivulzio for 2450 
Florins by the League.

	The property rights are not clear for the early times.  
In the 16th century, however, a large part of the estates 
belonged to the convent of Cazis which, according to the 
register of 1512, possessed 13 farms that were farmed by 
Walsers as hereditary feuds.  For each estate there were two 
headmen who had to collect the taxes.  These cannot have been 
small when one considers that on Martini Day it needed 26 
headmen with 46 hands and 47 horses to take the taxes across 
the Glas Pass to Cazis.

	In 1424 the people from Safien together with those from 
Räzüns joined the Grey League, in which they had their own 
jurisdiction.  In 1526 they accepted the new faith.

	Today the commune of Tenna is part of the district of 
Safien.  In the 14th century the Walsers turned the woods into 
arable land and started to cultivate the alpine parts, thus 
laying the foundation for settlement.

	In 1383 the people of Tenna and Safien came under the 
rule of Räzüns. After their line died out the few remaining 
rights that had not yet been bought up passed, like those of 
the territory of Räzüns, to Duke Jost Niklas von Zollern, 
later, in 1497 to the Hapsburgs, and in 1919 finally to the 
Grisons.

	In the documents the Dukes of Werdenberg-Sargans appear 
as landlords, who in 1398 sold the pastures called Tenna to the 
Walsers; thus the Walsers became free farmers forming a 
jurisdiction in the Grey League.

	Whereas the jurisdiction of Safien belonged to the High 
Court of Thusis, Tenna belonged to the High Court of the 
Gruob.  Only after the reorganisation of 1851 did the two 
communes become one political district.

Well-known personality from Safien:

Sebastian Hunger: (1830-1911) was a wellknown lawyer who represented 
his district in the Great Council.  He is one of the most important 
pioneers in the history of the railways in the Grisons and especially 
promoted the construction of the Albula line.


District Coat of Arms: Skyblue, saltire in silver and sable.  
Blazonry: The banner of Safien of the year 1585 is skyblue with a 
saltire in silver and sable, in addition to this in the first quarter 
an Agnus Dei in silver with halo and a red flag with a cross standing 
on a green lawn.  The figure of the year 1585 is inscribed on the 
lawn.  The coat of arms is reduced to the saltire as the most 
essential part of the tradition.  District colours:  blue-white-black.