The Districts of Schiers and Seewis

	These two districts have formed a political unit for so 
long that they can be surveyed together.

	The district of Schiers, with the political communes of 
Grüsch and Schiers, lies on the right of the valley and 
reaches from the lower Buchner Tobel along the line 
Chüenihorn-Garschinafurgga -Grat to the west boundary along 
the lower Taschinabach; the boundary then turns to the 
south-east below Fanas, and east of Fanas rises to the ridge of 
the Girenspitz.

	The district of Seewis with the political communes of 
Fanas, Seewis, and Valzeina stretches from the west boundary of 
the district of Schiers mentioned above to a line 
Chlus-Vilan-Tschingel.  On the left of the valley the territory 
of the district includes the region between the boundary of 
Furna and the river Landquart, as well as the whole commune of 
Valzeina.

	The name Schiers is derived from Romansh "aschier" 
meaning sycamore, Seewis goes back to the name of a Gallic 
tribe Sequienos, but the historic connection is not quite clear.

	Bronze Age settlement of this territory has proved by a 
large find of almost 20 kg of bronze objects near Schiers.  
These objects, which must have been stored near Schiers, are by 
far the most important prehistoric finds in the Prätigau to 
date.

	The church at Schiers was founded in the early Middle 
Ages, i.e. in the 5th century, and it served the whole valley 
of the Prätigau.

	In the Frankish period the territory was part of the 
Ministerium Curisinum; it then passed to the Dukes of Bregenz, 
then to Hugo of Tübingen by marriage, then to his son, Hugo I 
of Montfort, and then through his daughter to Walter III of 
Vaz.  Later the sovereignty passed to Ulrich of Aspermont via a 
sister of Donat, the last Baron of Vaz.  After the death of 
Aspermont's widow, when the lower Prätigau was divided, 
Solavers Castle above Grüsch, as well as the villages of 
Grüsch, Schiers, Fanas, Seewis, and Valzeina, passed to 
Friederich V of Toggenburg, whereas Ulrich of Matsch took 
possession of Castels.

	The partition-treaty stipulates, that the castle of 
Fragstein belongs to both of us and is undivided.  For obvious 
reasons this stronghold at the Chlus, situated at the entrance 
to the Prätigau, had to be open to both lords.

	In 1348 the Duke of Toggenburg also acquired some 
scattered possessions from the Werdenbergs and rights from the 
sovereignty of Aspermont.  After the death of the last Duke of 
Toggenburg, Friederich VII, who was born at Solavers Castle, 
half of the territory, which at that time was still one single 
jurisdiction, passed to the Lords of Matsch in 1436; in 1460 
they also bought the other half.  In 1496 the Lords of Matsch 
sold the whole of the court of Schiers together with Castles to 
Austria.

	Based on some property rights of the chapter at Chur, 
an independent chapter court had arisen within the jurisdiction 
of Schiers.  These special rights however were gradually 
reduced, and disappeared completely when the chapter sold them 
in 1677.

	In the course of the 14th century Walsers had settled 
at Valzeina and lived scattered throughout the whole 
territory.  In 1436 the land and court at Schiers and Seewis, 
represented by the magistrate Bartholome Ruck joined the League 
of Ten Jurisdictions forming one jurisdiction Schiers-Seewis.  
Their magistrate was chosen from a nomination of three men by 
the Austrian bailiff.  The magistracy was held by 15 jurymen 
who were appointed by the communes according to a fixed system 
of rotation.  In the second half of the 16th century all the 
villages joined the new faith.  During the wars of the Grisons 
they suffered great hardship.  Seewis and Schiers were almost 
completely destroyed by a fire started by the Austrians.  The 
population was also hit hard by trials for witchcraft.  In the 
second part of 1655 there were no less than 34 victims in the 
lower Prätigau.

	In 1679 the jurisdiction was divided due to disputes 
and misunderstandings.  The people of Seewis declared that the 
"great lords" had talked the people of Schiers and Grüsch into 
accepting a division and said that it was well known that 
distributing money, drinking and bribery caused factions, bad 
practices and divisions.  From then on each jurisdiction 
appointed its own magistrate and of the two votes in the League 
one fell to Schiers the other to Seewis.  The share of the 
offices in the Valtellina and the bailiwick at Maienfeld was 
decided by lot.  Fanas was at first part of the 
half-jurisdiction of Schiers, but in 1729 it joined 
Seewis-Valzeina.

	For a long time the two branches of the Salis family 
from Seewis and Grüsch played a decisive part in the political 
life of the Leagues.

	During the Revolution period the two half-jurisdictions 
Schiers and Seewis were strongly opposed to joining the 
Helvetian Republic, as were Luzein and Jenaz.  The reason for 
this was that they were economically dependent from Montafun in 
Austria.

	In 1811 there was the söcalled calendar dispute in the 
Grisons.  The introduction of the new calendar met with 
considerable opposition, and the Great Council set up a special 
court to put some pressure on the tarrying communes.  In the 
end this court had to take action only against Grüsch and 
Seewis, as they refused to accept the calendar.

	In 1851 the jurisdictions Schiers and Seewis became 
cantonal districts, whereby upper Valzeina, which up to that 
time had belonged to the jurisdiction of the Four Villages, was 
joined to the district of Seewis.  Schuders was a community of 
its own until it was joined to Schiers in 1901.

Personalities from the districts of Schiers and Seewis:

	Johann Gaudenz of Salis-Seewis (1762-1834).  When he 
was 17 he entered the service of the French.  On his return to 
the Grisons he became a staunch supporter of the party of the 
patriots, which stood for the ideas of liberalism.  Being in 
favour of the Grisons becoming part of the Confederation he was 
chosen a member of the Great Council in 1803, and in 1808 was 
made magistrate of the Leagues.  He improved conditions in 
public education and military affairs.  Johann Gaudenz of 
Salis-Seewis became known as a poet far beyond the boundaries 
of the Grisons.  Some of his poems were set to music by Frnaz 
Schubert.  In literary history Salis is considered to be the 
first real lyrical poet of the Confederation (Nadler).

	Benedikt Hartmann (1873-1955) from Schiers.  First he 
was a parson in several parishes in the country and at Chur.  
From Jenins he went to the Evangelical College at Schiers where 
he was a teacher of religion and philosophy and later became 
its headmaster.  Then he was appointed professor at the 
Cantonal School of the Grisons.

	He was a man of wide interests and wrote books on 
theology, pedagogy and history.  As a member of the Society for 
the Protection of the Countryside he did a lot of useful work 
by listing the monuments of art in the Grisons.  His 
biographies, above all the one on Theophil Sprecher of Bernegg, 
were widely read.  The faculty of theology of the University of 
Zürich honoured this eminent teacher and writer in 1937 by 
conferring on him the title of Dr. h.c. of Theology.

District Coat of Arms:

	Schiers: Gold, two crossed halberds in sable.  
Blazonry:  In memory of the rising of the people of the 
Prätigau on Palm-Sunday 1622, and the uprisings at Schiers and 
Grüsch, in which the Morgenstern (club with iron spikes) was 
used for the first time.  District colours: yellow-black.

	Seewis: Gold, fir tree in vert on tripartite vert 
mountain.  Blazonry: The coat of arms corresponds to the 
traditional seal of the jurisdiction Seewis-Valzeina in the 
17th and 18th centuries.  District colours: yellow-green.