The monasteries
The first monasteries on Swiss territory, such as at Romainmôtier in Waatdland and at St. Maurice in Valais, are the result of influences from southern France, where oriental monasticism first set foot in central Europe. There were already some two dozen monasteries in Switzerland before the year 800, although there is no detailed information on the rules that were in force there. However, monasteries that were established later, such as at St. Gallen and Disentis, were mainly based on Irish monasticism with its roots at the Columban monastery at Luxeuil in the Vosges, with the monks living according to the rules of St Columban or according to so-called mixed rules at first.
With the monastery reform of the Franconian Kings in the 8th and 9th centuries, the Swiss monasteries also went over – more or less voluntarily – to the rules of St Benedict of Nursia. Those established later, such as at Müstair or Einsiedeln, were based on the rules of St Benedict from the very beginning.
Monasteries played a very central role in the development of occidental education and culture. After the Carolingian era and up to the Reformation there were innumerable smaller and larger monasteries throughout the whole country – there were over 80 Benedictine monasteries and convents in Switzerland alone, and in the late Middle Ages there were even half a dozen monasteries in Zurich, a small town at the time.
Overview of monasteries in Switzerland: