John of Winterthur
Encyclopedia
John of Winterthur was a Swiss historian who wrote a chronicle of history up to 1348.

He was born in Winterthur
Winterthur
Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...

, in what is now Canton Zurich, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. He attended school in his native village from 1309 to 1315 and then joined the Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

s. As a member of the order, he lived at Baslein in 1328, at Villingen in 1336, and at Lindau
Lindau
Lindau is a Bavarian town and an island on the eastern side of Lake Constance, the Bodensee. It is the capital of the Landkreis or rural district of Lindau. The historic city of Lindau is located on an island which is connected with the mainland by bridge and railway.- History :The name Lindau was...

 from 1343 onwards.

His chronicle (Chronicon a Friderico II Imperatore ad annum 1348) was begun in 1340, and gives a history of events up to that year. His record of the later years consists of notes or annals.
Whether he updated his chronicle later is a matter of uncertainty.

The chronicle is a source of information on the first half of the fourteenth century, and gives an idea of the conflicts which arose between the cities and the nobles of Upper Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...

.
It also provides a general view of events in the empire, especially of Louis the Bavarian's conduct toward the papacy and of the Franciscan Order's attitude toward the controversies.
John was a man of culture, well-versed in spiritual and in secular literature, but he frequently showed great credulity, and took delight in reporting the observations of others, which has made his work of such great value for medievalists.
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