Waltharius, a Latin poem founded on German popular tradition, relates the exploits of the west Gothic hero Walter of Aquitaine.

A secular work, it introduces classical hexameter into German literature.

Our knowledge of the author, Ekkehard, a monk of St. Gall, is due to a later Ekkehard, known as Ekkehard IV (d. 1060), who gives some account of him in the Casus Sancti Galli (ch. 80).

If Ekkehart IV's account, much discussed among scholars, is true, which seems to be confirmed by another monk of St. Gall, Herimannus, the author of the later (ca 1075) life of St. Wiborada of St. Gall where he cites verse 51 of the Waltharius, the poem was written by Ekkehard, generally distinguished as Ekkehard I, for his master Geraldus in his schooldays, probably therefore not later than 920, since he is probably no longer young when he becomes deacon (in charge of ten monks) in 957.

He will die in 973.

Hungarian raiders attack the abbey of St. Gallen and the surrounding town in 926.

Saint Wiborada, who is to be the first woman formally canonized by the Vatican, reportedly sees a vision of the impending attack and warns the monks and citizens to flee.

While the monks escape with the abbey treasure, Wiborada chooses to stay behind and is killed by the raiders.

The abbot of St. Gallen becomes a prince of the church in the Holy Roman Empire in about 1206.

The Imperial free town of Sankt Gallen (Saint Gall) applies for help to the Swiss district of Appenzell when its former suzerain, the Abbey of St. Gall, illegally demands a return to earlier status and assessments on the towns’s extensive textile trade.

Appenzell, itself a feudatory of the abbey, allies itself with Schwyz, another Imperial free town, and defies the abbey.

In 1403, the abbey had dispatched a monastic army against Appenzell, but the towns’ defenders had repulsed the attack.

Two years later, abbey forces—now aided by the oppressive Habsburg Duke Frederick of Austria—attack both the village and Appenzell, but are again defeated.

Rupert, King of Germany orders (with no legal basis for so doing) the rebel polities to return to the control of the abbey, but Appenzell and St. Gall seek help from the Swiss Confederation.

...the town of St-Gall, earn the protection in 1411 of the Swiss Confederacy, over which the King of Germany holds no power.

The city of St. Gallen, accepted as an associate state on June 13, 1454, had become free in 1415, but was in a conflict with its abbot, who had tried to bring it under his influence.

However, as the Habsburg dukes are unable to support him in any way, he had been forced to seek help from the confederates, and the abbey had become a protectorate of the Swiss Confederacy on August 17, 1451.

The reformation is introduced in the city of St. Gallen by ayor and humanist Joachim von Watt (Vadian), starting in 1526.

The town converts to the new reformed religion while the Abbey remains Roman Catholic.

While iconoclastic riots force the monks to flee the city and remove images from the city's churches, the fortified Abbey remains untouched.

The town of Sankt Gallen had bought its liberty from the German king Sigismund in 1415.

In 1405 the Appenzell estates of the abbot had successfully rebelled and in 1411 they had become allies of the Old Swiss Confederation.

A few months later, the town of St. Gallen also became an ally, joining the "everlasting alliance" as full members of the Confederation in 1454 and in 1457 became completely free from the abbot.

However, in 1451 the abbey had become an ally of Zürich, Lucerne, Schwyz and Glarus, all of whom were members of the Confederation.

In early 1490, the four cantons had supported the Abbot against the rebellious city and the Appenzell.

Following their victory, the Confederation had taken ownership of the city of St. Gallen and rejected the inroads of the empire.

Thirty-six hundred Jews are permitted to enter Switzerland, despite Switzerland's closing of its borders to Jewish refugees without valid entry visas, by Paul Gruninger, the local police chief of St.Gallen.

He is suspended in December 1938.