The following appeared on the menu at the 255^th Voegelin Anniversary Reunion held on Sunday, October 9, 1988 at the Country Fox Inn in Red Hill, Pennsylvania.   It has been translated from the original German and it is obvious that something has been lost or garbled in the translation.   It is rife with non sequiturs and missing connections, but hopefully the reader will be able to decipher most of it.   This writer’s attempt at the basic outline of the story has been presented in the Europe chapter.

It is important to note that the time, place-names, events and people that serve as historical background of the story have been researched and found to be accurate.   Items marked with an asterisk (*) are historically correct and are referred to in the explanation that follows the story.   Items of family lore such as the small cross, the silver container, etc. are, of course, another matter.

(Translated by Melissa Carter 1987

From Das Vogelberglehen von Paul Suter)

Der Vogelberg am Passwang

Vogel is high above

Louel lies in the basin

Bürten down below

Reigoldswil in the valley.

“The above-mentioned verse, which was sung decades ago by local musicians as an interlude in the ‘Trio’ portion of a dance, beautifully characterizes the altitude of this mountain.   Vogel Mountain was designated by the surveyor Georg Friedrich Meyer in 1681 as ‘the highest mountain in the Basel area’. According to the 1:25,000 scale map #1087, Vogel Mountain’s benchmark 1204.1 (618 400/246 400) lies directly in the Solothurn canton (also called Passwang or the Passwang’s Vogel Mountain Peak). The highest peaks on Reigoldswiler or Lauwiler Boden are the 1160 meter high ridge on the northern slope called Schattberg (Shadow Mountain)(, and the 1152 meter high Vogelberghochi, crowned with a large Basel boundary marker (dated 1727).   The local Lauwil-Reigoldswil border also begins at this later spot.

“When an institution can look back on an existence of several hundred years, its inception often loses itself in myth. In the Vögelin family’s verbal tradition, the inheritance was connected to an ancestor’s wages, which established one’s nobility at the time of a war.   The Reigoldswiler teacher F. Jenny built this tradition up to a fanciful portrayal in the story within the story ‘The Legacy’, which appeared for the first time in 1869 in the serial ‘The Landschäftler’ and was then reprinted twice.

“Although the Vogel Mountain investiture was clearly made through the ruling city of Basel, the age of knights and convents is conjured up by this beloved and ‘historically correct’ story, and the entire thing is put into the framework of a Swiss story.   In the following the story’s content is briefly summarized: in Reigoldswil* the author is witness to the division of the mountain taxes from Vogel Mountain to the various Vögelin families.   On the following Sunday he visits Vogel Mountain with a member of the family and learns the story of the legacy from this informant:

“Friar Rudolf, who is married to the Alsatian noblewoman Ursula von Geroldseck*, lives in the castle Ramstein*.   Father Bernard, prior of the St. Romai* convent at Lauwil*, is often a guest there.   The latter pursues Cäcilia, the castle mistress’visiting younger sister. She secretly gives birth to a girl at her father’s castle in Alsace.   The criminal Friar makes an attempt on this child’s life.   He recruits the Ramsteiner’s two dishonorable sons, Hans Imer and Hans Bernhard, for the plan.   Those two kidnap the child and authorize a page to kill it. The page is horrified by the dreadful deed.   He sets the child in the forest near Zullwil* and gives Hans Imer a small cross with the Geroldseck coat of arms on it, which he had taken from the child.   The girl is found by the farmer Hans - a former serf of the Ramsteiners. He adopts the child and raises it with his two boys in a simple fashion.   A short while later, Hans Imer is found killed in a forest.   The small cross, which he carried with him, is gone.

“In the meantime, at the farmhouse near Zullwil, the girl, who is called Anna, has blossomed into a young woman.   She is especially attached to the younger of the brothers, Friedrich, who got the nickname ‘Vögelin’ because of his love for nature and birds.   The older one, Hermann, becomes an armourer and soon lands his own job in Breisach*. Friederich, in any case, leaves his homeland and goes to his brother.   There he is caught up in the whirlwind of events and takes part in the resistance to the Burgundian governor Hagenbach*, for whose arrest he works hard. He, however, is arrested later by Hagenbach’s friends and must face death.   He narrowly escapes, heads back home, and takes his place in the Swiss army, which awaits the attack of Charles the Great*.   In the meantime, it has gotten lonely back at Ramstein for Friar Rudolf.   He places a bet with the Friar from St. Romai and wins a silver container, but gives it back against a written promise of Upper Bürten*, a promise which the Ramsteiner inherited, along with other goods, after the death of the sister-in-law Cäcilia.   No sooner does the sly father bask in his success than the vengeful nemesis approaches!

“Quite miraculously, it is discovered that the Lauwil farmer Hans’ foster daughter is Cäcilia’s own daughter.   The Battle of Murten* takes place at this time, where Friedrich saves the life of the Solothurner leader Hans Bernhard of Ramstein. He, himself, is severely wounded, however, and is lovingly cared for by the Ramsteiner.   At this time the little cross that had been removed from the murdered Hans Imer appears on a Burgundian partisan, and the Friar of St. Romai reveals himself as the murderer.   After Friedrich’s recovery, the Ramsteiner and his follower return home.   The Friar, however, has already come up with a retaliatory plan and has let Anna’s foster father be thrown into prison. Anna, herself, is said to have disappeared into a convent.   Friedrich’s return trip ruins this plan.   The lovers are united and Anna regains the privileges of the heiress of Geroldseck.

It looks like a happy ending, but the slightly punished Friar comes up with a new plan, in which he recruits the villain Thomas von Falkenstein, whom Friedrich ambushes and shoots on Vogel Mountain before his fiancée’s very eyes.   The one who causes the death - the villainous Friar - ends up in the gallows. The uncomforting Anna of Geroldseck goes into the convent and wills her fortune to the endowment.   At her suggestion, Uli Vögelin receives the Upper Bürten meadowlands for utilization, and the endowment is confirmed as an inheritance through the document of the city of Basel.”

*The following names, dates, and places are historically correct (mileage is as the crow flies):

Reigoldswil - A small town about 12 miles south of Basel and 2 miles north of Vogelberg (Passwang).

Geroldseck - A castle 50 miles north of Basel, in present day Germany just east of the Rhine river.

Ramstein - An ancient castle now in ruins near the town of Waldenburg, 2 ½ miles east of Reigoldswil.

St. Romai - A medieval church; some ruins remain.

Lauwil - A small village just south of Reigoldswil.

Zullwil - A village 4 miles west of Reigoldswil in the Solothurn canton.

Breisach - A city 32 miles north of Basel on the Rhine river. The citizens revolted against Hagenbach in 1474.

Hagenbach - The first person in history known to be tried for war crimes.   He was tried and convicted for murder, rape, perjury and other crimes in violation of ‘the laws of God and Man’ during his occupation of Breisach on behalf of Charles, Duke of Burgundy, at a time when there were no hostilities.

Charles the Great - A misnomer.   It was actually Charles the Bold of Burgundy, not Charlemagne who reigned over 600 years before.

Upper Bürten - The upper meadows of Vogel mountain.

Battle of Murten - In 1476, the Swiss dealt a severe blow to Charles the Bold at this city 40 miles to the southwest in Fribourg canton.

Falkenstein - A castle partially in ruins about 5 miles south of Reigoldswil