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SCHAFFHAUSEN , the See also:capital of the Swiss See also:canton of that name, situated entirely (for its suburb, Feuerthalen, is in the canton of See also:Zurich) on rising ground above the right See also:bank of the See also:Rhine. Its streets are narrow (See also:save in the See also:modern quarters), while it is dominated by the fortress of Unnoth (wrongly called Munoth). It is by See also:rail 31 M. W. of See also:Constance and S9 M. W. of See also:Basel. It is a See also:city of contrasts, See also:medieval See also:architecture of the true Swabian type and modern manufactures mingling curiously together. Three of the sixteen See also:town See also:gates survive, and many )ld houses, though few have preserved traces of the frescoes which formerly adorned their See also:external walls. The See also:chief See also:ancient See also:building in the town is the See also:Munster (now See also:Protestant) of All See also:Saints, formerly a See also:Benedictine monastery. It was consecrated in 1052, and is a See also:good specimen of the " sternest and plainest Romanesque, finished with a single See also:side See also:tower near the See also:east end, that is architecturally connected both with See also:Italian campaniles and the so-called Anglo-Saxon towers of See also:England " (E. A. See also:Freeman). See also:Close to it is deposited the famous 15th-See also:century See also:bell that suggested See also:Schiller's See also:Song of the Bell and the opening of See also:Longfellow's See also:Golden See also:Legend. The See also:castle of Unnoth, above the town, See also:dates in its See also:present See also:form from the second See also:half of the 16th century. It has enormously thick casemates and a tower, the See also:platform of which (now used as a restaurant) is reached by a See also:spiral ascent. The museum contains antiquarian and natural See also:history collections, as well as the town library, which possesses the See also:MSS. and books of the Swiss historian J. von See also: Hence it is probable that the name is really derived from scapha, a skiff, as here goods coming from Constance were disembarked in consequence of the falls of the Rhine a little below. Some writers, however, prefer the derivation from Schaf (a See also:sheep), as a See also:ram (now a sheep) formed the ancient arms of the town, derived from those of its founders, the See also:counts of Nellenburg. About 1050 those counts founded here the Benedictine monastery of All Saints, which henceforth became the centre of the town. Perhaps as See also:early as 1190, certainly in 1208, it was an imperial See also:free city, while the first See also:seal dates from 1253. The See also:powers of the See also: See also:Pfaff, Das Staatsrecht d. See also:alten Eidgenossenschaft (Schaffhausen, 187o) (pp. 89-97 contain a history of Schaffhausen). In 1901 there appeared at Schaffhausen two elaborate See also:historical " Festschriften," one for the canton and one for the town, while in 1906–1907 there were published at Schaffhausen two parts (from 987 to 1530) of an See also:official Urkundenregister See also:fur den Kanton Schaffhausen. (W. A. B. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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