Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tschudi

TSCHUDI, or Schudy, the name of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of the land of Glarus, Switzerland. From 1029 to 1253 a member of the clan held the office of steward of the abbess of Säckingen on the Rhine, the lady of the manor; and after Glarus joined the Swiss Confederation in 1352 various members of the family held high political offices at home, and were distinguished abroad as soldiers and in other ways. In literature, its most eminent member was Giles or Ægidius Tschudi (1505-1572), who, after having served his native land in various offices, in 1558 became the chief magistrate or "landammann." Originally inclined to moderation, he became later in life more and more devoted to the cause of the counter-Reformation. It is, however, as the historian of the Swiss Confederation that he is best known; by incessant wanderings and unwearied researches amongst original documents he collected material for three great works, which therefore can never wholly lose their value, though his researches have been largely supplemented and corrected by those of more recent students. In 1538 his book on Rhaetia, written in 1528, was published in Latin and in German—De prisca ac vera Alpina Rhætia, or Die uralt wahrhafftig Alpisch Rhätia.

His other works were not published until long after his death.