Tschachtlanchronik

The Tschachtlanchronik

An illustration of the 1315 Battle of Morgarten

The Tschachtlanchronik of 1470 is the oldest of the still existing Swiss illustrated chronicles, compiled by Bendicht Tschachtlan and Heinrich Dittlinger of Bern. The chronicle is now kept in Zentralbibliothek Zürich, where a facsimile can be viewed.

It consists of a paper manuscript including some 230 coloured illustrations, most of them full page. Two hundred of the illustrations show war scenes; the remaining show everyday life, both rural and in towns, and also scenes in the royal court. In the epilogue, the two authors declare that the work was finished in 1470.