Gommiswald

Coat of arms

Gommiswald

Location of Gommiswald

Coordinates: 47°13′N 9°1′E / 47.217°N 9.017°ECoordinates: 47°13′N 9°1′E / 47.217°N 9.017°E

Country

Government

• Mayor

Peter Göldi

Area

• Total

33.56 km² (12.96 sq mi)

Elevation

590 m (1,940 ft)

Population (Dec 2015)

• Total

4,969

• Density

150/km² (380/sq mi)

Postal code

8737

SFOS number

3341

Surrounded by

Ebnat-Kappel, Kaltbrunn, Uznach, Wattwil

Website

www.gommiswald.ch
SFSO statistics

Gommiswald is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Rieden and Ernetschwil merged into the municipality of Gommiswald.

Gommiswald is first mentioned in 1178 as Göycheim though this comes from a 16th Century copy of the original. In 1440 it was mentioned as Göchams gewalt. The current village of Gommiswald was known as Gauen until the 18th Century, when both Gauen and Gommiswald were used interchangeably. In 1913 the cantonal government directed that the name of Gommiswald would be the official name.

During the Early Middle Ages Schänis Abbey acquired the right to collect tithes in Gommiswald and the patronage rights over the village church. At around the same time, the village was part of the large parish of Benken and was part of the Diocese of Chur. Politically, by 1200, it was part of the Toggenburg County of Uznach. In 1439, three years after the death of the last Count of Toggenburg, Frederick VII of Toggenburg, Schwyz and Glarus established a joint condominium over the County of Uznach. In 1500, the residents of the village broke away from the Benken parish and built their own parish church. In 1556, they bought the tithe rights over the village away from Schänis Abbey. In 1676 the Felix and Regula Chapel was rebuilt on the Üetliburg hill. Almost a century later, in 1761, the priest Joseph Helg founded the Premonstratensian Mount Zion Abbey near the chapel. Following the 1798 French invasion, the County of Uznach was finally freed from joint Schwyz and Glarus control.

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Wikipedia