Einen trefflichen Menschen tüchtig heraufbilden'

The author presents here the result of his years of work on the still unexplored topic of the two historians Tschudi and Aventin, who wrote moral guides in their time. Goethe's titular thesis from his 'History of Color Theory' is likely cited in every treatise about Aventinus or Tschudi, always without addressing the content of Goethe's thesis. "Whoever knows the human heart, the educational journey of individuals, will not deny that one could successfully raise an excellent person without needing any other book than, for example, Tschudi's Swiss or Aventin's Bavarian Chronicle. How much more must the Bible suffice for this purpose, as it has been the model book for the aforementioned, since the people, of whom it presents itself as a chronicle, have exerted and continue to exert such great influence on world events." The present study now dares to embark on the multifaceted adventure of going beyond the usual assessment of both as historians. What impressed Goethe when he met the author of Swiss history, Johann von Müller, whom he had known since 1782, in Zurich in 1797, and then engaged in an in-depth study of Tschudi's and Aventin's chronicles in Stäfa from October 8 to 21, 1797? He must have recognized that both historiographers were themselves excellent individuals; otherwise, they could not have written these moral exemplars. With the educator Aventin, this was naturally evident, as he understood the particular efficacy of proverbs and therefore repeatedly integrated them educationally into his historiography. In contrast, Tschudi's tension-filled and well-differentiated narrative art in his account of the Council of Constance from 1414 to 1418, the pinnacle of his chronicle, surprisingly receives no attention in any literature on this council.