Bregenz Shooting Confraternity of 1498

This post on the Bregenz “Schützenbruderschaft” is organized into three parts. Part 1 presents extended excerpts from the Bregenz Schützenbruderschaft regulations of 1498, based on transcriptions from a 1711 copy, given here in my own translations. (If you want the transcriptions, message me; I didn’t have the energy to give them final polish and put them up here, but I’m pretty happy with the translations.) That is followed by a discussion that explores the Bruderschaft’s civic, devotional, and memorial practices, placing them in both local and broader European contexts. Finally, I give a substantive works cited with archival sources and secondary literature for anyone who wants to dive deeper.

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PART 1: Translated excerpts from the Bregenz Schützenbruderschaft Regulations of 1498; sections 2-6 quoted in full. Transcribed from the copy of 1711, Bregenz, Vorarlberger Landesarchiv, Ohne Herkunftsangabe, 5652 (“Die Armbrust- und Büchsenschützen zu Bregenz stiften eine Bruderschaft”); translations are the author’s own.

Know and understand all those who see, read, or hear this letter, that the common rifle and riflemen here in Bregenz, according to the principle, consider and decide that friendship, unity, and brotherly cooperation, where faithfully observed, is pleasing to God and brings peace and benefit to the people here in this time …. [Listing of various leaders who approved the brotherhood. All these] have conceived and established a brotherhood as follows:

Firstly, in the honor of the holy and indefatigable Trinity of the highly praised Virgin Mary and Mother of God, and of the dear saints named Saint Sebastian, Saint Anthony, Saint Gallen, Saint Agatha, and Saint Barbara, with these aforementioned ordinances and decrees, Namely, such a brotherhood shall henceforth, as long as it is worthy, stand in common rifle and crossbow shooting authority… [discussion of how it is to be constituted, with leadership including both riflemen and crossbowmen].

Secondly, the brothers shall have two annual services every year, namely on St. Sebastian's Day and St. Agnes' Day, and begin in honor of the aforementioned patron saints, with a sung service and several spoken masses, as many as two members of the brotherhood are able to perform, which shall always be announced to all brothers and sisters.

Thirdly, if someone in the brotherhood dies, a sung memorial service shall be held for them, and announced to all brothers and sisters on the Sunday before, and the brotherhood shall place two bare candles, and after the memorial service take them back and keep them, and give St. Gallen one schilling pfennig from them.

Fourthly, whoever wishes to join such a brotherhood who is a crossbowman or rifleman, shall give eight marks from himself and his wife at the beginning of the year, and if he has no wife, still pay as many, but whoever wishes to join such a brotherhood who is not a marksman, a soldier or woman, shall be summoned before the four marksmen masters. And those who are common marksmen from both lords as mentioned above, will then be taken into the brotherhood by them according to form and fairness.

Fifthly, all who join such brotherhood, whether they are members or not, shall give one schilling pfennig each, and one woman or girl alone shall also give one schilling pfennig on St. Sebastian's Day, for as long as she is alive. However, whoever does not give the schilling, is not obligated to do anything else in connection with such brotherhood.

Sixthly, The more people join such brotherhood, the more worship is promoted and maintained.

Seventh, the four rifle and crossbow masters shall be selected once a year on St. Sebastian's Day,...

Eighthly, ...the four marksmen shall and may, as often as they deem necessary, summon the marksmen to gather for a Viertel (quarter) of wax. Anyone who does not come, and does not present a sufficient excuse, is liable to pay the Viertel of wax without exception. The validity of the excuse shall be judged by the four Schützenmeister…

Lastly, ...the aforementioned gentlemen, mayor and town council, shall know and agree to increase or decrease in one or more articles, always in the manner and occasion as is proper and necessary… [Followed by a lengthy list of those who approved these statutes.]

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DISCUSSION

I spent some time on the Bregenz shooting confraternity regulations, partly because confraternities are inherently interesting as a social force to be reckoned with, and partly because the regulations gave such helpful details about liturgical services at the parish church of St Gall. This mixture of civic, devotional, and occasionally quasi-military functions is exactly what scholars describe as typical of late medieval shooting brotherhoods; for example, Brown and Small emphasize that crossbow- and rifle-guilds across the Low Countries cultivated both military practice and socially cohesive festivity.

Section 2 reminds us that the Bruderschaft is more than just a shooting club; it provides two sung church services for its members along with “several spoken masses,” with an emphasis on abundance; this salvific work was an important motivation for joining a confraternity during the period of its foundation. Alyssa Abraham’s study of early modern confraternities stresses that liturgical visibility – the ability to stage sung or massed devotions – was a core way that such groups asserted corporate identity, and Bregenz fits that larger pattern. In Bregenz, these ceremonies are centered on St Sebastian’s Day, January 20^th, and St Agnes’s Day, January 21^st, so these Bruderschaft celebrations are essentially a mid-January event for which more remote members might come to town. This is also the date for the annual election, so there is a combination of salvation work and regular business meeting.

Section 3 continues into the memorial functions of the group. Confraternities of the period frequently held services for the deceased, and the Bregenz group is no exception. There is a sung memorial service, with enough lead-time that the members of the Bruderschaft can arrange to attend. Moreover, there is a candle-as-coin allusion, the “two bare candles,” used in the service, and then subdivided as a physical, material good, held by the Bruderschaft, but with a portion – one schilling pfennig – as alms for the parish church where that memorial was held. Jonathan Glixon’s research has shown that confraternities across Italy and the Low Countries played highly structured roles in funerals. Confraternities’ duties ranged from preparing bodies, processing to the church, and providing sung laude. (He even finds evidence for polyphony; I should be so lucky!) Although Bregenz services are less elaborate, their sung memorial service and candle obligations sit very comfortably within this wider funerary economy.

Thirdly, if someone in the brotherhood dies, a sung memorial service shall be held for them, and announced to all brothers and sisters on the Sunday before, and the brotherhood shall place two bare candles, and after the memorial service take them back and keep them, and give St. Gallen one schilling pfennig from them.

Wax is money during the service, and it is also the funds for the meetings during the year, for which a “Viertel (quarter) of wax” is due whether or not you attend. The organization is also funded by joining fees (8 marks) and by annual dues (1 schilling pfennig). And the organizers clearly understand the “more is merrier” trope, noting that the larger the Bruderschaft grows, the more involved and complex the church services can be (Section 6). Such wax-based economies match a long-standing Northern European pattern: Brown and Small note that archery confraternities were routinely fined in either sous or wax, and statutes from Bethune (1413) even required members to provide a wax candle each year for Corpus Christi processions. Material obligations supported ritual visibility.

While the initial affiliation of the Bregenz confraternity was with the holy Trinity, it became known as the Sebastian Bruderschaft over time. Of course, that listing of saints in clause 1 of the Bregenz Bruderschaft regulations allowed and perhaps encouraged such slippage over time. There is something wickedly delicious about the fact that the martyr, shot full of arrows, becomes the patron for a shooting organization. Comparable organizations elsewhere – in Modena, as researched by Alyssa Abraham, or in Rheinfelden, Switzerland – often had ties to Sebastian’s role as plague intercessor. Sebastian’s popularity grew rapidly over the fifteenth century, which saw repeated waves of plague, and it’s not impossible that the Bregenz confraternity founding had both his roles in mind. (I have discussed Sebastian’s presence in plague prayers in articles.)

The Bregenz confraternity leaves various footprints across the legal landscape over the next two centuries. In 1505, six years after its founding, the steward of the Bruderschaft was involved in a property transaction at court. As the Bruderschaft matured, it became the object of pious donation; Jakob, Bishop of Ascalon, Auxiliary Bishop and Canon of Constance, for instance, left legacies both to the clerics at the parish church of St Gall in Bregenz and to its Riflemen's Association there. (He also donates both to the women of Hirschtal and those of Thalbach, and provides for cousins. Generous guy!). Pious legacies of this sort are well attested elsewhere: Abraham observes that confraternities actively cultivated visual and devotional presence precisely because such visibility attracted bequests, commissions, and ongoing obligations of prayer. The Bregenz confraternity was still going strong in the mid-18th century, when it was involved in various bond transactions. That longevity likewise parallels the endurance of Sebastian confraternities elsewhere. From Andernach to Hagnau to Dornbirn, Sebastian confraternity statutes and indulgences show similar patterns of devotional stability and periodic updating.

The importance of such community organizations can be seen during the counter-Reformation as well. In Bregenz, a signal moment came with the establishment of the Holy Rosary confraternity at the Parish church in 16 July 1617. While that’s the story for another post, it is still worth noting that the persistence of the shooting Bruderschaft into the seventeenth century in Bregenz suggests that, as in Venice or Florence or Bruges, confraternities could coexist with new post-Tridentine devotional forms rather than being supplanted by them.

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WORKS CITED:

PRIMARY SOURCES (consulted via monasterium.net)

• Bregenz Schützenbruderschaft Regulations of 1498 in a copy of 1711: Bregenz, Vorarlberger Landesarchiv, Ohne Herkunftsangabe, 5652 (“Die Armbrust- und Büchsenschützen zu Bregenz stiften eine Bruderschaft”)
• Jörg Berkmann as steward to the confraternity: Bregenz Stadtarchiv, Urkunde 381: 1505 Dezember 10
• Jakob, Bishop of Ascalon, pious legacy to the “Priesterbruderschaft und der Schützengesellschaft” in Bregenz: Bregenz Stadtarchiv, Urkunde 606: 1565 Oktober 24, Konstanz.
• Bond transactions for the Bruderschaft:
  • Bregenz Stadtarchiv, Urkunde 7005, 20. Dezember 1749
  • Vorarlberger Landesarchiv, ohne Herkunftsangabe 6175, 28. August 1766
• Founding of the Holy Rosary confraternity confirmed: Bregenz Stadtarchiv, Urkunde 771, 1620 April 15, Konstanz

SECONDARY LITERATURE

• Abraham, Alyssa. “Iconography, Spectacle, and Notions of Corporate Identity: The Form and Function of Art in Early Modern Confraternities.” In A Companion to Medieval and Early Modern Confraternities, edited by Konrad Eisenbichler, Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition, Vol 83 (Brill 2019): 406–432.
• Anonymous, “The Brotherhood of St Sebastian [in Rheinfelden]” [undated post], Living Traditions in Switzerland [Website] https://www.lebendige-traditionen.ch/tradition/en/home/traditions/the-brotherhood-of-st-sebastian.html
• Brown, Andrew, and Graeme Small. “Civic society and the Court Jousts, shooting fraternities and Chambers of Rhetoric in Court and civic society in the Burgundian Low Countries c.1420–1530.” In Court and Civic Society in the Burgundian Low Countries C.1420–1530, edited by Brown and Small (Manchester UP, 2007): 210-238.
• Cyrus, Cynthia J. “Prayers Against Pestilence from Women’s Monastic Communities.” Early Modern Women 16.1, [Forum on Early Modern Women and Epidemics, edited by Bernadette Andrea, Julie Campbell, and Allyson M. Poska] (Fall 2021): 63-71; https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/715811.
• Cyrus, Cynthia J. “Five Strategies in Sixteenth-Century Tertiaries’ Prayers Against Pestilence.” Academia | Letters (March 2021): Article 479; https://www.academia.edu/45687714 .
• Wegeler, Julius, “Das Schiitzenbuch der St. Sebastianus--Bruderschast in der Stadt Andernach, beginnend im Jahre 1426.” Annalen des Historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein, 1859, https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/pdf/10.7788/annalen-1859-7-jg01
• According to the Vorarlberger Landesbibliothek (https://vlb.vorarlberg.at/), statutes for similar Bruderschaften appear to be available in (somewhat) modern printed guise, but not to me, at least, not without interlibrary loan:
  • Die Bruderschaft vom heiligen Sebastian zu Hagnau: ihre Statuten, Ablässe und Gebete (Freiburg/Breisgau: Herder, 1888)
  • Bruderschaft unter dem Titel und Anrufung des hl. Martirers Sebastian in der Pfarrkirche zu Großdorf (Feldkirch: Sausgruber, 1901)
  • Statuten der Bruderschaft zum Heiligen Martyrer Sebastian in der Pfarrkirche Dornbirn-Oberdorf (n.p.: n.p., 1968)

The 1507 South Wall Frescoes of Brand’s Parish Church (Vorarlberg)

Walk into the Parish church of Brand in Brandnertal, Vorarlberg, Austria, and you’ll notice several things.

The first is that the church is a curious mix of Gothic and modern, redesigned in modern times to adapt to the needs and size of a large and growing local congregation. The two sections are distinct, the warm wood tones of the modern addition from the 1960s contrasting with the largely white-plaster walls of the Gothic section, known to have been consecrated by the Auxiliary Bishop of Chur, Stephan Tschuggli in 1507 (Fragments, p. 4). 

Brand (Vorarlberg) Parish Church, Exterior

 

Second, as an active church, the Church of the Assumption of Mary (Mariä Himmelfahrt) houses an array of Catholic devotional items. Modern flowers and candles are paired with early modern statuary; two sets of rosary beads and a few polished pieces of pink quartz sit before another mother-and-child with not one but two apples. And, of course, fliers and announcements for upcoming programs are readily available near the entryway.

But to a medievalist, the most striking feature of the Brand church would definitely be its Swiss-influenced frescoes, rediscovered in 1942 by restorer and painter Toni Kirchmayr (Fragments, p. 8). Today’s post focuses on the South wall, where six maroon-framed images remind us that churches of the early sixteenth century were colorful, highly-illustrated places.

LEFT (3 Holy women plus Anna Selbdritt with donors)

Brand (Vorarlberg): Fresco featuring 3 Holy Virgins (above) and Anna as mother of Mary (below)

As the photo shows, the first pair of images of the South wall – the set to the left – focus on women. On top, the three Holy Virgins, St Margaretha with her cross (though her trampled dragon is now obscured by the centuries underneath plaster), as well as St Barbara and St Katharina appear.

Below, we find Anna as mother, coiffed in an oversized headdress and holding the young Mary. They are adored by two donors, identified with coats of arms. We catch the left-hand donor in a moment of prayerful contemplation, hands together and held at a 45-degree angle upwards with a rosary draped and dangling, a message of devotional intent from a mere decade before the reformation.

Brand (Vorarlberg): Donor with rosary and coat of arms

MIDDLE (Three Male Saints and the Immaculata)

The panel of women are matched in the middle pillar by an image of three male saints, this time with banderoles, though lamentably the text is not preserved and the saints have not heretofore been identified; I offer a tentative identification below. 

Brand (Vorarlberg) Fresco: Three male saints (above), and the Immaculata (below)

These three men are all bearded and haloed. Figure 1 holds something at waist height. It appears to be mechanical, since his thumb is pressing a lever and there is some kind of gear and screw configuration. This is likely the windlass of St Erasmus, a gruesome reminder of the torture he faced.

Brand (Vorarlberg): Erasmus with his windlass

If Erasmus is present, and grouped with both the Holy Virgins of the previous panel and male companions here, it seems likely that this complex is part of an elaborate depiction of the 14 Holy Helpers, the Nothelfer, whose veneration was widespread at the time. Using that framework, we can try to identify the other two men posed with Erasmus.

Figure 2 has two layers of cloth over head and shoulders and is wrapped in his cloak; he is more subdued in his movements; his arm seems to hang down, for it is lower than that of our putative Erasmus. He has a grey beard but with a darker mustache, perhaps to evoke his long-suffering life, showing both age and remembered strength. This could be St Eustace, often depicted as one of the more passive of the Nothelfer.

Figure 3 is bareheaded with abundant hair, and holds his left hand palm up with pointer and middle finger curled upwards. Given the gesture, this could well be St Cyriacus, who  was an exorcist.

At the bottom right-hand edge, a much smaller figure peeks up at the three saints, emerging from the frame. Given its size and location, this is likely a donor image.

Below these male saints appear in the panel above another image of Mary, identified as the Immaculata (Fragments, p. 6), though many of the details have been lost.  

Brand (Vorarlberg): Mary Immaculata

She is depicted as a young pregnant woman set against a sunburst of wavy rays, and she stands on something, though, like Margaretha, we can only guess at whether or not it was a crushed dragon. (It seems more likely that they are rocks.)

Like the donor of the previous set of images, Mary’s hands are waist-high and upright, raised in prayer, but unlike the donor, whose palms touched, Mary intentionally steeples her fingertips to create a triangular space above her swelling abdomen. The triangle can be read as an allusion to the Trinity, and we are invited to see Mary as the “Vas spirituale,” the spiritual vessel, bearer of Christ the redeemer. (I have written on Dominican prayer gestures in a previous post, though that discussion was more about posture than hand gesture.)

This interpretation of Mary's role as a vessel of grace is reinforced by other elements of the fresco. Mary’s gaze is drawn to a serpent, the representation of her purity a stark contrast with the evil of sin.

Likewise, in the upper left corner, we see an angel holding a chalice and a crown. The chalice is closer to Mary than is the crown. That is, this is not a depiction of the crown on offer but rather one in which the promise of a crown is glimpsed. Why? The pregnant Mary is only mid-way through her difficult journey, not yet serving as Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) but rather preparing herself to be the receptacle of grace.

The other corner may once have held a second angel but that image is, alas, effaced.

RIGHT (Harrowing of Hell and Four Men)

The panel on the right changes up the thematic content. This time, there are four male figures in the lower image, and above we see the Harrowing of Hell, with the released souls emerging from their graves. 

Brand (Vorarlberg): The Harrowing of Hell (above), and four male figures (below)

The bodies emerging from the graves in the upper panel are the holy dead; they have halos and are naked or, like the right-most figure, are in simple shifts. The central figure of the group, however, is in a dark fur-lined coat and is assisting the others over the tomb edge. Above, a majestic haloed figure stands. Banderoles, both for the heavenly figure(s) and for those emerging from the grave would have helped contemporaries interpret the story.

The four men in the lower image are less easily identified. Of the four, two wear hats (of different sorts) and two do not. At least three of the four men have beards; the right-most figure might be clean-shaven. One of the men looks at us and seems to be smiling; the other three look outside of our scene and have more serious expressions. None have halos, though the four do stand against a lighter bit of sky – a cloud, or the glow of sunrise both come to mind.

Could these be patrons, gazing (mostly) on the Immaculata of the previous panel? Or are they patriarchs, without halos? And why is there space running along the left-hand edge – are they by a shore, perhaps? Or was there meant to be a fifth figure? Why was the order inverted – why are these men not in the upper panel like the saints of the other sets? Was the artist ensuring that we read them as secular figures? The image leaves more questions than answers.

SUMMARY

On this Southern wall of the Brand church, we have two images of Mary – to whom the church is dedicated, of course – and one of Christ’s freeing of souls from limbo. We also have six saints –  three women and three men – plus an additional panel of four men. And we have the two adoring patrons of the first pair of images, actively pursuing devotional prayer as a model for the congregants who gathered in this space. 

Such images were meant to activate the church's space. They called the viewer to remember particular biblical stories, they reminded the viewer of the presence and support to be had from the saints, and they modeled the practices and postures of prayer, as we saw with the donor and rosary. They served, in other words, as a distinctive testament to pre-Reformation faith in the Walser areas of Alpine Vorarlberg.

To me, the south wall’s frescoes are a kind of devotional anchor for the parish – rooted, orderly, and densely populated with saints and familiar sacred moments. Our donor figures here are both observers and participants, integrated into the sacred story. It's almost as if they are inviting parishioners to imagine themselves there, too. 

I’m also struck by the sense of continuity that these images suggest. The saints act as intercessors, protectors, and models, and are placed alongside Marian devotion and Christological scenes in a way that feels almost liturgical.  

Eamon Duffy reminds us in The Stripping of the Altars that late medieval English parish churches were “full of presence,” filled with images, rites, and smells that made the divine tangible. The same clearly applies here in late medieval Vorarlberg. This wall’s carefully choreographed figures were likely central to local rhythms of prayer and memory – not just passive decoration, but a kind of visual litany embedded in the painted plaster that made the church so resplendent.

WORKS CITED:

[Anonymous]. Parish Church “Our Lady of the Assumption” Brand: Fragments from the Church History Chronicles of Brand / Vorarlberg. [Undated Church Pamphlet.] Cited as "Fragments."

Cyrus, Cynthia. "Dominican Prayer Gestures" [blog post], Silences and Sounds, 3/29/25 https://silencesandsounds.blogspot.com/2025/03/dominican-prayer-gestures-32925.html.

Duffy, Eamon. The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580. New Haven: Yale UP, 1992/R2022.

Note: The photos – taken by the author in July 28, 2025 with an iPhone 12 (!) – have been adjusted to bring out image details. The author is happy to provide untouched originals if needed. Photos and text are CC BY-SA: You are free to share and adapt this material, provided appropriate credit is given; any derivative works must be distributed under the same license.