Foreign Military Service.
Until the 19th century, it was quite common for Grisons farmers’ sons to enter foreign military service—France, the Netherlands, Naples, and later the Vatican. Traces can also be found among the Bonadurer family.
Grisons mercenary service was for centuries an important economic factor—and a social safety valve. Those who did not inherit a farmstead in Versam, Arezen, or Fan went abroad: to Holland in the service of the States General, to France in one of the Swiss regiments, or as officers in the service of Naples and Sardinia.
Unfortunately, specific Bonadurer names do not appear in the pay lists in a form that would allow clear identification—but family tradition records several cases. A young man who went to France and never returned. Another who came home with half a lung and was long called “the Dutchman” in Versam.
A European Destiny
Anyone who imagines the Grisons farmer as confined and mountain-bound is mistaken: hardly any population in old Europe was as mobile, as networked, and as European as this one. The Bonadurer family fits into this picture—they are not an isolated valley story, but part of a continental network.
Even after the prohibition of foreign military service in 1859, it took some time before the last mercenary traditions faded. Only with the introduction of general conscription in Switzerland and the growing prosperity of the valley after 1900 did service in foreign armies cease to be a real option for Grisons farmers’ sons.
Historical Context
The complete register of all non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the Third Swiss Regiment is kept in the Federal Archives in Bern. The personnel roster lists a total of 7,885 names—28 of which gave the municipalities of Safien, Tenna, Valendas, or Versam as their place of birth and/or last residence. Below are the entries, in ascending order by date of recruitment.
Battered by years of military discipline and order and military drill, many found themselves barely able to cope with the waves and storms outside the barracks walls.
Excerpt from Töndala No. 125
Author: Peter Michael-Caflisch, born in 1949 in Winkel near Valendas · schoolmaster in Versam since 1975 · resident in upper Arezen since 1979
Continuation
Foreign Military Service — Töndala No. 125 (complete text)