Editing Abbey of Saint Gall (section)

====An associate of the Swiss Confederation====
However, in early 1490 the four cantons decided to carry out their duty to the abbey and to invade the St. Gallen canton with an armed force. The people of Appenzell and the local clerics submitted to this force without noteworthy resistance, while the city of St. Gallen braced for a fight to the finish. However, when they learned that their compatriots had given up the fight, they lost confidence; the result was that they concluded a peace pact that greatly restricted the city's powers and burdened the city with serious penalties and reparations payments. Varnbüler and Schwendiner fled to the court of [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|King Maximilian]] and lost all their property in St. Gallen and Appenzell. However, the abbot's reliance on the Swiss to support him reduced his position almost to that of a "subject district".<ref name=EB1911/>

The town adopted the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] in 1524, while the abbey remained Catholic, which damaged relations between the town and abbey. Both the abbot and a representative of the town were admitted to the Swiss [[Tagsatzung]] or Diet as the [[Old Swiss Confederacy#Closest associates|closest associates]] of the Confederation.<ref name=EB1911/>

In the 16th century the abbey was raided by [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] groups, which scattered many of the old books.<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia"/> In 1530, abbot Diethelm began a restoration that stopped the decline and led to an expansion of the schools and library.
[[File:StGallen asv2022-10 Stiftskirche img1.jpg|thumb|left|The interior of the cathedral is one of the most important baroque monuments in Switzerland]]
Under abbot [[Pius Reher]] (1630–54) a printing press was started. In 1712 during the Toggenburg war, also called the second [[Toggenburg War|war of Villmergen]], the Abbey of St. Gall was pillaged by the [[Switzerland|Swiss]]. They took most of the books and manuscripts to [[Zürich]] and [[Bern]]. For security, the abbey was forced to request the protection of the townspeople of St. Gallen. Until 1457 the townspeople had been [[Serfdom|serfs]] of the abbey, but they had grown in power until they were protecting the abbey.