page_title: Dorothea Wyss
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Dorothea Wyss / Life
caption_attribution_description: Das Wohnhaus des Bruder Klaus in Flüeli-Ranft, Gemeinde Sachseln, Schweiz
context_page_description: Dorothea Wyss, also known Dorothea von Flüe, married Niklaus von Flüe, the patron saint of Switzerland.
context_section_description: Dorothea Wyss was born around 1430/32 in Obwalden. At the age of about 15 she married Niklaus von Flüe who was about 15 years older. Niklaus was often on his way as an adviser, but also as a warlord during the 1450s and 1460s Swiss wars. After twenty years of marriage and 10 children, her husband claimed that God calls him. Dorothea initially categorically rejected her husband's request. Kläusli, the youngest child, was born some months before. Gradually, however, she took part in the vocation of her husband and gave her consent. On 16 October 1467 Niklaus von Flüe left his family as a pilgrim. Directed by visions, he soon returned and settled in the nearby Ranftschlucht, the gorge on the Melchaa, a stone's throw from his family's home. Dorothea now was responsible for the house, the farm and her family. She took care of her husband's family tasks, and the education of the younger children. The two older sons managed the farm.
  Dorothea occasionally went down to the hermitage of Bruder Klaus (von Flüe's then popular name) to talk with him about domestic things or the education of the children. She personally convinced herself that her husband has found his inner peace. When her husband died in 1487, she was supposed to be there.
  Dorothea should have allowed her husband to leave the family and start his life as a hermit, but the contemporary sources provide only rudimentary data. In 1488 she was described in the oldest biography of Bruder Klaus as a godly and extremely pious woman. Her first name is first mentioned in 1501, and around 1529 her surname in the female form Wyssin was first mentioned.
caption: The house of Dorothea and Niklaus von Flüe in Flüeli-Ranft
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