Romansh language 17th century, after which it became entirely German-speaking because of the Counter-Reformation denunciation of Romansh as a "Protestant language". When Grisons became part of Switzerland in 1803, it had a population of roughly 73,000, of whom around 36,600 were Romansh speakers—many of them monolingual—living mostly within the Romansh-speaking valleys. The language border with German, which had mostly been stable since the 16th century, now began moving again as more and more villages shifted to German. One cause was the admission of Grisons as a Swiss canton, which brought Romansh-speakers into more frequent contact with German-speakers. Another factor was the increased
Romansh language surviving work in Romansh is the "Chianzun dalla guerra dagl Chiaste da Müs" written in the Putèr dialect in 1527 by Gian Travers. It is an epic poem describing the First Musso war which Travers himself had taken part in. Subsequent works usually have religious themes, including Bible translations, manuals for religious instructions, and biblical plays. In 1560, the first Romansh translation of the New Testament: "L'g Nuof Sainc Testamaint da nos Signer Jesu Christ" by Giachem Bifrun, was published. Two years later, in 1562, another writer from the Engadine, Durich Chiampel, published the "Cudesch da Psalms", a collection of