of St. Gall, which became the nucleus of the Canton of St. Gallen in eastern Switzerland. The abbey followed the rule of St. Benedict of Nursia beginning in 747. As many as 53 monks joined the order under St. Otmar and the community grew to acquire land in Thurgau, the region of Zurich and Alemannia, up to the River Neckar. In the second half of the 8th century, the community continued to grow but became legally dependent on the Bishop of Constance. After an extended conflict with the see of Constance, the Abbey of St. Gallen regained its independence in the 9th century when Emperor Louis the Pious made it a royal monastery. The Abbey's monastery and especially its celebrated scriptorium (evidenced from 760 onwards) played an illustrious part in Catholic and intellectual history until it was secularised in 1798. It is very likely that Gall kept a small library of books for himself and his disciples for their liturgical worship. Following his death and the establishment of his tomb, the brotherhood of priests gathered there likely added to this small collection of books. These books would become the basis for the Abbey Library of Saint Gall. In popular culture St Gall is the name of a wheel shaped hard cheese made from the milk of Friesian cows, which won a Gold Medal at the World Cheese Awards held in Dublin 2008. Robertson Davies, in his book, The Manticore, interprets the legend in Jungian psychological terms. In the final scene of the novel where David Staunton is celebrating Christmas with Lizelloti Fitziputli, Magnus Eisengrim, and Dunstan Ramsay he is given a gingerbread bear. Ramsay explains that Gall made a pact of peace with a bear who was terrorizing the citizens of the nearby village. They would feed him gingerbread and he would refrain from eating them. The parable is presented as a Jungian exhortation to make peace with one's dark side. This Jungian interpretation is however incompatible with Catholic Orthodoxy which Gall promoted. See also List of Orthodox saints List of Roman Catholic saints Notes Bibliography Joynt, Maud, tr. and ed., The Life of St Gall, Llanerch Press, Burnham-on-Sea, 1927. Schär, Max, Gallus. Der Heikiger in seiner Zeit, Schwabe Verlag, Basle, 2011. Schmid, Christian, Gallusland. Auf den Spuren des heiligen Gallus, Paulus Verlag, Fribourg, 2011. Music and musicians in medieval Irish society, Ann Buckley, pp. 165–190, Early Music xxviii, no.2,