Hans Fründ

Johannes Fründ (Hans Fründ, c. 1400–1468) was a Swiss clerk and chronicler.

Born and educated in Lucerne, he was employed as a scribe in that city in 1429, working under Egloff Etterlin. Around the year 1430, he wrote about the ongoing witch-trials in Valais.

From 1437 to 1453, he was state secretary (Landschreiber) of Schwyz. In this function, he participated in several Swiss Diets and also served as scribe on campaign during the Old Zürich War (1440–46). His chronicle on the Zürich War is essentially a contemporary eyewitness account. Fründ appears to have contracted a serious illness in 1447 which prevented him from completing the chronicle, so the text does not cover the peace negotiations and final treaty of 1450.

Fründ remained in Schwyz until 1457. In that year, he was again employed by Lucerne in the office of court secretary (Gerichtsschreiber) after an unsuccessful application for the position of state secretary (Stadtschreiber).

Fründ was married three times, to Elli Bumbel, then Adelheid von Tengen, and finally to Margaretha Giessmann. He died probably in 1468, and certainly before 10 March 1469. He appears to have had acquired some wealth, as there are records of a dispute over his inheritance between his third wife and his daughter from his second marriage. the text of his chronicle being edited by Kind (1875).