esentative to Sion. He retained only the right to approve or reject the council's choice. In 1560, the citizenry bought the office of Viztum from the feudal landholder, the de Chevron family. A year earlier the bishop assigned the office of salterus to the citizenry. So by the mid 16th Century, the city enjoyed a nearly total autonomy.
In the 16th Century, due to a strong immigration from the German-speaking Upper Valais, Sion became almost totally Germanized. The town council minutes were written in Latin until 1540, when they changed to German. Official invoices changed to German in 1600.
The 17th and 18th Centuries were a peaceful time in Sion. The new city hall was built on Grand-Pont between 1657-65. In 1788, a fire broke out in the city. It damaged Majoria and Tourbillon castles and destroyed 115 of the 284 inhabited houses.
In the High Middle Ages, the residents of Sion were homines episcopi or people of the bishop. This was true both for the staff at the court as well as the serfs who tilled the land, and the craftsmen and traders. As the civic community gradually began to organize, they were no longer willing to automatically grant every new arrival the same rights as citizens. Those who were unwilling or unable to purchase citizenship, which cost about 60 shillings in 1326, but wished to live in Sion were classed as permanent residents and their descendants held the same status until they could buy their citizenship. The permanent residents were mainly workers, craftsmen (often originating from the Swiss Confederation and the Germanies) and traders (mostly from Savoy and northern Italy). An outbreak of the plague in 1348 wiped out many citizens. In addition to the citizen's deaths, the restrictive attitude of the citizenry toward new members led to citizens becoming a minority in Sion. In the first population census in 1610 the town had 1,835 inhabitants, of whom 412 were citizens and 1,423 were permanent residents. In the 18th
