Tyrol and Its People
by Clive Holland · English · Gutenberg #40889 · 686,343 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Tyrol and Its People
Author: Clive Holland
Illustrator: Adrian Scott Stokes
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Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
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Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Anglicized, archaic, or otherwise unusual spellings
of proper nouns were retained as printed. Examples include "Botzen",
"Kapuzingerberg", "Schonberg" and "Wencelaus". Inconsistent use of
diacritics was also retained as printed. Obvious typographical
errors were corrected.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
[Illustration:
A MAP TO
ILLUSTRATE
TYROL
AND ITS
PEOPLE]
TYROL AND ITS PEOPLE
[Illustration: THE GOAT HERD, KASTELRUTH, NEAR BOZEN]
TYROL
AND ITS PEOPLE
BY
CLIVE HOLLAND
WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR BY
ADRIAN STOKES
THIRTY-ONE OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS
AND A MAP
METHUEN AND CO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
_First Published in 1909_
PREFACE
In the following pages, which in addition to being a record of travel
in a delightful and too little known portion of the great
Austro-Hungarian Empire, are also an attempt to present within a
reasonable compass an account of the national history of a singularly
interesting people, the author has sought to deal more fully than is
usually the case in books of the kind, with the romance and legend
which is closely interwoven with the past of "the land within the
mountains," as Tyrol has not inaptly been described.
It is truly a land of mountains, valleys, lakes, and rushing torrents
that may well have bred the race of romance-loving, poetic, and hardy
people who dwell in it. In the minds of those who know it there arises
almost inevitably a comparison with the nowadays overcrowded and
over-exploited Switzerland--and the comparison is, both as regards
scenery and general interest, greatly in favour of Tyrol. The tourist
and holiday-maker who frequent Pontresina or St. Moritz will find in
this comparatively new "playground for Europe" beautiful counterparts
of those places in Innsbruck, Meran, Botzen, Kitzbühel, and other
delightful towns; whilst the more strenuously inclined who delight in
mountain ascents will find the Dolomite region especially attractive,
and in many other districts also interesting climbs. By the shores of
the placid, translucent lakes, and in many a happy, secluded valley,
those in search of rest and quietude will find their desire fully
satisfied. And in such old-world towns as Innsbruck (of many
historical memories), beautiful Salzburg, charming Bregenz, Botzen,
and Meran the traveller with more artistic, literary, or antiquarian
tastes will delight.
That Tyrol deserves to be better known few who have once come under
the spell of its charms of scenery, and the frank hospitality and
friendliness of its people, or have wandered amidst its lovely valleys
and mountains, will deny.
The early history of this interesting country is shrouded in much
mystery, and to place accurately and date many events is a matter of
very considerable difficulty, and in some cases of well-nigh
impossibility, owing to the fragmentary nature of many of the existing
records, and the contradictory nature of the accounts and evidence
afforded by these. The greatest care, however, has been taken to make
the dates given as accurate as possible, and the best authorities and
descriptions of events have been consulted. Amongst others the works
of Dr. Franz Wieser, Hans Semper, Von Alpenburg ("Mythen und Sagen
Tirols"), Perini ("Castles of Tyrol"), Weber ("The Land of Tyrol"), an
excellent and interesting anonymous guide to Salzburg, Scherer, Albert
Wolff, V. Zingerle, Steub ("Die Verfassung Tirols"), Miller, and the
excellent publications of the Tirol and Salzburg Landesverbaende für
Fremdenverkehr, and other organizations.
The spelling of names has presented much the same difficulty as the
correct dating of events. There are several, and in some cases many,
ways of spelling a large number of these. That of the latest edition
of Baedeker has been adopted where this has been the case and doubt
has existed.
The author's especial thanks are due to Herr L. Sigmund, the Secretary
of the Austrian Travel and Information Bureau, not only for much
valuable information, but also for practical assistance whilst
travelling in Tyrol, facilities afforded for research, and the use of
some excellent photographs.
To W. Baillie Grohman, Esq., of Schloss Matzen, Brixlegg, the
well-known authority upon Tyrol, for the settlement of several
disputed dates and accounts of historical events. Also for permission
to make use of information (not otherwise easily procurable) contained
in his exhaustive work "Tyrol, the Land in the Mountains," and for the
beautiful photograph of Schloss Matzen reproduced as one of the
illustrations in this present volume.
To Dr. Richard Muendl, Imperial Councillor, Chief Inspector of the
Imperial Southern Railway, and a member of the German and Austrian
Alpine Society, for many valuable notes upon the Dolomite Region
incorporated in Chapter X.
To Dr. Otto Rosenheim the author's thanks are given for permission to
reproduce some beautiful photographs of Tyrol scenery and Tyrolese
subjects in place of less pictorial work by the author himself.
To many others, who gave information to the author during his travels
in Tyrol, relating to many interesting matters, acknowledgment is also
here gratefully made.
C. H.
_June, 1909_
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
THE ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF TYROL FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES
DOWN TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1
CHAPTER II
TYROL FROM ITS INCORPORATION BY AUSTRIA AS A PART OF THE
EMPIRE TO THE PRESENT TIME 33
CHAPTER III
SOME CHARACTERISTIC LEGENDS, CUSTOMS, AND SPORTS 52
CHAPTER IV
INNSBRUCK, ITS HISTORY, PEOPLE AND TREASURES 71
CHAPTER V
THE ENVIRONS OF INNSBRUCK--CASTLE AMBRAS AND ITS
TREASURES--IGLS: A QUAINT LEGEND CONCERNING ITS CHURCH--THE
STUBAI VALLEY, AND SOME VILLAGES--HALL AND ITS SALT
MINES--SPECKBACHER'S OLD HOME--ST. MICHAEL 113
CHAPTER VI
SALZBURG, ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE 147
CHAPTER VII
THE ENVIRONS OF SALZBURG--HELLBRUNN, ITS UNIQUE FOUNTAINS
AND GARDENS--THE CASTLE OF ANIF--THE GAISBERG--THE
KAPUZINGERBERG--THE MOZART-HÄUSCHEN--THE MÖNCHSBERG
--SALZBURG CHURCHES 176
CHAPTER VIII
SOME TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF SOUTH TYROL--MERAN, BOZEN,
KLAUSEN, BRIXEN, SPINGES, STERZING, MATREI 192
CHAPTER IX
SOME TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF WALSCH-TYROL: TRENT, ITS HISTORY,
COUNCIL, AND BUILDINGS--ROVEREDO AND DANTE--ARCO--RIVA 233
CHAPTER X
AMONG THE DOLOMITES, WITH NOTES UPON SOME TOURS AND
ASCENTS 254
CHAPTER XI
THROUGH THE UNTER-INNTHAL: KUFSTEIN--KUNDL--RATTENBERG,
AND THE STORY OF WILHELM BIENER--BRIXLEGG, AND ITS
PEASANT DRAMAS--THE FAMOUS CASTLE OF MATZEN--ST.
GEORGENBERG, AND ITS PILGRIMAGE CHURCH--CASTLE TRATZBERG
--SCHWAZ 281
CHAPTER XII
THROUGH THE OBER-INNTHAL: ZIRL, ITS CHURCH, LEGENDS, AND
PAINTED HOUSES--THE MARTINSWAND AND MAXIMILIAN--SCHARNITZ
--LANDECK--BLUDENZ--BREGENZ AND ITS LEGEND OF THE MAID 311
INDEX 329
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
IN COLOUR
THE GOAT HERD, KASTELRUTH, NEAR BOZEN _Frontispiece_
VIEW FROM THE RITTEN, LOOKING SOUTH-WEST 28
THE SCHWARZHORN, SOUTH TYROL 40
A VIEW OF THE TYROL ALPS 54
THE ORTLER FROM THE MALSER HEIDE 68
MOONRISE IN TYROL 94
A PINE WOOD NEAR INNSBRUCK 108
MOUNTAIN POOL ON THE RITTEN 128
A QUIET PASTURE 166
WINTER NEAR MERAN 192
A SOUTH TYROL FARMSTEAD 208
SUMMER-TIME NEAR ST. ULRICH, GRÖDENERTHAL 226
ALPENWIESE, ON THE SEISER ALP 256
MOUNT LATEMAR 276
A WAYSIDE SHRINE IN A PINE WOOD 298
AUTUMN IN SOUTH TYROL 314
IN MONOTONE
A VILLAGE ON THE BRENNER 10
_From a Photograph by Dr. Otto Rosenheim_
YOUNG TYROL 18
_From a Photograph by Dr. Otto Rosenheim_
A WAYSIDE SHRINE, TYROL 24
_From a Photograph by Dr. Otto Rosenheim_
ABOVE THE ARLBERG TUNNEL 32
SUNSET ON A TYROLESE LAKE 36
_From a Photograph by Clive Holland_
A TYPICAL TYROLESE LANDSCAPE 36
_From a Photograph by Clive Holland_
THE TRISANNA VIADUCT AND CASTLE WIESBERG 72
A PEEP OF THE ZILLERTHAL 72
THE FAMOUS "GOLDEN ROOF," INNSBRUCK 78
A TYPICAL INNSBRUCKER 88
VIADUCT ON STUBAI RAILWAY 130
VIEW OF THE GROSSGLOCKNER 130
THE MARKET PLACE, HALL 134
THE HALL VALLEY--WINTER 142
MOZART'S HOUSE IN THE MAKART PLATZ, SALZBURG 152
_From a Photograph by Clive Holland_
ONE OF THE FINEST DOORS OF THE STATE APARTMENTS IN THE
FORTRESS, SALZBURG 164
_From a Photograph by Clive Holland_
MOUNTAIN PASTURES 178
_From a Photograph by Dr. Otto Rosenheim_
HOHEN-SALZBURG AND THE NONNBERG 182
_From a Photograph by Clive Holland_
SALZBURG MARKETWOMEN 190
_From a Photograph by Clive Holland_
MERAN 198
SCHLOSS TYROL, NEAR MERAN 202
A STREET IN BOZEN 206
ST. CYPRIAN AND THE PEAKS OF THE ROSENGARTEN 212
MISURINA LAKE 262
_From a Photograph by Dr. Otto Rosenheim_
A ROAD THROUGH THE DOLOMITES 264
A PEEP OF THE DOLOMITES 270
_From a Photograph by Clive Holland_
THE LANGKOFEL 272
_From a Photograph by Dr. Otto Rosenheim_
A PEEP OF KITZBUHEL 286
SCHLOSS MATZEN 294
_By kind permission of W. A. Baillie Grohman, Esq._
LANDECK AND ITS ANCIENT FORTRESS 320
CHURCH INTERIOR, TYROL 324
_From a Photograph by Clive Holland_
TYROL AND ITS PEOPLE
CHAPTER I
THE ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF TYROL FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES
DOWN TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
As early as the eighth century Tyrol received a name which could not
be bettered as descriptive of its scenery and institutions--"das Land
im Gebirge," the Land in the Mountains. Fascinating alike is the
scenery of Tyrol and its history. When one crosses the Swiss frontier
by the Arlberg route one at once enters upon a land of mountains,
rivers, and pleasant valleys. And with equal truth it may be said that
when one crosses the frontier of Tyrolese history one is at once
plunged in the midst of stirring, romantic, and gallant deeds enacted
throughout the centuries from that far-off age, when the Cimbri
penetrated and traversed the country and swept into north-eastern
Italy, down almost to our own time.
That Tyrol should have proved the battle-ground of nations is, of
course, largely due to its geographical position. In early days it
formed a "buffer state" between the Roman empire and the territory of
the Cimbri and Alemanni.
The question of the original inhabitants of Tyrol is still a much
debated one, and appears to be as far off final settlement as ever;
and this notwithstanding the enormous amount of interest which has
been manifested in the subject by scientists, archæologists, and
students during the last two centuries. Whether they were Cimbri,
Etruscans, or Celts is still doubtful, although many learned
authorities--more especially linguists--incline to the view that the
earliest inhabitants were mainly of the Ligurian race, who were
followed by Illyrians and Etruscans.
And also regarding the manners, customs, and general characteristics
of these early inhabitants, whoever they may have been, very little
conclusive evidence is yet available. By both Greek and Roman writers
they were referred to as Rhætians, in common with the inhabitants of
Eastern Switzerland; and Horace himself speaks of "The Alpine Rhæti,
long unmatched in battle." Thus it is that the most ancient name by
which Tyrol is known is that of Rhætia.
[Sidenote: INVASION OF THE CIMBRI]
To the Romans, however, all-conquering though they were, little was
known of the country until the Cimbri penetrated its mountains and
traversed its valleys and passed on their way to the north-eastern
frontier of Italy about 102 B.C.
By what route these barbarians crossed the Alps on their march to
invade north-eastern Italy there has been as much discussion as over
the question of the original inhabitants of Tyrol. And, although the
event to which we refer occurred scarcely a century prior to the
conquest of Tyrol by the Romans there is little information other than
of a speculative character to throw light upon the question at issue.
For many years the weight of opinion was in favour of the contention
that the Cimbri entered Southern Tyrol and eventually reached the
Venetian plains by the Reschen Scheideck and the Vintschgau, but the
later researches of Mommsen have served to give additional, if not
absolutely conclusive, weight to the view that the Brenner was the
route taken by the Cimbri[1] on their way southward from their
Germanic fastnesses, just as it was undoubtedly the route, but, of
course, reversed, chosen by the Romans under Drusus by which to enter
Tyrol on their march of conquest.
One piece of evidence which would appear to be of considerable weight,
and as conclusively favouring Mommsen's view, is the fact that the
Brenner route forms not only the one of lowest altitude, but also the
only one by which the whole Alpine system and its parallel chains can
be crossed by passing over one chain alone, and in no other spot in
the range do two valleys on either side cut so far into the centre of
the principal chain of the Alps.
Moreover, from Plutarch's "Marius" one learns the spot where the Roman
general, Quintus Lutatius Catullus, and his legions, which were sent
from panic-stricken Rome to check the advance of the invaders, first
encountered the Cimbri on the banks of the River Adige between Verona
and near the foot of the Brenner. The encounter ended in the triumph
of the host of skin-clad invaders who descended the snow-slopes of the
mountains with an onslaught so terrible that even the trained and
well-armed hosts of Rome had to give way before them. But the power of
Rome was not easily shaken, and the triumph of the Cimbri was but
brief. Their southward march was destined very soon to meet with so
severe a check that further advance on Rome, or into the heart of
Italy, was rendered impossible. In 101 B.C., the year following their
appearance in the beautiful province of Venetia, where they created,
so historians tell us, a terrible panic, the Roman arms triumphed at
Vercelli, when the invaders, led by Bojorich, suffered a crushing
defeat in one of the bloodiest battles ever fought, in which it is
said 320,000 were slain, and were driven out of Italy.
The moral effect of this invasion upon the Rhætians, through whose
territory the Cimbri had passed, bore fruit a few years later, when
they attempted the same tactics, making frequent raids into Roman
territory. Some sixty years after the incursion of the Cimbri they
were defeated and driven back into their valleys and mountains by the
Roman general, Munatius Plancus; and a few years later, in 36 B.C.,
not only was a fresh raid repulsed, but the invaders were followed
home, and a considerable portion of the district in the neighbourhood
of what is now known as Trent was taken possession of by the Roman
forces.
[Sidenote: ROMAN CONQUEST OF TYROL]
The Rhætians, however, were a hardy, valorous, and pugnacious tribe,
and so frequent were their attacks upon the Roman forces left to hold
the conquered country that the Emperor Augustus, about twenty years
after the subjection of the Trent district, decided as a measure of
self-protection on the conquest of the whole of Rhætia, as far as the
River Danube.
And for this work he deputed his two stepsons, Drusus and Tiberius.
The campaign, historians are agreed, was planned with great skill, and
probably by the Emperor himself. The Roman forces were divided, one
portion, under Drusus, entering Tyrol from the south, having Tridentum
(Trent) as its base; and the other, under Tiberius, delivering its
attack from the west across what is now Switzerland. Tiberius took
this route (the most direct, though a difficult one) because at that
time he was absent from Italy, in Gaul, as governor. Drusus had a more
easy task, and pushed his way up the wide valley of the River Adige[2]
to the present site of Bozen. His objective was the Pass of the
Brenner, which, once seized, would give him the command of the
country. His advance was not, however, made without opposition, for
the Breones and Genones, who dwelt in the vicinity of the Brenner,
attacked the Roman forces, and a fierce battle and series of
skirmishes ensued. Horace, in Book IV., Ode 14 and 4, gives a vivid
if, possibly, highly coloured account of the struggle which took place
in the gorge near Bozen. The river Icarous ran red with the blood of
both conquerors and conquered. And--as has been the case on many
subsequent occasions when fighting has had to be done by the
Tyrolese--the women played a valorous part, even, according to the
historian, Florus, throwing their infant children into the faces of
the Roman soldiery when other weapons failed.
The campaign of the two stepsons of Augustus resulted in the complete
and final conquest of Tyrol. The victory, won in the narrow gorge of
the Eisack, was commemorated in the name of the bridge _Pons Drusi_
spanning the river, hard by which now stands the interesting mediæval
town of Bozen.
Successful as Drusus' forces were, none the less so were those of
Tiberius. There, however, is less record of his battles, and the
actual ground on which they were fought forms still matter for
conjecture. And equally uncertain is the exact spot where the two
victorious generals ultimately met. It is, however, thought by several
reliable authorities to have been somewhere in the valley of the Inn,
and probably not far distant from the present site of Innsbruck. This
view is made the more probable from the circumstance that a Roman post
was established at Wilten (now a suburb of Innsbruck) then known as
Veldidena.
Here probably both armies rested after a campaign of great fatigue and
severity owing to the nature of the ground over which it was fought
and the stubborn resistance offered by the inhabitants.
Soon Veldidena, from a halting-place of armies, became a town with
houses of considerable size, temples, baths, and surrounding _vallæ_,
or earthen fortifications formed to defend the inhabitants from sudden
attack. Although precautions of the nature we have indicated were
taken wherever a Roman post or station was placed, there is no
historical data to show that the Breones and other adjacent tribes who
were thus brought under the Roman sway did not very speedily
accommodate themselves to the new condition of things and become good
and peaceful citizens of Rome. It appears probable, however, that the
Rhæti did not adapt themselves to the altered conditions as speedily
as did their northern neighbours, the inhabitants of Noricum, with
whom certain Roman habits and customs (including the system of
municipal government) already obtained.
From the evidence adduced by several diligent historians and from that
of one comparatively modern writer[3] in particular it is almost
certain that after the sanguinary and decisive battle on the banks of
the Eisack Tiberius set his face once again westward to resume his
governorship of Gaul, leaving his brother, Drusus, to continue the
subjection of Tyrol, and ultimately to found the important settlement
of Augusta Vindelicorum, now known as Augsburg. Here the Roman general
not only threw up a fortified camp, but also built a forum to
encourage commerce; and soon the settlement became the most important
Roman station to the north of the Central Alps.
Some writers, doubtless bearing in mind the hardihood and bravery of
the native inhabitants and the mountainous and thus easily defended
nature of the ground the Roman legions had to traverse and fight over,
have expressed some surprise at the comparative ease with which Drusus
and Tiberius appear to have accomplished the conquest of the country.
More perfect discipline and arms of greater effectiveness will not,
however, we think, altogether account for this, for history has over
and over again proved that knowledge of the ground by the defenders
and mountainous regions count heavily against successful attacks on
the part of an invader. It can only therefore be supposed that the
various tribes who formed the inhabitants of Rhætia were either
antagonistic to one another or at least were not welded together in a
common cause against the invading Roman hosts, and thus the country
was conquered and kept in subjection with greater ease than would
otherwise have been the case.
As a result of the invasion by Drusus and Tiberius and the Roman
legions the tract of country then and for some considerable time
afterwards known as Rhætia, but now known as Tyrol and the Vorarlberg,
ultimately became Romanized, and by the making of the Brenner Post
Road, which was constructed by the direction of the Emperor Augustus
between Verona and Augsburg (Augusta Vindelicorum), communication
between the Germanic Empire and Italy was opened up. Thus was the
lowest and most accessible of the passes over the mountains which
separated Italy from the barbaric regions beyond crossed by one of
those splendid military roads, which has endured nearly two thousand
years until the present day.
[Sidenote: ROMAN OCCUPATION]
The Roman occupation of Rhætia lasted for five centuries. Under the
rule of Rome the inhabitants learned much of those arts which remained
the heritage of conquered races long after the sway of the great Roman
Empire had come to an end. And traces of that rule, in the form of
weapons, ornaments, articles of jewelry and the toilet, and other
relics have from time to time come to light throughout the portions of
Tyrol settled by the Romans.
Soon along the great Brenner Road, which formed a highway from Italy
to the northern lands beyond Tyrol, activity evinced itself. One of
the most important of the early stations upon it was Veldidena
(Wilten), where the road after crossing the main range of mountains
emerges from the Alpine gorge on the northern side into a wide and
pleasant valley. From this point--close to which, later on, the
capital of Tyrol was destined to be founded--the great Brenner Post
Road branched. One fork led by two divergent ways to the same
objective--Augsburg. The other led in a north-westerly direction by
way of Masciacum (Matzen) and Albianum (Kufstein) to Pons Aeni, which
in all probability closely approximates to the present-day site of
Rosenheim. This road ran down the wide Inn valley, nowadays known as
the Unter Innthal to differentiate it from the valley of the Upper Inn
which runs from the frontier of Switzerland to Innsbruck.
It was along the great military road leading from Verona to Augsburg
that the chief Rhæto-Roman stations were placed. Amongst these were
Tridentum (Trent), Pons Drusi (Bozen), Vilpetenum (Sterzing), Matrejum
(Matrei), Scarbio (Scharnitz), Veldidena (Wilten).
At first, doubtless, these outposts of Roman civilization were little
more than isolated fortresses, or even perhaps merely _speculæ_ or
watch towers, and of these many examples still remain, from which not
only could the road and its approaches be reconnoitred, but also
signals both by day and by night could be made. In the first case by
means of smoke or semaphores, and in the second by bonfires kindled in
cressets or on the hillside itself.
[Sidenote: THE BRENNER PASS]
Another highway into Tyrol through the Vintschgau came to be known as
the Via Claudia Augusta, which name was also improperly applied to a
portion of the Brenner Road. After much contention we think it is now
generally accepted that Mommsen, who has investigated and weighed the
evidence with astonishing care, is correct in assuming that the only
portion of the road via the Reschen-Scheideck Pass which should be
called the Via Claudia Augusta is that traversing the Vintschgau
Valley. The road was constructed not in the reign of Augustus, who
initiated the Brenner Road, but in that of his grandson, the Emperor
Claudius, about A.D. 46-47. It was intended to connect up the River Po
with the River Danube by the Reschen-Scheideck route, and along it at
various times since the middle of the sixteenth century milestones of
Roman origin have been discovered. Though from the fact that little
reference is made to it by the better-known Roman writers of the
period, one may assume that the Via Claudia was of quite secondary
importance to the Brenner Road. But nevertheless it seems probable
that it was the route used for the transportation of stores for the
Roman forces of occupation during the fifth century not long prior to
the evacuation of the country. The Brenner Road for a considerable
period after its construction appears to have been rather a highway
for commerce than a military road in the usual sense of the term.
The chief article exported from Tyrol was salt from the still famous
salt mines at Hall, near Innsbruck, on the northern bank of the Inn.
There were also sent southward into Italy raw hides, timber, Alpine
herbs used in the preparation of medicines, liqueurs, and the purposes
of the toilet; and dairy produce of various kinds, of which cheese was
probably (according to Pliny) one of the chief articles. In those
far-off days, too, much excellent wine was grown far further north in
Tyrol than nowadays when the vine is not cultivated, for vintage
purposes at all events, further north than the southern slope of the
Brenner.
In Roman times the Brenner also formed a link between Aquileia, one of
the most flourishing and important seaport cities on the Adriatic, and
Noricum. As did also another, then important but nowadays almost
deserted route, that of the Plöcken Pass, of which it is believed
Cæsar made frequent use. Along this several important stations were
founded, amongst them Tricesimum, Julium Carnicum (Zuglio), Aguntum
(Innichen), Lonicum (Lienz) and Sebatum (Schabs). Time, however, was
destined to divert the trade from the Plöcken Pass route to that of
the Brenner, and the settlements along the former gradually declined
in importance.
As we have before stated, the Brenner Pass was not originally used so
much for military purposes as was afterwards the case. And it is not
until the latter half of the second century of the Christian Era that
we find it assuming importance as a military highway. Then the
frequent incursions southward of various Germanic tribes caused the
Romans to fully comprehend the strategical value of northern Rhætia.
Two decades at least were occupied in the reconstruction of the
surface and bridges along the road which had owed its origin to the
Emperor Augustus, and the result was the building of a highway
suitable for the speedy passage and massing of large bodies of troops.
Of the stations which were founded along it we have already spoken, it
only remains to say that these were supplemented by "posts" which were
dotted here and there as they were along most other roads made by
Roman builders. They were, however, chiefly used for military and
state rather than for ordinary purposes.
An interesting writer,[4] who has made the history of the Brenner a
special study, has thrown considerable light upon the inns and
hostelries which little by little sprang up to meet the requirements
of the travelling public of those days, who were not, as a rule,
permitted to make use of the official posts. Apparently, these refuges
from the other alternative of spending a night upon the road were by
no means luxurious. In fact, they were probably far otherwise, and
their chief redeeming feature was the undoubted cheapness of the
accommodation they offered. It could not be considered an extravagant
charge for a night's lodging with food of sorts when the bill amounted
to rather less than the equivalent of an English halfpenny! a sum
which would nowadays surprise the modern _oste_ or innkeeper of the
Italian Tyrol as much as his own charges would the Roman wayfarer of
long ago.
[Illustration: A VILLAGE ON THE BRENNER]
[Sidenote: ROMAN REMAINS]
On the heels of Roman civilization, represented by commerce and
travel, which was destined not only to permeate conquered Rhætia, but
to penetrate the regions beyond, in course of time there sprang into
existence a fortress here and a castle there which not only served to
hold the land, but also to encourage and initiate civilization and
bring security to those residing in its immediate vicinity. Of
these, happily for the historian and antiquarian, many traces yet
remain. All along the Brenner the Romans found and were not slow to
seize upon natural coigns of vantage where their unexampled skill as
military builders and engineers permitted them to speedily convert not
easily accessible spurs of the mountains into impregnable fortresses.
Upon some of the castles, the ruins of which nowadays serve to render
these rocky crags of undying interest, the stars must have looked down
ere the dawn of the Christian Era.
Of the occupation of Rhætia by the Romans, unfortunately comparatively
few authentic details have come down to us. But long ere the power of
Rome had waned, never to reassume its pristine greatness, the problem
of resistance to the invasion from the Teutonic tribes to the north
and north-east had become a very real one. Towards the end of the
third century A.D. the Alemanni crossed the Danube and threatened
Rhætia, and through it Italy. They were, it is true, defeated by the
Emperor Maximianus, but the check inflicted was but temporary. About
A.D. 260 Rhætia was invaded several times by the same barbarian tribe,
and on one occasion, at least, Tyrol was ravaged from end to end, and
the invaders afterwards entered Italy, which they penetrated as far
south as Ravenna, having first plundered and destroyed Verona. In the
reign of Claudius (about 269) there was yet another invasion, and
although the forces of Rome ultimately proved victorious in the
struggle with the Teutonic hordes in a battle fought at Naïssus on the
borderland of Tyrol and Italy, when 320,000 are said to have been
slain, there was no lasting peace.
The inroads of the Goths vexed many a quickly succeeding Emperor in
the days when reigns were scarcely to be reckoned as frequently by
years as by months, and it was not until the reign of Aurelianus that
the Goths were driven out of Rhætia and Vindelicia.
Under succeeding Roman rulers there were other raids by the Goths,
and then at last along the roads of Rhætia and over the passes of the
Brenner and the Plöcken poured the invading hosts which were destined
to bring about the eclipse of the powerful Empire which had for so
many centuries controlled the destinies of the greater part of the
then known world.
Just as in our own land, history is almost silent for the period
immediately following the departure of the Roman legions, drawn off to
save Rome, if possible, from the invading hosts of the Goths and Huns,
so was it in Tyrol. Of the years of devastation by fire and sword
which succeeded the withdrawal of the Roman forces from Rhætia there
have come down to us but very scanty details. During this period much
of Roman art and civilization was undoubtedly blotted out by the
barbarian hordes; and, indeed, so far as can be ascertained, little of
either was ultimately left in Rhætia.
Theodoric, the Ostrogothic leader, who had conquered Italy in about
489, planned Rhætia and the Brenner as a barrier against the attacks
of northern invaders, a tribe of whom (the Baiovarii) ultimately
possessed themselves of Vindelicia and Rhætia as far as the southern
slope of the Brenner Pass. About this same period--the middle half of
the sixth century--a very considerable portion of north-eastern Italy
and that part of Rhætia in the vicinity of Tridentum (Trent) was
seized by the Longobards or Lombards. Their Italian Empire lasted for
two centuries, and eventually included the larger portion of what is
nowadays known as the Italian Tyrol.
Meantime, the Baiovarii or Bavarians had conquered the upper part of
Rhætia, and in the beginning of the seventh century their Duke,
Garibaldi II., succeeded in checking the frequent inroads of the
Slavs, although he did not succeed in entirely excluding them from the
country; in the eastern portion of which they remained for a
considerable period. Towards the end of the eighth century (about 789)
the whole of what is now known as Tyrol came under the sovereignty of
Charlemagne, who crushed the Lombards, and a few years later succeeded
in also subduing the Baiovarii.
During the centuries of internecine warfare, with its concomitants of
rapine and chaos, which succeeded the evacuation of Rhætia by the
Roman forces, most of the original inhabitants or peaceably disposed
Romanized Rhætians fled with other fugitives from the southern or
northern plains to the valleys and byways amid the mountains which
hitherto probably had been almost if not entirely unpopulated. Here
they settled, leaving the main routes open to the passage of the
Teutonic invaders bent on the plunder of the Italian cities and
plains, who, we may imagine, did not greatly trouble themselves
regarding the byways or waste time in conquering those who had thus
hidden themselves amid the higher Alpine valleys and fastnesses.
The result of this is seen in the circumstance that whilst in many
cases the out-of-the-way places and villages to this day preserve
their original Romanized Rhætian names, those upon the main routes of
travel have in many instances a purely Teutonic nomenclature.
[Sidenote: "THE LAND IN THE MOUNTAINS"]
The great Empire which Charlemagne created had strangely enough no
natural delimitations, and when it was divided, in A.D. 806, into
three portions amongst his sons, the division was not made upon any
usually recognized system or plan. Tyrol still was unknown by that
name, the country about that time being known as "Das Land im
Gebirge," or "The Land in the Mountains." The immediate successors to
the divided empire of Charlemagne were far less able than he to cope
with the anarchy which so frequently overwhelmed south-eastern and
north-eastern Europe in those days. There was practically no such
unity as now prevails, and, owing to this, the powerful nobles and
ecclesiastics gradually succeeded in dividing up the land amongst
themselves according to the almost universal custom of the Middle
Ages.
The records of Tyrolese history of the period are, however, so
wretchedly meagre that few positive and uncontrovertible facts have
come down to us regarding the events which immediately followed the
partition of Charlemagne's Empire amongst his sons. That the Brenner
Pass and Tyrol formed a sort of highway for successive invaders of
Italy, who swarmed across it from the East and North, there is,
however, little reason for doubt. As has been very truly said, "What
these vast expeditions, consisting of more or less disorderly masses
of curiously mixed races, all in the panoply of war, all eager for
booty, even if bent on a peaceable mission, meant for the countries
through which they slowly ate and robbed their way, it is not quite
easy to picture to one's self in these civilized days, when, even in
the fiercest war, the non-combatant has no reason to go in fear of a
violent death or having his women outraged before his eyes, and his
house razed to the ground." That such things took place in Tyrol is
made almost certain from the statements of contemporary writers,
amongst others, Gottfried von Viterbo, Vincenz von Prague, and Otho
von Freising.
[Sidenote: OLD-TIME TRAVELLERS]
It is the custom for most people to imagine that the "extras" for
lights, tips to servants, and attendance which so often makes the
present-day hotel bill exasperating, are a modern institution. This
is, however, not the case, for some most interesting and illuminating
diaries of early travel which were discovered in 1874 amongst the
archives of the monastery of Cividate show that at the commencement of
the thirteenth century there were a succession of inns already
existing along the Brenner route, where travellers could not only
obtain lodgment and entertainment, but even purchase necessary
medicines. There are also entries for lights, attendance, and
gratuities, which probably vexed the soul of the ecclesiastical
diarist we have referred to as much as they do modern travellers.
Of the types who tramped or rode along the great Tyrol highway and
lodged at the inns, we have fortunately a fairly detailed and
accurate picture handed down to us. If only there had been a Tyrolese
Chaucer what a record might have been preserved! From the diaries of
the Bishop of Passau (whose notes we have quoted), however, we
gratefully gather that in addition to the ordinary itinerant merchants
and countryfolk there were bard musicians of both sexes, conjurers
(more or less skilful, and many of them charlatans), singers,
mendicant friars (some of little holiness), and the far-famed
minnesingers who for a considerable period had a great vogue at Courts
and castles. Along this famous high-road of the Brenner and through
Tyrol passed, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, many of the
pilgrims and Crusaders bound for or returning from Palestine or some
distant shrine of peculiar merit or holiness.
[Sidenote: EARLY TYROLESE RULERS]
One of the chief amongst the many changes and reforms instituted by
Charlemagne was the sub-division of the countries he had conquered and
welded together to form his Empire into margravates or departments
which he placed under the rule of his nobles and other officials whom
he appointed for the purpose. Although this system undoubtedly worked
well during his powerful sway, after his death and during the anarchy
and dissension which distinguished the reigns of his immediate
successors what might have been expected happened. The more powerful
of the nobles and officials and their descendants soon commenced to
regard their offices as of the nature of hereditary appointments, and
in consequence with the development of this idea small dynasties were
gradually founded, and towards the close of the tenth century three of
these had sprung into existence in Tyrol. These three Countships or
_Grafschaften_ were of Andechs, Eppan, and Tyrol, and the country was
eventually divided up amongst them and the great ecclesiastical lords
of the Sees of Trent, Brixen, and Coire.
As is the case with so much of early Tyrol history and events, very
scanty information of a reliable character has come down to us
regarding the origin of these three great families of nobles who held
sway in the country. Nor is it for the purpose of this book necessary
to enquire closely into the evidence we have. The origin of the family
of Andechs is almost entirely unknown, although for a considerable
period they were the most powerful of the three families we have
named. The Eppans are believed to have been descendants of a natural
son of a Duke of Bavaria, and their long and bloody feud with the
Bishops of Brixen on account of lands taken from them and given to the
See is enshrined in Tyrol history and legend.
The third family, the Counts of Tyrol, though originally by no means
the most important, was destined to outlast the other two, and
eventually to become possessed of most of the country and give its
name to ancient Rhætia. Although even in the days of the Roman
occupation there appears to have been a Castle Tyrol, which was the
residence of a centurion, the family, as it is generally known, is
supposed to have taken its origin from Count Hunfried who lived in the
reign of Charlemagne, and was also Count of Vintschgau. This noble
came into prominence on the division of Charlemagne's Empire amongst
his three sons; but it appears to be probable that it was not until
the middle part of the thirteenth century that one of the owners of
Castle Tyrol or Teriolis first took the title of Counts of Tyrol.[5]
The earliest reference to the three Counts of Tyrol appears in the
archives about the year 1140, and we find the family dwelling in the
Castle Tyrol or Teriolis, near Meran. It was from this fortress, now
in a ruinous condition except for the chapel and fine porch dating
from the twelfth century, that not only the family took its name but
eventually the whole country came to be known. Gradually one by one
the possessions of the other nobles in Tyrol were taken from them or
became absorbed by marriage in that of the Counts of Tyrol. Until
about 1240 the then reigning Count Albert was able to style himself
Prince Count (or gefürsteter Graf) of Tyrol so widespread and rich
were his possessions.
The Principality thus formed remained a fief of the German Empire
until the reign of Maximilian I. (1493) when it was incorporated with
the other possessions of the Crown.
The first of the Prince Counts of Tyrol was successful, in 1248, in
obtaining from the Counts of Andechs the district of the Inn Valley,
once the site of Roman Veldidena, which place tradition asserts was
destroyed about A.D. 452 by the Huns under the leadership of Attila on
their return through Tyrol after their defeat by Aëtius at the battle
of Chalons.
During the early Middle Ages the Premonstratensian Abbey of Wilten had
been built on the site of the ancient town, and later on the Counts of
Andechs, who had become possessed of land in the neighbourhood on the
banks of the Inn, became the most powerful and influential nobles in
the district. Under them a trading post or centre of commerce was
founded near the bridge over the Inn, the importance of which can be
easily understood when its proximity to the Brenner high-road, a then
busy thoroughfare, is borne in mind. From this bridge over the Inn was
derived the name of the town Innsbruck--afterwards destined to become
the capital of Tyrol--a mention of which appears for the first time in
archives of the year 1327. It was to the foresight and enterprise of
Otto of Andechs that the town owed the walls, towers, and
fortifications which were to stand it in good stead. Count Otto also
built himself a palace, which still is known as Ottoburg.
Concerning the various princes who reigned over Tyrol in succession to
Count Albert down to Henry, the youngest son of Meinhard II., who, by
marrying the daughter of the King of Bohemia, claimed the throne on
the death of his father-in-law and took the title of king, although
forced to surrender his claims to Bohemia, and rest content with Tyrol
and Carinthia, it is not necessary to say much. This Henry was a
good-natured, easily influenced ruler, who by reason of these
characteristics fell almost entirely into the hands of the more
powerful of his nobles, who by flattery and supplies of money to meet
his spendthrift habits were able to acquire not only influence over
him, but also gain great possessions from and unchecked by him. Under
this ruler Meran became the capital of Tyrol; and Hall, Sterzing, and
other places were raised to the dignity of towns.
Though easily led, Henry was not without his virtues, for he granted
several privileges which were in the interests of commerce, and under
his rule the hard lots of the villein and working classes were
lightened, and a heritable system of land tenure for the peasant class
devised and established. The effect of this was destined to be
beneficial not only to those it was primarily intended to assist, but
also to the nobles, and Henry himself. For as the nobles seldom or
never paid taxes it followed that, with increased prosperity, the
lower orders (who bore the greater part of the burden of taxation)
could be taxed to a higher degree without suffering in proportion.
Many stories are current concerning the difficulties into which
Henry's wastrel habits got him. One of them is that he was unable at
Innsbruck to settle the bill of a fish and wine merchant, and as a
last resort gave this man, one Eberhard, the bridge toll, which it is
unnecessary to say formed a valuable consideration.
[Illustration: YOUNG TYROL]
[Sidenote: "POCKET MOUTHED MEG"]
At his death in 1335 he left no male heir, the succession falling to
his daughter Margaret, known to history as "wide (or Pocket) Mouthed
Meg" on account of her remarkably ill-formed mouth. How her mouth
became so ugly is not exactly known. One story states the name was
derived from the word _Maultasche_, in consequence of her having had
her ears (or side of face) boxed or struck. The explanation gains
some weight from the fact that the blow was said to have been struck
her by one of her Bavarian relatives, and the circumstance that she
ultimately left her heritage to her Austrian cousins and not to the
Bavarian branch of the family, thus causing Tyrol to become a part of
the Austrian Empire.
Eventually, after many abortive attempts to arrange a marriage with
the numerous suitors who were willing to become allied to perhaps the
richest though the ugliest heiress in Europe of that time, for her
inheritance comprised the dukedoms of Goricia, Croatia and Carinthia,
as well as the beautiful land Tyrol, Margaret was married, in A.D.
1330, to the youthful Prince John of Bohemia, the bridegroom being
nine years of age and the bride several years older. The latter was
destined to have a troublous career, ugly as her mouth in some of its
details; and the young couple, when (a few years after the formal
marriage) they came to live together, were almost from the first at
variance.
John was feeble and of weak intellect, and Margaret as determined and
shameless as were many other women rulers in those times. Plots and
intrigues were rife, the former between the two parties who espoused
the German or Luxembourg (Bohemian) claims, the latter between
Margaret and her courtier and even peasant lovers, some of whom were
given privileges and even lands and patents of nobility by the amorous
princess of the "Pocket Mouth," who made several unsuccessful attempts
to get rid of her husband, until she frightened him into returning to
his own country. This desire accomplished, Margaret commenced to put
in operation her further plans. John was a fugitive, going from castle
to castle in search of shelter or sanctuary, awaiting assistance from
his father or the Luxembourg party, which was favourable to the
Bohemian side of the question. Soon the Emperor Louis, who was the
ruler of the Holy Roman Empire and a deadly enemy of the Bohemians,
saw an opportunity for accomplishing a long-cherished desire, that of
the acquisition of Tyrol.
He found a ready accomplice in his good-looking, attractive son, who
appeared willing enough to marry another man's wife, however
ill-tempered and ugly, even before the first marriage was formally
declared null and void by the Pope, provided wealth and possessions
were acquired with her. However, when the Pope--who himself had cast
longing eyes on Margaret's possessions--heard of the proposed union,
he not only declined to annul the marriage between John and Margaret,
but threatened the latter with excommunication if she espoused the son
of Louis, who was his implacable foe. There were also reasons of
consanguinity which made the marriage impossible without the Pope's
sanction. Louis, however, not to be thwarted in his desire, set about
to find a bishop willing to defy the Pontiff and bold enough to
solemnize the marriage. Soon he succeeded in persuading the Bishop of
Freisingen both to annul the first marriage and celebrate the second.
Accordingly the Emperor, in whose train were numbers of nobles, set
forth with the bishop mentioned, and also the bishops of Augsburg and
Regensburg, for Tyrol.
But whilst on the journey and crossing a pass (the Jaufen), which
afforded the quickest route from Sterzing to Margaret's home near
Meran, the Bishop of Freisingen's horse stumbled and threw its rider,
killing him on the spot. This accident so sapped the courage of the
other two bishops (who doubtless considered the event as a direct
message of wrath from Heaven) that they refused to go on with the
scheme upon which they had embarked.
This did not, however, weaken the determination of either the Emperor
or Louis, who, on his arrival at Castle Tyrol, forced the terrified
resident chaplain to celebrate the marriage, although we are told the
people protested loudly, anticipating terrible punishments for
breaking the laws of the Church and defying the commands of the Pope.
Nevertheless the event was celebrated with great festivities, and, so
far as one can gather, no immediate wrath from Heaven was experienced
by the evildoers.
[Sidenote: ERA OF CIVIL WAR]
During the weak rule of John, the various nobles in Tyrol had gained
great ascendency; had extended their possessions and rights; and had
in fact seriously weakened the sovereign power of their ruler. Louis
proved of very different metal to his precursor. He at once attacked
the nobles, who had aggregated to themselves unlawful or dangerous
authority, devastating their estates, burning and dismantling their
castles and fortresses, and exiling those who did not submit. Civil
war of the most bloodthirsty kind ran riot in Tyrol, and other
disasters in the shape of fire, which destroyed some of the most
important towns, including Meran the capital; swarms of locusts,
plague and earthquake, all afflicted the unhappy and unfortunate land.
It is needless to say that these terrible calamities were esteemed by
many Tyrolese as the direct expression by Heaven of anger at
Margaret's bigamous marriage and defiance of the power of the Church.
The ravages of the Black Death were not less severe than in other
parts of Southern Europe, and, according to one chronicler, scarcely a
sixth of the population of Tyrol were left alive. As was so often the
case in the Middle Ages, some human scapegoat was sought for and
found; and the very common one was fixed upon--the Jews. The
persecution of this unfortunate race which ensued was of so ruthless a
character that neither women, children, nor the aged were spared, with
the result, we are told, that very few were left alive.
Then succeeded a period of war. The supporters of the discarded
husband of Margaret--John of Bohemia--were not slow to seek to revenge
themselves upon her, and Tyrol was subsequently invaded by the King of
Bohemia, who was joined by the militant Bishop of Trent with
considerable forces. An active campaign followed, characterized by
great cruelty on the part of the invaders, during which the two chief
towns, Meran and Bozen, were captured and destroyed, and ultimately
Margaret was besieged in her own Castle of Tyrol. It was so admirably
situated for defence that in her husband's absence Margaret, who, with
all her vices and failings, was no coward, was able to defend it
successfully from all assaults, and did so until her husband was able
to return by forced marches, and surprising the besiegers, succeeded
in defeating them and forcing them to retire. The country, however,
suffered terribly during the enemy's retreat, as, in revenge for being
baulked of their prey, they burned and ravaged in every direction, and
spared no man from the sword. Indeed, the history of the campaign
exhibits in the most lurid light the underlying and primitive savagery
of all warfare in the Middle Ages.
It was to meet the heavy charges arising from the prolonged campaign
and defence of his territory that Louis had to sell or pawn many of
his richest personal possessions, with the result that many nobles
(who provided him with money or other support) gained or regained
valuable privileges and a considerable accession of power and
influence.
[Sidenote: STORIES ABOUT "MEG"]
Into the whole course of this war and the history of
Tyrol--interesting and even fascinating though it be--it is impossible
for us to enter. Margaret ultimately (it may be noted) made her peace
with Rome, owing to the influence exercised over the Pope by her
Austrian cousins of the House of Habsburg, the condition of their
mediation being that she should leave to them and not to her Bavarian
cousins her heritage should her son and heir Meinhard pre-decease her,
and die without issue.
Fate favoured the schemes of the Habsburgs, for both Margaret's
husband Louis and her son died before her, the latter at the early age
of twenty. As an example of the old saw, "Give a dog a bad name and
hang him," popular opinion laid both deaths at Margaret's door. Her
husband died in 1361-2 whilst on a journey to Munich in her company.
This supposed murder was, according to then common report, a _crime
passionel_ arising from Margaret's fear that Louis was about to
compass the death of Conrad of Frauenberg, a noble with whom she had
carried on an intrigue that had been common talk and a scandal for
years. On the death of his father, Meinhard assumed the responsibility
of government; in doing this he appears to have placed, or attempted
to place, some sort of check upon the shameless conduct and intrigues
of his mother, and when he died in January, 1363, his death, like that
of Louis, was laid at his mother's door. Popular opinion, however, has
been proved to have been in error by historians who do not favour the
supposition that she was really guilty of either death; and although
no explanation of the actual cause of Louis's death is forthcoming,
there would appear some evidence for supposing that Meinhard's
untimely end was unromantic and free from mystery, and, in fact, was
the result of drinking cold water whilst overheated from exertion.
In those days, although news travelled but slowly according to modern
ideas, it was less than a fortnight ere it had reached Vienna, and
Rudolph IV. of Habsburg, by travelling "day and night," was at Bozen
eager to make certain his position as the eldest of the three brothers
to whom his cousin Margaret had agreed to cede Tyrol and her other
wide possessions.
Around the picturesque, though licentious and uninviting, figure of
"Pocket-Mouthed Meg" has gathered an accretion of traditions and tales
unequalled by those attached to any other Tyrol ruler. But, although
she was for many years so outstanding a figure in the history of her
country and indeed of South-Eastern Europe, strangely few authentic
records or documentary corroboration of these stories have been
discoverable.
Thus, by the death of Meinhard in 1363, the country became a portion
of Austria under the rule of Rudolph IV., who, though young, was wise
and far-seeing. However, he was not destined to long enjoy the
possessions he had acquired chiefly by skilful diplomacy, and on his
death, two years after his accession, Tyrol was governed jointly by
his two brothers--Leopold and Albert.
During this dual control the Bavarian relations of Margaret made
frequent incursions into the country, especially in the neighbourhood
of the Unter-Innthal, and in 1369 succeeded in obtaining a large sum
from the Habsburgs at a temporary peace made at Schärding. Ten years
later the dual sovereignty came to an end, the two brothers dividing
the inheritance, Leopold taking Tyrol as his share. He was killed at
the Battle of Sempach on July 9th, 1386, where the Swiss gained so
signal a victory under the leadership of Arnold Von Winkelried.
[Sidenote: DUKE FREDERICK'S REIGN]
In 1406 Frederick, Leopold's youngest son, succeeded to the
sovereignty, which during his minority had been held by his elder
brothers and his Uncle Albert, who had ruled the country in so lax a
manner that the nobles gained a great ascendency.
It was, indeed, no easy task to which Duke Frederick was called. The
nickname bestowed upon him, that of "the Empty Purse," was by no means
an exact description of his financial condition, save during a
comparatively short period of his reign of thirty years. It was given
him at the time he was an outlaw by reason of the ban of the Church,
and was obliged to fly for his life and take refuge amid the
mountains. His was a stormy reign. In the early portion of it he was
at variance with many of the most powerful of his nobles, who resisted
his attempts to curtail the power which they had acquired during his
minority. After the anxieties and hardships which ensued, when the
country was over-run by the Bavarians, and even the capital
threatened, Frederick was destined to have still greater trouble by
reason of his action at the Council of Constance, which was summoned
to settle the momentous questions as to who was the rightful head of
the Church, and who the ruler of the Empire. There were three
claimants for each position, nominated and supported by the rival
factions. The spiritual claimants were John XXIII., Benedict XIII.,
Gregory XII.; and the temporal Kings Sigismund of Hungary, Jost of
Moravia, and Wencelaus of Bohemia.
[Illustration: A WAYSIDE SHRINE, TYROL]
Of the Ecclesiastical claimants John had Frederick's support, and when
the former, failing to get elected by the Council, had not only to
renounce his claims but flee for his life, Frederick assisted him to
escape from Constance. This act of loyalty to a friend almost cost
Frederick his life, as Sigismund (who of the three candidates had been
elected Emperor) was his enemy, and not only succeeded in persuading
the assembly to declare Frederick's throne forfeited, but also him and
his chief supporters and followers outlaws, to shelter any of whom was
a crime punishable with death.
Frederick's evil case was made worse and his difficulties immeasurably
increased by the secession to the ranks of his enemies of his brother
Ernest, who had taken the Dukedom of Styria as his portion of the
inheritance.
Duke Ernest took up the reins of Government of Tyrol, and there ensued
a period of bloodshed and disastrous Civil War in which the peasants
and the lower classes remained firm and loyal supporters of their
ruler Frederick, and the greater number of the nobility espoused the
cause of the usurper Ernest. At length a peace was brought about
between the two brothers, chiefly through the mediation of the
Archbishop Eberhard of Salzburg, and the Duke Louis of Bavaria. The
reconciliation of Frederick and Duke Ernest, whose estrangement had
been brought about by Frederick's action in relation to Pope John at
Constance which had brought him under the powerful ban of the Church,
took place at the castle of the Archbishop at Kropfsberg.
The remaining portion of Frederick's life appears to have been
peaceable, and notwithstanding his _sobriquet_ of "Empty Purse" he
left a huge fortune in treasure, which some authorities assert was the
greatest amassed by any ruler of those times. He was undoubtedly one
of the most able, and with the peasants and townsfolk most popular,
rulers Tyrol has ever had as a separate principality. He carried on a
struggle throughout his reign against the encroachments of the
nobility upon the lands and liberties of the people, which in itself
was a thing sufficient to gain him the love and loyalty of the great
masses of his subjects, which his affable manners, generosity, and
kindliness served to cement. To him belongs the credit of summoning
the first Tyrolean Landtag of any use or importance, held at Meran in
1423. Subsequently the Landtag was convened at Innsbruck, which town
in consequence gradually came to be regarded as the capital of Tyrol.
On the death of Frederick he was succeeded by his son Sigismund, then
a mere lad of eleven or twelve years of age. The latter lived for some
seven years at the Court of Vienna under the control of his guardian
the Emperor Frederick III. Whilst in Vienna he became acquainted with
one Æneas Silvius de Piccolomini, afterwards Pope Pius II., a widely
travelled, able but licentious man who had journeyed so far afield as
Scotland, and who poured such glowing descriptions of the beauty of
the ladies of the Scottish Court into the young Duke Sigismund's ears
that he became possessed with a desire to marry a Scotch bride. Thus
it happened that when the daughter of Charles VII., King of France,
died (whom it had been intended by his father he should marry) the
young Duke Sigismund wooed and won Eleanor, daughter of ill-fated
James I. of Scotland, to whom as dowry the Duke gave the historic
castles of Ambras, Imst, and Hörtenburg for life. This gifted princess
lived in Tyrol for a period of more than thirty years, and by her
gentle manners, love of sport, especially hawking and hunting, and
social accomplishments made herself much beloved by her husband's
subjects. Her Court, for the size of the principality over which her
husband ruled, was very large and luxurious.
During the reign of Sigismund the vast mineral wealth of the
Unter-Innthal district especially became opened up, and this enabled
the Duke to spend lavish sums upon pleasures, entertainments, arts,
and science, which soon caused his Court at Innsbruck to be spoken of
as one of the most refined, gay, and interesting in Eastern Europe. At
the same time Tyrol owed much to Sigismund, as he was a generous
patron of art and employer of artists of all kinds.
[Sidenote: THE WAR WITH VENICE]
On the death of his consort Eleanor he married, in 1484, the Princess
Catherine of Saxony, who was both young and beautiful. A man of great
judgment, he yet committed the grave error of provoking a war with the
Venetians, whose trade with Tyrol was an important and valuable asset
in the country's commerce and material prosperity. It arose from the
seizure of some rich silver mines the property of the Venetians in the
Valsugana, and the tense situation arising from this act was
aggravated shortly after, in April 1487, by the forcible seizure of
the goods of Venetian merchants who had come (as was their wont) to
the great fair held at Bozen. Over a hundred and twenty Venetian
merchants were also thrown into prison. In the war which ensued the
Tyrolese were ultimately victorious; but the victory was a Pyrrhic one
as Tyrol lost much by this struggle with the great commercial power of
those remote times. The Venetians took a speedy revenge, "boycotting"
Tyrolese trade, absenting themselves from the fairs and markets, and
avoiding using the Brenner Route which had very materially added to
the wealth of the country.
Sigismund, as had other rulers of the Mountain Kingdom, fell out of
favour with the Church, owing to a quarrel with the Cardinal Bishop of
Brixen, Nicholas of Cusa, chiefly on account of the latter's
persistent endeavour to exalt the power of the Church at the expense
of the former's temporal authority, and it was only Sigismund's
indifference to religious matters and power in his own country which
enabled him to treat with unconcern if not positive contempt the ban
placed upon him by the Church of Rome. He even went the length of
making war upon the Bishop, and of besieging him in his castle at
Brunneck; and as a consequence was excommunicated by both Pope
Calixtus III. the Courageous and Pius II.
In Sigismund's declining years he applied himself "to the task of
purchasing salvation in the manner approved by the Church he had
defied, and whose bulls, bans, and mandates he had scorned." He set
about founding monasteries, gave largely to charitable endowments, and
was generous in other ways to a Church which was anxious to pardon the
sinner who was willing to purchase absolution on satisfactory monetary
or other terms. One effect of this great expenditure was to impoverish
the country, which had already been much "drained" by the demands made
upon it by Sigismund's patronage of art, love of women, and lavish
entertainments.
[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE RITTEN LOOKING S.W.]
[Sidenote: MAXIMILIAN I]
Maximilian, his cousin (afterwards the famous Emperor Maximilian I.),
succeeded him on his abdication in 1493. He was in a great measure an
ideal ruler for Tyrol, whose brave, independent people were touched by
the spirit, frankness, and great personal bravery of their new prince.
Fond of war, he was equally devoted to the chivalric jousts and games
of the period, and, if one may believe historians, to these sterner
qualities was united a kindly and approachable disposition which
further endeared him to his people. It was only in the latter portion
of his reign that he lost touch with and hold upon them, and, owing to
the heavy drain that incessant wars and military operations had placed
upon the country, necessitating heavy taxation, became in a measure
unpopular.
From his biographers one gathers that the Emperor was deeply affected
by the change of attitude of the populace towards him, and he referred
to it bitterly on several occasions. During some considerable time
before his death he always went about accompanied by his coffin, which
he is stated to have described as "the one narrow palace which
architects can design at small cost, and the making of which does not
bring ruin upon princes."
During the reign of Maximilian to Tyrol was added other and
considerable new territory, including the Ampezzo district; Rovereto;
the three lordships of Rattenberg, Kitzbühel, and Kufstein; the towns
of Riva and Arco; a portion of the present Vorarlberg; and a portion
of the Pusterthal. Maximilian also did something for education in his
capital of Innsbruck, where he built a new palace which was first used
at the time of his second marriage with Maria Bianca Sforza of Milan
in 1494.
He was succeeded by his two grandsons, the Emperor Charles V. and the
Archduke Ferdinand. The former, however, found his dominions so vast
that he soon resigned his Austrian possessions (including Tyrol) to
his brother Ferdinand, who afterwards became Emperor. The reign of the
latter, though long, was not a happy or prosperous one. The religious
disturbances brought about by the Reformation, which Ferdinand
severely suppressed, and risings of the peasants in consequence, made
his name detested in Tyrol, so that in the War of the Schmalkald the
inhabitants supported Charles V. It was at Innsbruck (after two
unsuccessful attempts to leave Tyrol) that he was surprised by his
treacherous friend Maurice of Saxony, who had marched his army rapidly
into Tyrol intent upon capturing Charles. The latter, who had no army
with him, having arrived at Innsbruck on his way to the Council of
Trent, in order to escape had to leave his palace at dead of night in
torrents of rain in May 1552--a man broken in health and tired of
life.
It was this Ferdinand who founded the famous Franciscan Church at
Innsbruck with its world-renowned tomb in memory of his grandfather
Maximilian I.
On the death of Ferdinand, in 1564, he was succeeded on the throne of
Tyrol by his second son who bore his name. A romantic interest
attaches to this Archduke, who after much opposition on the part of
his family married the beautiful daughter of an Augsburg merchant,
Philippina Welser, who ultimately succeeded in winning the Emperor's
sanction to the marriage.[6]
The thirty-one years' reign of Archduke Ferdinand was chiefly notable
for the encouragement given by him to Art. Indeed, during this period
the country reached its highest culture. The world-famous art
collection now in Vienna, concerning which most authorities are in
agreement that it was the most extensive and beautiful formed up to
that period, owes its existence almost entirely to him. In his Castle
of Ambras, near Innsbruck, he gathered together art treasures that are
now, as regards many examples, almost if not quite unique; and by so
doing ensured his position with posterity as one of the first, most
learned, and most discriminating of art collectors and connoisseurs
the world has known.
[Sidenote: A ROYAL ROMANCE]
Ferdinand and his beautiful spouse remained throughout their married
life devoted to each other, although when the former's father, in
1563, recognized the marriage it was agreed that any children born to
the pair should not be recognized as of Royal birth, the alliance
being regarded as morganatic. The story that Philippina died a violent
death seems to have no basis upon fact.
Ferdinand after the death of his first wife married Anna Katharina
Gonzaga of Mantua, to whose devout tendencies and influence over him
Innsbruck and the neighbourhood owed many of its religious houses and
institutions.
On the death of Ferdinand, as his and Philippina's children could not
succeed to their father's possessions and title for the reason we have
mentioned, and as there were no children of the marriage with Anna
Katharina, Tyrol reverted in 1595 to the Emperor Rudolph II., who soon
appointed his brother the Archduke Maximilian as Regent. This prince
was the head of the Teutonic Order, and bore the title of
Deutschmeister. After his death Tyrol reverted to the Emperor
Ferdinand II., who in 1622 celebrated his second marriage with
Eleanora Vincenzo of Mantua at Innsbruck. The event was celebrated
with great magnificence even for a period when entertainments of the
kind were veritable triumphs of splendour and art, and the wedding
feast was served by Tyrolese noblemen.
Ferdinand soon appointed his brother the Archduke Leopold as Regent,
and on his death in 1632 the latter was succeeded by his widow, the
wise and beautiful Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Medici, who
governed Tyrol during the minority of her two sons. Her chief
counsellor was the brilliant and distinguished Chancellor Wilhelm
Biener. The Archduke Ferdinand Charles came of age (and succeeded to
his estates) in 1646, and in default of male heirs was succeeded by
his brother Francis Sigismund in 1662. The reign of the last named
lasted only three years, and came to a sudden and tragic close on the
very eve of his marriage. Popular opinion ascribed his death to
poison, given to the Archduke by his physician Agricola, the latter,
at the time, being supposed to have been instigated to the crime by
some Italian nobles whom the Archduke had banished from his Court. On
the death of Sigismund the second Tyrolese-Habsburg line of rulers
came to an end.
[Illustration: ABOVE THE ARLBERG TUNNEL]
It was then that Tyrol finally came into the possession of the
Emperors of Austria, by whom the ancient title of Prince-Count of
Tyrol and other subsidiary titles are still borne.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Several well-known authorities still refuse to accept this theory.
[2] Also called the Eisack.
[3] Mommsen in his "Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum."
[4] W. Von Rodlow.
[5] This view of the origin of the country's name is, we would add,
disputed by some authorities.--C. H.
[6] This is disputed by some authorities, but would appear to have
been the case.--C. H.
CHAPTER II
TYROL FROM ITS INCORPORATION BY AUSTRIA AS A PART OF THE
EMPIRE TO THE PRESENT TIME
During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) between the Catholics and
Protestants of Germany, which was renowned for the victories of
Wallenstein and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, Tyrol did not altogether
escape its influence though playing no very important part in the
struggle. One result was, however, of considerable importance to a
family of great note in Tyrol. It brought about the ruin of the
Fuggers, whose financial assistance to various rulers of Tyrol and
Eastern Europe had been generally forthcoming when required. Owing to
their possession of the two famous castle-fortresses of Tratzberg and
Matzen their prosperity or otherwise was of considerable importance to
Tyrol.
From the date (1665) when the country became completely incorporated
as a part of the Austrian Empire it did homage to the Emperor Leopold
I., sole heir of the joint Austro-German possessions. It was during
his reign and on account of this circumstance that Tyrol became deeply
involved in the War of the Spanish Succession, and was the object of
attack on the part of both French and Bavarians, Leopold being the
Austrian claimant to the Spanish throne, and Philip of Anjou, grandson
of Louis XIV., the French aspirant.
In 1703 the French troops, under General Vendome, entered Tyrol from
the South and unsuccessfully besieged Trent on their way northward to
Austria; and at the same time the Bavarians overran the country by
routes which they had traversed from almost time immemorial when
making their periodic raids upon the Tyrolese. For a considerable
period the invaders were successful, and many villages and castles of
the Unter-Innthal and contiguous districts were destroyed. The capture
of the capital was the cause of the uprising of the Landsturm, or
general levy of the peasants; and during 1703 a number of fierce
engagements were fought between these ill-armed but brave Tyrolese and
the Bavarian and French troops. One of the most noted battles was that
which took place immediately after the Tyrolese had destroyed the
Pontlatz Bridge which spanned the River Inn, by which the Bavarians
were about to cross. In this engagement the latter, under the
leadership of the Elector Maximilian Emmanuel, were utterly routed by
a much inferior force of the Landsturm, and driven back from North
Tyrol. Following up this success the Tyrolese concentrated their
energies upon the French force under General Vendome which they
compelled to retire into Italy.
The Emperor Leopold I., not wishing to reside for any length of time
at Innsbruck, had created the office of Statthalter or Governor of
Tyrol and Vorarlberg, an office which has been filled ever since till
the present day, with the exception of the period of the French and
Bavarian wars with Austria in the early part of the last century.
The Emperor did not live to see the ultimate triumph of his forces. He
died in 1705, and was succeeded by his sons Joseph I. and Charles VI.
On the death of the latter in 1740, owing to the fact that with him
the Austrian male line became extinct, the Empress Maria Theresa ruled
in his stead. During her long reign the Vorarlberg became an integral
part of Tyrol owing to the fact that it was an Imperial fief which
reverted to the Crown by natural process on the extinction of the line
of feoffees. Maria Theresa and her husband the Emperor Francis I.
came to Innsbruck in 1765 for the wedding of their son Leopold, Grand
Duke of Tuscany (afterwards the Emperor Leopold II.), with Maria
Ludovica, daughter of Charles III., King of Spain. The Tyrolese and
the Innsbruckers gave a warm welcome to their sovereigns, and the
festivities were upon a most magnificent scale. The gaiety was
destined, however, to be clouded and put an end to by the sudden death
of the Emperor (husband of Maria Theresa), who expired at the palace
immediately after his return from the Italian Opera. It was he,
Francis Stephen of Lorraine, also Grand Duke of Tuscany, who founded
the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, which still rules over the
Austro-Hungarian Empire.
[Sidenote: REFORMS OF JOSEPH II.]
On the death of Maria Theresa in 1780 she was succeeded by her son
Joseph II., upon whose accession many innovations were introduced in
Tyrol as well as other portions of his wide empire. His salutary and
liberally conceived reforms, more especially as regarded the Church,
were brought about by a desire to adjust political and religious
affairs and do away with anomalies.
Inasmuch as Joseph's scheme embraced the suppression or abolition of
numerous priories, monasteries, churches, and other religious
institutions, it is little to be wondered at that his action met with
the most strenuous opposition from the Church whose property was
threatened. One act, the closing of the University of Innsbruck, which
had been founded by Leopold I. in 1677, it is not easy for any one at
the present day to understand. The Emperor Joseph II.'s scheme of
reform was not successful, although it had arisen from honourable
motives and a sincere desire to redress some very crying grievances.
He was succeeded in 1790 by his brother, the Emperor Leopold II., who
reopened the University, and undid much of the work his predecessor
had accomplished with regard to the suppression of religious houses.
He, however, reigned but two years, and was followed by his son
Francis II. of Germany and Francis I. of Austria. This ruler came to
the throne at a great and unhappy crisis in European history. The
French Revolution was at its height and the ensuing period of the
"blood lustful" Napoleonic Wars made of Europe a vast camp and battle
ground. It was also a period destined, as events proved, to make Tyrol
famous for all time, to develop the best instincts of her people, and
to exhibit the race in a heroic and romantic light.
To understand the position of Tyrol at this epoch it is necessary to
briefly sketch the events which led up to the struggle as it affected
the "land in the Mountains." Mantua, an Austro-Italian possession,
fell before Napoleon in 1797, and immediately the young general sent
an army under Joubert into Tyrol, the routes into the country being
left almost undefended by the retreat of the Austrian forces towards
Carinthia, after their defeat at Lodi on May 10, 1796.
[Sidenote: FRENCH INVASION]
Once more the Landsturm was raised in South Tyrol, and again the
peasant forces (to whom the name of "ragged coats" had been
contemptuously given) engaged in a terrific struggle for their beloved
land with the not only better armed but more numerous detachments of
French and Bavarian invaders. Even the well-tried legions of Napoleon
were destined, however, to find them as redoubtable as had formerly
Maximilian.
Under the gallant von Worndle the Inn Valley Landsturm was led down
into the Pusterthal, where it was joined by the Austrian forces under
Generals Laudon and Kerpen. Napoleon's troops, although well led, and
possessing all the advantages that experience and a knowledge of
strategy could give them, nevertheless could not withstand the
terrific onslaught and heroic bravery shown by the Tyrolese. A fierce
and bloody engagement was fought at Spinges which resulted in the
triumph of the peasant forces and the utter rout of the invaders, who
were compelled to evacuate the country. About the same time
another smaller engagement took place near Bozen, where a mere handful
of peasants engaged a much superior force and defeated it. This
otherwise comparatively unimportant event has gained fame and
significance from the fact that this small body of Passeyer peasantry
was led by a tall, broad-shouldered man with a long brown beard, named
Andreas Hofer, who was destined afterwards to play so great and
remarkable a part in the history of his beloved country.
[Illustration: SUNSET ON A TYROLESE LAKE]
[Illustration: A TYPICAL TYROLESE LANDSCAPE]
After the Battle of Spinges hostilities were ended for a time by the
Treaty of Campo Formio, October 17, 1797.
During this preliminary struggle against the French it is estimated by
several authorities that upwards of 100,000 peasants took up arms in
defence of their country, amongst whom were many women and young
maidens. The total population of Tyrol at that period did not probably
much exceed three quarters of a million.
The peace secured by the Treaty of Campo Formio did not, however,
endure very long, for early in 1799 the war broke out again, and the
French under General Massena entered Tyrol, on this occasion by way of
Switzerland through the mountain passes, the Bavarians supporting the
invaders by incursions over the frontier in the direction of Salzburg.
In an engagement near Feldkirch in Vorarlberg General Massena was
defeated; and upon making a fresh attack the French, hearing all the
church bells of the district ringing on Easter Eve and mistaking them
for the alarm bells summoning the Landsturm, hastily abandoned their
intentions and retreated across the frontier into Swiss territory. The
victories of Marengo and Hohenlinden on June 14 and December 3 of the
next year, brought about the Treaty of Luneville on February 9, 1801,
by which the Bishoprics of Brixen and Trent (already in a sense
belonging to Tyrol) were made integral parts of the country.
Hostilities were continued, however, in other parts of Europe, and
the long war dragged on, Napoleon over-running the Continent and more
especially South-Eastern Europe almost unchecked, till Ulm, where the
Austrians were defeated October 17-20, 1805. The French army under
Marshal Ney afterwards entered and occupied Innsbruck. Then came the
disastrous Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, where Napoleon defeated
the combined Russian and Austrian forces. The power of the latter was
shattered, and by the Treaty of Pressburg, December 26, 1805, Tyrol,
which now for upwards of four hundred years had been one of the chief
possessions of the house of Habsburg, was ceded to the victors. The
Bavarians took the northern, and the French the southern portion. Not
only was the country for a time lost to Austria, but even its name was
taken from it. The new owners promptly divided it into three
departments known by the names of the three chief rivers--the Inn,
Eisack, and Adige.
In the beginning of the year following the Treaty the Bavarians took
formal possession of their new territory. During a period of some
three years the Tyrolese fretted under the rule of their conquerors.
But the time was not spent merely in idle murmurings or in servile
acceptance of the conqueror's yoke. The peasants who had fought so
bravely for their land and liberty in ancient times, and in 1797 and
1799, were eager once more to take the field to recover their lost
freedom, and to drive the usurpers of their beautiful Tyrol for ever
beyond its frontiers.
[Sidenote: RISE OF ANDREAS HOFER]
Day by day, week by week, month by month a general rising of the
community was being gradually organized by three men more
particularly, who were each of them destined to become famous, and to
go down to posterity as the saviours of their country. Of these
Andreas Hofer, born of Inn-keeping parents at Sandyland in the
Passeyer Valley in 1765, was destined to outshine both in his life and
death his two companions, named Speckbacher, born at Rinn, and
Haspinger, the tall, red-bearded Capucin monk, known respectively as
"the fire-devil" and "the red beard."
The task that Hofer and his companions set themselves was no easy one.
The country swarmed not only with the soldiers of the Bavarian
occupation force, but with spies who seem always to spring up whenever
the price of treachery is worth earning. The punishment for men taking
part in any such schemes as that in which Hofer, Speckbacher, and
Haspinger and their faithful companions were engaged in was death.
Death not only for the principals, but death for the humblest
participant. Nevertheless the plan prospered. It is interesting to
remember the very large and important part which was played in the
organization of the peasants' uprising by the Tyrolese innkeepers, or
_wirthe_, who were very dissimilar to the ordinary conception which
English people have of men of their class. They were usually the most
wealthy as well as the most solid members of the village communities
in which they dwelt and kept their _Wirthshaus_, around which, indeed,
much of the social as well as the municipal life of the village
centred. They were better informed than many of their neighbours, for
whatever travellers came to the villages found their way to their
hospitable roofs; and what echoes of the outer world ever reached the
secluded villages filtered its way, as it were, through them. It was
in these men that Hofer found his greatest allies and ablest
assistants. During the three years which succeeded the Bavarian
occupation and the peasant rising, the innkeepers of Tyrol were busy
gathering round them small bodies of trusted men, who, fired by a
common desire to free their country, would, indeed, have suffered
death rather than betray a single word of the secret arrangements of
which they gradually became cognizant.
When many of the preparations were completed Andreas Hofer commenced a
correspondence with the Government in Vienna--which seemed so
incapable and unwilling to assist the brave people it had seemingly
abandoned in their struggle for freedom--in the person of the
Archduke John. But although Hofer and his companions do not seem to
have received very much definite or material encouragement from the
Emperor or his advisers, they proceeded to Vienna, had several
interviews with the Archduke, who appeared to be most favourably
inclined to their scheme, and at these interviews the plan of campaign
was definitely formulated. In the end Hofer returned to St. Leonard
raised to the dignity of Commander-in-Chief of the national forces,
and with full powers to do what he deemed best in the interests of the
country.
What he did not, however, secure was any support from Vienna in the
form of arms or disciplined troops with which to leaven his "ragged
coats." The courage of the men who entered upon a campaign against
trained and tried soldiers armed with the most up-to-date weapons of
those times can scarcely be estimated just as it most certainly cannot
be over-praised. Owing to the rigorous search for arms which the
Bavarians and French had instituted in almost every dwelling in the
land, during the two or three years which intervened between the
Treaty of Pressburg and the uprising of the peasants under Hofer, it
was not possible to obtain and store new weapons in any quantity even
if to do so had not been rendered difficult from the hosts of spies
which overran Tyrol and seemed to lurk beneath almost every rock. Thus
it was that out-of-date weapons--most of which had seen service in the
war of a century before--billhooks, scythes, clubs and pitchforks,
with whatever other arms their own ingenuity could devise or the
village blacksmiths make, were pitted against the arms of some
precision of the French and Bavarian troops. All that the peasant
forces had to sustain them in the struggle against well-armed and
disciplined veterans, superior as regards knowledge of warfare, was
dauntless courage and a greater acquaintance with the country and of
hill fighting.
[Illustration: THE SCHWARZHORN, S. TYROL]
Upon Hofer's return with his companions from Vienna his Inn became
the resort--more or less secretly--of all who were truly desirous of
joining the popular movement and of freeing the country. Many, we are
told, blamed him for trusting so implicitly all who came. But to
objectors he made the same answer: "There are no traitors amongst my
countrymen." That his confidence was not misplaced was abundantly
shown by the fact that the secret of a conspiracy so vast that it may
be said to have extended north, south, east, and west almost
throughout Tyrol was unrevealed until the ever-memorable night of
April 10, 1809, when the time fixed for the uprising arrived.
[Sidenote: THE SUMMONS TO ARMS]
On the evening of that day the peasants of the Passeyer and other
valleys were called to arms by means of great fires which blazed out
in the darkness of the clear April sky in long, ruddy banners of
flame. Every hill crest in the vicinity of the Passeyer Valley had its
signal fire, and these were answered by others on the mountains
overshadowing the distant valleys. On the morrow Andreas Hofer found
himself at daybreak at the head of nearly 5000 men who had one and all
"confessed" and received the Sacrament ere taking up arms in their
sacred cause of liberty.
The Bavarians were at once hotly attacked and routed; and on the 12th,
soon after dawn, upwards of 15,000 peasants had rallied to Hofer's
standard and appeared before Innsbruck. With indomitable bravery they
captured the bridge over the Inn, carried the heights by assault, and
entering the town engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand conflict with the
troops of General Bisson (who was in command of the joint French and
Bavarian forces) and compelled him to surrender.
In the deadly conflict of the streets, which ran red with blood, and
into whose mire peasants, French and Bavarian soldiers and officers
alike were trampled by the on-press of the Tyrolese, the ruder weapons
of the latter, consisting of heavily butted fire-locks, broad knives
used in husbandry, scythe blades attached to staves, and bludgeons
cut from the thickets of the mountain side, were as deadly and even
perhaps more so than the weapons of their enemies.
Down the ancient streets, overshadowed by the everlasting snow-clad
mountains; into the narrow byways and courtyards of the ancient town;
along under the arcades of the old-time Herzog Freidrich Strasse,
swept the Tyrolese, slaying as they went, until the invaders, driven
from cranny to cranny, struck down in the open, compelled many of them
to retreat along the Inn banks till they fell back into the swiftly
flowing river, cried for quarter and surrendered.
At Wilten, on the outskirts of Innsbruck itself, the fiery Speckbacher
surrounded a Bavarian force of nearly 5000 men and took them prisoners
of war. Thus after less than four days' fighting the Tyrolese had
defeated the Bavarians, captured Innsbruck, and compelled the French
commander to sue for quarter. And in their hands they held two
generals, 132 officers, nearly 6000 men, three standards, five pieces
of cannon, and 800 horses.
By the end of April, Tyrol was again free of invaders with the sole
exception that the Bavarians still held the castle of Kufstein.
It was now that the Government in Vienna made one of the many serious
mistakes which throughout its dealings marked the policy pursued in
relation to Tyrol's struggle for freedom. General Chasteler, of whom
it was said that "he always came too late and went too soon," was
given the supreme command. And from that moment the advantages gained
by Hofer, his brave companions-in-arms Speckbacher and Haspinger, and
the peasant troops, were lost. In an almost incredibly short space of
time Chasteler succeeded in losing all that had been won. At length
his failure to hold what had been committed to his charge became so
obvious that he retreated beyond the Brenner, leaving Andreas Hofer to
do the best he could in defence of the portion of Tyrol not then
reconquered by the enemy. In little more than a month from the time
the French and Bavarians had been driven from Innsbruck they entered
it again in triumph; and thus, on the 20th of May, Tyrol was once more
to all intents and purposes conquered.
The brave leader of the peasants, however, was determined to make one
more supreme effort to free his country from the French and Bavarian
yoke, and after summoning to his standard all who were capable of
bearing arms, he had the satisfaction of once more driving the
invaders from Innsbruck, and freeing for the second time the country
he loved so well.
[Sidenote: THE CRUSHING OF AUSTRIA]
This triumph was not, however, destined to endure, for the Austrian
forces under the Archduke Charles suffered a crushing defeat from
Napoleon's troops at Wagram on July 5 and 6, 1809, and were forced to
sue for peace or at least an armistice at Znaim, in which Tyrol was
ignored. Amongst other things, by the subsequent Treaty, Austria ceded
all her sea coast to France, as well as considerable territory to
Saxony and Bavaria. But it was not until the French, Bavarian, and
Saxon troops, straight from their victory at Wagram, to the number of
some 50,000 men, entered Tyrol under the command of Marshal Lefèbre,
and the Austrian army marched away out of Innsbruck in full retreat
before the advancing enemy, that Hofer realized that he and his cause
once more were abandoned by the Emperor and his advisers.
Again Hofer came to the rescue; and, though in a measure a fugitive,
in one of the little-known gorges, he managed to send forth from
valley to valley his summons to the people to gather once more round
his standard. That none should certainly know from these summonses
where he lay concealed it was his wont to sign them "Andreas Hofer,
from where I am "; whilst in return those communicating with him
addressed theirs "To Andreas Hofer wherever he may be."
He once more succeeded in inspiring his fellow-countrymen with his own
undying, unyielding patriotism. Gathering his forces together in a
gorge of the Mittewald he awaited the enemy's advance. We cannot do
better than draw in part, for a description of what followed, from the
stirring and vivid narrative of Albert Wolff. The vanguard of Marshal
Lefèbre under the command of General Rouyer advanced to Sterzing; and
then a column of Saxon troops to the number of about 4000 was thrown
out beyond the village towards the gorge of Stilfes with orders to
sweep away the insurgents. The idea that the untrained, ill-armed, and
heterogeneous peasant forces could successfully resist the victors of
Wagram appeared ridiculous to the Marshal and his officers, even if
the Tyrolese were so foolhardy as to make the attempt. For some
distance the Saxons advanced without either meeting with opposition or
discovering an enemy; and then, when the whole column, had fully
entered the defile from the mountain sides above them there resounded
a sudden, terrifying cry of "To the attack, and no quarter."
The cry was followed by a starting up of thousands of peasants, men,
women, and children, the aged and the young, from behind the boulders
on the hillside, from out the hollows. Down the steep mountain gorge
crashed rocks, tree trunks, baulks of timber, earth and stones loosed
from the restraining ropes by the Tyrolese, sweeping every obstruction
before them, and falling upon the penned-up Saxons like an avalanche.
Then, as the latter were vainly and fiercely struggling to extricate
themselves from the debris and entanglements, the peasants rushed down
the mountain side and hurled themselves upon their bewildered foes,
shouting Hofer's battlecry, "For God and our Country."
The enemy, utterly routed, turned and fled--what remained of
them--towards Innsbruck, pursued by the Tyrolese led by Hofer,
Speckbacher, and by the red-bearded Capuchin Haspinger, who held in
one hand a crucifix, and in the other a bloodstained sword. Upon the
Saxons the Tyrolese had no mercy, and hundreds were cut down as they
fled along the road back to Innsbruck.
[Sidenote: TRIUMPH OF HOFER]
In little more than a week Hofer, by a vigorous following up of his
victory in the Pass of Stilfes, had once more repulsed the invader,
retaken the position on Berg Isel, and established his headquarters at
Schönberg. These historic eight days of fighting and victory are known
in Tyrolese history as "the great week."
Innsbruck still, however, remained in the occupation of the enemy. To
take the town was a task that might have given pause to any less brave
and venturous a commander than Hofer. But he was not the man to hold
back from a complete freeing of his beloved land from those who had
invaded it. The plans were laid, the day fixed, and the advance
ordered. On the morning of the attack, at five o'clock, Haspinger the
militant Capuchin, a commanding figure upon whom the light of early
dawn threw an almost uncanny refulgence, celebrated Mass before the
assembled peasant host, who knelt in serried ranks, ragged, unkempt,
but inspired to great deeds by memories of their past victories. After
this solemn observance Haspinger once more became a captain of troops
rather than a priest; and springing into his saddle he drew his sword
and led on the left wing. Andreas Hofer himself was in the centre, and
led the attack there, marching right on to Innsbruck.
A contemporary account describes the hero as being "transfigured with
a grandeur scarcely earthly, as, burning with patriotism, he urged his
horse forward into battle." With his long beard, which had gained him
the nickname of General Barbonne amongst the French, flowing in the
wind, and his war cry of "Onward for your country and your Emperor!
God will protect the right!" he led his forces so irresistibly that
the troops of Marshal Lefèbre gave way and evacuated the town. On the
following day, August 15th, which was the fête of the Blessed Virgin,
Hofer, at the head of his victorious peasants, made his third entry as
victor into the capital.
Around him thronged the citizens, overcome with transports of joy,
pressing him so closely that many were trampled beneath his horse's
feet. In the enthusiasm, relief, and triumph of victory, Hofer was
named with one voice dictator of Tyrol. But there was that strange
analogy which links Hofer's attitude in the hour of triumph so closely
(notwithstanding the differentiations of sex) with that of Joan of Arc
and with Cromwell. Turning to the thronging multitude, which filled
the narrow streets to overflowing, he cried out, with a gentle and
almost pitiful glance at their upturned faces, "Do not shout in
triumph; but offer thanks to God and pray." At the door of the church
of the Franciscans he dismounted, and entered the building to return
thanks to God, and remained there in prayer, unmoved by the cheers and
"Hochs" of the great assembly of his troopers and fellow-countrymen
outside, the sounds of which, as they came in through the constantly
open doors of the church at that hour, bore no personal significance
to him.
On leaving the building he was waited upon by the chief citizens, who
expressed their undying gratitude to their deliverer. But in response
he said, "By my beard and St. George, God himself and not I has been
the Saviour of our country."
Andreas Hofer was destined to show that he was not only a warrior, but
also an administrator, actuated by the most lofty desires for his
country's good. In every act of his government could be detected the
truly religious and patriotic character of the man. And during the
short time that he reigned in the palace at Innsbruck, waiting
anxiously for the approval and the help from his Emperor in Vienna,
his conduct was marked by dignity, kindliness, and strength. But alas,
his triumph was but brief. In less than two months after the retaking
of Innsbruck, a fresh Bavarian army was entering Tyrol by way of the
Unter-Innthal, and taking Speckbacher unawares the invaders gained a
partial victory; and ere the disaster of October 10th could be
retrieved, the Treaty of Vienna was agreed upon (October 14, 1809), by
which the hand of one of the Habsburg princesses was promised to
Napoleon as the price of peace.
Tyrol by this new arrangement remained Bavarian, and the Archduke John
himself called upon Andreas Hofer to lay down his arms. The latter did
not obey. He persuaded himself that the Treaty of Vienna was without
substance, or merely a trick to enable the invaders to make good their
fresh hold upon the country, and he decided to continue the struggle.
His followers, however, were discouraged by the callous way in which
the Austrian Government had invariably left them to fight their own
battles alone.
Speckbacher, too, was deserted by all save a mere handful of men, and
after remaining in hiding for some time and escaping capture by a
miracle he succeeded in getting to Vienna. The Capuchin Haspinger
afterwards joined him there, and was ultimately made curate of
Hietzing, near Schönbrunn. It then became clear to Hofer that to
continue the struggle for freedom just then was useless and, indeed,
impossible; so he dispersed his own handful of faithful friends and
supporters, telling them, "We shall meet again before long, for Tyrol
will not perish."
[Sidenote: HOFER AN OUTLAW]
With these prophetic words, which were destined never to be realized
so far as the meeting with his faithful comrades in arms was
concerned, Hofer took farewell of his companions and fled a fugitive
into the mountains of the Passeyer Valley.
A price was put upon his head by the Bavarians and French, who
recognized that their peaceful occupation of the conquered and ceded
territory depended very greatly upon the capture and imprisonment or
death of Hofer, who, as a popular hero, held so high a place in the
hearts of his countrymen; and that for him to remain at large would
constitute a perpetual menace.
For a long while Hofer was able to elude the vigilance and discovery
of his would-be captors. Technically, and owing to his abandonment by
the Austrian Government, he was a rebel on account of his refusal to
lay down his arms when commanded by the Archduke John to do so. In the
end, as so often happens, there was one found base and treacherous
enough to betray the fugitive for blood money. Guided by such an one,
named Raffl, some Italian gendarmes, supported by a small detachment
of French soldiers, made their way amid the intricate mountain paths
to the chalet where--near St. Leonard, but far from other
habitations--Andreas Hofer had for some months lived with his family,
now broken down by despair for his country, anxiety and privation.
He made no resistance, and was immediately taken to Mantua, escorted
(such was his fame and the fear lest he should escape or be rescued)
by four French officers, a battalion of infantry, and a detachment of
cavalry. No effort appears to have been made by the Austrian
authorities to save the hero to whom they owed so much, and Hofer was
tried by court-martial under the presidency of General Bisson, and
condemned to be shot.
[Sidenote: THE DEATH OF HOFER]
On the morning of February 20th, 1810, Andreas Hofer, who lay in
prison but a short time after condemnation, was awakened early and led
forth to die. At the gates were gathered a handful of his friends and
companions in arms who had been captured and brought to Mantua, or had
followed him there, and these knelt and entreated his blessing as he
passed by them; this he gave calmly, remaining far less outwardly
moved than they who received it.
Then onwards to the Ceresa Gate, where the firing party halted. Hofer
declined to have his eyes bandaged; neither would he kneel. But
standing erect with unwavering courage he faced the file of soldiers,
who with loaded muskets were to do him to death. Giving his last
remaining piece of money to the corporal, he said to him, "Aim
straight." Then he calmly gave the signal to fire.
The muskets rang out, the bullets sped to their mark, and one of the
noblest of patriots Europe had ever seen fell without a groan.
At his own last request his body was buried at Mantua in the garden of
his friend and father confessor, Manifesti. There it lay for fifteen
years, until one night three officers of a Tyrol Chasseur regiment
stealthily removed the remains, distressed that the hero of Tyrol
should lie buried in foreign soil. The body was first taken to Bozen,
and shortly afterwards to the Abbey of Wilten.
When later a funeral worthy of his fame was accorded him, deputations
came from all parts of Tyrol to pay their tribute to the greatest hero
in its history; and amid a throng which was perhaps never before
equalled in the streets of Innsbruck, the remains of Andreas Hofer
were with great appropriateness borne to their last resting-place in
the church of the Franciscans by twelve innkeepers. On the coffin lay
his hat, sword, and decorations, and upon it were the armorial
bearings of his family, which had been ennobled by the Emperor Francis
I. in 1819. And thus, in a tomb cut from the marble of the Tyrol he
loved, his body was laid to rest.
In the same year that Hofer died, Tyrol was divided into three parts.
Italy took the southern, Bavaria retained the northern, and Illyria
the south-eastern or Pusterthal district. So it remained for three
years, until 1813, when the power of Napoleon was once and for ever
broken in eastern Europe, when he was defeated at the fierce battle of
Leipsic on October 16-18, by the allied forces of Austria, Russia and
Prussia. In this battle (known as "the battle of the nations") upwards
of 400,000 men were engaged; a fifth of the number were slain. The
allies were helped at a critical point of the fighting by the
defection from Napoleon of a large force of Saxons.
In the following year Tyrol was reunited to Austria with the addition
of the Ziller and Brixen valleys and Windisch-Matrei. On May 27, 1816,
the Emperor Francis I. (who in 1806 had resigned the title of Emperor
of Germany, retaining only that of Austria) entered Innsbruck to
receive the allegiance of the people. His reception was most
enthusiastic, the people rejoicing unrestrainedly at once more gaining
their freedom, and being reunited to the Austrian Empire.
During the revolutionary excitement which pervaded Europe in 1848 the
then Emperor of Austria, Ferdinand, and his Empress took refuge in
Tyrol; and in the Austro-Italian War of 1848 the Tyrolese greatly
distinguished themselves by their bravery and good marksmanship.
There remains little more to add concerning Tyrol's history. On
December 2, 1848, the Emperor Francis Joseph I. succeeded his uncle
Ferdinand, who abdicated after ruling the country for thirteen years
under the guidance of the powerful Prince Metternich whose reactionary
policy provoked the Revolution of 1848.
In 1859 the Austro-Italian provinces, with the exception of Venice,
were absorbed by the Kingdom of Sardinia, previous to the formation of
the Kingdom of Italy. In consequence Tyrol became the frontier of
Austria to Italy, and of increased importance. In 1866, during the war
between Austria and Prussia, the latter supported the Italians in a
scheme to seize Southern Tyrol. The Tyrolese Jager and Schutzen forces
took a prominent part in the campaign, and were engaged with great
credit at the Battle of Custozza, where the Austrians with 70,000 men
defeated the army of Victor Emmanuel, nearly twice as strong.
Afterwards, when the Prussians defeated the Austrians at the Battle of
Sadowa or Koniggratz on July 3, 1866, and a fresh attempt was made to
seize South Tyrol, the inhabitants once more showed that their
old-time courage and resource was not diminished.
[Sidenote: TYROL OF TO-DAY]
Since then Tyrol has been happily both peaceful and prosperous;
advancing in the arts, and with a system of education which is bearing
good fruit.
What the future of this favoured and beautiful land may be, who can
tell? Perhaps the secret is already locked up in the chancelleries of
Eastern Europe.
But the wise and beneficent ruler who now guards the destinies of the
many-sided Austrian Empire is old, and when the end comes it does not
need the keen observer to possess much gift of anticipating events to
predict that Tyrol may be the scene of yet further struggles when
Germany's desire for a seaport on the Mediterranean via the Adriatic
has possibilities of accomplishment.
CHAPTER III
SOME CHARACTERISTIC LEGENDS, CUSTOMS, AND SPORTS
Just as is the case with Switzerland so in Tyrol the land itself, its
history, even its geological evolution, seem in a measure reflected in
the character and disposition of its people. One cannot indeed be any
long time in Tyrol without becoming aware of and appreciating this
fact. In the kindliness and hospitality of the Tyrolese one has
reflected the characteristics of aloofness from the outer world, and
dependence upon one another, which the position of their "land within
the mountains" typifies--characteristics which have grown (and
fortunately have not yet become, at least in the more remote parts, to
any large extent tainted by considerations of self-interest) from the
circumstances of former days, when individual hospitality had to serve
for the absence of inns and commercial conveniences of the kind. So,
too, in the rugged, patriotic, and sturdy natures of the people one
can trace a parallel with the configuration of their beloved land; as
one can also trace in their single-heartedness, piety, poetic traits,
and simplicity, the frugal and laborious lives which the majority
lead, unvexed in former times by the fret of small things, and through
succeeding ages strengthened by the great needs of patriotism and
self-sacrifice which the political crises outside their own borders
often brought home to them by invasion and attempted subjection.
[Sidenote: A DELIGHTFUL LAND]
It is not at all wonderful, then, that a people dwelling in a land of
such surpassing beauty, where flower-bedecked upper pastures melt away
into rocky peaks, glaciers, and snow-clad heights; where the music of
tinkling brooks trickling down the mountain side and the roar of
greater torrents are ever with them; with the eternal silence of great
heights surrounding them and, as it were, shutting them in from the
outer world, should be gifted with an appreciation of romantic beauty,
legend, and poetry beyond the common run of mortals.
As we have already shown, much history and many stirring events have
been enacted within the mountain-girdled borders of Tyrol. And,
nowadays, when the country is coming slowly but surely to her own as a
delightful holiday ground for weary dwellers in Western cities, many
of her valleys bring to the minds of those who know something of the
country's story dramatic and romantic memories of the stirring events
and legends which have through past ages become associated with their
names.
Scarcely a valley, village, or townlet, whether set high or low in
this enticing land, but has its own legend or story. And in almost all
of the less travelled corners one finds strange, and to most
travellers incomprehensible, dialects still lingering amongst the
peasantry, notwithstanding the fact that gradually the Germanization
of even the southern portion of Tyrol is being brought about. In one
or other of these dialects which so survive, scholars and philologists
of former times have thought the key to the ancient language of
Etruria might be discovered; and in more modern days there has been
the same hope expressed, but as yet it is unfulfilled. Müller,[7] for
one, thought that in some secluded valley of the Tyrol or Grisons the
key to the riddle in the form of "a remnant of the old Rhætian dialect
might be discovered." Müller's hope has since then in a measure been
realized through the efforts and researches of Steub, who, whilst
travelling in Tyrol in Alpine districts in 1842, found some
fragmentary remains of a dialect approaching very nearly Etruscan,
though not sufficiently full to form any very important or extended
key to the tongue. His book[8] contains the results of the inquiries,
tests, and deductions which he was at first led to undertake by the
strange names of the towns and villages which he came across in his
travels. Then he collected these, and we are told set to work "testing
them with Celtic, but discovering no analogy he tried other tests, and
with the Etruscan met with some considerable success," which was
chiefly valuable, however, as confirming the theory and ancient
traditions of a Rhæto-Etruria. Many of his conclusions, however, have
never been accepted by philologists either of his own day or of later
times; and some of the word examples he gives as having analogies are
quite incomprehensible to the ordinary student.
[Sidenote: THE LANGUAGE]
To all intents and purposes German and Italian are the languages
spoken throughout Tyrol, a knowledge of which will be sufficient for
all ordinary purposes of travel. The former prevailing in the
Vorarlberg and North Tyrol; the latter in South Tyrol and Wälsch
Tyrol, though German is found in both of these districts, and in South
Tyrol very considerably.
In the Vorarlberg, however, one comes across numerous words and
expressions which are undoubtedly of Italian origin, and are remaining
evidences of the periods when the Venetian Republic ruled over a
district now a part of Tyrol. The Italian word _gútto_, a can or
feeding-bottle, for example, has its counterpart in _guttera_; whilst
from _fazzolétto_, a handkerchief, one has _fazanedle_; and from
_gaudio_, joy, we have _gaude_; and from _cappéllo_, a hat, has
probably come _schapel_.
[Illustration: A VIEW OF THE TYROL ALPS]
A very considerable number of words of French origin or of marked
similarity to French words are found in parts of the Vorarlberg.
_Gespousa_, a bride, has a distinct philological affinity to
_épouse_; and _au_, water, pronounced very similarly, can be traced to
_eau_, and is found common to both North Tyrol and the Vorarlberg.
_Shesa_, a trap or gig, bears a marked resemblance to the French
_chaise_.
Even England appears to have contributed a considerable number of
words to the vocabulary of certain districts of Tyrol, though perhaps
they are, more strictly speaking, words similarly derived from German
or Norman French which have become common to both. In _gulla_, a
gulley; _gompa_, to jump; _datti_, daddy; _witsch_, witch; and many
others this is traceable. It will be gathered from these few examples
that the language and dialects of Tyrol are composite of several
tongues, as is almost always the case in countries which have seen
many vicissitudes of occupation and development.
[Sidenote: FOLK TALES]
In Tyrol, which has experienced these and possesses such a large share
of romantic beauty, and even nowadays some "solitary places," there
need be little wonder that legends, superstitions, and myths are found
nearly everywhere. Almost every village has its own, whose origin has
been lost in the mists of antiquity, and whose date can only be traced
uncertainly by its analogy to some other similar, more widely known,
and more easily dated legend, tale, or superstition. Many of them
enshrine actual events recorded and re-recorded with poetic license
and varying accuracy, so that at last what was originally founded upon
fact has in process of time become overlaid with much poetic imagery
and fiction. To most of these tales and accounts of events each teller
added something of himself suggested by his knowledge, imagination, or
art; and thus ultimately what had once been facts became legends
common to all throughout the length and breadth of the land till some
one set them down in permanent form by writing or printing. Then the
variations in a measure ceased.
Tyrol is full of these legendary tales, superstitions, and myths, to
which, indeed, the geological situation of the land and the simple
habits of the people conduce. When we remember that in ancient times
it was the universal custom to ascribe all manifestations of Nature's
laws which could not be easily traced and understood to the
supernatural, it is little wonder that the simple, unsophisticated,
and uneducated Tyrolese should have so attributed many of the wonders
amid which they lived. One very noticeable feature of the Tyrolese
character is demonstrated by the fact that, notwithstanding the
centuries of evolution during which superstition played so important a
part in the life of the people, and the existence of an unreflecting
belief in the supernatural, their many virtues, especially those of
patriotism, industry, frugality of living, morality, hospitality, and
religion, have not, as with some other nations, become impaired.
Amongst the many legends of a startling and supernatural character
which are found throughout Tyrol, is one connected with the pretty
little village of Taur in the Innthal. It has to do with a hermit who
lived in the seventeenth century in a cell overlooking the Wildbach.
He is often said by the countryfolk to have been St. Romedius himself,
though this, of course, could not be the case. One night, whilst the
holy man was engaged in his usual meditation and prayer, a tapping was
heard against the little window of his retreat. Upon opening the door,
what was his amazement to see, not the benighted traveller he expected
to find craving his hospitality and shelter, but the spirit of his
friend the priest of Taur who had recently died. The latter entreated
the holy man to have compassion upon him, saying, "Have pity upon me,
Father, for my sufferings are terrible. Once when three Masses had
been ordered and the fees paid I forgot to say them, and now for this
sin I am being punished more than I can bear."
Then the legend goes on to say that he laid his hand upon the
low-pitched roof of the little porch outside the hermit's cell, and
the holy man afterwards found that the wood was charred and the
impression of the tortured priest's hand was left indelibly in the
wood. The poor suppliant begged his old friend the hermit to say the
Masses, and to pray and fast for him. This the holy man promised
faithfully to do; and keeping his promise, a year and a day afterwards
the spirit once more rapped upon the casement and told him that he was
now free of purgatory. In the chapel there hung at least a few years
ago, and we believe now hangs, the tile with the mark of the priest's
hand branded into it, beneath which is written an account of the
miracle, with the date February, 1660.
In Wälsch Tyrol, especially, there are many folk-lore tales having a
distinctly Biblical origin or suggestion. Possibly they are oral
versions of Bible incidents handed down from generation to generation
in the early years of Christianity and during the Middle Ages, until
they have gradually in process of time and varied repetition lost
their strictly Biblical character. One of the most usually met with
(it is told by most Wälsch Tyrol mothers to their children, and is a
favourite on account of its dramatic end, and because virtue triumphs)
bears a very strong resemblance to the story of Joseph and his
Brethren. The story runs thus: "Once long ago there lived a king who
had three sons. Two were quite grown up, but the third was a child,
and was his father's joy and favourite. One day the king, who had been
out upon a hunting expedition, returned home from the chase of the
bear and chamois fatigued, and dispirited because of the loss of a
favourite feather[9] which he was accustomed to wear in his cap. There
was a hue and cry raised, but no one could find the lost article. At
length little (Joseph) came to his father and urged him to grieve no
more but to refresh himself and then rest, "for," said the child,
"either I myself or one of my brothers will find the feather."
Then the king, pleased with the child, and doubtless hopeful that he
would be the one to find the missing plume, said, "To whomsoever finds
the feather will I leave my kingdom."
The three brothers set out on their search, and after much trouble the
youngest suddenly espied the object for which they were looking. But
the two elder men, consumed by jealousy at the thought of Joseph's
inheriting the kingdom, led him away into a wood and killed him, and,
taking the feather to their father the king, told him that they both
found it and thus jointly claimed the reward. Regarding the missing
(Joseph) they said that whilst searching for the feather they missed
him, and suddenly looked up to see him being borne away by a bear into
the recesses of the woods, and as they were unarmed it was impossible
for them to attempt to rescue him. The king was consumed by grief;
search was made, but the body was not discovered; and it was not until
the proverbial year and a day afterwards that a shepherd boy came
across (Joseph's) bones, and, taking one of them, fashioned it into a
primitive flute or shepherd's pipe. The wonderful part of the story is
still to come. No sooner had the shepherd commenced to play upon the
pipe than it told, in the voice of the poor child victim of jealousy,
the whole story. The shepherd took the pipe to the king and played
upon it before him. The king listened, and, accepting the miraculous
tale it told, ordered his two sons, who were present and struck with
amazement and fear, to be instantly put to death.
There are scores of other stories of a similar character told during
the winter evenings around the fire in Tyrolese huts and houses. Some
have a family likeness to tales of our own land, such as Cinderella,
Puss in Boots, Jack and the Beanstalk (only the giant is often
replaced by an immense toad who guards fabulous wealth, that is only
to be obtained by killing the toad in single combat, which feat is, of
course, performed by the poor boy who wishes to marry the Princess),
Red Riding Hood, etc. An account of these, however, rightly belongs to
a volume of comparative folk-lore, and for detailed description we
have no space in the present one.
[Sidenote: SOME QUAINT CUSTOMS]
Of the many quaint customs which still prevail in different parts of
Tyrol, those relating to Christmas and to All Souls are amongst the
most tender and picturesque. In North Tyrol, more especially perhaps
in the district of the Unter-Innthal, Christmas, which is called
Christnacht and Weihnacht, is celebrated by the gift of _Klaubabrod_,
a strange cake-like compound made of dough, almonds, slices of pears,
and other preserved fruits and nuts, which, at least with the
generality of foreigners, must, we think from personal experience, be
"an acquired taste." The Zillerthal maidens are specially
well-instructed in the making of _Klaubabrod_, and the one prepared
for the family consumption, if the maker be engaged, must have the
first slice cut out of it by her betrothed, who then kisses her and at
the same time gives her some little present as a mark of his
affection. In former days it was the custom of the Bishops of Brixen
to make presents of fish to members of their household and to all in
their employ. The fish came from Lake Garda, and was allowed by custom
to pass through the dominions of the reigning Count of Tyrol and the
Prince Bishop of Trent exempt from the toll which would otherwise have
been levied.
In Wälsch Tyrol there is a curious Christmas custom still to be met
with which consists of the arrangement, by the father of the family,
of a number of heaps of flour upon a table or shelf. In these are
hidden various little presents, and when the children and other
members of the household have been admitted they take their heap
according to the drawing of lots, or the result of some contest or
competition.
The belief that animals have the gift of speech, which has during past
ages been prevalent throughout Christendom, still prevails in some
parts of the more remote districts and valleys of Tyrol; and strange
stories are told of things said by beasts and over-heard by human
beings which have come true, so that animals evidently are accredited
also with the gift of prophecy.
At Epiphany, in many parts of Tyrol, performances very similar in
character to the English old-time "mummers" are given. Generally three
of the village boys dressed up to represent kings, one having his face
blacked, go from house to house singing. Sometimes a Herod will appear
at the window of the house and reply to their songs in rhyming
couplets. After which the singers stand in turn and sing, and end with
a chorus which contains broad hints that they would not refuse some
refreshment were it offered them! They seldom or never fail to receive
this, as usually some provision has been made by the hospitable
village folk for the purpose.
The blessing of cattle on the Eve of Epiphany was at one time an
almost universal practice with the Tyrolese. This, however, has been
largely discontinued, although still extant in some hamlets of the
remote valleys.
As showing the almost universal prevalence of certain ideas underlying
customs, though often varying in details, one may quote the observance
of All Souls in Wälsch Tyrol, which bears a marked resemblance to the
beautiful and even more pathetic ceremonials connected with the Feast
of Bon Matsuri in far-off Japan. In parts of Wälsch Tyrol, although
the graves of the departed are not decorated nowadays, as is so much
the practice in Germany, the parish priests gather their parishioners
together in the churchyards and recite the Rosary whilst kneeling
amidst the graves. In many parts loaves, called _cuzza_, are given to
the poor with small doles of money, and sometimes bean soup. In
former times, however, these doles, which are for the refreshment of
the souls of the departed, were actually laid upon the graves
themselves, apparently in the belief that the souls would come forth
and partake of the food so lovingly provided. Pitchers, cups, and
other vessels containing fresh water were also placed so that the
souls might slake their purgatorial thirst. It is in this latter and
ancient, and not in the less symbolic modern observance that the
analogy to the Bon Matsuri of Japan is so distinctly traceable.
[Sidenote: MARRIAGE IN TYROL]
Of the curious customs which once prevailed very widely, and are even
now to be found in the more remote districts, those relating to
marriage are amongst the most quaint. The month of May is, strangely
enough, unpopular; with us the opposite appears to be the case. The
favourite day is a Thursday. In fact, one writer ventures to say,
"throughout Tyrol a Thursday is chosen." Monday, however, is the
favourite in one of the smaller valleys of the Windisch-Matrei
district.
On the night before the wedding there is usually a great dance given,
and in towns often a hall is hired for the purpose, where the
contracting parties are well known, in a good position, and have a
large circle of friends and acquaintances; and in villages where the
same circumstances occur an elaborately decorated barn is often used
for the merry-making.
From the time the wedding is announced or the "banns" published the
betrothed maiden is known as the "Pulpit Bride" or _Kansel-Braut_.
These village wedding festivities are often rendered picturesque and
even mediæval in effect, as the peasants frequently wear the costumes
of former times, and the barn is lighted by pine torches or equally
primitive methods. The dancing is kept up till early morning, in fact
often until sunrise; and not till then do the guests disperse, some of
the more favoured going on to the bride's house for a substantial
breakfast, or, as it is called, _Morgensuppe_. Whilst this is in
progress the bride is usually attired by her girl friends (quite a
number of them frequently sharing in this interesting and even
exciting ceremony), and those who have not come in to breakfast may
continue the dancing. One of the special adornments worn by brides is
a knot of long ribbons or scarlet leather worked with gold thread,
whilst blue bands, worn round the arm, and the hat ribbons are of the
same colour. These were anciently thought, and are indeed still so, to
have special powers to preserve the wearer from goitre and other
complaints.
The bride's procession, which forms usually at about ten or eleven in
the morning, is headed by musicians. But before starting the guests
assemble round the table in the living room and drink the good health
of the happy couple out of a large bowl from which the latter
themselves have drunk first. The nearest relatives and friends of the
bride usually form a kind of guard of honour, being known as "train
bearers," although we fancy a "train" is seldom worn by a peasant, or
by one of the lower middle class. These "train bearers" surround the
bride, and, except in inclement weather, walk with their hats in their
hand, and sometimes bear garlands of flowers. In some districts it is
the custom for the priest to accompany the bride to church, not as
with us to await her arrival there, walking on one side of her whilst
the parents walk on the other. Orange blossom is seldom worn, save by
the rich; peasant girls wearing as a substitute a spray or wreath of
Rosemary, which it is also a common practice for them to do in Italy
and Spain. The plant is considered emblematic of the purity of the
Virgin, and for that reason highly valued.
[Sidenote: COSTUMES]
Very frequently a Tyrolese bride wears no special bridal dress, but
her holiday or _fête_ dress, which has perhaps been retrimmed or
additionally embellished for the occasion. This was the case at a
wedding at which we were present in the Unter-Innthal, where the
bridesmaids also wore their picturesque festal attire, with
broad-brimmed velvet hats, elaborately embroidered bolero-shaped
bodices, snowy linen sleeves, short velvet skirts, and handsome
aprons. Their shoes were mostly of black leather, some of those worn
by the well-to-do girls being adorned by huge silver buckles.
On this occasion the bridegroom was scarcely less gay in attire than
the bride. Clad in short black velvet knee-breeches, and wearing a
green velvet double-fronted waistcoat, a black jacket, thick brown
knitted woollen hose, a crown or head ornament of silver filigree
work, and a massive silver belt with heavy bosses, he was not only a
conspicuous, but also an almost theatrical figure of the procession. A
priest also accompanied him, followed by the village innkeeper, who is
not seldom the richest man of the community, owner of the largest
amount of land, and the holder of a position somewhat analogous to
that of a mayor. It is generally agreed that the Tyrolese village
innkeeper is a man of superior calibre to his English counterpart.
Usually he is a man of upright character, and superior intelligence to
the average villager; and carrying on, as he frequently does, several
other businesses besides that of innkeeper, he is less interested than
in some other countries in the excessive consumption of drink.
At many weddings singers from neighbouring villages and hamlets will
come into the bride's native place to assist with the singing and
music which form a prominent feature of the ceremony. Lighted tapers
are sometimes carried by the bridal party in church; and candles that
will not burn well are always avoided and thrown aside by the younger
and unmarried members of the company on account of the belief
prevailing that to hold such is a sure sign that the bearers will not
be married within the year. At the conclusion of the ceremony a cup of
spiced wine mixed with water is sometimes handed round by the priest
after he has blessed it, out of which the guests all drink to the
health of the bride and bridegroom to be. In the old name given to
this _Johannis segen_ (literally John's blessing) some authorities are
inclined to trace a symbolism having its origin in the miracle
performed at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.
After the ceremony has been performed the wedding-party leaves the
church, and, as is the case on similar occasions in Brittany and other
countries, dancing almost immediately commences. It is sometimes,
indeed, started almost at the church door, and thus the wedding-party
proceeds to the village inn accompanied by musicians. In former times
it was the almost universal custom in several valleys of Tyrol to
proceed in turn to every inn within a radius of some miles after
refreshments had been partaken of at the first. A very fatiguing
custom one would imagine. Refreshments, we were told, generally marked
each visit, and yet the real business of the day, the wedding feast,
was still to come!
In ancient times--the custom has now fallen into disuse so far as we
have been able to discover--it was also the practice to slaughter a
fatted calf, which had been reserved for that particular purpose.
Every possible joint and portion of the animal was served up in turn
even to the head and feet.
[Sidenote: A TYROLESE WEDDING]
At the end of a feast which even nowadays lasts hours, and formerly,
so one old writer says, "consumed much time so that the whole day was
frequently given over to feasting till few who sat down to the board
were capable of much exertion," the best man or some prominent
groomsman rises and asks the guests whether they are satisfied with
the fare provided. It is needless to say that such a question is
invariably received with rounds of appreciative applause. Then, in
former times more frequently than nowadays, the speaker proceeded to
preach a little sermonette which generally ran something in the
following style, and was little varied from occasion to occasion, or
even from one generation to another. "The good gifts of which we have
partaken are from the hand of God. Therefore should thanks be given to
Him. And yet more should this be done for His mercy in making us in
His image and reasonable beings, and not as the wild beasts of the
field or crawling things, or unbelievers. We have but to thank Him and
turn ourselves to Him in the spirit of humbleness and gratitude, and
He will abide and go with us as with those at the marriage feast in
Cana of Galilee."
Other duties in life and aspirations were usually touched upon, and
coming from one of themselves we can well believe the speech was
listened to with additional attention by a race of people
distinguished for simple piety and homely religion. The exhortation
was usually followed by a loud saying of a Paternoster and a "Hail
Mary" by all present.
Often this address is followed by other refreshments of a lighter kind
than those of the feast proper. Some are of special design, and in
their shapes and decorations have symbolic meaning, as is sometimes
the case of wedding dishes and decorations in other countries. After
this the guests bring forth the gifts they have for the young couple.
Coming from a naturally generous and warm-hearted people these are
often not only useful but valuable, and prove a great help to the
newly established housekeepers.
Then, when the most exigent appetites have been more than satisfied,
the musicians, who have played at intervals throughout the
proceedings, strike up dance tunes, and the younger--and often older,
too--members of the party indulge in their favourite indoor
pastime--dancing.
Tyrolese peasant dances are many of them exceedingly picturesque and
quaint, if somewhat boisterous and lively in their performance. Both
the men and the girls in one or two of them beat time not only with
their feet but also by means of resounding thwacks on their thighs and
hips. And whilst the young men, clad in gay waistcoats, black velvet
or leather knee-breeches and high-crowned hats often of a delightful
shade of green felt, are getting more energetic, their partner's
short, full skirts during their top-like revolutions often ascend
waistward until the extent of shapely and sturdy limbs displayed
almost rivals that of a conventional ballet girl. Other dances of the
waltz, _dreher_, and _allemande_ type are more graceful, and less
"romping" in character. Dancing is carried on far into the night, and
it is a notable circumstance that although there is a good deal of
eating there is not often excessive drinking on these occasions, and
cases of actual drunkenness are very few and far between.
Several of the valleys--the Zillerthal, Iselthal, and Grödenerthal in
particular--have their own peculiar wedding customs. And in several,
as in parts of Germany, the old custom of stealing one of the garters
of the bride whilst she is seated at the wedding feast for the purpose
of cutting it up into mascots or souvenirs still obtains.
[Sidenote: TYROLESE SPORTS]
A love of sport of all kinds seems inherent to the Tyrolese nature;
and this in conjunction with the pure air and bracing climate in which
the people live, the strenuous struggle for existence with the forces
of Nature which is always going on amidst the higher valleys, not only
serves to keep the Tyrolese a hardy and vigorous race, but has much to
do with the special qualities of industry, religiousness, morality,
frugality, and straight-forwardness for which they have long been
distinguished.
Their athletic festivals parallel those of Westmorland, Cumberland,
and the Highland gatherings of our own land and the sports are to a
considerable extent similar in character. The most popular, however,
are undoubtedly shooting at a mark, or _Scheibenschiessen_ as they are
called, and wrestling.
The Tyrolese gun, usually a short-barrelled rifle, known as _stutz_,
has played an important part not only in the history of the nation,
but also in the domestic life of the people. In many of the more
remote valleys, in the past at least, it has deserved its name of the
bread-winner, for upon the game shot with it many a household has
largely subsisted; whilst from the skins of the deer, chamois and
other animals killed, articles of clothing are made. To the constant
use of the gun in all its evolutionary stages, from the flint-lock
musket down to the more modern rifle of to-day, the Tyrolese owe their
renown as being amongst the finest marksmen in Europe, a
characteristic which has counted so tremendously in their various
struggles with the invaders of their country.
Wrestling is popular throughout the Tyrolese valleys, but nowhere more
so than in the picturesque and romantic Zillerthal. The champion
wrestler of a village, as used to be the village "bruiser" with us, is
a person of importance who would not barter the distinction for love
nor money. The wrestlers are divided into three kinds, the "Roblar,"
"Mairraffer," and "Haggler," who follow the rules of different schools
of wrestling. In former times this love of the sport, or perhaps one
should say supremacy in it, frequently led to scenes of crime and
bloodshed. Often in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries noted
robbers and freebooters were those who had acquired great physical
powers as wrestlers, and in consequence took to brigandage as a means
of livelihood. Indeed, there are stories told of fair maidens in past
ages having been carried off from their betrothed by force, when the
rejected suitor (or perhaps the unknown rival who had set his heart on
a particular girl) had killed his rival in a wrestling bout. To prove
murderous intent under such circumstances was not only extremely
difficult but also somewhat against the "sporting" instinct of the
race, and the primeval idea that the woman should fall to the
strongest.
Bowling and the game of skittles are also favourite pastimes, and to
the latter especially several romantic stories attach. Indeed, even at
the present day one can find traces of the belief that the game is
also popular with the elves, gnomes, goblins, and "little folk" who
are supposed to dwell in or haunt certain mountains, woods, and
streams, only these supernatural folk mostly play with gold and silver
balls and skulls in the legends and folk tales one hears around the
firesides in Tyrolese chalets.
[Sidenote: A GHOSTLY LEGEND]
There is a strange story in connection with this game and the spirit
players attached to the now ruined and once strong and famous castle
of Starkenberg, which was destroyed by Frederick with the Empty Purse
in the fifteenth century.
Once, so the story goes, a pedlar was overtaken by darkness upon the
mountain side, and losing his way, he came to the ancient _schloss_,
in which he decided to take shelter for the night. He lay down on the
grassy floor of the ruined hall, and placing his pack beneath his head
went off to sleep. He slept for some hours and then was awakened by
the clock of a neighbouring village striking midnight. As the last
stroke reverberated amongst the rocks of the hillside he was
astonished to see twelve spectral figures clad in complete armour file
into the hall, and set to work to play a game of bowls, using skulls
in place of balls.
[Illustration: THE ORTLER FROM THE MALSER HEIDE]
Now it happened that the pedlar was not only a fine wrestler and a man
of great physical strength and courage (otherwise he would scarcely
perhaps have chosen a haunted ruin in which to pass the night), but
was the champion bowler of his native village. So he offered to pit
his skill against that of the spectral knights. His challenge was
accepted, and in the end he beat them all, and to his astonishment,
instead of disgust being shown at his victory, his prowess was hailed
with shouts of joy, and one of the spirits speaking to him said that
now they were released from purgatory, and then they all vanished.
Much mystified, the pedlar turned to see where they had disappeared
to, when his eyes were greeted by the sight of ten more men in armour,
who entered the hall by separate doors. After having carefully locked
the latter they all brought the keys to the pedlar, and entreated him
to try and discover the right one for each door. Nothing abashed he
undertook the task which was a difficult one owing to the fact that
each key, door, and ghostly visitant were exactly alike. He managed,
however, to accomplish his task successfully, and was overwhelmed by
the thanks of the spirits, who told him, as had their bowl-playing
counterparts, that he had by this feat released them from torment.
As was to be quite expected, it was now the devil's turn to appear
upon the scene, which he immediately did, roundly upbraiding the
pedlar for having thus robbed him of some of his victims, and
declaring that he (the devil) would now inevitably manage to gain the
pedlar's soul instead. The latter was not to be so easily disposed of,
however, and he offered to stake his soul upon a game of bowls to be
played between himself and the Evil One. Needless to say that the
latter was beaten, and when dawn came at length he fled away with a
horrible rushing of his bat-like wings, and his hot sulphurous breath
tainting the air, so that the grass was withered in places.
The pedlar was not likely to keep such an interesting experience to
himself, and so when in due course he came to the village, towards
which he was making his way when overtaken by nightfall, he told the
tale. The villagers amazed went to the ruined castle, and lo and
behold there was the scorched grass as the pedlar had declared.
It would be easy to quote other equally quaint and romantic stories
which are told in connection with the sports and pastimes of Tyrol,
but that of the pedlar and the ghostly knights or men-at-arms must
suffice. It will, at all events, serve to demonstrate how inextricably
interwoven are the threads of legendary lore and romance, even with
the commonplace daily life and amusements of this interesting people.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] In "Etrusker," Einl. 3, 10 _et seq._
[8] "Über die Urbewohner Rätiens und ihren Zusammenhang mit den
Etruskern."
[9] Or ornament.
CHAPTER IV
INNSBRUCK, ITS HISTORY, PEOPLE AND TREASURES
The approach to Innsbruck, whether one come to it by railway or by
road from the west, north, east or south, is picturesque and even
wonderfully beautiful. Most English and American travellers, however,
we imagine, come to the old-time capital of Tyrol via Zurich and the
Arlberg railway, with its marvellous tunnel all but six and a half
miles in length, above which tower snow-clad peaks and glaciers. This
route provides a wonder-world of delight, a succession of deep gorges
lying at the foot of towering mountains covered on their summits with
a mantle of spotless and eternal snow. At one moment the train
traverses a steep gradient climbing slowly along the hillside as
though the line were laid upon a shelf of rock from which nothing but
a miracle can keep it from tumbling into the foaming torrent below;
the next plunging into the darkness of one of the many tunnels, to
emerge a moment or two later into a blaze of light and vistas of still
greater beauty. The Arlberg railway is not alone an engineering
triumph; it is also an artistic one. Few lines in Europe present
greater charm or variety of scenery in so comparatively short a
distance. To enter Tyrol by it is to see the country as it is, largely
unaltered from the days when Napoleon's armies entered it also from
the Swiss frontier with the same objective, Innsbruck.
Soon after leaving Feldkirch the valley commences to contract as the
line climbs upwards from Bludenz and passes through the beautiful
Kloster Thal; and at Langen one suddenly comes into the region of
Alpine pastures, and from the valley below one can hear the musical
tinkle of cow-bells, and discover on the hill-slopes picturesque
groups of peasants minding their flocks. Then comes the ascent through
the famous Arlberg tunnel, which is 26 feet in width and 23 feet in
height, with its six and a half miles of gloom succeeded by
magnificent scenery as St. Anton is passed, and the line proceeds
through the narrow Stanzer valley, between towering mountains, many of
whose peaks are snow-covered. Soon it crosses the wonderful Trisanna
Viaduct which, in one arch of nearly 150 yards in length, spans the
gorge of the Patznaum valley, at the bottom of which, nearly 200 feet
below the line, rushes the glacial stream, and thence past the ancient
Castle of Wiesberg onwards to Landeck, which is set in a wide valley
with its commanding castle.
From Landeck by taking a carriage one can reach Innsbruck in a
leisurely way along the Finstermunz high-road via Sulden and Trafoi,
and thence along the Stilfserjoch, the highest carriage road in
Europe, which climbs to the height of 9055 feet above sea level. This
was constructed between the years 1820-25 by the Austrian Government,
and traverses a wonderful variety of exquisite scenery, from the
region of the eternal snow on the Ortler and Monte Cristallo to the
vine-clad slopes of the Val Tellina. The most impressive scenery is,
however, found on the Tyrol side of the pass.
From Landeck the line passes many another picturesque village;
castles, whose history would fill volumes, seem to stand stark and
stern almost on every mountain spur, some now mere ruins, others
wonderful survivals of a past age, sometimes environed by pine-clad
slopes, at others half-encircled by rushing torrents washing the bases
of the rocky promontories upon which they stand, whilst above one
towers on either hand the illimitable glaciers and snow slopes of the
Eastern Alps. Thus through ever interesting and beautiful scenery one
at last approaches Innsbruck.
[Illustration: THE TRISANNA VIADUCT AND CASTLE WIESBERG]
[Illustration: A PEEP OF THE ZILLERTHAL]
[Sidenote: INNSBRUCK]
Innsbruck is not only the capital of Tyrol, a town of upwards of
50,000 inhabitants, renowned historically and climaterically, but it
is also the junction of two important lines of railway by means of
which one can get eastward to Vienna and the East, and southward into
Italy.
It has been said that of all Tyrolese towns Innsbruck is the least
national. Such a statement, although tinctured with truth, needs some
qualification. In the season it certainly puts on a cosmopolitan air,
and one meets numbers of English, Austrians, Germans, French,
Americans, Italians, and Anglo-Indians in its streets; and games and
entertainments make up a social round of considerable gaiety. But the
town nevertheless retains its native charm, bred of historic memories,
ancient buildings, and the hospitality of its people.
To the northward, sheltering it from the cold winds from off the
Bavarian plains, stands the bulwark of the eternal heights which
literally wall in Tyrol. There rise the magnificent groups of
limestone mountains towering above the fertile Inn Valley, the
Frauhitt and Martinswand with their romantic traditions and memories,
the Seegrubenspitzen, and Rumerjoch and Brandjoch. In fine weather
they appear but a stone's throw from the bottom of the
Maria-Theresien-Strasse, or from the Ferdinands Allée which runs along
the south bank of the Inn, with its maples and poplars graceful and
shady.
Situated amid so much beauty of scenery, favoured by an equable
climate and much sunshine, it is little wonder that the town has
become a popular resort, more especially during the winter months. The
valley is at its broadest where the city stands, allowing a wide
prospect and charming views from the slopes of St. Nicolaus and
Mariahilf across the river to the Berg Isel, and the wooded sides of
the Mittelgebirge, with here and there a tiny village with outstanding
spire perched high on the mountain side, or set amid the plain. The
valley lies east and west of Innsbruck with the river flowing eastward
like a silver ribbon, amid cultivated fields of fertile alluvial soil,
threading its way through the gradually narrowing valley to Kufstein
and thence through Bavaria to the Danube.
This Alpine city, pregnant with so many historical memories, deeds of
blood and chivalry, engirdled by the everlasting hills, is, with the
possible exception of Salzburg, the most picturesque and interesting
of all German Alpine towns.
The character of Innsbruck of to-day differs very materially in some
respects from what it was two decades ago. The modern element, which
always comes to such places with greater notoriety and prosperity
brought by travellers and tourists, has become developed, but happily
as yet not greatly to the detriment of the old-time air which still
permeates its narrow, ancient streets, and by-ways, courts, and
buildings. In some of the former, the Maria-Theresien-Strasse at the
south end of which stands the Triumphal Arch and Gate, and the
Herzog-Friedrich-Strasse, for example, the old and the new are
strangely mingled. It is not a little owing to this distinguishing
feature as well as to its beautiful environment that Innsbruck owes
its charm. With much of the convenience, it possesses less of the
vexing artificiality of ancient places vulgarized by the exigencies of
modern travel than do many similar towns. In some parts one might
almost imagine one's self in one of the larger mountain villages, in
another at Pontresina, or St. Moritz, minus, however, some of the more
artificial gaiety of these resorts.
[Sidenote: INNSBRUCK TYPES]
During the season--more especially the summer--there are numbers of
German tourists as well as Austrian to be seen in the streets, and in
their almost boisterous enjoyment of their sight-seeing and holiday
amusements they form a very marked contrast to the quieter and perhaps
somewhat restrained English and American visitors, who as a general
rule set about exploring the place and its treasures with a much more
preoccupied and business-like air.
From the higher and more distant valleys, too, many mountaineers and
peasants come down to enjoy a few hours' marketing or the pleasures of
the town. They form not the least interesting feature of the summer
crowd which throngs the new as well as the old streets of Innsbruck.
The women, many of them, wear picturesque costumes, consisting of
velvet bodices, skirts of often beautiful shades of green and brown;
aprons elaborately worked, or of lace; and sailor-shaped hats of black
or green felt, often ornamented by gold embroidery under the brims and
with two long ribbons (frequently also of velvet) hanging down or
fluttering in the wind at the back. These hats are singularly like
those of the Breton peasants, only they are worn more by the women
than the men, whilst in Brittany women seldom wear them.
The fact that Innsbruck is a garrison town accounts for the presence
of a large number of soldiers about the streets; green plays a
prominent part in many of the uniforms--more especially of Tyrolese
regiments--whilst the officers of several wear a particularly smart
shade of blue-grey, or "pastel" blue cloth with trimmings of cerise,
scarlet, or green, which seldom fail to arouse the admiration of the
ladies. The countryfolk, too, crowd the streets on market days with
feathers in their hats which are often of beautifully "weathered"
golden green or bright green felt.
The history of Innsbruck from the tenth century onwards is indeed
largely that of Tyrol itself. The name as a town appears first to have
occurred in a document of the year 1027 which was a grant to the
chapel of St. James' in the Field (St. Jacob in der Au), which most
probably occupied the site on which the stately church of the same
name erected in 1717 now stands. Long before this date, however, a
settlement of people--small at first--had taken place at this crossing
or ford of the Inn, brought into existence by the growing and
profitable commerce between Germany and Italy by way of the Brenner.
Both the travelling merchants and the Tyrolese themselves soon found
the place a convenient depôt for the heavier goods and articles of
merchandise, such as skins, wines, cloths, and metal ware; and as the
years went by it gradually grew to be more than a convenient
halting-place for the merchants and their pack trains on their
journeys. Houses fit to accommodate the well-to-do were erected, and
Innsbruck as a flourishing town came into being. Towards the end of
the twelfth century certain rights over the town were acquired by a
von Andechs, Berthold II., from the monks of Wilten to whom it
belonged; and in consequence of these rights, Otto I., his successor,
encircled it with walls, fortifications, and watch-towers, and also
built himself a palace.
The rise of Innsbruck was from the middle of the thirteenth century a
steady one. At that period it was made the sole depôt for the storage
of goods between the Zillerthal and the Melach; and as the years went
by other privileges were granted to the steadily growing town, which
not only served to maintain but also to increase its importance.
In 1279, Bruno, Bishop of Brixen, consecrated another church in the
Ottoburg, which was called the Moritzkapelle. The town's lords,
spiritual as well as temporal, appear to have done what they could to
foster and encourage its growth, and there are records of festivities
and princely entertainments on a lavish scale within the precincts of
the Ottoburg in those far-off times. It was not, however, until after
the cession of Tyrol to Austria by the Duchess Margaret, known as
"Pocket-mouthed Meg," that the admirable situation of Innsbruck was
fully realized. Ultimately, the convenience of its water communication
by the Inn and Danube with other distant and flourishing towns of the
Empire seems largely to have brought about its adoption as the seat of
government for Tyrol.
[Sidenote: INNSBRUCK'S RULERS]
Innsbruck throughout the centuries, so far as its rulers are
concerned, appears to have been "fortune's child." Many privileges
were granted to it from time to time, and the staunch fidelity of the
citizens to Duke Rudolph IV. of Habsburg at the time of one of the
periodic Bavarian invasions resulted in further concessions being
granted which served to place Innsbruck in the unassailable position
of being both the capital and the most prosperous town in the Tyrol.
Duke Frederick of the Empty Pocket (_Mit der leeren Tasche_) made
Innsbruck his home and base of operations whilst endeavouring to put
down the Rottenburgers and other of the powerful nobles, who were
attempting to set him at defiance and continue the oppression of the
countryfolk which they had commenced and carried on during the
unstable and weak government of Frederick's immediate predecessors.
The Innsbruckers gave him loyal and very material support in his
endeavours, and reaped a substantial reward in the favours and
privileges which Frederick afterwards granted to them.
It was this prince who gained, by contact with his people when a
fugitive amongst the mountains and valleys of Tyrol, a knowledge of
them (and thereby earned their affection) that made it possible for
him ultimately to call the peasantry to arms, and to defy the power of
the Emperor Sigismund, Ernest the Iron Duke of Styria, and his other
enemies.
The circumstances of Frederick's call of the people to arms was
romantic in the extreme. Indeed, his doings in the early years of his
outlawry by the Church and State read like pages of the most stirring
romance. Perhaps some of the deeds recorded are more or less
legendary, but enough remains to fill to overflowing with stirring
incidents the pages of any historical romance. Briefly the story of
the event is as follows. Assured during his many wanderings of the
people's devotion to him, for when pursued they had sheltered him, and
when discovered they had boldly refused to surrender his person to his
enemies, Frederick devised a plan by which he should appear as the
principal actor in an heroic peasant comedy at the great fair at
Landeck. This play set forth in stirring scenes the fortunes or rather
misfortunes of an exiled prince driven from his throne by his enemies,
compelled to wander destitute, and with a price upon his head amongst
his people, whom he eventually calls to arms and leads to victory and
thus recovers his inheritance.
He must have played his part remarkably well if one may judge by the
results. The people, who had come to the fair from all parts of the
country roundabout were stirred to the very depths by his acting, and
by his pourtrayal of the imaginary prince's misfortunes. We are told
the audience were many of them moved to tears and that when Frederick
came to sing of the people following their ruler's call to arms the
enthusiasm became uncontrollable.
Then, so the tale goes, Frederick threw off all disguise, and made a
direct appeal to them. The vast audience vowed to support his cause,
and the enthusiasm which swayed the Landeckers was not long spreading
through the whole country with the result that shortly afterwards the
Emperor Sigismund and Frederick's brother concluded a truce with him
and he was allowed to become ruler.
[Illustration: THE FAMOUS "GOLDEN ROOF," INNSBRUCK]
During his reign he did much to show his gratitude to his loyal
friends and people by curbing the oppressive power of the nobles, and
granting many privileges which were on the whole more for the
benefit of the poor than of the rich.
[Sidenote: THE "GOLDEN ROOF"]
But to many who come to Innsbruck we fancy Frederick's fame rests not
upon his wisdom as a ruler so much as upon his extravagance in
building the world-famous "Goldne Dachl" to the elegant late-Gothic
balcony of his palace at the foot of the Herzog-Friedrich-strasse. The
nickname of "Empty Purse" or "Pocket" had been bestowed upon him by
his enemies, who sought to belittle him when he attained to power. It
was not certainly his by common consent. The Tyrolese account rather
points to the fact that Frederick at one time had impoverished himself
in his endeavours to relieve his subjects from the burdens of
taxation, and in consequence the nobles who were no believers in his
system of government in this respect bestowed upon him this somewhat
approbrious _sobriquet_. Frederick saw in this a reproach not perhaps
so much directed against himself as against his people in general. It
seemed to him to indicate that his enemies thought those for whom he
had undoubtedly done much kept him poor and would do nothing to keep
up a state in character with his position as ruler. He therefore built
the famous roof.[10] Outside the house which was then the Furstenburg
or princely dwelling, now very ordinary looking and far less imposing
and ornate in character than say the Heblinghaus hard by, he in 1425
erected over the two-storied balcony the "Goldne Dachl," on which
piece of mediæval display of wealth he is stated to have expended
30,000 ducats or about £14,000. In it there are 3450 gilt upon copper
tiles, which have several times since Frederick's day been regilded.
The last occasion on which this was done is upwards of twenty years
ago.
It is necessary, however, for us to say that considerable doubt exists
whether Frederick--who is now supposed not even to have built the
house--did construct the roof which has done so much to immortalize
his nickname. Loth though one is to destroy a romantic story, truth
compels us to state that the most reliable evidence points to the
Emperor Maximilian as the originator of the roof and probably the
balcony also in 1500, after his second marriage with Maria Bianca
Sforza of Milan.
The house has long ago descended from its high position as a royal
palace, even at times of recent years having been let to private
families or in apartments, but the famous "Goldne Dachl" over the
beautiful oriel window, with its Gothic balconies, the balustrades of
which are decorated with carved armorial bearings and shields in
marble, has been preserved as a beloved relic almost in its original
state. Within the house itself is a curious old fresco, the subject of
which has been the cause of much dispute. On the second floor is an
interesting sculptured bas-relief, depicting Maximilian and his two
wives, Mary of Burgundy and Maria Bianca Sforza, with the seven
coats-of-arms belonging to the seven provinces over which the Emperor
held sway.
Frederick's son Sigismund succeeded him, and for a time kept a
brilliant and gay Court at Innsbruck, but being without direct heirs
he in 1490 gave up Tyrol to his cousin who, three years later, became
the Emperor Maximilian I. Maximilian in turn did much for the town
which he adopted as his Tyrol home, and by his residence in Innsbruck,
after he had become the Emperor of a wide dominion, he did much to
increase its importance and prosperity. He it was who built a new
palace in the Rennplatz, called the Burg, which scarcely forty years
later was burned down. The Great Hall, called the Goldene Saal, and
the state bedroom, the decorations and furniture of which were so
beautiful and magnificent that it was known as _das Paradies_, were
eventually totally destroyed, many of the occupants of the palace,
including the children of the Emperor Ferdinand of that time, escaping
with their lives with difficulty.
Maximilian, who became familiar to his Innsbruckers as the "Kaiser
Max," especially endeared himself to them by reason of his frank
manners and love of the chase and mountaineering.
[Sidenote: ANCIENT INNS]
Amongst the many interesting mediæval buildings which have happily
survived in Innsbruck there are several in the immediate neighbourhood
of the famous "Goldne Dachl." One of the oldest, if not the oldest, is
the Ottoburg of Otto I. standing at the end of the
Herzog-Friedrich-strasse close to the River Inn; and, indeed, only
separated from it by the Herzog-Otto-strasse. This, the residence of
the Andechs, was built in 1234, and was the reputed birthplace of Otto
III. A quaint motto concerning it remains, which, roughly translated,
runs--
"Here the Ottoburg firmly stands,
A house upheld by God's own hands."
In this ancient building many dramatic scenes of Tyrolese history took
place.
Close by is the oldest Inn, the famous and deeply interesting Goldener
Adler (Golden Eagle) to which, in former times, before modern hotels
and conveniences were esteemed indispensable, every visitor of
distinction to Innsbruck came. The "visitors' list" of the Goldener
Adler is one long entry of nobles and celebrities.
Indeed, during the time it was the acknowledged resort of the nobility
and even monarchs who came to Innsbruck, it sheltered amongst its many
distinguished guests and travellers the Emperor Joseph II.; Ludwig I.,
King of Bavaria; Gustave III. of Sweden; Heinrich Heine, the gifted
though melancholy poet; and Goethe, who came to Innsbruck with the
Dowager Duchess Amalie of Saxe-Weimar in 1790. In commemoration of
this visit a bust of the poet adorns the room which he occupied. And
last, but by no means least, the Goldener Adler housed the patriot
Andreas Hofer. It was regarding the portraits of the latter, of his
enemy Napoleon Bonaparte, and of Ludwig of Bavaria that Heine remarked
on seeing them hanging side by side in the dining-room of the Inn that
it was strange to see such enemies grouped together even though merely
portraits. Tradition has it that it was from the middle window of the
famous Goldener Adler that Hofer made his speech to the surging crowd
in the narrow street below on August 15, 1809, when he entered the
town in triumph after the third battle on Berg Isel. A copy of the
speech, which was a modest though stirring oration, has been preserved
at the Inn.
One of the most delightful vistas of the old town is to be obtained
from the corner where stand the three well-known Inns, the Goldener
Hirsch, Rother Adler, and Goldener Löwe; whilst from the balcony of
the old Stadtthurm or belfry a fine view over the town and of the
environing mountain summits rewards the adventurous climber.
The old-fashioned "lauben" or arcades of the Herzog-Friedrich-strasse
in particular, under which are set out tiny stalls often kept by
picturesquely attired girls and women, seldom fail to attract the
attention of visitors.
On either side of the street these "lauben" stretch under the low
arcaded roofs, providing not only a cool promenade in the heat of
summer, but a shelter which on wet days can be fully appreciated, for,
to speak frankly, Innsbruck in wet weather strikes one if one wanders
in the byways as a somewhat muddy though intensely interesting town.
In these "lauben" one frequently sees types of the older Tyrolese in
the national costume, which in the towns of Tyrol (as in those of
other countries) show signs of dying out. Old women in the short
skirts, and picturesque aprons, quaint hats and bodices, of the
mountain districts and villages, and the old men, wrapped (if the
weather be cold) in long, flowing, cloaks of green or russet cloth,
smoking their long pipes with painted porcelain bowls, on which are
often as not stirring scenes in miniature from the life of Hofer.
[Sidenote: MARKET TYPES]
By way of these covered promenades one gradually reaches the busier
centre of the town where the old-world aspect of
Herzog-Friedrich-strasse gives place to the more modern Maria
Theresien-strasse, and the Burggraben joins the Marktgraben. There are
few more deeply interesting and picturesque places of its kind than
Innsbruck Marktgraben on a festival or market day. Here, indeed, is a
spot not alone for the artist and amateur photographer, but for the
student also, who may see many quaint local customs and costumes, and
occasionally even the boyishly attired girl cowherds of the upper
pastures in their cloth or velvet knee breeches, short jackets,
"sailor"-shaped hats decorated with feathers, edelweiss or gentians,
and worsted stockings. Here, too, perhaps, one can better realize from
the cosmopolitan throng of market people, than from anything else, the
fact that for many generations Innsbruck has been the business highway
for Italians, Slavonians, Hungarians, Austrians, and Germans. One can
often, indeed, see representatives of Northern, Southern, and Eastern
nations gathered together at one and the same time in the Marktgraben,
with a sprinkling of tourists to represent the more Western peoples.
If we were asked to pick out the two streets which in different ways
would probably most deeply impress the newcomer to Innsbruck, we
should without hesitation chose the old-world
Herzog-Friedrich-strasse, on either side of whose narrow roadway are
so many interesting ancient houses, low-ceiled rooms, and picturesque
courtyards, as one; and the Maria Theresien-strasse with its more
modern air, exquisite view of the snow-capped Bavarian Alps as the
other. But this latter fine commercial street with its up-to-date
shops, upon the windows of many of which frequently appears that
comfort-bringing (but alas! sometimes delusive) legend, "English
Spoken," is not without its old and historical buildings. In the
Spitalkirche or Church of the Holy Ghost one has an early eighteenth
century Rococo building of considerable interest. And almost opposite
stands the house in which Hermann von Gilm, the well-known Tyrolese
poet, died in 1864. A little further along is the Rathaus or Town Hall
of Innsbruck, which was formerly the Oesterreichischer Hof, a large
hotel. In the courtyard is a noticeably fine marble staircase, and
there are some interesting and effective frescoes on the walls from
the brush of Ferdinand Wagner.
Few visitors but are attracted by the column of red native marble
which occupies a prominent position in the middle of and almost
exactly midway down Maria Theresien-strasse. Surmounted by a statuette
of the Virgin Mary, and with those of St. Anna, St. George, St.
Vigilius, and St. Cassian grouped round the base, it was erected as a
memorial of the retreat of the Bavarian troops on St. Anna's Day (July
26), 1703.
At the corner of Maria Theresien-strasse and Landhaus-strasse is the
Landhaus of Anton Gump completed in 1728, and in the Rococo style of
architecture then prevalent. Here are held the sittings of the
Tyrolean Landtag which was formerly held at Meran, and on its
transference to Innsbruck was one of the main causes of the town
becoming the capital of Tyrol.
Close by is the church of the Sevites, with its famous dome decorated
by the paintings of the well-known Tyrolean artist, Joseph Schöpf,
depicting the death of St. Joseph and his entry into paradise.
The University, which stands in the street of that name, has undergone
some considerable vicissitudes. Founded by the Emperor Leopold I. in
1677, it was, by the Emperor Joseph II., reduced to the standing of a
Lycée, but was once more accorded the dignity of a University in 1826.
In the valuable library of upwards of 75,000 volumes there are many
illuminated MSS. of great beauty and value, as well as a number of
early fifteenth-century books. The adjoining Botanical Garden, which
contains an unrivalled collection of Alpine flora, and was constructed
by Professor von Kerner, belongs to the University, and here during
the summer months those who wish to study Alpine flowers will find
grouped and gathered together specimens which it would take many
months and perhaps even years to study and discover on one's own
initiative in their native habitats. The University is, however, about
to be transferred to a more convenient home on the Fürstenweg near the
Inn, and the old building will, alas! probably be pulled down and the
site used for modern houses.
[Sidenote: MAXIMILIAN'S CELL]
Quite close to the latter stands the Jesuit Church attached to it,
which is chiefly interesting because of its being the burial place of
the Tyrolese Prince Regents, and on account of the paintings by
Albrecht Durer which adorn the sacristy. The Capuchin Church and
Convent dating from the latter end of the sixteenth century are worth
a visit, for in the latter one sees an interesting and historical
survival in the retreat of the Archduke Maximilian, known as the
"Deutsch-Meister," who here devoted a week in every year to prayer,
fasting, and penance.
In his simple cell, which is panelled in plain wood, and has for
furniture but a bedstead and chair of the most ordinary make, one can
realize exactly the kind of "retreat" which was so often in those
far-off days used by the highest nobles and rulers to free them for a
time from the cares and vanities of State. The inkstand and other
small articles of necessity, which still remain memorials of
Maximilian's occupation, are supposed to have been his own handiwork.
How complete this ruler's retirement from the world and whilst he was
in retreat can be judged by the fact that he not only followed with
exactitude the rules of the brotherhood, rising early and also
attending the night offices, but in addition he engaged in the manual
labour of the garden, and field, and workshop like as one of them. The
cell has a little window high up and opening on the chancel of the
chapel to enable the noble recluse to take part in the services.
This cell has been in a sense a pilgrim place ever since, and has been
visited at various times by many distinguished people. In 1765 the
Empress Maria Theresa came to the Convent, and upon entering
Maximilian's retreat sat herself in the wooden chair.
She was little used to so hard a resting-place, and after a minute or
two she expressed her astonishment, exclaiming, "Heavens! What men of
iron our forefathers were!"
There are (so far as we know) no relics of the Empress Maria Theresa's
visit, not even an autograph; but another illustrious visitor, St.
Lorenzo of Brindisi, who came to Innsbruck on his way to found a
religious house in Austria, somewhat strangely one is forced to think,
left behind him his staff, breviary, and copy of the Hebrew Bible,
which are treasured as carefully as the relics of the Archduke
Maximilian himself. During the reign of the latter the religious
houses and Churches of Innsbruck all benefited by his generosity and
prospered from his devotion to the Church. The effect of his example
upon the townsfolk themselves was so marked that after the terrible
plague of the year 1611 the burghers founded and built the
Dreiheiligen Kirche (Holy Trinity) for the Jesuits as a thank-offering
that the ravages of the plague were stayed. It was probably owing to
the fact that, during this particular outbreak of the scourge of the
Middle Ages, when the old hospital or Siechenhaus was all too small to
hold all the victims, two Jesuits, Kaspar von Kostlan of Brixen, and
the Professor of Theology at the University, assisted by a lay
brother, tended the sick with indefatigable self-sacrifice, that the
Jesuits were destined to chiefly benefit by the Innsbruckers' desire
to commemorate their gratitude to God, that the pestilence at last had
been overcome. They readily subscribed the necessary funds (we are
told), and the then Burgomaster took a vow to see that the building
was erected. From the time of which vow, tradition tells us, "the
pestilence at once began to abate."
An altar-piece, the artist of which was Stötzl, was given by
Maximilian himself. It represented the three patron saints against
sickness: St. Sebastian, who stayed a plague in Rome by his
intercession; St. Martha, who according to tradition founded a
hospital and spent the rest of her life attending to the sick; and St.
Rocchus, who devoted his life and strength to the care of those
suffering from the pestilence.
[Sidenote: THE NEWER TOWN]
Some of the most beautiful roads and modern houses of the newer
Innsbruck, which is increasing in area year by year, lie close at hand
to this votive church, and to the northward, in the part of the town
which is best reached by the Universitats-strasse and Saggengasse,
alongside of which is the vast Exercier Platz, and at the back of that
and nearer the river the beautiful Hofgarten. These never fail to
charm the rambler on the outskirts of the town.
[Sidenote: MUSEUM TREASURES]
But there yet remain many other interesting objects, which the lover
of Innsbruck and the visitor who stays for any considerable period of
time are sure to gradually discover and enjoy. One of these is the
National Museum, known as the Ferdinandeum, in which are gathered
together objects, pictures, and relics forming, so it is claimed for
them, an almost complete historical record of Tyrol, its people and
its products.
The Museum, which is the resort of students from all parts of Europe,
and is for even the casual visitor an object of the greatest interest,
bears the name of its founder and patron Ferdinand I. Originally
intended to illustrate in a vivid and practical way the history and
national customs of the country in the various domains of art,
science, and industry, the collections have gradually been enlarged
and expanded so as to contain examples of art by members of well known
foreign schools. The present museum is a comparatively modern
building, with a façade in the Italian Renaissance style. The ground
floor was commenced in 1842, and the upper story added in 1886.
On the ground floor are some most interesting archæological remains,
including several ancient Roman milestones from the Brenner road and
elsewhere; burial urns from Matrei; bronze statuettes of Roman days
from Brixen and Innicherberg; many ornaments of the Roman period from
Meran, Moritzing, Zedlach and other places. From Salurn, in the valley
of the Eisack, there are some Roman tombs, with the ornaments of the
dead, and household and toilet utensils and articles of great value
and interest. One of the most important objects in the archæological
section of the Museum is the sarcophagus, arms and ornaments of a
Lombardian prince disinterred at Civezzano, near Trent. The coffin was
richly ornamented by gold bands, and in it was found a gold cross.
Zoology, Geognosy, Palæology, and Mineralogy are represented with
remarkable fulness, and in the last-named section of the Museum is to
be found almost every Tyrolese mineral discovered up to the present
time. Some of the specimens are of great beauty and value.
In the Armoury, which so far as the general visitor is concerned,
appears to be one of the most popular sections, there are many fine
examples of the weapons of bygone days, including poignards, inlaid
pistols, guns, powder-horns and flasks, helmets, breastplates, etc.
[Illustration: A TYPICAL INNSBRUCKER]
In the Topographical section few fail to notice with interest the many
early maps of Tyrol, bearing on their faces the history of the country
as is shown by the partitions of it which from time to time took
place; and the homemade globes of the self-educated shepherd boy,
Peter Anich, who became a famous geographer. In the same room are
some fine specimens of peasant costumes, musical instruments
(including some Strads, Amatis, and Stainers of great value), the
jewel case of the famous Philippine Welser (wife of Ferdinand II.) who
lived with her royal and devoted husband at Castle Ambras for many
years.
There are also in the Museum some deeply interesting relics,
portraits, busts, autographs, etc., of Tyrolese patriots and
distinguished citizens of Innsbruck. Those relating to Andreas Hofer,
and his two loyal comrades, Joachim Haspinger and Joseph Speckbacher,
include many of their personal belongings, and are regarded by the
Tyrolese visitors with almost religious veneration--a feeling which
the life--history of these men quite justifies.
Amongst the sculpture are some fine specimens of old carved woodwork
and interesting German carvings of an early period brought from
Tyrolean churches, which were either despoiled during the Napoleonic
Wars, or have since for one reason or another been pulled down and
their treasures and fittings dispersed.
On the second floor of this convenient and commodious building is
chiefly gathered together the Art collection, which so far as native
work is concerned is, we believe, unrivalled. There is presented for
the information of the student as well as the ordinary visitor an
astonishingly complete survey of Tyrolese painting from the earliest
times, including the work of the schools of Brixen-Neustift, and the
Pusterthal, with representative work by such masters as Andrä Haller
and Michael Pacher; and also examples of the old Flemish and German
masters, including Lucas Cranach, St. Jerome, Altdorfer, Pateiner,
etc., Innsbruck painters being represented by Sebastian Schel.
Well worth the attention of all interested in painting and its
development as an Art are the works of the Tyrolese masters covering
the period from the seventeenth century to the present day, which are
well represented by pictures of the Unterberger family, Joseph Schöph,
John Baptist Lampi, Angelica Kaufmann, Gebhard Flatz (Fra Angelico),
Joseph A. Koch, Mathias Schmidt, E. von Wörndle, Karl Blaas and
others. Amongst the more notable pictures of the modern school are the
"Chancellor Wilhelm Biener at the Innsbruck Landtag," of Karl
Anrathers, and the historical masterpieces of Franz Defregger.
It is impossible for one to study the latter nine in number, which
depict patriotic events connected with the campaign of 1809, without
appreciating the vigour of their execution and the charm of their
colour, at the same time realizing something of the stirring nature
and significance of the events to which they refer. Three are
originals, and the remaining six are copies made by pupils of
Defregger under his own personal supervision, and supposed to have in
some cases been finished or touched up by him. The following are the
subjects of the originals:--
(1) The Three Patriots--Andreas Hofer, Joseph Speckbacher, and Joachim
Haspinger; (2) Speckbacher and his son Anderl at the Bear Inn, St.
Johann; (3) The Innkeeper's Son. The last named is the son of the
Tharer Wirth at Olang in the Pusterthal. The copies are of the
following subjects: (1) Speckbacher's Call to Arms; (2) The Last
Summons, the original of which is in the Imperial Art-History Museum
in Vienna; (3) The Mountain Forge, the original of which is in the
Dresden Gallery; (4) The Return of the Victors, the original of which
is in Berlin; and (5) Andreas Hofer in the Castle at Innsbruck, the
original of which belongs to the Emperor Francis Joseph; (6) Andreas
Hofer being led to Execution, the original of which is in Konigsberg.
These are all distinguished by beauty of colouring, strength of
drawing, and dramatic appeal.
There are many other treasures in this Museum, which is national in
the true sense of the word. And amongst them is the fine and almost
priceless collection of pictures by Dutch masters which has been
principally acquired through bequests of wealthy Tyrolese. In it are
examples of the work of Van Dyck, P. Paul Reubens, Paul Potter, R.
Ruysch, Adrian von Ostade, A. Cuyp, Rembrandt and others. There is
also a most comprehensive and valuable Library of works relating to
Tyrol, and also the archives of both the Austrian and German Alpine
Clubs.
Each year sees important additions made to the various departments of
the Ferdinandeum, and so the returning visitors to Innsbruck find an
ever new interest in the country and its National Museum awaiting
them.
[Sidenote: THE HOFBURG]
The remaining objects of supreme interest at Innsbruck are the Hofburg
or Palace; and the Hofkirche or Church of the Franciscans. They are
easily reached from the Ferdinandeum along Museum-strasse and the
Burggraben, which may be said to form the boundary line dividing the
old town from the new. The archway, through which one reaches both the
Palace and the Church, formed, in mediæval times, one of the city
gates; and in those far-off times was crowned by a watch-tower upon
which the many escutcheons of the Habsburgs were emblazoned. It was
taken down in the time of Maria Theresa, as its condition had become
too dangerous to permit it to remain standing.
The Hofburg stands at a right angle with the Hofkirche to the
north-west. Of the original building erected by the Emperor Maximilian
not very much now remains; for after being seriously damaged it was
ultimately reconstructed by Maria Theresa. On the exterior are traces
of the original baroque style favoured at the time it was built; still
also to be found in several of the larger, older, and more important
houses in the town. The state apartments are chiefly distinguished for
the decorative paintings of the well-known artist A. F. Maulbertsch,
principally in the large salon known as the Riesensaal. It was in the
chapel, which connects the Palace with the Damenstift or Ladies' Home,
that the Emperor Francis I. of Germany, husband of Maria Theresa, died
so tragically on August 18, 1765, while the wedding festivities in
connection with the marriage of Prince Leopold (afterwards the Emperor
Leopold II.) with the Infanta Maria Ludovica were in progress.
It is not the Hofburg, however, but the famous Hofkirche--which has by
several writers and antiquarians been called "The Tyrolean Westminster
Abbey,"--that attracts most visitors, and has the greatest charm for
all who are either interested in Tyrolese history or antiquities. This
church was built during the decade from 1553-63 by the Emperor
Ferdinand I., then King of Rome, as a memorial to his grandfather the
Emperor Maximilian I., who was buried underneath the high altar in the
Castle Chapel of Wiener-Neustadt. Tradition states that the building
had been contemplated by Maximilian, and was ultimately brought into
being in accordance with his will. The architect of the church, which
is in the Italian Renaissance style, was Thuring of Innsbruck,[11] and
the ground plan follows the lines of a columnar basilica. Lübke,
however, states that it was the tomb and not the building which
Maximilian himself planned in collaboration with Gilg Sesselschreiber,
a Munich artist, who occupied the position of painter to the Court.
The first impression made upon the mind by the famous Hofkirche is one
of lightness and elegance, wedded to a somewhat flamboyant decorative
scheme, rather than impressiveness or age. The lofty and
slender-looking columns which support the roof on either side of the
nave are of red marble, and the ceiling itself is elaborately
decorated in rococo. The vista on entering is extremely fine,
including as it does the wonderful tomb of Maximilian, the organ loft,
and the huge crucifix in the centre, and the handsome pulpit on the
left of the tomb. The impression of magnificence and beauty grows upon
one, thus carrying out what was doubtless the design of the architect
and the Emperor who was instrumental in its erection.
[Sidenote: MAXIMILIAN'S TOMB]
The tomb in the centre, with its imposing bronze figure of Maximilian
kneeling with clasped hands on the top of the huge marble sarcophagus,
at the four corners of which are smaller figures, at once arrests
attention. The Emperor is in Imperial dress, with crown, armour, and a
robe, and is surrounded by the twenty-eight huge figures which have
become world-famous, and all save two of which were once
torch-bearers, and are now seen with their right hands extended as
though holding torches. The two exceptions are King Arthur of England,
and the Emperor Theodoric the Goth. All of the statues surrounding the
tomb are thought to have had some real or legendary connection with
the House of Habsburg, and it is believed that Maximilian himself
chose the characters who were to be represented. They may be grouped
into two series. One consisting of his five favourite heroes of
antiquity; the other of twenty-three ancestors, contemporary relatives
or members of his house, both men and women.
The figures differ very greatly both in style and merit. It was
perhaps only natural that this result should have been arrived at when
one remembers that several generations were occupied upon the
construction of this marvellous example of German Renaissance
monumental work erected during the sixteenth century, and that it was
necessarily the work of several designers as well as many different
hands. The tomb is a wonderful, perhaps even unequalled, example of
the German art of a period which marked the blending of the mediæval
and the modern. To the Imperial designer of the tomb the chivalric
figures he chose to surround it were no mere abstractions but living,
breathing entities; just as the old feudal Empires of south-eastern
Europe were real. He was unable to realize that even then the old
order was about to pass away, to be replaced by a new which was so
divergent from that he had known, and of which he himself had been so
prominent a figure.
The bronze figures, which twenty years or so ago attracted the notice
of but few foreign visitors, but are now objects of keenest interest
to all comers to the capital of Tyrol, are by several hands. The two
of surpassing beauty of design and execution are those of King Arthur
of England, and King Theodoric. They are nowadays pretty generally
supposed to have been the work of Peter Vischer of Nüremberg.
These two statues have a particularly interesting history which has
been brought to light of recent years. Though cast at Nüremberg in
1513, and costing no less than one thousand florins, it was not until
nearly twenty years had elapsed that they reached Innsbruck. In the
meantime, owing to Maximilian's need of ready money, they had been in
the possession of Bishop Christopher of Augsburg, to whom they had
been pawned by the Emperor. The Bishop placed them in the chapel at
St. Lorenz, where they remained until the year 1532. Ferdinand I. then
sent to redeem them, and they were delivered up on payment to the
steward of the then Bishop of the amount which originally had been
advanced upon them.
[Illustration: MOONRISE IN TYROL]
[Sidenote: KING ARTHUR AND THEODORIC]
The statue of King Arthur is especially impressive and fine. Standing
erect, the tall, chivalrous-looking figure has an alertness of pose
which is astonishingly lifelike and commanding. It is impossible not
to recognize the representation of a true ideal of knighthood "sans
peur et sans raproche," and that without any suggestion of aggressive
valour. The helmet worn is of the close-fitting type with the visor,
which is enriched with ornamentation, raised so that the face of a
somewhat Teutonic mould is plainly seen. The breastplate, worn over a
coat of mail, is magnificently worked; but the rest of the suit is
plain. Arthur supports by his right hand a shield bearing the arms of
England, and at his left side is a long sword.
The statue of King Theodoric, although fine in execution, does not
possess the same impressiveness and commanding merit as that of King
Arthur to which we have just referred. It appears probable that the
same model may have been used for both. But, whereas King Arthur is a
commanding figure, the pose of King Theodoric is rather a dejected and
wearied one. His breastplate is not nearly so richly ornamented, and
his helm is also plainer, with the visor of a quite different shape.
As is the case with King Arthur, the breastplate is worn over a coat
of chain mail, and the greaves worn are plain.
The remaining twenty-six figures according to some authorities were
designed by Gilg Sesselschreiber; although opinion is still somewhat
divided regarding this point. It may, however, we think be accepted
that Sesselschreiber was, at least in part, responsible for the
greater number.
The relationship which existed between the Emperor Maximilian and the
Munich artist Sesselschreiber, who had been engaged as Court painter
in 1502, was not untinctured by an element of romance, which is doubly
interesting as showing the relative positions of artist and patron in
those stirring and disturbed times.
Happily for lovers of art and antiquities the original designs for the
statues surrounding the tomb of Maximilian which Sesselschreiber made
have been preserved, and can be seen in the Imperial Library, Vienna.
Exquisite pen-and-ink drawings delicately tinted, upon some of which
the Emperor himself made corrections and suggestions in his own hand.
These are distinctly traceable on some from the unskilled nature of
the pen-and-ink alterations.
[Sidenote: THE FAMOUS STATUES]
A curious fact is also brought to light by these sketches. It would
seem from them beyond question that Maximilian fully intended being
modelled for the figure of himself, which was to grace the memorial,
in the suit of exquisite silver armour which he had worn on the
occasion of his marriage at Ghent with Mary of Burgundy.[12] Several
sketches were made, one, apparently from the notes and alterations
upon it, displeased the Emperor from a technical point; in another the
face was not as he wished with the result that Sesselschreiber
altogether made four or more drawings.
The care which had been taken over this most important figure was,
however, never destined to be utilized to the full, for the statue was
not even modelled at the time of Maximilian's death in 1519, and the
figure clad in coronation robes (instead, as was evidently intended,
entirely in armour) which kneels on the top of the cenotaph was the
work of Abraham Colin, who had never seen the Emperor in life, the
cast not having been made until more than sixty years after
Maximilian's death.
How slowly the great work of this magnificent tomb proceeded can be
gathered from the dates we have quoted. The delay arose from several
causes; amongst others, from the Emperor's shortness of money, owing
to the vast schemes of conquest, science, and other matters in which
he was engaged; and from the circumstance that Gilg Sesselschreiber
appears to have become lazy, intemperate, and dissolute. In the end he
took flight to Augsburg in fear of Maximilian's anger. The Emperor,
however, was not prepared to yield up possession of his Court painter
without a struggle, so the latter was captured and thrown into prison,
from which he appears to have been released in 1516 on promise of
reform. So that he might be freed from the temptations which Innsbruck
afforded in the way of wine, women, and boon companions he was
compelled by the Emperor to take up his residence at Natters on the
western side of the Sill Gorge above Innsbruck.
The casting of the statues was largely done by the famous Gregor
Löffler, who established a bronze foundry near Innsbruck, and also
built the Castle of Büchsenhausen, although some of the statues were
undoubtedly cast by Stephen and Melchior Godl and Hans Lendenstreich
who worked at the Mühlau foundry on the outskirts of Innsbruck.
Although the designing and casting of the statues is now generally
accepted as being the work of the men we have named, it is more than
possible that the idea of the whole complete piece of mediæval and
historical symbolism was that of some comparatively unknown brother of
the Franciscan order. Originally the scheme was designed to include,
in addition to the figures we have mentioned, twenty-three others of
saints which were to be placed on raised pedestals or in niches, and
were for this reason of much smaller size. They are now to be seen in
the Silver Chapel. The following is a list of the large statues
grouped around the tomb.
(1) Clovis, the first Christian King of France.
(2) Philip the Handsome, of the Netherlands, Maximilian's
son. (1495.)
(3) The Emperor, Rudolf of Habsburg.
(4) Albert II. the Wise, Maximilian's great-grandfather.
(5) Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths. (455-526.)
(6) Ernest der Eiserne, Duke of Austria and Styria.
(1377-1424.)
(7) Theodebert, Duke of Burgundy. (640.)
(8) King Arthur of England.
(9) Sigismund der Munzreiche, Count of Tyrol. (1427-96.)
(10) Maria Bianca Sforza, Maximilian's second wife. Died
1510.
(11) The Archduchess Margaret, Maximilian's daughter.
(12) Cymburgis of Massovica, wife of Ernest der Eiserne.
Died 1433.
(13) Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, father of Mary of
Burgundy, Maximilian's first wife.
(14) Philip the Good, father of Charles the Bold. Founder of
the Order of the Golden Fleece. (1419.) Married Margaret of
York, sister of Edward IV., in 1468. (1467-77.)
(15) Albert II., Duke of Austria, and Emperor of Germany.
(1397-1439.)
(16) Emperor Frederick III., Maximilian's father.
(1457-93.)
(17) Leopold III., Margrave of Austria; since 1506 the
patron saint of Austria. (1096-1136.)
(18) Rudolf, Count of Habsburg. (1273.)
(19) Leopold III. the Pious, Duke of Austria, Maximilian's
great-grandfather; slain at Sempach. July 9, 1386.
(20) Frederick IV. of Austria, Count of Tyrol, surnamed "mit
der leeren Tasche."
(21) Albert I., Duke and Emperor of Austria. Born 1248,
assassinated by his nephew John of Swabia, 1308.
(22) Godfrey de Bouillon, King of Jerusalem in 1099, wearing
a crown of thorns.
(23) Elizabeth of Hungary, wife of the Emperor Albert II.
Born 1396.
(24) Mary of Burgundy, Maximilian's first wife. (1457-82.)
(25) Eleonora of Portugal, wife of the Emperor Frederick
III., Maximilian's mother.
(26) Cunigunda, Maximilian's sister, wife of Duke Albert IV.
of Bavaria.
(27) Ferdinand II., of Aragon, surnamed "the Catholic."
(1479.)
(27) Johanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and wife
of Maximilian's son, Philip I., of Spain.
[Sidenote: HISTORY IN MARBLE]
The cenotaph itself, placed upon three steps of red marble, is about
fourteen feet long and six feet high, and is constructed of different
coloured marbles. The figure of the Emperor on top with its face
directed towards the altar, is a fine bronze casting by a Sicilian
named Luigi del Duca made in 1584.[13] Slender columns divide the ends
and sides of the cenotaph into twenty-four panels or compartments of
white marble in which are scenes in relief (depicting the chief events
and achievements of Maximilian's life). These are really marvellous
works of art, not alone for their execution but from the care with
which accuracy has been attained in the costumes, the architectural
and other details introduced, and from the extraordinary finish which
marks the whole of the work. Many of the faces are undoubted portraits
of the greatest historical and antiquarian value, those of the Emperor
at various periods of his life being remarkable for their differing
likeness. The variations of the national types depicted are rendered
with the most painstaking care. The first four of the panels are
filled by the work of Albert and Bernard Abel of Cologne, who began
their task in 1561, after a visit to Genoa to choose the marble. They,
however, both died tw
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