NORTH TIROL--THE INNTHAL.
INNSBRUCK.
Many centuries have been numbered,
Since in death the monarch slumbered
By the convent's sculptured portal,
Mingling with the common dust;
But his good deeds, through the ages
Living in historic pages,
Brighter grow and gleam immortal,
Unconsumed by moth or rust.
Longfellow.
I shall not easily forget my first greeting at Innsbruck. We had come
many days' journey from the north to a rendezvous with friends who
had travelled many days' journey from the south; they were to arrive a
week earlier than we, and were accordingly to meet us at the station
and do the hosts' part. But it happened that the station was being
rebuilt, and the order of 'No admittance except on business' was
strictly enforced. The post-office was closed, being 'after hours,'
and though the man left in charge, with true Tirolean urbanity,
suffered us to come in and turn over the letters for ourselves,
we failed to find the one conveying the directions we sought. So
with no fixed advices to guide us, we wandered through the mountain
capital in search of a chance meeting. We had nearly given up this
attempt in its turn in despair of success, when 'Albina,' a little
white Roman lupetto dog, belonging to the friends of whom we were
in search, came bounding upon me. It was more than two years since
I had taken leave of her in the Eternal City, but her affectionate
sympathy was stronger than time or distance; and here, far from all
aid in the associations of home, and while the rest of her party
were yet a great way off--almost out of sight--she had spied me out,
and came to give her true and hearty greeting.
It is a pleasant association with Innsbruck, a revelation of that
pure and lasting love which dog-nature seems to have been specially
created to convey; but it was not of Innsbruck. Innsbruck--Schpruck,
as the indigenous call it--though the chief, is the least Tirolean
town of Tirol. It apes the airs and vices of a capital, without having
the magnificence and convenience by which they are engendered.
There is a page of Tirol's history blotted by a deed which Innsbruck
alone, of all Tirol, could have committed, and which it indeed
requires its long and otherwise uniformly high character for both
exceeding hospitality and exceeding loyalty to cancel. The subject
of it was its own Kaiser Max, whose prudence in governmental details
and gallantry in the field and in the chase had raised him in the
popular mind to the position of a hero. When he had come to them
before, in his youth, in his might, and in his imperial pomp, he
had been sung and fêted. The people had acclaimed him with joy, and
his deeds were a very household epic; while he in turn had extended
their borders by conquest, and their privileges by concessions. But
now he had come back to them, worn out with war and cares and age. He
felt that his end was near, and it was to Tirol, with which he had
always stood in bonds of so much love, that he turned to spend his few
declining years. But Innsbruck, when it saw him thus, seems to have
forgotten his prowess and his benefits, and to have remembered only
a pitiful squabble about payment of the score for the maintenance
of his household at his last visit. A ruler who had spent himself
in bettering the condition of his people might well, in the days
of his weariness and sadness of heart, have expected to meet with
more liberality at their hands; but from Innsbruck, where--little
obscure provincial town as it was--he had so often held his court,
which had been raised in importance and singularly enriched by royal
marriages and receptions and other costly ceremonies celebrated there
at his desire, and which by his example and instigation had become
the residence of many nobles who had learnt under his administration
to value peaceful study above the pursuit of war--from Innsbruck
he had most of all to expect. And yet on this occasion, as he lay
ailing and restless on his couch, the neighing and tramping of his
horses disturbed his fitful slumbers; and rising in the early dawn to
ascertain the cause, he beheld the team which had brought him from the
Diet at Augsburg, left out unfed and untended in the streets, because
the people said he should not run up another score with them. With a
moderation he would not perhaps have practised in his younger days,
he quietly went on his way, to die at Wels on the Trann.
I have often pictured the pale sad face of the old Emperor as he turned
from that sight, and thought of the sickness of his heart as one of
history's most touching lessons of the world's inconstancy. Perhaps
it predisposed me against Innsbruck; perhaps I was inclined to
be a little unjust; but, at all events, it prepared me not to be
surprised if its people should prove more sophisticated than their
fellow-countrymen. It was quite what I expected, therefore, when I
was told that in the older inns of the class wherein one generally
finds a refreshing hospitality and primitiveness, the absence of
comfort was not compensated by corresponding simplicity of manners.
In the Oesterreichischer Hof, one of those provincial pieces of
pretentiousness which those who travel to learn the characteristics of
a country should, under ordinary circumstances, avoid, we found the
pleasantness of its situation sufficient to make us forget all else;
and indeed, considered as a copy of a Vienna hotel, it is not a bad
attempt. There is a room which on Sundays is set apart for an English
service. On a subsequent visit we found a large new hotel (Europa),
rather near the railway station, preferable to it in some respects,
and there are many others besides.
I have spoken of the pleasant situation, and our apartment was
situated so as fully to enjoy it; we had to ourselves a whole suite
of little rooms, with a separate corridor running along the back of
them, from the windows of which we could make acquaintance, under the
alternating play of sunshine, moonbeam, or lightning, with the range
of mountains which wall in Tirol. The Martinswand and Frauhütt, with
their romantic memories; the Seegruben-spitze and the Kreuz-spitze,
rugged and wild; the grand masses of the Brandjoch and the lesser
Solstein, and the greater Solstein already wearing a lace-like veil
of snow; while the quaint copper cupolaed towers of Innsbruck conceal
the Rumerjoch and the Kaisersäule; and in the front of the picture,
the roofs with their wooden tiles afford a view of the mysteries of
apple-drying, and a thousand other local arts of domestic economy. If
our furniture was not of the most elegant or abundant, it was all
the more in keeping with such wild surroundings.
The character of the town itself partakes of the same mixture of quaint
picturesqueness with modern pretension which I have already observed in
that of the people and the hotel. The Neustadt, as the chief street is
called, remarkable for its width, tidiness, and good paving, is no less
so for its old arcades in one part, and the steep gables in another,
and the monuments of faith which adorn its centre line. At one end
it is closed in by the stern gaunt mountain, at the other by Maria
Theresa's triumphal arch. There are other streets again, straight,
modern, and uniform; the Museum Strasse, and the Karl Strasse, and the
Landhaus Gasse, [138] but you soon come to an end of them; and then
you find yourself in a suburb of most primitive quality; your progress
arrested, now by the advance of the iron road, now by the placid
gentle Sill, now by the proudly flowing Inn. The mediæval history of
Innsbruck is signalized by a number of fires which destroyed many of
its antiquities. To the first of these it owes the suggestion that the
town needed a water supply, acted upon by Meinhard II., and the monks
of Wilten, in the formation of the Kleine Sill, which continues still
as useful as ever; but other fires again and again laid it in ashes,
so that very little of really old work survives, though there are many
foundations of early date, the buildings of which have been again and
again rebuilt. The very oldest of these is the monastery of Wilten,
now a suburb a little way outside the Triumphpforte, originally the
seat of the suzerains who created the town.
The history of its origin is one of the most remarkable myths of
the country, and is a very epitome of the history of the conflict of
Heathendom with Christendom.
The Romans had found here a flourishing town even in their time,
and they made of it an important station, calling it Valdidena,
whence its present name; coins and other relics of their sojourn are
continually dug out of the soil. Tradition has it, however, that Etzel
(Attila) laid the city in ruins on his way back from the terrible
battle of Chalons. It continued, nevertheless, to be a convenient
and consequently frequented station of the intercourse between the
banks of the Po and the Rhine. When Dietrich von Bern (Theodoric of
Verona) announced his expedition against Chriemhilde's Garden of
Roses at Worms, one of the mightiest who responded to his appeal,
and who did him the most signal service in taking the Rose-garden,
was Heime, popularly called Haymon, a giant 'taller and more powerful
than Goliath.' Returning in Theodoric's victorious train, he came
through Tirol. As he approached Valdidena he found his passage barred
by another giant named Thyrsus, living near Zirl, who has left his name
to the little neighbouring hamlet of Tirschenbach. Thyrsus had heard
of Haymon's prowess, and as his own had been unchallenged hitherto,
he determined to provoke him to combat. Haymon was no less fierce
than himself, and scarcely waited for his challenge to rush to the
attack. But anyone who had looked on would have guessed from the first
moment on which side the advantage would fall. Thyrsus was indeed
terrible of aspect; higher in stature than Haymon, his shaggy hair
covered a determined brow; his hardy skin was bronzed by exposure to
weather and lying on the rocks; his sinews were developed by constant
use, and their power attested by the tree torn up by the roots which
he bore in his hand for a club; at each footfall the ground shook,
for he planted his feet with a sound of thunder, and his stride was
from hill to hill. But Haymon's every movement displayed him practised
in each art of attack and defence. Less fierce of expression than
Thyrsus, his eyes were ever on the watch to follow every moment
of his antagonist, and like a wall of adamant he stood receiving
all his thrusts with a studied patience, giving back none till his
attacker's strength was well-nigh exhausted. Then he fell upon him
and slew him. An effigy of the two giants yet adorns the wall of the
wayside chapel at Tirschendorf.
Haymon was still in the prime of manhood, being about thirty-five,
and this was but one of his many successful combats. Nevertheless,
it was destined to be his last, for a Benedictine monk of Tegernsee
coming by while he was yet in the first flush of victory, succeeded so
well in reasoning with him on the worthlessness of all on which he had
hitherto set his heart, and on the superior attractions of a higher
life, that he then and there determined to give up his sanguinary
career, and henceforth devote his strength to the service of Christ.
In pursuance of this design he determined to build with his own hands
a church and monastery on the site of the ruined town of Valdidena,
by the banks of the Sill. With his own hands he quarried the stone
and felled the timber; but in the meantime the Evil One in the form
of a huge dragon had taken possession of the place. Never did he let
himself be seen; but when he came to lay the foundation, Haymon found
every morning that whatever work he had done by day, the dragon had
destroyed by night. Then he saw that he must watch by night as well
as work by day, and by this means he discovered with what manner of
adversary he had to deal. The dragon lashed the ground with his tail in
fury, just as the wild wind stirs up the sea, and filled the air with
the smoke and sparks he breathed out of his mouth. Haymon saw that
with all his strength and science he could not overcome so terrible
an enemy; nevertheless, he did not lose heart, but commended himself
to God. Meantime, the streaks of morn began to appear over the sky,
and at sight of them the dragon turned and fled. Haymon perceived
his advantage, and pursued him; by-and-by the rocks bounding the
path contracted, and at last they came to the narrow opening of a
cave. As soon as the dragon had got his head in and could not turn,
Haymon raised his sword with a powerful swing, and calling on God
to aid his stroke, with one blow severed the monster's head from the
trunk. As a trophy of his feat, he cut out the creature's sting, which
was full two feet long, and subsequently hung it up in the Sanctuary,
and something to represent it is still shown in the church of Wilten.
After this, the building went on apace; and when it was completed,
he took up a huge stone which had been left over from the foundation
of the building, and flung it with the whole power of his arm. It
sped over the plain for the space of nearly two miles, till it struck
against the hill of Ambras, and rolled thence down again upon the
plain, 'where it may yet be seen;' and with all the land between he
endowed the monastery. Then he called thither a colony of Benedictines
to inhabit it, and himself lived a life of penance as the lowest among
them for eighteen years; and here he died in the year 878. Another
benefit which he conferred on the neighbourhood was rebuilding the
bridge of Innsbruck. [139] Tradition says he was buried on the right
hand side of the high altar, and even preserves the following rough
lines as his epitaph:--
Als Tag und Jahr verloffen war
Achthundert schon verstrichen
Zu siebzig acht hats auch schon g'macht
Da Heymons Tod verblichen.
Der tapfere Held hat sich erwählt
En Kloster aufzuführen
Gab alles hinein, gieng selbst auch drein,
Wollts doch nicht selbst regieren.
Hat löblich gelebt, nach Tugent gstrebt
Ein Spiegel war er allen;
Riss hin riss her, ist nicht mehr er,
Ins Grab ist er hier g'fallen.
Many fruitless searches have been made for his body; the last, in
the year 1644, undermined great part of the wall of the church, and
caused its fall. The popular belief in the existence of the giants
Haymon and Thyrsis has found a forcible expression nevertheless in
two huge wooden figures, placed at the entrance of the Minster Church.
The parish church of Wilten has a more ancient and curious relic in
the Mutter Gottes unter den vier Säulen, [140] of which it is said,
that the Thundering Legion having been stationed at Valdidena about
the year 137, had this image with them; that on one occasion of being
ordered on a distant expedition they buried it under four trees,
and never had the opportunity of recovering it. That when Rathold von
Aiblingen made his pilgrimage to Rome, he brought back with him the
secret of its place of concealment, exhumed it, set it up on the altar
under a baldachino with four pillars, where it has never ceased to be
an object of special veneration. This received a notable encouragement
when Friedrich mit der leeren Tasche, wandering in secret through the
country with his trusty Hans von Müllinen after the ban of the empire
had been pronounced against him, knelt before this shrine, and prayed a
blessing on his unchanging devotion to it. The sequel made him believe
that his prayer was heard; and when he was once more established in his
possessions, he caused himself and his friend to be portrayed kneeling
at the shrine to seek protection under the fostering mantle of the
Virgin, and had the picture hung on the wall of the church opposite.
The name of Innsbruck first occurs in a record of the year 1027,
on occasion of a concession granted to the chapel of S. Jakob in
der Au--S. James's in the Field--probably the spot on which the
stately Pfarrkirche now stands. Prior to this, the little settlement
of inhabitants, whom the commerce between Germany and Italy had
gathered round the Inn-bridge, could only satisfy the obligation of
the Sunday and Holy-day mass by attendance in the church of Wilten;
now, the faculty was granted to their own little chapel.
Its situation made it a convenient entrepôt for many articles of
heavy merchandise, and, as years went by, a dwelling-place of various
merchants also. All this time it was a dependency of the monks of
Wilten. In 1180, Berthold II. von Andechs, acquired from them by
treaty certain rights over the prospering town. His successor, Otho
I., surrounded it with walls and fortifications, and built himself a
residence, on the entrance of which was chiselled the date of 1234,
and the inscription,--
Dies Haus stehet in Gottes Hand
Ottoburg ist es genannt.
And on the same spot, in an old house overlooking the river Inn,
some remains of this foundation may be traced, to which the name of
Ottoburg still attaches.
In 1239 it was treated to the privilege of being the only dépôt
for goods between the Ziller and the Melach; other concessions
followed, maintaining its ever-rising importance. In 1279 Bruno,
Bishop of Brixen, consecrated a second church, the Morizkapelle, in
the Ottoburg. But though both its temporal and spiritual lords appear
to have encouraged its growth by every means in their power, and though
there are records of occasional noble gatherings within its precincts,
it was not till after the cession of Tirol to Austria by Margaretha
Maultasch that the convenience of its central situation, and its water
communication by the Inn and Danube with other towns of the empire,
suggested its adoption as the seat of government of the country.
The fidelity of the towns-people to Duke Rudolf IV. of Austria at
the time of a Bavarian invasion, elicited a further outpouring of
privileges from their ruler, putting beyond all dispute in a short
time the priority of Innsbruck over all the towns of Tirol.
Friederich mit der leeren Tasche made it his residence, and his base of
operations for reducing the Rottenburgers and other powerful nobles,
who during the late unsettled condition of the government had set
at naught his power and oppressed the people. In this he received
the warmest support of the Innsbruckers, which he in turn repaid by
granting all their wishes.
The singular loyalty of the Tirolese, and their good fortune in
having been generally blessed with upright and noble-minded rulers,
make their annals read like a continuous heroic romance. The deeds
of their princes have for centuries been household words in every
mountain home of Tirol. None have had a deeper place in their hearts
than the fortunes of Friedl, and never was any man more fortunate in
his misfortunes. Before they yet knew what manner of prince he was,
the ban of the empire had made him a penniless wanderer. Reduced to
a condition lower than their own, the peasants wherever he passed
gathered round him, and swore to stand by him, and concealed his
hiding-places with the closest fidelity. One night he came weary and
wayworn to Bludenz in Vorarlberg, seeking shelter before the impending
storm. The night-watch had the closest orders to beware of strangers,
for an incursion of the imperial army was expected, and every stranger
might be a spy; no entreaty of Friedl on his friend Hans could shake
his obedience to orders. When the Prince declared who he was, the man
said, 'Would it were Friedl indeed!' but added that he would not be
taken in by the pretence, however well devised. At last the outcast
obtained from him that he would send for an innkeeper to whom he was
known. Mine host at once recognised his sovereign, and received him
with joy. The Thorwächter trembled when he found what he had done,
but Frederick commended his steadfastness heartily, and invited him to
dine at his table next day. While he was here, the Emperor summoned the
burghers to give up his prisoner; but the Bludenzers sent answer that
'they had sworn fealty to Duke Frederick and the House of Austria,
and they would not break their oath.' This spirited reply would
probably have brought an army to their gates had Frederick remained
among them; but in order to save them from an attack, for which they
were little prepared, he took his departure,--by stealth, or they
would not have suffered him to depart, even for their own safety's
sake. At other times he would earn his day's food by manual labour
before he disclosed to his entertainers who he was, and then he would
only partake of the same frugal fare, and the same hard lodging,
as the peasants who received him. By these means he became deeply
endeared to the people, who thus knew he was one who felt for their
privations, and shared their feelings and opinions, and did not treat
them with supercilious contempt like one of the nobles.
When by these wanderings Frederick had discovered how deeply the
people loved him, he arranged with the owner of the Rofnerhof in the
Oetztal a plan by which, on occasion of a great fair at Landeck,
always crowded by people from all the country round, he appeared
in the character of principal actor in a peasant-comedy, which set
forth the sufferings of a prince driven from his throne by cruel
enemies, wandering homeless among his people, then calling them to
arms, and leading them to victory. The excitement of the people at
the representation exceeded his highest expectations. Loud sobs and
cries accompanied his description of the Prince's woes; but when he
came to sing of the people following their prince's call to arms,
their ardour became quite irresistible. The enthusiasm was contagious;
Frederick could no longer contain himself; he threw off his disguise,
and declared himself their Friedl. It needed no more; unbidden they
proffered their allegiance and their vows to defend his rights to
the last drop of their blood. The enthusiasm of the Landeckers soon
spread over the whole country; and when the Emperor Sigismund and
Ernst der Eiserne and Frederick's other foes found his people were as
firm as their own mountains in his defence, they gave up the attempt
at further persecution, and concluded a truce with him.
In his prosperity he did not forget the peasants who had stood by him
so loyally. While he tamed the power of their oppressors, he did all
he could to lighten their burdens; and to many, who had rendered him
special service, he marked his gratitude by special favours. Thus, to
Ruzo of the Rofnerhof he granted among other privileges the right of
asylum on his demesne, which was put in use down to the year 1783. We
have already seen his conflict with Henry of Rottenburg, [141] and
in the same way he tamed the overgrown power of other nobles. In the
course of our wanderings we shall often find the popular hero's name
stored up in the people's lore.
In connection with Innsbruck, he is well known to the most superficial
tourist as the builder of the Goldene Dachl-gebäude.
And what is the goldene Dachl-Gebäude?--It is a most picturesque
addition to, and almost all remaining of, what in his time was the
Fürstenburg, or princely palace, having a roof of shining gilt copper
tiles, sufficiently low to be in sight of the passer-by; but the
account the best English guide-book gives the tourist of its origin
is so wanting in the true appreciation of Friedl's character, that I
am fain to supply the Tirolese version of it. The above account says
that it was built in 1425 'by Frederick, called in ridicule "Empty
Purse," who, in order to show how ill-founded was the nickname, spent
thirty thousand ducats on this piece of extravagance, which probably
rendered the nickname more appropriate than before.' Now, to say that
he was called 'Empty Purse' thus vaguely would imply that it was a name
given by common consent, and generally adopted. To say that he built
the Golden Roof only to show that such a nickname was ill-founded,
is simply to accuse him of arrogance. To treat it as an extravagance
which justified the accusation, is to convict him of folly.
But the government of Frederick [142]--which is felt even yet in the
present independent spirit of Tirol, which consolidated the country
and made it respected, which set up the dignity of the Freihof and
the Schildhof the foundation of a middle class as a dam against the
encroachments of the nobility on the peasantry, which yet lives on in
the hearts of the people, was an eminently prudent administration,
and the story does not fit it. If, instead of resting satisfied
with this compendious but flippant account, you ask the first true
Tirolese you meet to expound it, he will tell you that Friedl had
grown so familiar with peasant life that he despoiled himself to
better the condition of his poorer subjects, not only by direct means,
but by his expeditions in their defence, and also in forbearing to
exact burdensome taxes. The nickname was not given him by general
consent; nor at all, by the people; it was the cowardly revenge of
those selfish nobles who could not appreciate the abnegation of his
character. Frederick saw in it a reproach, offered not so much to
himself as to his people; it seemed to say that the people who loved
him so well withheld the subsidies which should make him as grand as
other monarchs. To disprove the calumny, and to show that his people
enabled him to command riches too, he made this elegant little piece of
display, which served also to adorn his good town of Innsbruck; but he
did not on that account alter his frugal management of his finances;
so that when he came to die, though he had made none cry out that he
had laid burdens on them, he yet left a replenished treasury. [143]
This is still one of the notable ornaments of Innsbruck. The house
is let to private families, but the 'gold-roofed' Erker, or oriel,
is kept up as a beloved relic almost in its original condition. There
is a curious old fresco within, the subject of which is disputed; and
on the second floor there is a sculptured bas-relief, representing
Maximilian and his two wives, Mary of Burgundy and Maria Bianca
of Milan, and the seven coats of arms of the seven provinces under
Maximilian's government.
Sigismund 'the Monied,' Frederick's son and successor (1430-93),
is more chargeable with extravagance, [144] but his extravagance
was all for the advantage of Innsbruck. The reception he gave to
Christian I., King of Denmark, when on his way to Rome, is a striking
illustration of the resources of the country in his time. Sigismund
went out to meet him at some miles' distance from the capital, with
a train of three hundred horses, all richly caparisoned; his consort
(Eleanor of Scotland) followed with her suite in two gilt carriages,
and surrounded by fifty ladies and maidens on their palfreys. The
King of Denmark stayed three days; every day was a festival, and
the magnificent dresses of the court were worthy of being specially
chronicled. There seems to have been no lack of satin and velvet and
ermine, embroidery, and fringes of gold-work.
Nor was mental culture neglected; for we find mention, at the same
date, of public schools governed by 'a rector,' which would seem to
imply that they had something beyond an elementary character. The
impulse given to commerce by the working of the silver-mines also had
the effect of causing some of the chief roads of the country to be made
and improved. The most lasting traces of Sigismund's reign, however,
are the ruined towers which adorn the mountain landscapes. Wherever
we go in Tirol, we come upon some memory of his expensive fancy
for building isolated castles as a pied à terre for his hunting and
fishing excursions, still distinguished by such names as Sigmundskron,
Sigmundsfried, Sigmundslust, Sigmundsburg, Sigmundsegg, and which we
shall have occasion to notice as we go along. His wars were of no
great benefit to the country, but his command of money enabled him
to include Vorarlberg within his frontier. Sigismund was, however,
entirely wanting in administrative qualities. This deficiency helped
out his extravagance in dissipating the whole benefit which might
have resulted to the public exchequer from the silver-works of his
reign; and at last he yielded to the wholesome counsel of abdicating
in favour of his cousin Maximilian.
Maximilian (1493-1519) is another of the household heroes of
Tirol. Even after he was raised to the throne of empire he still
loved his Tirolean home, and his residence there further increased the
importance of the town of Innsbruck. He built the new palace in the
Rennplatz, called the Burg, which was completed for his marriage with
Maria Bianca, daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, of Milan. Splendid
was the assemblage gathered in Innsbruck for this ceremonial. Three
years later it was further astonished by the magnificence of the
Turkish Embassy; and the discussion of various treaties of peace
were also frequently the means of adding brilliancy to the court,
and prosperity to the town. His other benefits to the city, and
Innsbruck's unworthy return to him, I have already mentioned in the
beginning of this chapter.
Many a fantastic Sage is told of Maximilian in the neighbourhood,
which we shall find in their due places. The fine hunting-ground
Tirol affords was one of its greatest attractions for him; it led him,
however, to introduce certain game-laws, and this was one principal
element in bringing about the decline of his popularity in the last
years of his life. At his death this disaffection broke out, and caused
one of the most serious insurrectionary movements which have disturbed
the even tenour of Tirolese loyalty. To this was added the influence of
Lutheran teaching, the effects of which we have seen in the Zillerthal.
This spirit of discontent had time to gain ground during the first
years of Maximilian's grandson and successor, Charles Quint, whose
immensely extended duties drew his attention off from Tirol. Very
shortly after his accession, however, he made over the German
hereditary dominions, including Tirol, to his brother Ferdinand,
who established his family in this country. His wise administration
and prudent concessions soon conciliated the people; though severe
measures were also needed, and the year 1529 was signalized in
Innsbruck by some terrible executions. These were forgotten when, in
the year 1531, Charles Quint, returning victorious from Pavia, on his
way to Augsburg stayed and held court at Innsbruck; Ferdinand met him
on the Brenner pass, and accompanied him to the capital. When Charles
reached the Burg, Ferdinand's children received him at the entrance;
and the tenderness with which he greeted and kissed them was remarked
by the people, on whom this token of homely affection had a powerful
effect. Electors and princes, spiritual and temporal, came to pay their
homage to the Emperor; and Innsbruck was so filled with the titled
throng, that the Landtag had to remove its session to Hall. Ferdinand's
other dominions, and the question of the threatened war with Turkey,
necessitated frequent absences from Innsbruck. During one of these
(in 1534) the Burg was burnt down, and his children were only rescued
from their beds with difficulty. The great Hall, called the goldene
Saal, and the state bedroom, which was so beautifully ornamented that
it bore the title of das Paradies, were all reduced to ashes. In 1541
Innsbruck was once more honoured by a visit of the magnificent Emperor;
and again, ten years later, he took up his residence there, that he
might be near the Session of the Council of Trent. It was while he
was living here peacefully in all confidence, and almost unattended,
that Maurice, Elector of Saxony, having suddenly joined the Smalkald
League, treacherously attempted to surprise him, marching with a
considerable armed force through pass Fernstein. Charles, who was laid
up with illness at the time, was enabled by the loyal devotion of the
Tirolese to escape in the night-time and in a storm of wind and rain,
being borne in a litter over the Brenner, and by difficult mountain
paths through Bruneck into Carinthia. Maurice, baffled in his scheme,
exercised his vengeance in plundering the imperial possessions, while
his followers devastated the peasants' homes, the monastery of Stams,
and other religious houses that lay in their way. The sufferings of the
Tirolese on this occasion doubtless tended to confirm them in their
aversion for the Lutheran League. Maurice's end was characteristic,
and the Tirolese, ever on the look-out for the supernatural, were
not slow to see in it a worthy retribution for his treatment of
their Emperor. Albert of Brandenburg refused to join in the famous
Treaty of Passau, subsequently concluded by Maurice and the other
Lutheran leaders with the Emperor. This and other differences led to
a sanguinary struggle between them, in the course of which Maurice
was killed in battle at Sieverhausen.
Ferdinand the First's reign has many mementos in Innsbruck. He built
the Franciscan church, otherwise called the heiligen Kreuzkirche
and the Hofkirche, which, tradition says, had been projected by his
grandfather, Kaiser Max, though there is no written record of the fact;
and he raised within it a most grandiose and singular monument to him,
which has alone sufficed to attract many travellers to Tirol. The
original object of the foundation of the church seems to have been
the establishment of a college of canons in this centre, to oppose
the advance of Lutheran teaching. It was begun in 1543, the first
design having been rejected by Ferdinand as not grand enough, and
consecrated in 1563. He seems to have been at some pains to find a
colony of religious willing to undertake, and competent to fulfil,
his requirements; and not coming to an agreement with any in Germany
or the Netherlands, ultimately called in a settlement of Franciscans
from Trent and the Venetian provinces, consisting of twenty priests
and thirteen lay-brothers. The chief ornaments of the building
itself are the ten large--but too slender--red marble columns, which
support the plateresque roof. The greater part of the nave is taken
up with Maximilian's monument--cenotaph rather, for he lies buried
at Wiener-Neustadt, the oft-contemplated translation of his remains
never having been carried into effect. It was Innsbruck's fault,
as we have seen, that they were not originally laid to rest there,
and it is her retribution to have been denied the honour of housing
them hitherto. The monument itself is a pile upwards of thirteen feet
long and six high, of various coloured marbles, raised on three red
marble steps; on the top is a colossal figure, representing the Kaiser
dressed in full imperial costume, kneeling, his face being directed
towards the altar--a very fine work, cast in bronze by Luigi del Duca,
a Sicilian, in 1582. The sides and ends are divided by slender columns
into twenty-four fine white marble compartments, [145] setting forth
the story of his achievements in lace-like relief. If the treatment of
the facts is sometimes somewhat legendary, the details and accessories
are most painstakingly and delicately rendered, great attention
having been paid to the faithfulness of the costumes and buildings
introduced, and the most exquisite finish lavished on all. They were
begun in 1561 by the brothers Bernhard and Arnold Abel, of Cologne,
who went in person to Genoa to select the Carrara tablets for their
work; but they both died in 1563, having only completed three. Then
Alexander Collin of Mechlin took up the work, and with the aid of a
large school of artists completed them in all their perfection in three
years more. Around it stands a noble guard of ancestors historical and
mythological, cast in bronze, of colossal proportions, twenty-eight
in number. It is a solemn sight as you enter in the dusk of evening,
to see these stern old heroes keeping eternal watch round the tomb
of him who has been called 'the last of the Knights,' der letzte
Ritter. They have not, perhaps, the surpassing merit of the Carrara
reliefs, but they are nobly conceived nevertheless. For lightness
of poise, combined with excellence of proportion and delicacy of
finish, the figure of our own King Arthur commends itself most to my
admiration; but that of Theodoric is generally reckoned to bear away
the palm from all the rest. They stand in the following order.
Starting on the right side of the nave on entering, we have:
1. Clovis, the first Christian King of France.
2. Philip 'the Handsome,' [146] of the Netherlands, Maximilian's
son, reckoned as Philip I. of Spain, though he never reigned
there.
3. Rudolf of Hapsburg.
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. Sigmund der Münzreiche, Count of Tirol. (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 Maximilian's
first wife.
14. Philip the Good, father of Charles the Bold. Founder of the
Order of the Golden Fleece.
This completes the file on the right side; on our walk back down the
other side we come to--
15. Albert II., Duke of Austria, and Emperor of Germany.
(1397-1439.)
16. Emperor Frederick I., Maximilian's father. (1415-95.)
17. St. Leopold, Margrave of Austria; since 1506 the patron
saint of Austria. (1073-1136.)
18. Rudolf, Count of Hapsburg, grandfather or uncle of 'Rudolf
of Hapsburg.'
19. Leopold III., 'the Pious,' Duke of Austria, Maximilian's
great-grandfather; killed at Sempach, 1439.
20. Frederick IV. of Austria, Count of Tirol, surnamed 'mit der
leeren Tasche.'
21. Albert I., D. of Austria, Emperor. (Born 1248; assassinated
by his nephew John of Swabia, 1308.)
22. Godfrey de Bouillon, King of Jerusalem in 1099.
23. Elizabeth, wife of the Emperor Albert II., daughter of
Sigismund, King of Hungary and Bohemia. (1396-1442.)
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 'the Catholic.'
28. Johanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and wife of
Maximilian's son, Philip I. of Spain.
There is a vast difference in the quality both of the design
and execution of these statues; the greater number and the more
artistic were cast by Gregor Löffler, who established a foundry
on purpose at Büchsenhausen; the rest by Stephen and Melchior
Godl, and Hanns Lendenstreich, who worked at Mühlau, a suburb of
Innsbruck. All honour is due to them for the production of some of
the most remarkable works of their age; but it was some unknown mind,
probably that of some humble nameless Franciscan, to whom is due the
conception and arrangement of this piece of symbolism. It originally
included, besides the statues already enumerated, twenty-three
others, of saints, which were to have received a more elevated
station, and it is for this reason that they are much smaller in
size. They are now placed in the so-called 'Silver Chapel,' and are
too frequently overlooked; but it is necessary to take them into
account in order worthily to criticize this great monument. They
are as follows:--1. St. Adelgunda, daughter of Walbert, Count
of Haynault. 2. St. Adelbert, Count of Brabant. 3. St. Doda,
wife of St. Arnulf, Duke of the Moselle. 4. St. Hermelinda,
daughter of Witger, Count of Brabant. 5. St. Guy, Duke of
Lotharingia. 6. St. Simpert, Bishop of Augsburg, son of Charlemagne's
sister Symporiana, who rebuilt the monastery of St. Magnus at
Füssen. 7. St. Jodok, son of a king of Great Britain; he wears a
palmer's dress. 8. St. Landerich, Bishop of Metz, son of St. Vincent,
Count of Haynault, and St. Waltruda. 9. St. Clovis. 10. St. Oda,
wife of Duke Conrad. 11. St. Pharaild, daughter of Witger, Count of
Brabant. 12. St. Reinbert, brother of the last. 13. St. Roland, brother
of St. Simpert. 14. St. Stephen, King of Hungary. 15. St. Venantius,
martyr, son of Theodoric, Duke of Lotharingia. 16. St. Waltruda,
mother of St. Landerich (No. 8). 17. St. Arnulf, husband of
St. Doda (No. 3), afterwards Bishop of Metz. 18. St. Chlodulf,
son of St. Waltruda (No. 16), also Bishop of Metz. 19. St. Gudula,
sister of St. Albert, Count of Brabant. 20. St. Pepin Teuto, Duke of
Brabant. 21. St. Trudo, priest, son of St. Adela. 22. St. Vincent,
monk. 23. Richard Coeur-de-Lion. A series of men and women, all more
or less closely connected with the House of Hapsburg, selected for
the alleged holiness of their lives or deeds under one aspect or
another. It needs no laboured argument to show the appropriateness
of thus representing to the life the solidarity of piety and worth in
the great hero's earthly family, though a few words may not be out of
place to distinguish the characters allied only or chiefly by the ties
of the great family of chivalry. These are--1. King Arthur (No. 8),
representative of the mythology of the Round Table. 2. Roland (No. 13
in the series of the saints), representing the myths of the Twelve
Peers of France. 3. Theodobert (No. 7), who received a hero's death
in the plain of Chalons at the hand of Attila, to be immortalized in
the Western Nibelungen Myths. 4. Theodoric (No. 5), celebrated as
'Dietrich von Bern' in the Eastern. 5. Godfrey de Bouillon (No. 22),
representing the legendary glory of the Crusades. [147]
The two other statues, of a later date--St. Francis and St. Clare--are
by Moll, a native of Innsbruck, who became a sculptor of some
note at Vienna. The picture of St. Anthony over the altar of the
Confraternity of St. Anthony, on the Epistle side of this church, has
a great reputation among the people, because it remained uninjured
in a fire which in 1661 burnt down the church of Zirl, where it was
originally placed. [148] Five years later it was brought hither for
greater honour, and was let into a larger painting by Jele of Vienna,
representing a multitude of sick and suffering brought by their friends
to pray for healing before it. There is not much else in this church
that is noteworthy (besides 'the Silver Chapel,' which belongs to
the notice of Ferdinand II.). What there is may be mentioned in a few
lines, namely--the Fürstenchor, or tribune for the royal family, high
up on the right side of the chancel, with the adjoining little chapel
and its paintings, and cedar-wood organ, the gift of Julius II. to
Ferdinand I.; the quaint old clock; and the memory that Queen Christina
of Sweden made her abjuration here 28th October 1655. Her conduct on
the occasion was, according to local tradition, most edifying. She
was dressed plainly in black silk, with no other ornament than a
large cross on her breast, with five sparkling diamonds to recall the
glorious Wounds of the Redeemer. The emphasis with which she repeated
the Latin profession of faith after the Papal nuncio did not pass
unnoticed. The Ambrosian Hymn was sung at the close of the ceremony,
and the church bells and town cannon spoke the congratulations of
the Innsbruckers on this and the subsequent days of her stay among
them. Among other tokens of gladness, several mystery plays (which
are still greatly in vogue in Tirol) were represented. Another public
ceremony of her stay was the translation of Kranach's Madonna, the
favourite picture of Tirol, brought to it by Leopold V. The original
altar-piece of the Hofkirche, by Paul Troger--the Invention of the
Cross--was removed by Maria Theresa to Vienna, because the figure of
the Empress Helena was counted a striking likeness of herself.
The introduction of the Jesuits into Tirol, and the subsequent
building of the Jesuitenkirche in Innsbruck, and the labours of
B. Peter Canisius among the people, was also the work of Ferdinand
I. The peaceful prosperity which his wise government procured for the
country, while wars and religious divisions were distracting the rest
of Europe, gave opportunity for the development of its literature
and art-culture. [149]
One melancholy event of his reign was the outbreak in its last year, of
a terrible epidemic, which committed appalling ravages. All who could,
including the royal family, escaped to a distance; and those who had
been stricken with it were removed to the Siechenhaus, and isolated
from the rest of the population. As has frequently happened on similar
occasions, the dread of the malady operated to deprive the sick of the
help of which they stood in need. It was when the plague raged highest,
and the majority were most absorbed with the thought of securing their
own safety, that a poor woman of the people, named Magaretha Hueber,
rising superior to the vulgar terror, took upon herself cheerfully the
management of the desolate Siechenhaus. The example of her courage was
all that was needed to bring out the Christian confidence and charity
of the masses; and to her devotion was owing not only the relief of
the plague-stricken, but the moral effect of her spirit and energy
was also not without its fruit in staying the havoc of the contagion;
and she is still remembered by the name of die fromme Siechen.
Shortly before his death (which happened in 1564), Ferdinand had his
second son, Ferdinand II., publicly acknowledged in the Landtag of
Innsbruck, Landesfürst of Tirol. His own affection for the country
had prevented him from suffering its interests to be ever neglected
by the pressure of his vast rule; and now when his great age warned
him that he would be able to watch over it no longer, he determined
to give it once more the benefit of an independent government.
Ferdinand II. seems to have had all the excellent administrative
qualities of his father in the degree necessary for his restricted
sphere of dominion. His disposition for the culture of peaceful arts
was promoted by the happiness of his family life. The story of his
early love, and his marriage in accordance with the dictates of his
heart, in an age when matrimonial alliances were too often dictated by
political considerations alone, have made one of the romances dearest
to the popular mind. The natural retribution of a disturbance of the
regular succession to the throne followed, but with Tirol's usual
good fortune the consequences did not prove disastrous, as we shall
see later on.
Situated at the distance of a pleasant hour's walk from Innsbruck,
and forming an exceedingly picturesque object in the views from it,
is Schloss Ambras, in ancient times one of the chief bulwarks of the
Innthal. Ferdinand I. bought it of the noble family of Schurfen at
the time when he nominated his son to the government of the country,
and it always remained Ferdinand II.'s favourite residence. Hither he
brought home the beautiful Philippine Welser, whose grace and modesty
had won his heart at first sight, as she leant forward from her turret
window to cast her flowery greeting at the feet of the Emperor Charles
Quint when he came into Augsburg, and the young and handsome prince
rode by his side. Philippine had been betrothed by her father to the
heir of the Fugger family, the richest and most powerful of Augsburg;
but her eyes had met Ferdinand's, and that one glance had revealed to
both that their happiness lay in union with each other. Fortunately
for Philippine she possessed in her mother a devoted confidant and
ally. True, Ferdinand could not rest till he had obtained a stolen
interview with her; but the true German woman had confidence in the
honour and virtue of the reigning House, and the words Philippine,
who was truth itself, reported were those of true love, which knows no
shame. Nevertheless, the Fugger was urgent, and old Welser--a sturdy
upholder of his family tradition for upright dealing--never, they knew,
could be brought to be wanting to his word. The warm love of youth,
however, is ever a match for the steady calculation of age. While the
fathers Welser and Fugger were counting their money-bags, Ferdinand
had devised a plan which easily received the assent of Philippine's
affection for him, the rather that her mother, for whom a daughter's
happiness stood dearer than any other consideration, gave it her
countenance and aid. At an hour agreed, Ferdinand appeared beneath the
turret where their happiness was first revealed to them; at a little
distance his horses were in waiting. Not an instant had he to wait;
Philippine, already fortified by her mother's farewell benediction,
joined him ere a pang of misgiving had time to enter his mind, an
old and trusted family servant accompanying her. Safely the fugitives
reached the chapel, where a friendly priest--Ferdinand's confessor,
Johann Cavallerüs--waited to bless the nuptials of the devoted pair,
the old servant acting as witness. Old Franz Welser was subsequently
induced to give his approval and paternal benediction; and if his
burgher pride was wounded by his daughter marrying into a family which
might look down upon her connexions, he had the consoling reflection
that he was able to give her a dowry which many princes might envy;
and also in the discovery of a friendly antiquary, that even his
lineage, if not royal, was not either to be despised, for it could
be traced up to the same stock which gave Belisarius to the Empire!
Ferdinand's marriage was, I believe, never known to his father; though
there are stories of his being won over to forgive it by Philippine's
gentle beauty and worth, but these are probably referable to the
succeeding Emperor. However this may be, the devoted pair certainly
lived for some time in blissful retirement at Ambras; and after his
brother, Maximilian II., had acknowledged the legality of Ferdinand's
marriage--on the condition that the offspring of it should never
claim the rank of Archdukes of Austria--Ambras, which had been their
first retreat, was so endeared to them, that they always loved to
live there better than anywhere else. There were born to them two
sons--Karl, who afterwards became a Cardinal and Bishop of Brixen;
and Andreas, Markgrave of Burgau, to whom Ferdinand willed Ambras,
on condition that he should maintain its regal beauties, and preserve
undiminished the rich stores of books and rare manuscripts, coins,
armour, objects of vertù, and curiosities of every sort which it had
been the delight of his and Philippine's leisure hours to collect. This
testamentary disposition the son judged would be best carried out by
selling the place to the Emperor Rudolf II. in 1606; and Ambras has
accordingly ever since been reckoned a pleasure-seat of the imperial
family. The unfortunate love of centralization, more than the fear of
foreign invasion, which was the ostensible pretext, deprived Tirol
of these treasures. They were removed to Vienna in 1806, where they
may be visited in the Belvedere Palace, the promise of restoring them,
often made, not having yet been fulfilled. Among the remnants that are
left, are still some tokens of Ferdinand's taste and genius, and some
touching memorials of thirty years of happiness purer and truer than
had often before been combined with the enjoyment of power. There are
some pieces of embroidery, with which Philippine occupied her lonely
hours while Ferdinand's public duties obliged him to be away from her,
among them a well-executed Crucifixion; and some natural curiosities in
the shape of gnarled and twisted roots, needing little effort of the
imagination to convert into naturally--perhaps supernaturally--formed
crucifixes, and which they had doubtless found pleasure in unearthing
in the woods round Ambras. At the time of my visit the private chapel
was being very well restored, and some frescoes very fairly executed
by Wienhold, a local artist who has studied in Rome. There is still
a small collection of armour, and a suit of clothes worn by a giant
in the suite of Charles Quint, which would appear to have belonged
to a man near eight feet high; also some portraits of the Hapsburg
family and other rulers of Tirol; among them Margareta Maultasch,
which, if it be faithful, disproves the story deriving her name from
the size of her mouth; but of this I shall have occasion to speak
later. Inglis mentions that among the relics is a piece of the tree
on which Judas hanged himself, but it was not shown to me.
The people, whose own experience fixes the law of suffering in
their minds, will have it that these years of tranquil joy were not
unalloyed; but that Philippine's mother-in-law embittered them by
her jealous bickerings and reproaches, and that these in the end
led her to make a sacrifice of her life to the exigencies of her
husband's glory. The bath is yet pointed out at Ambras where she is
said to have bled herself to death to make way for a consort more
conformable to her husband's birth. All, even local, historians,
however, are agreed in rejecting this tradition. [150] It has served
nevertheless to endear her to the popular mind, for whom she is still
a model of domestic virtues no less than a type of beauty. Scarcely
is there a house in Tirol that is not adorned by her image. Among
other traditions of her personal perfections, it is fabled that her
skin was so delicate that the colour of the red wine could be seen
softly opalized as it passed her slender throat. [151]