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.