SALZBURG, ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE
[Sidenote: BEAUTIFUL OLD SALZBURG]
Salzburg, though lying some little distance beyond the north-eastern
borders of Tyrol, is so historic and delightful a city that many who
visit the "Land of the Mountains" make a point of visiting it. They
are wise to do so; for of all ancient towns in the Austrian empire few
are more picturesque or pleasantly situated, and scarcely any more
historically interesting. We have never known any one disappointed in
Salzburg who was capable of appreciating beauty and romantic
associations.
Many who have roved the world over have yielded to the charm of this
old-time city, which even with its touch of modernity seems to
preserve the quaint and the beautiful of long ago, and the atmosphere
of the days when knights and armed men were the chief passers through
its streets, and history was in the making.
It lies at the foot of the northern Alps, in an open and fertile
valley somewhat reminding one of Innsbruck, save for its wonderful
rock fortress Hohen-Salzburg situated nearly eighteen hundred feet
above sea-level and completely dominating the town. There is the
Kapuzingerberg in place of the Innsbruck Weiherberg, and its Rainberg
in place of Berg Isel. It is by many considered the most interesting
of all the ancient towns amid the German Alps.
Its beauty has been compared in turn by several well-known travellers
with that of Venice, Naples, and even Constantinople. But to our
thinking the parallel is not as exact as it should be to make it of
value. There is no sea at Salzburg, and from that fact alone its
approach is of necessity less picturesque. Indeed, the immediate
approach from Tyrol by way of Innsbruck is somewhat unimpressive and
gives little or no indication of the beauty and charm of the old town,
though the line on its way passes some pretty scenery and affords some
fine peeps of the Bavarian Alps.
Yet Salzburg, through the centre of which flows the silver-hued
Salzach, is in a way as beautifully situated and as charming as any of
the towns to which it has from time to time been likened. It lies in a
delightfully well-watered and fertile plain dotted over with villages,
ancient castles, and country seats of the Salzburg nobility, and
encircled by wooded hills, which as they open out in a wider sweep to
the south become higher and higher until deserving the description of
mountains. Here they become a magnificent range of towering limestone
peaks, through which are cleft fertile and delightful valleys leading
into the neighbouring kingdom of Bavaria. In the valley of the Salzach
there is no lack of variety as regards scenery. One has widespread
meadows, almost throughout the year starred and gemmed with many
coloured and sweet scented flowers, melting away into the woods which
clothe the lower slopes of the environing hills, where the sombre hued
pines give a darker note of green to the landscape; whilst yet above
these in the distance are crags of grey and slate-coloured limestone,
and crowning the whole vast snow-fields glistering white at noonday
and taking on a tint of delicate rose colour at sundown.
In the town itself rise two considerable hills which serve to confer
upon it a distinction of its own. One, the Kapuzingerberg, on the
eastern side of the river, rises to the height of 800 feet, and the
second, on the western side, to a height of nearly 450 feet above the
city. It is between these two that the greater part of the old town
lies. The steep sides of the Mönchsberg and the Gibraltar-like rock on
which the old, grey fortress of Hohen-Salzburg stands are ivy-clad,
and in the crevices and fissures wall-flowers, valerian, stone-crop,
houseleek, and other flowering and lichen-like plants have taken root,
whilst from the greater crevices and ledges wave feathery birches, and
the lower slopes are made beautiful and shady by spreading beeches and
odorous limes.
After several visits to this delightful city, which has an atmosphere
entirely its own, and a charm difficult to describe, one is at a loss
to set down in what it exactly differs from other similar towns. Part
of the attraction it possesses is doubtless owing to its situation
amid a stretch of lovely valley, and its romantic and historic past.
But there yet remains that elusive quality which may be described as
"the personality of the town," in addition to its geographical and
historical claims upon one's interest and imagination.
Salzburg is not, however, merely the name of a town, but also of a
province or "department" of Austria, to which empire it is the last
added territory.[15] Lying between Tyrol (of which by many it is
erroneously supposed to form a part) and the Salzkammergut or the lake
region of Upper Austria, which commences in the near neighbourhood of
the city, it was an independent episcopal principality until after the
fall of Napoleon, not having been incorporated with the
Austro-Hungarian Empire until the year 1816.
[Sidenote: THE SALZACH VALLEY]
The province consists chiefly of the mountainous district of the
Salzach and its numerous tributaries, which wend their way from their
sources amid the glaciers and snow-fields of the great peaks of the
Hohen Tauern and lesser ranges to the plain where the Salzach itself
ultimately flows into the Inn.
It is the great Hohen Tauern range with its gigantic snow-crowned
peaks of the Gross Glockner, 12,460 feet; Wiesbachhorn, 11,710 feet;
and Gross Venediger, 12,010 feet; Hohe Furlegg, 10,750 feet;
Habachkopf, 9945 feet; and many other almost equally stupendous
heights, which forms the southern boundary of the ancient
Principality. The whole range is one of impressive grandeur, and
possesses a picturesque beauty upon its lower slopes unrivalled by any
other Alpine district. The foot of the Hohen Tauern is almost
invariably clad with pine forests, which melt away into the higher
slopes where blooms the bright pink "alpen rosen," whilst yet higher,
and just below the line of perpetual snow, on rocky ledges and on
slopes of coarse grass appear the silver-white, star-like flowers of
the edelweiss. Above this zone of fresh green patches amid the grey
and weather-stained rocks one passes into that exhilarating region of
eternal snow and ice where dwells also eternal silence unbroken by the
sound of birds, the hum of insects, or murmur of other living things.
Not only is the Hohen Tauern the region of Alpine giants, vast
glaciers, and untrodden snow-fields, but as a natural consequence of
these things it is that of many rushing torrents, stupendous
waterfalls, and tinkling streamlets, all of which contribute to make
the province it borders one of the best-watered in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Upwards of half a score of large streams flow
into the Salzach; whilst of fertile valleys there are so many that to
number them is difficult. Most are beautiful in the extreme; many are
almost unknown to the ordinary tourist, who usually sticks to the
well-worn paths and more frequented highways. In the famous Krimml
Falls the Province of Salzburg possesses by common consent the finest
waterfalls in the German Alps. They issue from the vast Krimml Glacier
and descend over the edge of a pine-clad precipice in a cloud of
drifting spray into the valley beneath, a distance of nearly 1500
feet, in three stupendous leaps, the highest fall in two leaps from a
height of more than 450 feet.
Although, as we have before said, almost every valley of the Hohen
Tauern range is notably beautiful, none excel in interest either
pictorially or geologically the longest and widest, the Gastein
Valley, with the fine falls some 500 feet in height near Bockstein,
where the Gasteiner Ache, after passing through narrow gorges, plunges
down into the valley, and thence flows through the broad, flat plain
of Hof-Gastein to join the Salzach, passing on its way delightful
Bad-Gastein, with its old town of interesting and picturesque wooden
houses nestling on the eastern slopes of the valley, and the newer,
with its hotels, churches, villas and other handsome buildings,
peeping out from amid the pine-clad slopes or lying in the valley
itself. It is a delightful though nowadays fashionable health resort,
at which many tastes, both gay and quiet, are consulted.
From Lend at the foot of the Gastein Thal to pretty little St. Johann,
where the Salzach flows northward, the river has passed without
opposition quietly onward. But at St. Johann are some towering and
remarkable limestone peaks, including those of the Tennen and Hagen
Ranges, some of them attaining an altitude of 8000 feet; with the
desolate-looking Steinerne Meer, 8800 feet on the western flank, and
the Dachstein more than a thousand feet higher on the eastern. The
river flows onward to a point where the two ranges we have mentioned
coalesce. Here the great ravine known as the Lueg Pass, six miles in
length and possessing fine scenery, forms a very fitting entrance to
the beautiful valley of Golling, which gradually opens out from
Hallein onwards till Salzburg itself is reached.
The valley of the Salzach on its eastern side is bordered by a range
of pleasant green-clad heights and gentle slopes, with the Gaisberg,
4290 feet, a short distance to the north-east of Salzburg itself,
dominating them, from which point the mountains gradually decrease in
height. From Golling onwards, however, the western side of the valley
is shut in by great peaks, some of which spread out their lower and
rounded emerald green slopes towards the river. Of these impressive
and beautiful mountains the Hohe Göll, 8275 feet, the majestic
Watzmann, 9050 feet, the chief of the Berchtesgaden group, are the
most noticeable. The cave-pierced and lofty, dome-shaped Untersberg,
the highest point of which is the Berchtesgadener Hochtron of 6480
feet, standing isolated like a sentinel in the plain near the city.
[Sidenote: SALZBURG IN ROMAN TIMES]
Salzburg, beautiful and on occasion even radiant city of the plain as
it is, ancient though many of its buildings are, is yet of greater
antiquity than any of them. The town stands upon truly classic ground,
and is associated with many events which have taken their places in
European and even world-wide history. Here the Romans came in their
all-conquering march of empire, and recognizing its fine position and
the strategic importance of the hills which command the river along
most of its course, they in due time built upon the plain Juvavum, on
the road which linked up the Augusta Vindelicorum, modern Augsburg
with Aquileia near Trieste.
There is little doubt nowadays, from the remains which have been
discovered from time to time in the shape of implements of stone and
bronze, weapons, household utensils, and ornaments, that the mines
near Salzburg, which have since very early days down till
comparatively recent times been of great commercial importance, were
not only worked in the days of the Roman occupation, but also even in
pre-historic times. There is little reason for doubt, indeed, that the
Celts knew of, and used, the famous salt mines of the Dürnberg and the
copper mines of the Mitterberg; whilst there is abundant evidence of
various kinds of the working of the gold and silver mines of the
Tauern district by the Romans during their occupation of the country.
[Illustration: MOZART'S HOUSE IN THE MAKART PLATZ]
The exact date when Salzburg as a town or settlement first came
into existence has not been determined; but it would seem probable
that there was a settlement existing by the banks of the Salzach
during, or just prior to, the first century of the Christian Era. The
Celtic inhabitants of this settlement were not, however, able
successfully to resist the north-eastern advance which had been made
across Tyrol by the Roman legions, and thus it was that the Roman
military station Juvavum was founded on a site which was of great
convenience owing to its being at the entrance to the mountain passes
and placed at the junction of the roads which led by various routes to
all parts of Noricum. Here it was the Roman invader, having driven the
Celtic owners of the soil after a brave but ineffectual resistance
into mountain fastnesses of the surrounding country, established a
military post with a fort which soon became a colony, and grew
ultimately into the important town of Juvavum.
Of this occupation by the Romans, and of the establishment of the town
by the banks of the Salzach, there are considerable relics surviving
in the shape of excavated buildings and foundations, coins, ornaments,
pottery, tesselated pavements, and portions of the roads which the
Romans made.
The introduction of Christianity took place at a very early date,
which would in part account for the ecclesiastical prominence which
the province had in the Middle Ages, and even in later times. We are
told that even as early as the year A.D. 472 St. Severinus, whilst
journeying through Noricum, with which country Salzburg had been
incorporated by the Romans, found numerous Christian churches and
minsters established. A relic of these times still exists set in the
perpendicular walls of the Mönchsberg, where high up, with some of its
windows overshadowed by creepers and trees, is a very small church
built into the mountain itself; reached by a dark, steep flight of
steps cut in the rock, worn by the feet of countless generations, and
leading to a cavern where stands an altar and a small cross.
According, at least, to tradition this was the hiding-place to which
the early Christians amongst the Roman inhabitants retired for
security when celebrating the offices of the new faith. And it is here
that St. Maximus is said to have suffered martyrdom.
From the effects of the troublous days which at last came to most
outposts of Roman civilization Salzburg did not escape. Soon the
hordes of Huns and Goths and others belonging to various Germanic
tribes swept across and over the province as they did the land of
Tyrol, and the town was sacked and burned, and the inhabitants put to
the sword or led away into captivity. Thus in 477 the flourishing
Roman settlement was literally wiped out by the Keruli under their
leader, Odoaker, and of it few traces remained save some tesselated
pavements, household utensils, and ornaments which ages afterwards
from time to time have been uncovered.
[Sidenote: THE RISE OF SALZBURG]
The history of the town is obscure for many centuries after its
destruction by the Teutonic barbarians; and for more than a hundred
years the place remained waste and deserted, with the ruined buildings
gradually becoming overgrown by trees and shrubs. Then, at the
beginning of the sixth century, Theodo I., Duke of the Bojovarii, the
founder of the Kingdom afterwards known as Bavaria, took possession of
Salzburg and joined it to his own possessions. One account tells us
that it was this Duke Theodo of Bavaria who, having become a
Christian, summoned St. Rupert, after the latter had been driven from
Worms, to Ratisbon with a view to his introducing Christianity into
the Duchy. Tradition states that St. Rupert came to Juvavum about the
year 582, or at the beginning of the seventh century, with the
determination to make the spot his headquarters for the spread of the
Christian faith. Duke Theodo appears to have made him a present of the
ruined and deserted town and the country round about to the extent of
an area of two miles square. Other estates and property were given
him, including among many others those of Itzling, Oping (Upper
Innsbruck), and a third part of the famous Hall Salt Spring. The
Bishop set to work, and on the ruins of the old Roman settlement he
soon established a town, building a convent and a church under the
steep rocks of the Mönchsberg, where now the large Benedictine Convent
and St. Peter's Church stand, in the latter of which the bones of the
saint are said to lie buried.
The Convent of Nonnberg had many estates granted to it, and became
rich. Bishop Rupert appears to have also begun to build new dwellings
and to have cultivated the land; not neglecting in the meantime the
object for which he had come, viz. the spread of Christianity. He
built many churches, and was the means of forming a large number of
Christian communities throughout the Duchy. He also extended the
influence of the town of Salzburg over the surrounding district, and
when he died in 623 he left behind him, where he had found ruins, a
flourishing town with religious institutions of considerable
importance. It was from this settlement that the most powerful and
wealthiest ecclesiastical principality in Southern Germany was
destined to spring, which, though possessed in turn by various
nations, lasted as a spiritual Principality until 1802, when it was
secularized and re-established as a temporal electorate.
After the coming of St. Rupert Salzburg gradually grew to be the chief
centre of religious life and culture in the eastern region of the
Alps. By the foundation of the Archbishopric of Bavaria by Charles the
Great in 788, after the latter territory had been annexed and
incorporated with his possessions, the city's importance steadily
increased. But with an increase of status there came a corresponding
extension and consolidation of the ecclesiastical dominion by which
the political influence of the Archbishops of Salzburg grew until it
finally justified them in assuming the title of Primates of Germany.
Almost without exception during the Middle Ages the archbishops were
militant priests. "They knew," we are told, "as well how to handle a
sword as to say a Mass," and they often fought with distinction
against the many enemies that the German Empire had in those troublous
times when the various kingdoms of Eastern Europe were being evolved
out of chaos, and were ever at war one with another. These prelates
were also distinguished as skilled and astute diplomatists, capable of
holding their own and adding to the power and privileges of their
Church whenever an opportunity for so doing presented itself.
Under Bishop Virgil (747 to 784) the power of Salzburg was
considerably extended eastward. The new Cathedral was built, and
several other districts were brought under the subjection of the
bishopric. It was Bishop Virgil's successor, Arno (785 to 821), a
personal friend of Charlemagne, who, in the last year of the eighth
century, was invested by Pope Leo III. with the Pallium and installed
first Archbishop of Salzburg.
To Arno's labours the town and the country owe much, for under his
skilful and wise guidance not only did the former flourish and grow,
with the other settlements which had come into existence, but by his
great power of initiative the life of the principality itself was
directed into prosperous and progressive channels. His immediate
successors greatly increased the power and influence of the Church;
whilst at the same time they did not omit to extend their
non-spiritual power by the acquisition of other territory, and by
means of the mining industries they became very rich and powerful.
[Sidenote: EARLY RULERS]
The Archbishops of Salzburg soon by this means gained a great and
distinguished place amongst the German princes, which they retained
until the power of the Emperors began to wane in consequence of
differences with the Popes, to the latter of whom the Archbishops, as
a rule, gave their support in the disputes that arose. Into these
matters it is not necessary to enter deeply, but it was in consequence
of them that Conrad I., Count of Abinberg, took the part of the Pope
and caused the country to be greatly disturbed. During his reign the
Abbey of St. Peter was granted as a residence to the Archbishop of
Salzburg, and a new building was soon afterwards erected close by for
the purpose. It was in the reign of this same Conrad I. that the
Cathedral of Salzburg was destroyed by fire on May 4, 828, as was also
a very large portion of the city. Both the Cathedral and the portion
of the town which had been burnt down were rebuilt with even greater
magnificence than before. But they were destined to once more be
destroyed. Three centuries later, in the year 1167, a quarrel arose
between Conrad II. and Frederick Barbarossa, because the latter
refused to invest the former with the temporal power, and pronounced
against him the ban of the Empire. Barbarossa ordered Salzburg and the
country round about to be over-run and laid waste by the Counts
Plain-Mittersill. For some time the city and its strong fortress
resisted successfully; but on April 5, 1167, it was captured and once
more burnt to the ground.
The successor of Conrad, Albert III., a son of King Ladislav of
Bohemia, also came into conflict with the Emperor, and shared a
similar fate to his predecessors; but during the reigns of the
immediately succeeding archbishops peace and prosperity were
established, and under Eberhard II., who was distinguished as a most
able and brilliant administrator as well as a great churchman, peace
and tranquillity once more reigned.
During the next century Salzburg was involved in political disputes
and took part in the Battle of Muhldorf, on September 28, 1322,
fighting on the side of Frederick the Schöne, Duke of Austria, who was
taken prisoner. In consequence of which the principality not only
lost large numbers of its chief nobles and knights, but also was
involved in heavy monetary loss in the payment of its share of a war
indemnity.
Immediately following this period of unrest came another distinguished
by the erection of new and handsome buildings and the enlargement of
the bounds of the city, and also strengthening of the Castle on the
Mönchsberg. To Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach (1495 to 1519) must
be given the credit of attaining absolute supremacy, and with his
occupation of the See may be said to have commenced the most
distinguished period in the history of the city. Leonhard did not
attain to this position, however, entirely without guile, for to tell
the truth the Salzburg citizens, who seemed even in those mediæval
times to have possessed a love of freedom and spirit of independence
which did them credit, having become restive under the ecclesiastical
domination and tyranny wished to make the town a free imperial city.
Leonhard, however, had determined otherwise, and so under pretence of
inviting the burgomaster and twenty town councillors to his palace to
give them a state banquet, he promptly arrested them on their arrival
and threw them into the castle dungeons. He then succeeded in taking
away the ancient rights of the town, upon the annulment of which he
had set his mind. But although Archbishop Leonhard ruled his secular
as well as his ecclesiastical subjects with a rod of iron, he did much
to improve and beautify the city, adding greatly to the strength and
size of Hohen-Salzburg, and also improving the method of working the
mines, particularly those in Gastein and Rauris. This was, of course,
more directly to his benefit than that of the miners, yet in the end
was pleasing to the country in general in that the Archbishop drew
from the mines a revenue sufficient to permit him to erect many
handsome buildings, to improve the roads, and to encourage art and
agriculture.
[Sidenote: THE REFORMATION]
During the Archiepiscopate of his successor Mathäus Lang von
Wellenburg, from 1519 to 1540, many stirring events took place, not
only in the city of Salzburg but throughout the length and breadth of
the principality as well. The faith of Luther had been introduced into
Salzburg and had met with great success among all classes of the
population, especially that of the miners. Even some of the priests
and officials of the Cathedral itself were suspected of being
favourable to, and even of extending, the new doctrines. At first the
Archbishop tried to combat the heretical tendencies of his subjects by
kindness and indulgence; but finding these methods fruitless, he
called in the aid of foreign mercenaries, chiefly from Tyrol,
garrisoned Hohen-Salzburg strongly with them and with followers upon
whose loyalty he could depend, and taking the town unawares, forced
the inhabitants to submit and to surrender their privileges.
This event was followed by various acts of violence directed against
the adherents of the reformed faith, which so exasperated the
population that in May, 1525, a rebellion broke out in all parts of
the principality. The Archbishop seeing that the situation was taking
a serious turn, addressed an urgent appeal for help to Duke William at
Munich, which, however, was not answered. Shortly after, thousands of
miners and peasants, having won several skirmishes in the country
districts, advanced to Salzburg, where they were joined by many of the
inhabitants, and promptly set to work to besiege the Archbishop in the
fortress, which they continued to do (failing to gain an entrance)
until August 15th, when Ludwig of Bavaria arrived with a strong force,
and a truce favourable to the peasants was agreed upon. This
arrangement, however, was not held to, and in consequence a fierce
rebellion broke out again in the following year, but was successfully
and cruelly suppressed by forces under the command of the Archduke
Ferdinand, supplemented by those of the Suabian League.
Although the doctrines of Luther continued to make headway, and
religious disturbances still occurred, the latter were not of a
serious character; but some half a century later the famous Archbishop
Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, also known for brevity as Wolf Dietrich,
on returning from Rome, where he had been to receive the pallium, or
ornamental band of white wool worn around the shoulders, which all
archbishops at that time had to receive on their appointment before
they were empowered to carry out the duties of their office, issued
his famous edict on July 9, 1588, for the extermination of the
heretics. In consequence of which there was a severe persecution of
those who had adopted the Lutheran faith, with great confiscations of
their lands and other property. Other acts of this famous Archbishop,
including an imposition on salt, the obtaining and making of which
formed a very important and remunerative industry, brought about
serious friction between him and some of his subjects, and ultimately
led on two occasions to his military occupation of the salt district
by means of mercenaries. On the first these forces were defeated and
driven out by those of Duke William of Bavaria; and on the second the
Archbishop's action led to the conquest and occupation of Salzburg by
the Duke Maximilian himself, and the ultimate imprisonment and
dethroning of Wolf Dietrich on March 7, 1612. He was never released,
although efforts were made to obtain freedom and pardon for him, and
died in his cell in Hohen-Salzburg five years later.
[Sidenote: CATHOLIC PERSECUTIONS]
After the Peace of Westphalia, October 24th, Salzburg was made an
independent and sovereign principality, and the archbishops, the
Chapter, and various other authorities, set to work to bring about
improvements in the Civil and Ecclesiastical offices and organizations
of the country, and to improve the condition of the inhabitants by
better regulations of taxes, the criminal law, etc., and to complete
the building of the city and improvement of the existing portions of
it by the repaving of the streets and instituting better sanitary
arrangements. But notwithstanding the undoubted benefits conferred in
the way we have mentioned upon the inhabitants, the clerical party
maintained a rigorous persecution of the Protestants, and in
consequence the years 1684-85 witnessed large emigrations of
Lutherans, including great numbers of the Hallein miners.
These persecutions were followed half a century later by those of the
Archbishop Leopold Anton Freiherr von Fermian, who summoned the
Jesuits into the country to aid in extirpating the Protestants. These
priests succeeded in stirring up further dissensions between the
Catholics and the Lutherans, and cruel persecutions, accompanied by
torture and imprisonment, followed. The Archbishop, finding the
Jesuits had not succeeded in reducing the country to uniformity of
religion or a more peaceful state, issued on the last day of October,
1731, the famous emigration edict by which the Protestants were to be
deprived of all their property and their rights as citizens, and to be
driven from the principality. The result was the forming of the
celebrated Salzbund, by which the followers of the reformed faith
banded themselves together and swore to defend it, and as a token they
licked a block of salt placed for the purpose on a table, which is
still preserved at Schwarzach, where the League was formed.
In the end, in consequence of Archbishop Fermian's edict, upwards of
30,000 people emigrated, and as was the case with the Huguenots of
France they formed by far the most able, industrious, and intelligent
portion of the community, and the consequences of their emigration are
even felt at the present time. By the expulsion of the Protestants,
many of whom were miners, we are told "the mining industry of Salzburg
received its death blow, the prosperity of the country was greatly
diminished, and the free national and civic life was destroyed." The
greater number of these emigrants eventually settled in Prussian
Lithuania, where they were warmly and hospitably received. Others went
to Bavaria, and Suabia, and a few even to England, some of the latter
of whom ultimately crossed the Atlantic and settled in Georgia, where
in the town of Ebenezer there still exists a colony of their
descendants.
The immediate effect of the emigration of these skilled artisans and
workers was felt both in the city of Salzburg and the principality.
Workshops, which had hitherto been busy hives of industry, deserted by
their former occupants, failed to find new tenants, and fell into
gradual decay, or were turned to other less remunerative uses. As had
been the case with the Huguenots so was it with the _émigrés_ of
Salzburg; their places could not be filled nor their loss replaced.
Salzburg during the wars of Frederick the Great against Bavaria and
France was frequently occupied by one or other of the contending
nations, and was reduced to a state of poverty and distress from which
it was a long time recovering. To such a wretched condition were the
inhabitants of the city and principality reduced that there was
serious danger at one time of the latter being secularized. But under
the firmer and more beneficent rule of Hieronymus, Count of
Coloredo-Wallsee, the last reigning Archbishop (1772 to 1803), several
beneficial reforms were brought about in the administration of the
country relating to its finances, police, agriculture, and other
departments. But, notwithstanding these changes, ecclesiastical
domination in Salzburg was destined to come to an end speedily, and at
the Peace of Campo Formio, October 17, 1797, France by a secret treaty
agreed to have the Archbishopric of Salzburg transferred to the
Emperor Francis II.
[Sidenote: NAPOLEONIC WARS]
In the years 1800 to 1802 the principality was once more the scene of
French invasions, and suffered severely not only from the ravages
consequent upon the battles fought between the French and the
Imperialists, but also from the heavy contributions of money and
stores levied upon the people. The whole country soon became in a
chaotic condition, and the Archbishop at last fled with his portable
property and the most valuable treasures, leaving his See to its fate.
The Imperial forces entered Salzburg under the command of Count
Meerveldt on August 19, 1802, the General proclaiming that he took
possession of the country in the name of the Archduke Ferdinand of
Tuscany.
Thus Salzburg ceased to be an independent spiritual principality and
became the secular electorate, which it has remained ever since.
On March 11th of the following year the fugitive archbishop resigned
the secular power. Although there is no doubt that this change was
welcomed by the people at large, who looked forward to reforms and
greater stability of government, it was not found possible to effect
the former at once. The still unsettled and warlike period in which
Ferdinand I. came to rule over Salzburg was very detrimental to any
radical reform or change of administration. By the Peace of Pressberg,
December 26, 1805, Salzburg was transferred to Austria, and four years
later passed into the possession of Bavaria by the Treaty of Vienna,
and so remained until 1816.
It was during the Napoleonic Wars that the Salzburgers, like the
Tyrolese under Andreas Hofer, rose and fought for their country and
for the Emperor of Austria. Quite a number of serious engagements took
place, in the Lueg Pass, and the Mendling, and near Unken and Melleck,
leading naturally enough to great poverty and devastation. Ultimately
by the Treaty of April 14, 1816, Salzburg passed into the possession
of Austria, and on May 1, 1816, the Imperial Commissioners entered
into possession amidst the enthusiastic rejoicing of the whole
population.
This state of affairs lasted till 1850, when once more Salzburg became
an independent Austrian Crown land, and eleven years later it was
granted a separate government and a Diet. Since then the city as well
as the province has prospered under the wise and enterprising rule of
its present administration, and has become thoroughly incorporated in
spirit as well as upon paper with the great Empire of which it forms
an independent part.
To its Archbishops of the sixteenth century Salzburg owed and still
owes much. They were nearly all of them great and interesting
personalities who not only influenced the civil as well as the
religious life and evolution of the town, but had, in addition, not a
little to do with the appearance it gradually assumed during the
period we have mentioned. Under their rule Salzburg was to a large
extent modernized. Many thirteenth- and fourteenth-century buildings
were pulled down, to be replaced by much more magnificent if not more
picturesque and interesting structures. It was then that the spirit of
the Renaissance swept over the Alps from Italy, and in its train came
the desire for magnificence in architecture, in entertainments, and in
the dress and life of the Salzburg nobility.
The Archbishops and ecclesiastical inhabitants also fell willing
victims to the desire for extravagance and ostentatious display.
Indeed, the former were, as one authority says, "the true Renaissance
Sovereigns of the Italian school, who were selfish as regards their
politics, and not at all particular regarding the means by which they
attained their ends." It must, however, be allowed that though by no
means unwilling for worldly enjoyments and pageantry, notwithstanding
the fact that they professed in their religion the severer doctrines
of Ignatius Loyola, they were worthy patrons and encouragers of art,
science, and literature, and were animated by the desire to leave a
lasting memorial of themselves and their beliefs in splendid
ecclesiastical buildings. In Salzburg one finds their records on all
hands, in coats-of-arms and tablets on which are recorded their
names and deeds, for the benefit and instruction of those who
succeeded them.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE FINEST DOORS OF THE STATE APARTMENTS IN THE
FORTRESS, SALZBURG]
[Sidenote: REBUILDING THE CITY]
During the period of which we speak the character and appearance of
the city was almost entirely changed. The ancient mediæval buildings
were pulled down, and replaced by magnificent palaces in which the
nobility and ecclesiastical dignitaries dwelt in splendour and ease.
Churches were erected in such numbers as to be almost unequalled in
any other city of similar size. Most of these still remain, making
Salzburg a place of spires and domes and handsome churches strangely
picturesque and deeply interesting.
Seen either from the ridge of the Mönchsberg, the Kapuzingerberg, or
from the castle walls, especially at sundown on a summer's evening,
Salzburg presents a picture of great beauty and colour, and one which
is not easily forgotten.
As was not unnatural with the secularization of the power ruling the
Province the capital suffered heavily. For a time both its prosperity
and its intellectual life underwent eclipse. For almost half a century
its energies seemed to lie dormant, and it was only when the line
connecting Munich with Vienna by way of Salzburg was constructed in
1860 that it woke once more to take an important place amongst the
towns of north-western Austria. From that period till to-day the place
has made steady progress.
Till the middle of the last century the city occupied a comparatively
restricted area within the old walls. And as a direct consequence of
the numerous churches, convents, and other ecclesiastical buildings
occupying a great deal of the space available the townsfolk were
compelled to crowd their dwellings together, and to build the many
storied houses which one finds in the older portion of the town in the
neighbourhood of the Herrngasse, Sigmund-Haffnergasse, and
Getreidegasse. It is in these narrow and gloomy--though undoubtedly
picturesque--streets, in the architecture of which one can in many
instances trace Italian influence, that the great part of the
population dwelt, and much of the trade of the town was done.
With more modern ideas the distaste for such confinement among the
more ambitious and well-to-do of the commercial and artisan classes
became manifest, and when at length the old walls were in places
pulled down a new suburb arose on the other side of the river--as it
did at Innsbruck--in the neighbourhood of the railway station,
possessing wide modern streets, finer shops, and palatial villa
residences, and also smaller houses for the occupation of the
working-class community.
In this portion of the town one finds not only some of the best
hotels, but the Kurhaus with its pleasant gardens (closely adjoining
the Mirabell Garden), the fine Theatre, and the imposing church of St.
Andreas in the Gothic style. Opposite the railway station, set in a
recess of foliage in the garden adjoining the Hôtel de l'Europe, is
the famous statue of the Kaiserin Elizabeth, a pilgrimage shrine for
most visitors to the town. The statue itself has been described as
"simple but beautiful." To us it has always seemed by no means an
adequate or even very skilful representation of a beautiful and
queenly personality. The pose is not particularly happy, and the whole
has to our mind a "doll-like" effect.
[Illustration: A QUIET PASTURE]
As time went by Salzburg reclaimed much ground from the rocky bed of
the swiftly flowing river by confining the stream within more
restricted limits. In former times, when the town was enclosed with
walls, there was no such necessity, and the Salzach took its own
course, encroaching much upon the lower-lying land along its banks.
But nowadays on this reclaimed ground shady avenues of trees have been
planted, which give a charming and distinctive character to this part
of the city. Here, too, are some fine villas, where not so very many
years ago was waste or wooded land, set amid trees and made
pleasant by beautiful gardens, in which there seems to bloom a
profusion of flowers all the year round.
The position and future prosperity of the town as a tourist resort was
assured when Salzburg became the starting-point of a second main line
of railway leading to Innsbruck via Kitzbühel, and the picturesque
Unter-Inn Thal, and the centre of a number of branch lines.
It is through these modern developments that the life of Salzburg has
so materially changed even within the memory of those who first
visited it but, comparatively speaking, a few years ago. From a town
of ecclesiastical and almost mediæval aloofness from the outside
world, and from one which had for a considerable period seen its
growth arrested and its life stagnant, it has sprung into being as a
favourite summer and winter resort not merely for tourists, but also
for those to whom the older portion of the town, its many historic
buildings, castle, and fine churches, proves attractive.
[Sidenote: SALZBURG'S ANCIENT FORTRESS]
The most prominent of all buildings in Salzburg, and the one which has
for most visitors the greatest attraction, is the fine old fortress of
Hohen-Salzburg set high above the older town upon a tree-enshrouded
and rocky spur of the Mönchsberg.
The ancient fortress, which has witnessed so many stirring events
within its walls, and from which past generations of inhabitants have
looked down upon almost equally dramatic and stirring doings in the
town below, that throughout the ages defied capture, and at last came
to be looked upon as impregnable, was founded nearly eight and a half
centuries ago by Archbishop Gebhard.
As the centuries went by many additions were made to the original
buildings, and the present castle dates in its chief portions from the
last few years of the fifteenth and the first few years of the
sixteenth centuries. These additions were principally the work of
Leonard von Keutschach, Archbishop of Salzburg at the close of the
Middle Ages. He was one of the great "building" archbishops to whose
energies and enterprise the town at various periods owed so much. Of
peasant origin he was not ashamed of his humble birth, and, being
gifted with a sense of humour, chose a turnip as his armorial
bearings. So frequently, indeed, are representations of this vegetable
met with on escutcheons in various parts of the town, that the remark
of one traveller who observed that "the Salzburgers appear to have
sprung out of the earth" may be held excused.
Severe looking as is the fine old fortress (now given over to the uses
of barracks), in whose courtyards princes, archbishops, nobles, and
many famous men of the past centuries have walked, it was, however,
not merely a strong bulwark of defence, truly "ein feste burg"
dominating the town and plain, but also a palace. Although the castle
has been stripped of much of its magnificence there happily still
remain traces of it in the so-called Fürstenzimmer (state apartments),
which formerly occupied by the rulers of the Province were furnished
and decorated with all the splendour which marked the most lavish
period of Renaissance influence. Chief amongst the relics of the
latter are the beautiful and delicately carved panelling, the gilt
work, and the richly carved and moulded ceilings of the principal
apartments. In wandering through these now almost deserted rooms one
is tempted to conjure up the scenes of magnificence they must have
witnessed. Tragedy, comedy, chivalry, hate, joy, sorrow, success, and
failure, all, the often lurid though magnificent gamut of life in the
Middle Ages, must have been welded into the very fabric and atmosphere
of this impressive and deeply interesting building. Among the chief
relics of bygone splendour and pomp of circumstance there remains the
beautiful and it is said unique Majolica stove, a truly wonderful
example of Gothic ceramic art.
There are many interesting and quaint corners within the triple line
of walls, which shut off access to the castle and proved so useful on
many an occasion in former times, united with the fortifications of
the Mönchsberg known as the _Burgerwehr_; but few excel in
picturesqueness the old courtyard with its shady and famous Linden
tree, ancient well, and time-worn walls. Here, as one lingers, towards
sundown one sometimes hears the sweet-toned though halting notes of
the organ within the tower playing some familiar hymn tune. The
trembling notes, like those of an old singer whose voice has become
feeble but has retained much of its sweetness, float out upon the
still evening air with a mystic appeal which few that have heard them
can, we think, have failed to have felt. For ourselves it is one of
the lasting and unforgettable memories of Salzburg as well as of its
castle.
Nowadays the cable railway takes one to the summit in a few minutes,
and one is spared the fatigue of the long climb up by the Nonnberg.
The old Reckturm, in the dungeons of which unlucky prisoners were
confined, and in the tower itself the terrible instruments of torture
were kept and the torture chamber was situated, nowadays has a much
more pleasant office to fulfil as an excellent "look out" place from
which to view the widely extended prospect of the town and Salzach
valley towards the north.
[Sidenote: HOHEN-SALZBURG'S SIEGES]
Many an assault was made during the Middle Ages and succeeding eras
upon the old grey fortress, seldom resulting in anything save disaster
or disappointment for the attacking force. Even the peasants, who,
during the terrible rebellion of 1525, made repeated attacks upon the
castle with the utmost fury and determination, failed to accomplish
their object of capturing the stronghold, Matthew Land, the then
Archbishop, and the high ecclesiastics who had taken refuge within its
unscalable walls, to whom short shrift would have been given by the
peasant leaders. For ages the Church had trodden the peasantry under
foot, and in the Peasants' Rebellion there were terrible reprisals.
But although the insurgents came near capturing Hohen-Salzburg they
did not succeed. Their appliances were too primitive for successful
assault, and their shots did little or no damage to the strong thick
walls or buildings. On a marble column in the castle are to be seen
the marks left by a cannon ball, which was one of the few that
succeeded in entering the castle, and in this case it was through a
window! A century later, during the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648
which devastated the whole of the then German Empire, waged between
the Evangelic Union under the Elector Palatine and the Catholics led
by Maximilian the Great Duke of Bavaria, Salzburg, doubtless on
account of the fact that its fortress was esteemed impregnable, was
one of the few places left at peace and unmolested. We have already
mentioned the fact that the Archbishops were not only exceedingly
powerful ecclesiastics but also great diplomatists, and there is
little doubt but that to their clever policy must also be attributed
the town's immunity from attack during that troublous and universally
disturbed period.
Of the many distinguished ecclesiastics who have occupied the See of
Salzburg as its Archbishops, the most interesting and perhaps the most
important were two, separated one from the other by but a few years.
One was Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (1587-1611?) and the other Paris
von Lodron.
[Sidenote: BUILDERS OF RENOWN]
Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, from having received his
education in Rome, then the centre of Art and culture, came to
Salzburg steeped not alone in the traditions of Italian Art but
anxious to impress upon the town his knowledge and taste. He found an
old Roman and neither handsome nor picturesque Cathedral, dating from
the eighth century, in place of churches such as he had been
accustomed to in Italy, ornate and beautiful. He is reputed to have
been at no pains to conceal his distaste for the building, and when a
few years before his death it was destroyed during one of the
destructive fires, there were those who even accused the Archbishop of
having himself set the church on fire, or at least of having
instigated others to do so. But there is little truth in this story,
though the Archbishop's satisfaction at the destruction of the
ancient, inconvenient, and unornamental structure seems beyond
question. That he fully intended to erect upon the site one of the
finest churches north of the Italian frontier there is little doubt,
but, alas! for human aims, he was not destined even to see the
foundations laid.
To him, notwithstanding his despotic character, his restless
disposition, his shameful intrigue with the beautiful Salome Alt, the
city of Salzburg owes a great deal, for he did much to transform an
unpicturesque and dirty town with narrow mediæval streets into one of
the finest cities of Germany. Many of the beautiful buildings,
including the Gabriel Chapel, the Chapter House, the Neubau, and the
arcades of the Sebastian Cemetery, owed their existence to his
artistic taste and desire for improvement.
It was to Paris von Lodron, the founder of the University which was
dissolved in 1810 during the Bavarian occupation, his second
successor, fell the task as well as the honour of giving to Salzburg a
Cathedral worthy of it and of its long line of famous Archbishops and
many historical memories. The original plan, which historians tell us
would have resulted in a church of such magnificence that it would
have been almost unrivalled by that of any in Europe, had to be
considerably modified for several reasons, chief amongst which were
considerations of cost and space. The former was rendered obligatory
from the heavy expense entailed in keeping up the fortifications of
the city during the time (the Thirty Years' War) the Cathedral was in
course of construction. However, notwithstanding these circumstances,
Paris von Lodron's work, which occupies a splendid position in the
midst of three large squares, was designed chiefly by an Italian
architect named Santino Solari (possibly from plans by Scamozzi of
Florence), assisted by others in the late Renaissance style, is one of
the most magnificent churches in Austria, although the stucco
ornamentation is of a rather florid character. From the exterior,
which is rather plain and severe, although it possesses a fine façade
built of Unterberg marble, it is impossible to gain any conception of
the charm and even splendour of the building. But immediately upon
entering it, one is impressed with its beautiful proportions, and the
resemblance to a marked degree in the general plan to that of St.
Peter's, Rome. Indeed, there is little doubt as to the source from
which Solari drew much of his inspiration, although due credit must be
given to him for original details, the proportions, and general beauty
of effect.
The treasury of the church is worth seeing, as it is rich in relics of
bygone ages, including an exquisite seventeenth-century monstrance
encrusted with 1800 precious stones, rich vestments, and a fine
crozier set with gems; and none should miss the interesting
fourteenth-century bronze Romanesque font which stands in one of the
side chapels to the left of the entrance.
In its Cathedral Salzburg possesses a gem of architectural beauty
which has been the admiration of generations of architects and
students, and (as one authority says) "has probably provided more
inspiration for the artist and the student of architecture than any
other church north of the Italian Alps."
On the Residenz-Platz, the centre of which is adorned by a beautiful
fountain nearly fifty feet in height dating from the latter part of
the seventeenth century, consisting of a colossal figure of Atlas
surrounded by equally colossal hippopotami, the work of Anton Dario,
is situated the ancient palace of the Archbishops, formerly known as
the Residenz, now the Imperial Residence. This fine palace which was
erected at various dates from the end of the sixteenth down to the
first two decades of the eighteenth century contains many traces of
the splendour which characterized the larger buildings which were
erected by ecclesiastics at the time the influence of the Renaissance
was at its height. The ceilings and wall of the principal salons and
halls are especially notable, and in some cases are most elaborately
decorated. The Government Offices which are opposite the Residenz
although known as the Neugebäude (possibly because they included the
Post and Telegraph office), in reality date, at any rate in part, from
the reign of Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, although they have
been modernized, altered, and added to from time to time. In the
octagonal tower was placed, in the beginning of the eighteenth
century, a beautiful _carillon_, the work of a watchmaker named Sauter
at the commencement of the seventeenth century, known as the
Glockenspiel, which chimes thrice daily at 7 a.m., 11 a.m., and 6 p.m.
The Archbishops of Salzburg were not only in past ages ecclesiastics
and diplomatists but also sportsmen. Most, indeed, seem to have been
great lovers of horses. Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, Salzburg, built
some magnificent stables adorned with marble on the slopes of the
Mönchsberg; attached to them were a covered riding school for use in
winter, and another open-air one for summer use. Though the stables
themselves are now barracks, the open-air school is still one of the
sights of the town. In the side of the Mönchsberg were hewn in 1693
three great galleries for the accommodation of spectators of the
sports in the summer riding school; they have long ago been overgrown
with ivy and creepers which add greatly to their picturesqueness, but
are still occasionally used for the purpose for which they were
originally constructed.
In the winter riding school there is an interesting ceiling fresco
depicting a joust or tournament dating from the last decade of the
seventeenth century.
Several of the Archbishops of Salzburg appear to have had a liking
for rock excavations, and the Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach
was one of the number. In the latter half of the eighteenth century,
in 1767 to be precise, he constructed the Neuthor, a tunnel through
the solid rock some four hundred and fifty feet in length, which it
took two years to make. It pierced through the Mönchsberg and thus
united the suburb of Riedenberg with the rest of the town. At the
Riedenberg end is a statue to St. Sigismund in commemoration of the
Archbishop, who placed his own medallion at the town end of the tunnel
with the Latin inscription "Te saxa loquntur" (The very stones praise
thee) above it.
[Sidenote: THE SCHLOSS MIRABELL]
To the Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, or rather to his passion
for the beautiful daughter of a Salzburg merchant whose name was
perhaps not inappropriately Salome, the charming Schloss Mirabell
chiefly owes its existence. Here (so the story goes) the beautiful
Salome Alt was installed as mistress, amid splendour and lavish
expenditure befitting a King's favourite. For her were constructed and
laid out delightful gardens, with fine terraces, shady walks, wide
lawns of exquisitely "velvety" turf, the like of which we have seldom
seen even in the "grass" counties of England; quaintly shaped
flower-beds, fountains and ponds, mazes and avenues of fine trees. For
her, too, were numerous groups of statuary, and single figures of a
mythological and artistic character installed. Some of these are of
considerable merit; and few are without distinctive decorative value
in the surroundings amid which they have been placed.
In the gardens themselves there is a constant succession of delightful
flowers all the year round. On the occasion of our last visit the
sweetly scented linden avenue was in full bloom, whilst roses were in
profusion--we were told they bloom almost all the year round in this
favoured and beautiful spot--and the jasmine, orange trees, and many
other beautiful and homely flowers perfumed the summer air, and spread
out in a riot of colour on every hand. Aloes, palms, Portugal
laurels, daphne, and other shrubs afford relief to the eye, and in the
background, towering high above the quietude of this old-fashioned
garden, looms the vast and commanding Hohen-Salzburg, with its roofs
and pinnacles shimmering and glancing in the sunshine of the upper
air.
In the gardens are also the interesting aviary of the Salzburg Society
for the Protection of Birds, and the former Summer Theatre near the
French Garden with the grassy stage and wings formed of "trimly"
clipped hedges.
The mansion itself suffered severely from a fire in 1818, but the
Marble Hall and staircase which escaped are well worth seeing, as are
also the decorations of several of the older rooms.
FOOTNOTE:
[15] Bosnia and Herzegovina have been recently annexed.