Tyrol and its People Part 13

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 Goll, 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 cla.s.sic ground, and is a.s.sociated 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 Durnberg 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 pa.s.ses and placed at the junction of the roads which led by various routes to all parts of Noric.u.m. 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 Noric.u.m, 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 Monchsberg, 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 Monchsberg, 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 inst.i.tutions of considerable importance. It was from this settlement that the most powerful and wealthiest ecclesiastical princ.i.p.ality in Southern Germany was destined to spring, which, though possessed in turn by various nations, lasted as a spiritual Princ.i.p.ality 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 a.s.suming the t.i.tle 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 Ma.s.s," 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 princ.i.p.ality 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 Schone, Duke of Austria, who was taken prisoner. In consequence of which the princ.i.p.ality not only lost large numbers of its chief n.o.bles 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 Monchsberg. 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 mediaeval 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 Mathaus 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 princ.i.p.ality as well. The faith of Luther had been introduced into Salzburg and had met with great success among all cla.s.ses 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 princ.i.p.ality. 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 princ.i.p.ality, 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 inst.i.tuting 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 princ.i.p.ality. 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 princ.i.p.ality.

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 _emigres_ 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 princ.i.p.ality 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 princ.i.p.ality 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 princ.i.p.ality 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 pa.s.sed 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 Pa.s.s, 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 pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sumed 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 n.o.bility.

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 mediaeval buildings were pulled down, and replaced by magnificent palaces in which the n.o.bility 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 Monchsberg, 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 s.p.a.ce 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 Herrnga.s.se, Sigmund-Haffnerga.s.se, and Getreidega.s.se. 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 cla.s.ses 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-cla.s.s 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 Hotel 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.