Tyrol and its People Part 25

Then at the commencement of the fifteenth century, according to Burglechner, a vein of silver ore was discovered through the rampant behaviour of a bull, who went mad or became uncommonly energetic, and, tearing up the gra.s.s on the hillside with his horns, was the means of disclosing what afterwards proved to be a vast deposit of silver ore.

The news of the discovery was brought hot haste to the poor hamlet by the herdsman who was in charge of the animal, and the inhabitants flocked out to investigate the story of the shining metal which had been uncovered. In a very short time Schwaz regained its ancient prosperity and importance, and at one time, when the silver mines were at their best, the population, which nowadays is about 6500, was not far short of five times as many. The discovery of the silver caused several of the n.o.ble families in the neighbourhood to forsake the calling of arms and knightly service for that of mine owning and mine working; and the vast wealth of the Augsburg merchants and bankers, notably the Hochstetters, Ilsungs, and Fuggers, was largely employed in the working of the mines which had been speedily opened up. Amongst the n.o.ble families who turned miners or mine proprietors was that of the Fiegers, one of whom was an intimate companion of Maximilian I.

The latter, when Fieger died full of years and leaving an astonishing progeny and an enormous fortune behind him, was present at his old friend's funeral. His son, Hans Fieger, married Margaret von Pienzenau, who, on her coming to her husband's home, was accompanied by a vast cavalcade consisting of four thousand horses, of which those drawing her coach were shod with silver.[24]

The mining industry was speedily developed by the immense sums wealthy merchants in Bavaria and elsewhere were willing to embark in speculation, or advance upon the security of the mines themselves; and so skilful and daring did the Schwaz miners become, that later on their services were requisitioned for use in the mines of other districts, and for military mining operations against the Turks in Hungary. In the siege of Vienna in 1529 by the Turks, Soliman the Magnificent, who invested the city with an army of 300,000 men, was forced to raise it, after losing nearly a fourth of his men, owing to the countermining of the Schwaz miners. Two centuries later, the Schwazers undermined and blew up the splendid and almost impregnable fortifications of Belgrade before it was ceded to Turkey; and at various times their services were engaged by the Dukes of Florence and Piedmont.

Schwaz, too, has the distinction of having had one of the earliest of printing presses set up in the town; and matters referring to mining and mining methods were often referred to the experienced and skilful miners and engineers of Schwaz.

Just as was the case with the miners of the not far distant Princ.i.p.ality of Salzburg, those of Schwaz embraced the doctrines of Luther, and made serious attempts to put down Roman Catholic clericalism and oppression. On two occasions at least they marched in considerable numbers upon Innsbruck, but were met at Hall by the Bishop of Brixen, who prevailed upon them to return to their homes by promises of redress of their grievances. But though they consented to do this and did not proceed further down the Inn Thal, in Schwaz itself the new faith and its supporters became so powerful that at one time the latter managed to possess themselves of half of the parish church, in which portion the Lutheran service was performed.

Ultimately they were ejected, and had to meet in a wood near the town, where two followers of the Reformer, who had been deprived of their status as Catholic priests, used to preach.

The appearance some little time later of a Franciscan, who came to Schwaz with the object of "stiffening" the backs of the Catholics and stamping out the new faith, led to collisions of a violent character between the two parties.

One story, that was very generally accepted as a miracle by the Catholic population, concerning these disputes, which sometimes were not confined to words and arguments alone, is as follows. A leader amongst the reformers is stated to have exclaimed during a heated discussion, "If Pastor Soll (one of the priests who had accepted Luther's doctrines) does not preach the true doctrine, may the Devil carry me up into the Steinjoch." Hardly, we are told, were the words out of his mouth when the speaker vanished.

It is unnecessary to add that the Lutheran faith received a heavy blow from this incident, and the effect of the miracle, establishing, as the Catholics claimed, the true faith, was further increased when the unfortunate man who had thus been so suddenly spirited away returned some time afterwards, confessing his transportation to the Steinjoch, with a bruised body, and shattered faith in Pastor Soll.

Later on the mining industry was brought almost to a standstill owing to religious disputes, and an invasion of Anabaptists. And although the latter were expelled, and many thousands of those who favoured the reformed faith were brought back to the true fold through the instrumentality of the Jesuit fathers from Hall, the mines from this time commenced to decline in richness, and never recovered their former productiveness. For a considerable period copper and an excellent quality of iron was found in large quant.i.ties after the silver gave out, but the place as a mining centre declined more and more as the years rolled by.

Schwaz, in addition to its religious dissensions, has in the past suffered from a visitation of the plague, "when the inhabitants died off like flies"; and it also suffered terribly in the campaign of 1809. In the latter year the Bavarians under the Duke of Dantzic and their French allies under De Roi determined to strike terror into the hearts of the inhabitants of the Inn Thal by burning the town. They attacked the place, and not content with putting the inhabitants to the sword practised upon them the most horrible cruelties; more especially upon the women and young girls; some so revolting as to be indescribable in print. None were spared; "old and young alike were outraged, then either slain or thrown into the river or the blazing ruins which had once been their homes."

[Sidenote: SCHWAZ PARISH CHURCH]

Fortunately, although little of the town itself was left standing to show succeeding generations what ancient Schwaz had been like, owing to successive occupations by hostile troops at the latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth centuries, the fine parish church which had been commenced in 1470 (about) and was consecrated in 1502 was less injured than might have been expected. The plan of the building is remarkable, containing a double nave, each complete with its aisles, choir, and high altar, the cause of this peculiarity being the fact that the miners were of sufficient wealth and importance at the time of its construction to insist upon having a separate church to themselves apart from the townspeople. Indeed, even nowadays one of the high altars is known as "the Knappen Hoch Altar," or Miners' High Altar. In the roof, composed of copper tiles, of which there are said to be no less than fifteen thousand, provided as a contribution by the mine-owners and miners, and in the device of crossed pickaxes, appearing here and there in the decorations of the building, one can clearly trace its connection with the mining industry, and the interest the miners themselves showed in its erection.

The church at various times has been unskilfully restored, but it still contains some very interesting and fine monuments, that to Hans Dreyling, a metal-worker and founder, being especially worthy of note.

In it are depicted not only the metal-worker, but his three wives and children, who are habited as knights, all being under the protection of St. John the Baptist. This remarkable work is by the famous founders Alexander Colin of Malines, and the even more famous Hans Loffler. There are, too, nine altar pieces by Tyrolese painters which should be carefully noted.

One finds some interesting painted houses in Schwaz, as in many other villages and towns of the district of the Inn Thal, and some of the frescoes, most of which depict religious subjects, are of considerable merit.

The town, however, is not one to which many travellers come, or in which tourists linger, although it is on the main line of railway, and has considerable interest for those for whom church architecture, legendary lore, and picturesqueness of a sort possesses attractions.

[Sidenote: GEORG VON FRUNDSBERG]

The deserted and ruined castle of the famous Frundsberg (whose name, by the way, outrivals that of Shakespeare in the many forms in which it is and can be spelled), a fortress which was there before the dawn of the Christian Era, and no one seems to know quite how long even before that, is quite close to the Schwaz. Its history is obscure for many centuries after the period we have named, and only the barest fragments have come down to us of the doings and life at Castle Frundsberg during the eleventh down to the end of the fourteenth century. It was in the time of "the famous fighter of a fighting race," Georg von Frundsberg, son of Ulrich, knight of Frundsberg, born at Mindelheim in 1473, and the founder of the _Landsknechte_, that the castle and the family appear to have reached their zenith of prosperity, wealth and fame, the former two characteristics being chiefly due to Georg's marriage with a wealthy Suabian heiress. He was "one of many sons, most of whom became distinguished, and three of whom (Georg himself being one) were much esteemed by the Emperor Maximilian." Georg was, at a very early age, made a general, and after the Battle of Regensburg, in 1504, was knighted on the field by Maximilian, who had witnessed his astonishing bravery and feats of arms. When only four and twenty, he was esteemed a skilled and unequalled leader of men, and in his campaigns against the Swiss and Venetians he was wonderfully successful. Some most astonishing feats of personal strength of his are recorded; how he could push an ordinary man over with one of his fingers; could catch a runaway horse and bring him to his haunches with one hand; and many a time clove his opponents in two halves with a blow from his two-handled sword. It is not unlikely that his immense natural strength had a good deal to do with his being exalted into a popular hero, and being made the central figure of many legendary tales and astonishing romances. Of him they sang--

"Georg von Frundsberg, Von grosser Sterk, Ein theurer Held; Behielt das Feld In Streit und Krieg.

Den Feind niederslieg In aller Schlacht.

Er legt Got zu die Er und Macht."

Which maybe roughly translated: "George of Frundsberg, of marvellous strength; a hero of renown; invincible upon the field of combat and war; victorious in every battle. The honour of which success he gave to G.o.d."

He threw in his lot with the Lutherans, and commanded the troops under Charles V., and was one of the knights who were concerned in the attack upon Rome.

Although at one time immensely wealthy, when he was at last taken with an apoplectic seizure during the siege of the latter city, and carried home to die at Mindelheim, he was a ruined man. He had spared none of his wealth in the prosecution of expeditions in which he had been engaged, where, as often as not, the kings and emperors on whose behalf they were undertaken failed to pay the troops. To his credit, Georg von Frundsberg seems to have invariably paid the men himself; and we are told he seldom took the booty which fell to his share, selecting only some comparatively valueless, though generally historically interesting objects, such as flags and banners, a sword (jewelled sometimes, it is true, but still comparatively unimportant monetarily compared with the vast treasure he might have taken as his share), or the helmet of a conquered challenger, preferring that his men should be well paid by the major portion of the loot for their bravery and endurance. In those days money advanced by n.o.bles and others to warring princes to carry on expeditions was generally not recovered from the actual borrowers, but repaid by robbery of the conquered, out of the booty seized, or by means of the ransoms paid by distinguished prisoners. So it happened that Georg von Frundsberg, scorning these means, was gradually ruined, for neither Charles V. nor Maximilian saw to it that the vast sums he from time to time expended on their behalf during their campaigns were repaid to him.

His motto, which ran, "The more opponents the greater honour," was characteristic of himself and of his race. But with his death, and the financial embarra.s.sments which afflicted his heirs, owing to the heavy mortgages on the estates which he had left behind him, with no means of discharging the same, the Frundsbergs declined rapidly in power, and the race came to an end in the male line on the death of his son George (one of nine children) in 1586,[25] though there are descendants in the female line of the Frundsbergs living at the present time.

The castle afterwards fell into ruins, and its history may be said to have ceased with the close of the sixteenth century. The Bavarians, however, made use of the ruined walls for "cover" during the campaign of 1809, when they were attacked by the forces raised by Hofer and his comrades.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] W. A. Baillie Grohman, "Tyrol: the Land in the Mountains."

[22] The Emperor is stated to have trained and fired the first shot himself.

[23] Mr. W. A. Baillie-Grohman.

[24] One account states that the coach itself was drawn by the four thousand horses!

[25] Some authorities give the year as 1580.--C. H.

CHAPTER XII

THROUGH THE OBER-INNTHAL: ZIRL, ITS CHURCH, LEGENDS, AND PAINTED HOUSES--THE MARTINSWAND AND MAXIMILIAN--SCHARNITZ--LANDECK--BLUDENZ--BREGENZ AND ITS LEGEND OF THE MAID

From Schwaz to Zirl,[26] beyond Innsbruck, is between twenty-nine and thirty miles, either by train or road. The latter is quite good for cycling, and those who are not cyclists or pedestrians will find to make the journey by carriage a delightful way of reaching the picturesque little village from which the ascent of the Gross Solstein may be made, and that also of the more romantic and famous Martinswand.

The village is, unlike many of those lying in the Unter-Innthal, east of Innsbruck, an agricultural one, with most of the houses built in straight rows, and having quaint and picturesque, but not very clean or salubrious, courtyards in the rear. Some of the most charming groups of peasants, ox-carts, and "farm scenes" are to be found at Zirl, which is a good deal visited by artists, and invites the attention of amateur photographers.

In most cases the houses have their dwelling-rooms and sleeping accommodation on the first floor, which is reached by flights of steps, and the exteriors of the dwellings are made picturesque and quaint by the projecting gables of carved wood, and the galleries which jut out beneath them, where the corn, herbs, and other produce is either laid out or hung up to dry. As in other villages of the Inn Thal, one sees the love of colour in the delicate pink, blue (almost a lavender), and green tints of the stucco-work on the house-fronts and walls. Zirl is a picture-village, too, and on the houses, as one drives or walks through the narrow streets, one catches glimpses of paintings of Virgins, saints engaged in vigorous and deadly combats with evil-looking monsters of the dragon tribe, and here and there, set in a niche in the wall, a tiny figure of a Madonna, saint, or crucifix protected with gla.s.s, and often surrounded with a chaplet or bunches of withered flowers.

One of the Inns, named "the Regenbogen," has a most vivid and even startling representation of a rainbow (which gives it its name) painted over the arched doorway.

The church of Zirl is chiefly interesting from the frescoes it contains, which are the work of Schopf. The churchyard is a spot in which to linger. It is instinct with the pathos which comes in a measure from partial neglect, and picturesqueness of environment.

One of the little town's chief attractions to the antiquarian and the student of ancient and curious things will undoubtedly be the Calvarienberg, which lies a little to the north; green and beautiful, and crowned by a picturesque pilgrimage church. The ascent is comparatively easy, and well repays one for the climb, not only on account of the interest of the "Calvary," to form which the natural rocks have been adapted, but by reason of the delightful views which are obtainable from the plateau.

The path is dotted here and there by tiny buff-coloured chapels, painted a sky blue inside, marking the stations of the cross; and from almost all, as one turns round and faces the way one has come, or looks out over the valley below, there is some charming view, or tiny tree-framed vista, to arouse one's interest and delight one's eyes.

The church, were it not so isolated, and set amid greenery, and surrounded with flower-bedecked gra.s.s, would strike one as garish, so bright in tone are the colours with which it is adorned. But somehow or other there, amid silence scarcely ever disturbed by the noises of the village and only occasionally broken by the musical tinkle of cow bells, and in a sunshine and air which is so bright and breezy and clear, one's artistic sense seems to rest unshocked by the vividness of the distemper and paint, and the crudity of the decorations.

[Sidenote: THE MARTINSWAND]

The village is, of course, very closely connected with several incidents in the defence of Tyrol against the various Bavarian invasions; and in the immediate neighbourhood is the Martinswand, which rises sheer from the valley below Zirl, and was the scene, according to tradition, of a perilous hunting adventure of the Emperor Maximilian. The story is as follows: It was on Easter Monday, in the year 1493,[27] when "Kaiser Max," as he was familiarly and affectionately called by his Tyrolese subjects, was staying at Weierburg, that he determined to set out on one of his favourite hunting expeditions on the Zirlergebirge. There are many accounts of what happened, but one of the most credited says that the chamois which the Emperor had been stalking suddenly led him down the precipitous face of the Martinswand.

[Sidenote: MAXIMILIAN'S EXPLOIT]

Intrepid hunter as he was, however, the steepness of the terrible descent, which suddenly opened up beneath his feet, did not quench his ardour for the chase nor deter him. But unfortunately, in his haste in scrambling down the rocks, the iron nails in his hunting boots were torn out one by one, until when he at last reached a rocky ledge scarcely a foot in width there was but a single spike left in either of them. To descend further was impossible, and upon glancing upward along the path he had come, the Emperor at once saw that retreat by the same way was equally hazardous. So there he hung literally between earth and sky, visible as a mere speck from the valley which yawned beneath him. A less fearless sportsman might well have been unnerved by the position in which he found himself, or exhausted by the strain put upon him. But the Emperor was made of tough and enduring stuff, and his nerves were iron. Not only did he manage to retain his foothold at that dizzy height, but he succeeded in nerving himself to look about him, and after doing so for some time discovered near by a small cleft or cavity in the rock which would afford him at least a better foothold, if not actual protection.

The members of his hunting party who had followed him to the edge of the precipitous Martinswand now looked down, but were unable to determine what had become of Maximilian. And none from below in the valley could, of course, see him, even if he had not been partly hidden, first, by the ledge of rock and then by the cave, from the fact that he was more than a thousand feet above them. At last, however, when his probable situation became known to his followers and to the inhabitants of Zirl, prayers for his safety and ultimate escape were offered up in the church; and the priests also brought the Holy Sacrament out to the top of the Martinswand, and there again offered prayers for the Emperor's deliverance.

His retainers, huntsmen, and companions in the chase gazed up or down, as the case might be, helplessly and hopelessly at him, and to them no human aid seemed to be possible. Just as every one was about to abandon hope (one version of the occurrence tells us), a daring huntsman, named Oswald Zips, appeared, having himself climbed down the precipice in pursuit of his quarry.

Surprised to find the Emperor, he called out, "Hullo! What brings you here?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUTUMN IN S. TYROL]