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 VIENNA

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VIENNA

Vienna, the capital of Austria-Hungai'v, the resi- dence of the emperor, and the seat of a Latin arch- bishopric, is situated at the north-east end of the Alps, mainly on the right bank of the Danube.

I. The City of Vienna. (1) History. — The first settlers on the site were Celts, about five hundred year? before Christ. Shortly before the Christian era the land was occupied by the Romans under Tiberius, stepson of the Emperor Augustus; a perma- nent Roman camp for the thirteenth legion was established on the spot, and remainsof this camp still exist. The first mention of the place in Roman liter- ature is in Pliny's encyclopedia (about A. D. 77), where it is called Vianiomina, while the inscriptions extant use only the form Vindobona. During the reign of Domitian, Vindobona was a naval port, under Trajan it was the stati(m for the tenth legion, the legion of the imperial family. During his struggle with the Marcomanni Marcus Aurelius often stayed at Vindo- bona and finally died there. After this there began an amalgamation of the Romans resident at Vindo- bona with the Germans who were forcing their way into the empire. Caracalla raised Vindobona to the rank of a municipality with mayors {duumiiiri) and town councils. The martyrdom, about 303, of St. Florian during the persecution of Galerius proves that as early as the third century Christianity had gained entrance into Vienna. In 427 Vindobona together with Pannonia, to which it belonged, fell to the Eastern Roman Empire; in 448 it was ceded to Attila and after his death was independent. During the migrations Vienna was conquered and plundered by the Huns and Ostrogoths, most of its inhabitants taking refuge in the mountains. Vienna is first mentioned again in the Chronicles when Charlemagne advanced down the Danube in 791, destroyed the Empire of the Avars, and formed the East Mark out of the region between the River Enns and the moun- tains called Wicnerwald. There is but little mention of Vienna in the succeeding era, which signifies that no legal changes had occurred within its walls. According to ancient tradition the oldest parish church of Menna was founded in the Carolingian period. This was St. Rupprecht's, built on a Roman foundation and probably dedicated by Archbishop Arno of Salzburg. In the tenth century the East Mark was held for a time by the Magyars, but re- stored to the empire, when it was settled by Bavarian peasants. Then it was transferred by the Saxon kings to the Babenbcrgs. Conquered by the Magyars in 1030, it was restored to the empire by the victory of the German King Henry III over the Magj-ar King Aba.

By the middle of the twelfth century Vienna was a town of importance and a centre of German civiliza- tion in eastern Europe. The four churches, of which only one was a parish church, no longer met religious needs: consequently in 1137 a second parish church, that of St. Stephen, was founded. The church was solemnly dedicated in 1147 in the presence of the German Emperor Conrad III, of Bi.shop Otto of Freising, and of other German nobles who were going to the East on a Crusade. In ll.'jG the East Alark became an independent duchy and the bishops to whose diocese it belonged built residences for them- selves at Vienna. Thus there arose within the city walls the residences of the Bishops of Salzburg, Frei- eing, and Seckau, of the Abbots of Klosterneuburg, Melk, Giittweig, Heiligenkreuz, etc. Through the favour of the Babenberg djTiasty a flourishing church life developed. In 11.58 Henry Ja.somirgott founded what is called the Scotch monastery (Scholtfiiklnster) for Irish Benedictines, who were called Scots by the common people; until 1418 the monks were entirely Irish. Leopold VI built the church of St. Michael near the new palace for the people of his court and the citizens who lived near the palace. He also invited XV.— 27

Dominicans from Hungary, after his return from Palestine gave a house and chapel to the Franciscans, and offered a friendly reception to the Teutonic Knights; who thereupon built a house of their order at Vienna. At about the same time the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem settled in the town. The churches of St. Paul and St. Nicholas, the convents of the Cistercian nuns of St. Nicholas, of the Penitents of St. Mary Magdalen, and other convents were built outside the city walls. Leopold VI sought, although unsuccessfully, to release Austria from the ecclesiasti- cal control of the Bishops of Passau and to make Vienna the see of an independent bishopric. In 1198 the city had already its own jurisdiction; in 1221 Leopold VI gave it a new municipal law, the privileges of which were still further increa,sed by the last of the Babenberg dynasty, Frederick II (1230-46). All these circumstances increased the importance and prosperity of the city, so that Vienna became the most prominent city on the Danube as a prosperous commercial place, the home of noted Minnesingers, a centre of much visited tournaments, etc. Towards the close of the thirteenth century a decided change took place for Vienna; it became the centre of the great empire which the Habsburgs acquired in the course of centuries, of which Rudolph laid the founda- tion. The citizens of Vienna fought readily under the flag of the Habsburgs against the Magyars (1291, 1403), the Hussites (1421-25), the Bohemians and Moravians, Matthias Corvinus, the Turks, etc., and received from the ruhng house a chai'ter whereby their rights could not be infringed either by nobles or eccle- siastics; these rights included the holdingof fiefs, free election of burgomaster and city councillors, juris- diction over fife and property, while they undertook the defence of the city. Duke Rudolph IV (13.58- 6.5), in particular, suppressed most of the courts existing in the city, limited the right of sanctuary, and forbade the building of houses without the consent of the city council. In order to make Vienna a centre also of learning he founded in 130.5 a university, which he endowed richly and to which he invited distin- guished scholars from Germany and France. He added a cathedral chapter to the parish church of St. Stephen, and made the crj-pt of the church the place of burial for the Habsburg dynasty. He also enlarged the church and laid the corner-stone of the high south tower. His brother and successor, Albert III (1366- 9.5), encouraged the university and acquired Trieste, thus making the commerce of Vienna independent of Venice. In the first half of the fifteenth century the prominent position of Vienna was still maintained, although the university was ravaged by the pest, the Hussites advanced almost as far as the city, and the good relations of Vienna with the ruler were disturbed, because Vienna sided with the Antipope Felix V, while Frederick III adhered to Eugenius IV. There is a celebrated description of Vienna during this era written by ^neas Sylvius, later Pope Pius II, who was one of the most distinguished men of Vienna during the years 1443->5.5: he asserts that of all the cities on the Danube none is richer, h.as a larger popu- lation, nor is more charming than Vienna, the chief town of the country and the (luecn of the cities of Ea.«tem Europe. Through the efforts of Frederick III Vienna was raised to the rank of a diocese.

In the second half of the fifteenth century Vienna began to decline. After the advance of the Turks into Europe the feeling of security had disappeared, and on account of the deba.sement of the currency and the deamcss of living foreign merchants avoided Vienna more and more. The spread of Humanism led to violent conflicts at the university, which lost much of its renown. The revolt in 1461 of a large part of the citizens against Frederick III, which cost the burgomaster his office and fife, the siege of the city by Matthias Corvinus in the years 1482-85, and