Codex Brandis
The Codex Brandis is one of the most valuable iconographic sources on the historical castle history of Tyrol . The sketch album, in a handy format of 22.0 cm × 16.6 cm, comprises 105 sheets with a total of more than 120 drawings of castles and fortified cities in the duchy county of Tyrol . The manuscript comes from the Brandis family archive and was acquired by the South Tyrolean regional archive . It was created in the early 17th century, probably between 1607 and 1629.
The strategic importance of the pass land in the central Alpine region , in the catchment area of the two rivers Etsch and Inn , has been evident since the Roman military road Via Claudia Augusta was laid (around 15 AD, from the northern Po Valley to the Danube). In the Middle Ages and early modern times, the old county of Tyrol became one of the most important contact zones in the heart of Europe: Here one of the main routes developed over the Alps between Northern Europe and the Mediterranean region, with a dense trade network between North and South; The cross-connection from east to west was just as important; H. the route south of the main Alpine ridge from the Danube region around Vienna to the western Po Valley around Milan. The "land on the Adige and in the mountains" also played a key role as a military transit area. This required capillary rule over the territory: Hundreds of watchtowers, castles and fortresses were built to control the traffic routes, to secure the flow of goods and to monitor any troop movements. To this day, historic Tyrol is the region with the most castles in Europe.
History of the Codex Brandis
The plan to have the castle landscape systematically recorded and described was probably made around 1600 by the then Governor of Tyrol , Jakob Andrä von Brandis (1569–1629); the draftsman commissioned, undoubtedly an expert and a relevant skilled person, is not known. The reasons why the work was commissioned are also unclear. It could have been intended as a pictorial decoration for a historical work that the highly educated governor completed around 1623.
In terms of contemporary and cultural history, the classification of the Codex Brandis into the then flourishing practice of “ country descriptions ” would be given; However, it would also be conceivable against the background of the Thirty Years' War (beginning 1618) the planned creation of a kind of castle map in order to get an overview of the economic performance of the country. The work remained a fragment : the western part of the old county was recorded on loose sketch sheets, i.e. H. the Oberinntal , the Vinschgau , the Burggrafenamt , the Etschtal up to the then imperial border at Borgheto including the southern side valleys of the Valsugana as well as the Nonsberg and the Sulztal . The entire eastern part of the country is missing: the Eisack and Pustertal valleys , as well as the Lower Inn valley with the border fortress of Kufstein are not included. In the course of the 18th century, the sketch material was viewed and compiled into an album. The picture handwriting remained in the possession of the Brandis family without interruption and, as can be inferred from user traces, was repeatedly used. The Codex Brandis has been in the South Tyrolean Provincial Archives in Bolzano since 1998 .
content
The outstanding importance of the codex was clear to castle research early on, but it was not until 1973 that Count Oswald Trapp made a specific contribution to the pictorial handwriting as a source of castle history. In 1975 the art historian and monument curator Nicolò Rasmo compiled a valuable edition of the castles and towns of the Codex Brandis located in what is now Trentino, the former Italian part of the historic County of Tyrol; the sheets with drawings from South and North Tyrol were not taken into account.
A team of experts has been working on the “Brandis Project” since 2012: The project, coordinated and supported by the Tangram cultural association in Merano, aims to publish all of the sketch material in the picture manuscript as a whole, and also to classify the Codex Brandis more broadly in terms of contemporary and cultural history So far hardly explored time of the early 17th century in Tyrol.
The first volume is currently (2019) available, with the sections Burggrafenamt, Vinschgau and Oberinntal; the second volume with the sections of the middle Adige Valley from Lana via Bozen to Tramin and the catchment area of Nons- and Sulztal is also published; the third and last volume with the castles of Salurn to the "Welschen Confinen", d. H. the old border at Borgheto is planned for 2020.
The subjects of the Codex Brandis
Volume I comprises three sections of the pictorial manuscript: the first section covers the “Merano region” with sketches of Schenna Castle , Goyen , Katzenstein and Fragsburg , Eschenloch at the entrance to Ulten, the Zenoburg and Auer Castle , a partial sketch of Merano and Tyrol Castle and the Brunnenburg , a series of residences in the vicinity of Mais-Meran: Maur, Knillenberg, Reichenbach, Rottenstein, Winkel , Rubein, Rametz , Labers and "Neuwein" (today Trauttmansdorff Castle ), also Forst Castle and a view of Steinach Monastery near Algund . The second section, Vinschgau , contains sketches of the old customs station on the Töll , of the Stachlburg in Partschins , Hochnaturns Castle , Dornsberg , Juval , an interesting historical view of the Carthusian monastery of Schnals , Kastelbell , Annenberg , Goldrain , the two castles of Ober- and Untermontani as well as a sketch of Latsch , Lichtenberg , the Churburg , the fortified town of Glurns , the two Taufer castles Rotund and Reichenberg , as well as the prince's castle with a rough sketch of Marienberg . The third section, Oberinntal , begins with a view of St. Petersberg and a rough sketch of Stams Abbey , followed by sketches of Imst and Landeck, as well as the Kronburg , Schrofenstein Castle with the old barrier wall of Lötz, and Bideneck and Wiesberg castles Laudeck , the old customs and border station of Finstermünz with the old Niklas-Klause, which no longer exists today. Finally, Tarasp Castle in the Engadine is recorded, until 1803 the furthest western outpost of Habsburg Austria in Switzerland.
Volume II comprises sections four and five of the illustrated manuscript. The section with the subjects in the Adige Valley between Merano and Salurn begins with sketches of the ancestral castles of the Brandis family, Brandis Castle and the Leonburg near Lana. This is followed by drawings by Braunsberg , Helmsdorf, the Wehrburg , Payrsberg Castle and the Schwanburg , as well as sketches from Neuhaus (“Maultasch Castle”) and Greifenstein (“Sauschloss”) , Hocheppan , sketches from Festenstein and the Wolfsthurn residence near Andrian . The mapping of the Überetscher area begins with drawings of Boimont and Freudenstein , with Gandeck and Englar, Altenburg , a view of Kaltern and Tramin, as well as the sketching of some residences in the so-called “ Überetscher style ”, which today is not always clearly possible. The two castles Enn and Kaldiff complete this section. The important castle complex of Sigmundskron , which is listed in Codex Brandis much later, belongs to this section. This is followed by castles and palaces in the catchment area of the River Noce: the old customs station of the Rocchetta begins, followed by the important castles Belasi, Spaur and Thun . With “Pflaum” (Flavon), “Nain” (Nanno) and Castle Valèr, the central aristocratic seats around Cles are recorded. The northern part of the Nonsberg is just as thoroughly documented: Vaseck (Castel Vasio), Freieck and "Arts" (the castle complexes around Arsio), "Castelpfundt" (Castelfondo), Malosco, the Morenberg mansion near Sarnonico and the Altaguardia festival in Bresimo Valley. Before listing the castles in the Sulztal, the (later) compiler of the sketch album made a mistake: he mistakenly considered a sketch of Campo Castle in Judiciary to be a view of Cagnò Castle and thus caused some confusion. It was Nicolò Rasmo who succeeded in correctly identifying the sketches in question. The remaining subjects of the Sulztal do not present a problem: the Rocca of Samoclevo, Castle Caldes, Castle Ossana and the Palazzo Migazzi in "Cuongla", i. H. in Cogolo in the Pejo Valley.
The entire third volume is dedicated to the last and most extensive section of the pictorial manuscript: “From Salurn to Trient, Rovoredo and also all around Welsche Confinen”.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Paul Clemen: Tyroler Burgen , in: Mittheilungen der kk Central Commission for the research and preservation of art and historical monuments, vol. 19, NF, Vienna 1893. Even before that, in 1886 and 1888, Clemen had always in the “Mittheilungen “, Referred to the Codex Brandis and published images from it.
literature
- Ulrike Kindl and Alessandro Baccin (eds.): The Codex Brandis. The castles in the Burggrafenamt, in Vinschgau and in Oberinntal. Tangram / Meran-Osiride / Rovereto 2018, ISBN 978-88-7498-288-2 .
- Ulrike Kindl and Alessandro Baccin (eds.): The Codex Brandis. The castles in the Etschtal, on the Nonsberg and in the Sulztal. Tangram / Meran-Osiride / Rovereto 2019, ISBN 978-88-6876-237-7 .
- Nicolò Rasmo : Il Codice Brandis. Il Trentino . Istituto Italiano Castelli-Sezione Trentino, Manfrini, Calliano-Trento 1975.
- Nicolò Rasmo: Il Codice Enipontano III e le opere di difesa del Tirolo contro Venezia nel 1615 . Istituto Italiano Castelli-Sezione Trentino, Trento 1979. ISBN 88-8068-073-0 .
- Oswald Trapp : The "Codex Brandis" as a source of research on castle history in Tyrol , in: Festschrift for state curator Dr. Johanna Gritsch on the occasion of the completion of the 60th year of life (Schlern-Schriften 264), Wagner'sche Universitätsbuchhandlung, Innsbruck 1973, pp. 269–275.
Web links
- Walter Landi, Castelli di Carta