History of the city of Burghausen
The history of the city of Burghausen goes back to the Bronze Age . Numerous finds on the long ridge above today's old town, on which the Burghausen castle was developed into the longest castle complex in Europe over centuries , indicate continuous settlement from that time to the present. Burghausen's old town in the very narrow Salzach Valley is still characterized by its heyday as Lower Bavaria's second residential city in the late Middle Ages . Since the early 20th century, the city has spread to the plain above the valley due to industrialization that started very early for Bavarian standards and is now the largest city in the Altötting district with almost 19,000 inhabitants .
Prehistory and early history, antiquity
During extensive excavations under the Dürnitz castle between 2002 and 2004, a number of fragments were found that date back to the 16th century BC. To be dated. This confirmed a long-held assumption that the Burgberg in Burghausen has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. The discovery of the remains of a dry stone wall from the same era, also under the Dürnitz, is considered a “small sensation” .
Numerous relics from the Iron Age came to light during these excavations: in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. A Celtic settlement probably existed on the area of today's main castle. Finds of Celtic fibula parts have long been strong indications for this assumption. There are also not a few traces of Celtic settlement activity on the other side of the Salzach in today's Austria .
The same applies to the epoch in which today's Burghausen was part of the Roman province of Noricum ; During excavations from this period, coins from Emperor Marc Aurel to Emperor Constantine were discovered. Since then, at the latest, the fate of the settlement has been inextricably linked to the trade in salt across the Salzach: stone inscriptions from Roman boatmen's guilds have been found on the banks of the river. There was also evidence of a Roman road along the Salzach that crossed and branched out with other Roman connecting roads between Castra Regina (Regensburg), Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg), Castra Batava (Passau) and Juvavum (Salzburg). The Roman name for Burghausen was probably Bedaium or Bedacum , but it can no longer be determined exactly today. It is considered certain that the strategically excellent location of today's castle hill was recognized and used in prehistory and antiquity . Today one assumes a more or less continuous use and settlement of the area from the Bronze Age to our days.
middle Ages
Early middle ages
In the transition period from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages , Christianity slowly spread north of the Alps . Probably the resident Romanoceltic mixed population with various Germanic components since the migration of the peoples was Christianized from Salzburg from the 7th century . In 788 numerous localities from the surrounding area were mentioned in the Notitia Arnonis , such as Haiminga ( Haiming ) and Reithinhaselach ( Raitenhaslach ); Burghausen was not mentioned here.
From this time there is only sparse archaeological evidence of building on the area. Before 788 there was probably a fortified court yard of the Agilolfingian dukes in the area of today's main castle to monitor the salt shipping - remains of the foundation indicate this. It is certain that there was already a small valley settlement on the banks of the Salzach, probably as a customs post . The Inn-Salzach estuary was both the geographical center of the Agilolfingian sphere of influence and in relative proximity to their residence in Regensburg .
After the exile of the last Agilolfing duke Tassilo III. the settlement initially came under Carolingian rule. As Salzburg from Pope Leo III. was elevated to an archbishopric at the request of Charlemagne in 798, the entire former Agilolfing tribal area was part of the ecclesiastical province of Salzburg. As a result of further developments, from the late 8th century on, Burghausen was located as a free imperial fiefdom between the Hochstift Passau , the Archbishopric Salzburg and the Duchy of Austria . The central location between the different areas of power was to be decisive for the centuries to come.
High Middle Ages
The circumstances and the time of the separation from Salzburg and the birth of Burghausen as a free imperial fief and county are in the dark. In 1025, Burghausen is mentioned in a document of Kunigundes of Luxembourg , the widow of the recently deceased Emperor Heinrich II. This is the oldest written mention of the city that has survived to this day. Kunigunde wanted to give Purchusun (Burghausen) to the bishopric of Salzburg, but this was prevented by Emperor Konrad II : He saw Burghausen as an inalienable imperial property .
The Counts of Burghausen , a branch line of the Sieghardinger or Aribones - the genealogy is unclear here - can be identified as Counts of Burghausen ( Comes de Burchhusen ) in the 11th and 12th centuries . The half-brother of the first known Countess von Burghausen named Ita was Lothar III. , King and later Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire . Her husband, Sieghart I. (after another spelling Sieghard I.), was Count von Burghausen-Schala, from 1072 guardian of the Michaelbeuren monastery and from 1090 also of the Ranshofen monastery . During his reign around 1090 the castle in Burghausen was extensively converted and expanded, fragments of which are still preserved in the main castle today. Sieghart I was murdered in Regensburg in 1104.
He was succeeded as Count von Burghausen-Schala by his son Sieghard II, who was married to Leopold II's daughter , Sophia of Austria from Babenberg , in 1108 and ruled Burghausen for 38 years. During his reign, Burghausen was granted market rights in 1130 ; in the same year that he granted the Archbishop of Salzburg duty-free. At that time, Burghausen was already referred to in sources as " Urbs ", which indicates a stately settlement and number of inhabitants for high medieval conditions. In 1140, the predecessor building of today's Jakobskirche was consecrated . Sieghard II died in 1142 and his brother Gebhard I succeeded him as Count of Burghausen.
Gebhard I. ruled the county of Burghausen for 22 years and appears in many documents from that time, mostly in the vicinity of the monasteries in Passau and Salzburg and at the Reichstag in Regensburg. He is also mentioned several times as a witness at the ducal court in Vienna under Heinrich II . Gebhard I. died in 1164.
Only the year of his death 1168 is known of his son Gebhard II. Probably with the death of his father in 1164, the city of Burghausen passed into the possession and sphere of influence of Heinrich the Lion from the noble family of the Guelphs , the Duke of Bavaria . The exact circumstances of this are not known, in any case, there are already several Burghausen knights in the entourage of Heinrich in 1166 , and at the beginning of 1176 he held court and court days in Burghausen for over a week. In any case, the noble family of Burghausen-Schala continued to exist in other parts of their domain for a few decades and then finally died out in 1190.
In 1180 was the Wittelsbach Duke Otto I. with the county invested . From this point on, Burghausen was to remain under the rule of the Wittelsbachers until the November Revolution in 1918. It is not unlikely that Burghausen, along with a number of other Bavarian places, was granted town charter at this time ; however, there is no written record of the city charter being awarded. In the course of private excavations in the cellar of an old town house, the restaurant "Knoxoleum", remains of a previously unknown city wall were uncovered, which probably dates from the 11th or 12th century; this could also be an indication of the granting of city rights in this time frame. In any case, in 1224 there was already a ducal court in Burghausen with two henchman offices .
From the late 12th century onwards, names from Burghausen's town life increasingly appear in the tradition. Most of them are rich citizens who appear as donors to the surrounding monasteries; Sometimes craftsmen are also mentioned. But Burghauser knights also appear again and again in different contexts, including at the Reichstag in Frankfurt am Main and Regensburg. One example is Friedrich aus dem Holz , who was enfeoffed with the Burghausen toll in 1180 - from this point on the family called themselves Mautner , accumulated immense wealth with the taxation of the salt trade and built a building at one point in the old town today is called Mautnerschloss . Despite these individual cases, for reasons of the sources, the focus will still be on the rulers for centuries: for the vast majority of people of this time and their everyday lives, there is no written evidence, only sparse archaeological findings.
In 1235 Otto II received Friedrich II, who was returning from Italy, in Burghausen. In this context, the sources speak for the first time of a toll system for the salt trade across the Salzach, but it probably existed long before that. After Otto II's death in 1253, his two sons ruled together for a short time, but in 1255 the Wittelsbach territory was divided for the first time : Burghausen and Lower Bavaria fell to Duke Heinrich XIII. , who made Burghausen his second residence next to Landshut , subordinated it directly to the Duke with his own right and court and thus ushered in the late medieval heyday of the city. Was crucial to the collection of Burghausen the residential town especially the disposal of the Dukes that all salt from Hallein be transported initially by water Salzach had allowed to be, and only at the customs office in Burghausen landed for further transport. This disposition was decisive for the great wealth and political influence of Burghausen in the following centuries, and it was by no means undisputed: in 1275, for example, Heinrich XIII decided. a dispute with the Salzburg Archbishop Friedrich II. von Walchen for himself and prevailed against the upstream city of Tittmaning ( Tittmoning ), which wanted to replace Burghausen as a salt landing and toll station.
Late Middle Ages
Burghausen becomes a residence
After the first division of Bavaria from 1255 under the 20-year-old Duke Heinrich XIII. A new castle was built on the ridge above the town, some of which is still preserved today: the castle chapel in the inner castle of Burghausen Castle is considered the oldest early Gothic sacred building in southern Bavaria; Dürnitz and Kemenate date from the same period . In 1272 a Salzach bridge appears for the first time in a document, which was probably at the location of today's "old bridge".
The oldest known seal of the city of Burghausen dates from 1290 and can be found on a letter from the city council. It probably came from the 12th century - it has not survived. It showed a strong Gothic tower in the middle, which is framed by two small Romanesque turrets. The three towers are surrounded by a wall with a large gate in the middle. Today's coat of arms of Burghausen is strongly based on this high medieval model.
Duke Heinrich XIII died in 1290. and his eldest son Otto III. took over the rule as Duke of Lower Bavaria, according to the will of the father with the support of his brothers. Between 1305 and 1307, Otto was also King of Hungary as Béla V , which ultimately led to serious conflicts with the Habsburgs and in 1310 ultimately led to a war. The surroundings of Burghausen and the city were devastated, but the castle was held by the Wittelsbach family and their followers. The dispute ended with the Peace of Salzburg in 1311. Otto III's ambitions for power politics. resulted in extraordinary financial burdens, and after the death of his two brothers, who also left behind debts, Otto was forced to find new sources of money. In 1311, after the conclusion of the Peace of Salzburg, he sold the lower jurisdiction , which previously belonged to the sovereign, to the nobility and clergy of his duchy. This act, the Ottonische Handfeste , is seen today as the beginning of the development of the Bavarian estates society . Burghausen also became a city of estates: under the new city law, the citizens now had extensive say . In the traditions there is a council of twelve , which is made up of representatives of the ducal servants and the merchants, who in turn are primarily composed of the so-called salt lords .
After the death of Otto III. His son Heinrich XIV received power, initially under the tutelage of his cousin Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria until 1319 , and then for a few years together with his brothers. At the beginning of the 14th century, there is evidence of closer relationships with the Raitenhaslach monastery - the monastery maintained a tax-exempt property in Burghausen, which was used for overnight stays and visits by the clergy in the city. In 1322 Burghausen generously received all rights of the city of Landshut by a ducal decree, but - as Bonifaz Huber writes in his History of the City of Burghausen from 1862: “As good gentlemen often do, so too our dukes: their kindness went further than you Fortune. ”In 1324 the estates intervened (probably for the first time) in the government and deposed the councils of the dukes in order to install a new council themselves, which should act financially more prudently and perhaps also more in the interests of the estates.
A dispute arose between Heinrich XIV. And his brothers, and in 1331 Otto IV was awarded the Salzburger Land , Ötting , Traunstein and Hall and the residence in Burghausen. After his death in 1334 he bequeathed his property to Emperor Ludwig to Bavaria because he hated his brother Heinrich XIV. But the latter took the property back by force, and Ludwig let it go. During this time, a new fortification wall with defense towers was built between the castle and the Salzach, which is still largely in place today and closes the old town and castle to the south. Only 5 years later Heinrich died of leprosy and left his possessions to the widow Duchess Margaretha and their 10-year-old son Johann, who died a year later. When Margaretha also passed away at Burghausen Castle in 1341, Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian took Lower Bavaria into his possession and united the two duchies under his rule.
The privileges of the city of Burghausen were continuously expanded during the various changes of rule. In the meantime, the castle and town evidently assumed an outstanding position in power and economic policy. Emperor Ludwig also confirmed the privileges granted by the previous rulers and also expanded them considerably: Burghausen was largely exempt from the usual taxes and received new financial privileges in connection with the toll system for landing and onward transport of salt; In addition, it was confirmed again in 1346 and stipulated that all salt was to be transported by water from Hall to Burghausen and only landed here, customs cleared and then transported further by land.
In 1347, the year in which the plague first broke out in Europe and practically depopulated large parts of the continent, the son Stephan and his brothers took over the rule. After the Treaty of Regensburg in 1353, Stephan was then the only Duke of Lower Bavaria. He was married to Elisabeth of Sicily from 1328 . In the course of Stephen's clashes with the Habsburgs over Tyrol , which only ended with the Treaty of Schärding in 1369, soldiers of the Archbishop of Salzburg, who sided with the Habsburgs, fought fierce battles with the allied cities of Burghausen and Braunau , which resulted in the devastation of large stretches of land in the wide area. At this time, mentions of individual Burghausen citizens became more and more frequent in the traditional documents. They are mostly found in connection with gifts or foundations to the church that have been officially sealed. Apparently, Burghausen's wealth did not suffer in the conflict with Salzburg.
After the death of Stephen II, the three brothers Stephan III., Johann II. And Friedrich "the Wise" ruled the country together until Bavaria was divided again in 1392, with Friedrich residing in rich Lower Bavaria from the start. He married Maddalena Visconti , a daughter of Bernabò Visconti, in 1381 . At the end of the 1380s there were some unrest among the city's citizens, the causes of which are unclear, but which apparently required the duke's intervention. The time was generally warlike, again the dukes were at odds with the archbishops of Salzburg, and they were able to cover a large part of the increased need for money for their warlike undertakings in Burghausen, which is rich due to the salt trade. In 1387 Friedrich captured the Salzburg Archbishop Pilgrim as part of the city war and arrested him in Burghausen Castle. A year later he released him again and escaped to Tittmoning in Salzburg. The dispute smoldered for a few years, and shortly before his death and after the renewed division of Bavaria into Bavaria-Munich , Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Bavaria-Landshut , which was still ruled from Landshut and Burghausen, Friedrich concluded a protection and defense Support alliance with Georg von Hohenlohe , Prince-Bishop of Passau .
Residence of the wealthy dukes
In 1393 Friedrich's and Maddalena's son Heinrich the “Rich” succeeded him as Duke of Bavaria-Landshut, but was patronized by Johann and Stephan, cousins from Munich and Ingolstadt , until 1404 due to his minority . With him began the heyday of Burghausen under the three "rich" dukes, and he would rule for many decades until his death in 1450. Duke Heinrich married the Habsburg Margaret of Austria in Landshut on 1412 . They had six children, of whom Ludwig would later succeed the father.
Construction activity in Burghausen continued to increase sharply on the threshold of the 15th century, not only in the castle, but especially in the city. After a city fire in 1353, a construction hut was set up for the new construction of the parish church St. Jakob , which belonged to the Oberhütte St. Stephan in Vienna . It enjoyed a high reputation in southern Germany and produced master builders such as Hans von Burghausen , who developed extensive building activities in the region and beyond. In 1397, a leprosy church was donated by the city's citizens and built a few kilometers south of the city (in what is now the “Holy Cross” district). It was last changed in 1477 by the Burghausen master Hans Wechselberger .
In 1399 a "Vicedom" was first mentioned in Burghausen; The Burghausen Rent Office was to emerge from the Vitztumsamt later . In 1400 there was a power and church political tussle over the city parish in Burghausen, at that time an important power factor in the social structure of the city and above all an important source of income for the church through rejections and donations. Up until now it was the Archbishops of Salzburg who determined and controlled the Burghausen parish. To improve their income, the Cistercians of the Raitenhaslach monastery, Salzburg and also Pope Bonifatius IX , who is known to be extremely corrupt , made it . to convince them that in future they should determine and dispose of the parish in and the income from Burghausen. Burghausen citizens, on the other hand, obviously managed to convince the Pope personally in Rome that Raitenhaslach had enough income and that Burghausen should in future have his own parish. In 1401 Pope Boniface IX decreed. the independence of the Raitenhaslach monastery from Salzburg and the power of disposal of the Burghausen dukes over their city parish, whose parish seat was at the same time moved from Mehring to Burghausen.
In 1409, the Count of Ortenburg , who had raised claims to parts of the Lower Bavarian area, was a prisoner in Burghausen Castle until he became Duke Heinrich XVI. swore his allegiance and was released. Another curious event has been handed down from the year 1414, when the duke called all his creditors into the castle to present their promissory notes: a band of forgers had been caught, they had forged the ducal seal and brought false promissory notes into circulation.
In 1421 Duke Heinrich had the castle in Törring torn down, the owners of which, probably spurred on by Heinrich's rival Duke Ludwig von Ingolstadt, had conspired against Burghausen. Heinrich allegedly appeared with a large crowd from Burghausen, Reichenhall, Altötting and Braunau, besieged, stormed and plundered the castle, and finally razed it to the ground. Even the stones were carried away to expand the Burghausen castle. Shortly afterwards, the duke gave away several houses in Burghausen to citizens - probably as a reward for the active support in Törring.
In 1430 the Lower Bavarian estates from the domain of Heinrich XVI held. a state parliament in Burghausen. On this occasion, the further course of action in connection with the Hussite Wars that raged in neighboring Bohemia was discussed . As a result, state parliaments were often held in Burghausen. A year later, Duke Heinrich and the Archbishop of Salzburg, Johann II von Reisberg, signed a new contract for shipping on the Salzach. Shortly afterwards, the alliance with the Principality of Passau was renewed.
An insight into the valor of Burghausen at this time is a traditional pattern of Burghauser citizens: 73 men appeared in full armor, with balaclavas, tanks and halberds provided were 38 men, a horse and battle sword had six men. Towards the end of the century, the first muskets appeared at the muster in Burghausen.
In 1445 Ludwig "the Bearded" , Duke of Bavaria-Ingolstadt, came to Burghausen Castle as a prisoner. His son Ludwig "the hunchback" had betrayed him to Heinrich; the dispute with Ludwig's brother Heinrich had dragged on for decades and finally ended with the death of Ludwig "the bearded" in Burghauser captivity in 1447. In the same year Heinrich's wife, Margarete, died, and Heinrich followed her three years later. All were buried in Raitenhaslach.
Successor of Henry XVI. became the son of Ludwig “the rich” , who ruled from Burghausen for almost 30 years. In his first year in power he was responsible for extensive persecution of the Jews , in the course of which all people of Jewish faith were expropriated and forcibly expelled. People could only escape this fate through forced baptism . In the same year he appropriated large parts of the finished Bavaria-Ingolstadt . In 1452 Ludwig married Princess Amalia of Saxony . For the wedding in Landshut he is said to have entertained 22,000 guests and 9,000 horses at his own expense for a week and thus demonstrated his proverbial wealth.
Ludwig's rule is largely shaped by wars and violence. In addition to the persecution of the Jews, he was also one of the main actors in the Bavarian War from 1459 to 1463, for which he collected his fighters in Burghausen and, to a significant extent, also recruited them in Burghausen and the surrounding area. In the Battle of Giengen , he and his allies ultimately defeated the armies under the leadership of his opponent Albrecht Achilles and let the captured flags fly from the Burghausen castle to demonstrate his victory.
In Burghausen in 1453 the furriers asked for the first craft regulations , which the Burghausen council then drafted and which should regulate this craft in the future. The order has been preserved to this day. According to this, every furrier who wanted to become a master craftsman in Burghausen had to prove his marital birth, prove his skills in front of the local masters and then have to go shopping with “real Easter wine”. The sons of the Burghausen masters were excluded from this procedure. In 1478 a baker's regulation followed, in 1480 a guild regulation for the weavers, 1481 an regulation for the shoemaker, and so on - they were all basically similar to the craft regulations for the furriers.
1479, after the death of Ludwig "the rich", his son Georg "the rich" followed him to the ruler's seat. It was to be the last ducal regent with his seat in Burghausen. His rule was also marked by strong expansion efforts, although he initially drew from his wealth and the territorial gains were made in the form of massive purchases. The machinations of the Wittelsbacher, however, aroused the resentment of Emperor Friedrich III. , so that Georg ultimately had to give back the majority of the acquired areas at a great loss.
Georg and Princess Hedwig of Poland married in Landshut as early as 1475, and the wedding went down in history as the Landshut Wedding . For Burghausen, especially for the castle above the city, a lot of building activity began when George took office and Hedwig moved in. A whole series of buildings have been preserved unchanged to this day, including the so-called Hedwig's Chapel on the castle and in 1484 the treasury in the inner castle, which Georg had further expanded and re-fortified. The outer works of the castle were also strengthened, especially to the north. Sometimes up to 4,000 workers are said to have been busy with these extensions and conversions. The high costs incurred by these projects prompted Georg to levy a tax on beer and wine, the beer penny , which was only accepted by the citizens after considerable grumbling. But wealthy Burghausen citizens also took part in the building activities of that time; The road towards Tittmoning and Salzburg was expanded and paved on a private initiative.
Duchess Hedwig died in 1502, a year later also Duke Georg. Contrary to the agreement between the two remaining Bavarian duchies of Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Landshut, according to which the duchy should fall to the other in the absence of a male heir, Georg appointed his daughter Elisabeth and her husband Rupprecht as heirs while he was still alive . Not surprisingly, this violation of the agreement was displeased to Duke Albrecht , and the Landshut War of Succession of 1504/05 began, in the course of which large parts of Bavaria were devastated. Rupprecht made Burghausen his main arsenal. He concentrated his troops and those of his allies in the city. “From here Braunau and Wasserburg were conquered and the whole area was filled with robbery, murder and fire. Cattle, grain and wine, as much as one could find, were dragged together to Burghausen in large numbers. ”Rupprecht had the treasures of the rich dukes removed from Burghausen; sources speak of a large amount of gold, precious stones and all kinds of valuables. But already in the summer of 1504 Rupprecht died, a few weeks later his wife Elisabeth, both of them of the dysentery . Rupprecht's father Philipp "the sincere" initially continued the disputes until King Maximilian's arbitration in Cologne ended the war of succession. In the end, Albrecht IV became Duke of the reunited Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Landshut, which also corresponded to the original agreement of the Wittelsbach rulers.
In November 1504, before the end of the War of Succession, but after the deaths of Rupprecht and Elisabeth, Burghausen caught fire. The fire allegedly broke out at a powder maker. The city burned for a whole day; the fire is said to have been visible as far as Passau. Almost the entire city along the Salzach burned down, countless people were killed, even the cannons stored in the city are said to have melted in the incredible heat. The fire spread from south to north, so it reached the main square last, only the castle was spared from the fire.
The city was rebuilt. The stone-walled skeletons were reused if they were still usable. The issues of the Burghausen City Chamber for 1505 primarily include expenses for timber and shingles. But even decades later there were reports of "desolate farmsteads" in the city. The city remained government city under Albrecht IV and was now called Rentamt after the reorganization of the administration in the unified Bavaria. From then on, however, the castle and town no longer functioned as a residence.
Early modern age
In 1505, the city of Burghausen was awarded one of the four rent offices in the newly organized Bavaria, along with Munich, Landshut and Straubing . In addition to its own city court, Burghausen now included the courts of Julbach , Kling , Kraiburg , Mörmoosen , Neuötting , Trostberg , Braunau , Friedburg , Mauerkirchen , Ried im Innkreis , Schärding , Wildshut and from 1579 also Mattighofen . Burghausen remained the administrative center of the region. The city experienced an echo of the royal court through the long presence of the Hereditary Prince Wilhelm IV and his brother Ernst ; During his reign, Wilhelm IV chose Burghausen several times as a meeting point and venue. At the beginning of the 16th century, Johannes Aventinus also lived in the city. In 1514 there was another fire, which destroyed some of the buildings that had just been rebuilt. It could only be put out relatively quickly because the town's fishermen had previously been commissioned to punch holes in the ice of the frozen Salzach in order to have water to extinguish in the event of a fire. The memory of the great catastrophe of 1504 was still fresh.
Reports of rich bourgeois life in the city have come down to us from the 16th century. The city's magistrate and the rent office, as well as the wealthy bourgeoisie, seem to have organized quite a few lavish and spectacular celebrations that were very popular in the wider area. In 1525, when the Peasants' War raged particularly in Swabia and Franconia , Burghausen was not unaffected. In May of that year there were reports of two ships full of refugees from Salzburg, among them primarily the women of the Salzburg councilors. Valuable objects from surrounding monasteries had already been brought to safety at the castle beforehand. In the end, however, armed conflicts between peasants and ducal troops did not take place in Burghausen. In 1534 and 1546 Spanish troops came through the city with their wives and children and a large entourage , whom Emperor Charles V had called for help in the course of the confessional wars. For the year 1548 it is recorded in the chamber accounts that the "Schmalerl", a steep footpath that still exists today on the Salzach side opposite Burghausen, was provided with railings and steps.
Shortly after becoming ducal, Duke Albrecht V came to Burghausen in 1551 to receive homage from the citizens of Burghausen and, like his predecessors, to confirm the old rights and freedoms of the city. In 1554, astonishingly early, there was talk of a bookseller in Burghausen for the first time - an indication that Burghausen must still have been a cultural center of the region. That the fire of 1504 was still vividly remembered is shown by a fire ordinance of 1552 adopted by the magistrate, as well as other ordinances in the following years that established a signaling system with flags in the event of a fire.
There was still little evidence of the denominational wars mentioned in the Burghausen area; Nevertheless, Duke Albrecht issued a mandate for the Burghausen Rent Office in 1558 , which prohibited reformatory efforts and placed them under severe punishment. Further craft and guild regulations followed in the 16th century; In 1562, for example, the magistrate drew up rules of trade for butchers, and years later for brewers. In 1574 Jakob Sandtner made an extraordinarily detailed wooden model of the town and castle of Burghausen on behalf of Albrecht. It is one of the oldest reliable city models ever and gives an excellent overview of Burghausen shortly after its residence and heyday. Shortly before his death in 1579, Duke Albrecht visited Burghausen for the last time and shortly afterwards issued the order to take Mattighofen Castle and Market Square by force. The city of Burghausen had to provide the military contingent and shortly afterwards conquered the market without resistance, which was then incorporated into the Burghausen Rent Office.
In 1580, shortly after he had succeeded his deceased father as Duke, Wilhelm V came to Burghausen. He was asked to hand over the city judge's office directly to the city's magistrate in future. The following year he granted the request under certain conditions and against a hefty payment from the city treasury; thus the nobility, officers, and ducal servants remained under the direct jurisdiction of the duke; From now on, however, the city judge was free to decide whether to use the "embarrassing questioning" : the Burghausen city judges made ample use of this right in the period that followed. The executioner, too, was now under the authority of the city's magistrate; Many of the city's guild and trade regulations stipulated that torturers and executioners were to be excluded from the respective professions. In the period that followed, thousands of people were tortured and executed by the Burghausen Rent Office; the last execution took place in 1831. The place of execution was in a field a few kilometers north of the castle - but the convicts were often killed in their places of residence as a deterrent.
But the sources also speak of the comparatively harmless decrees of the Burghausen city judge: In 1663, for example , a ban on masking was issued, a ban on hats that one could pull over one's face and “under whose protection one could commit all kinds of mischief, like these now Citizens and peasants, servants and servants are used to wearing hats. ”A few years later, on the orders of the city judge, night vigils were set up to stop the noisy nocturnal activities of the students at the new grammar school.
From 1590 the construction of a new ducal salt barn began in the Zaglau, in the north of the old town, which was not completed until 1600. We are talking about a storage building that is bricked up to the roof , the beams and roof shingles made of larch wood . When the building was finished, the salt monopoly for Burghausen was already lost. The trade in “white gold” came into ducal hands. The revenue from the salt toll is recorded for the last time in 1594. A crucial source of income had dried up. Shortly afterwards, in 1597, the sources speak of an epidemic that killed a large number of Burghausen's residents. In 1598 one of the most devastating floods in the history of Burghausen took place, which flooded the entire city along the Salzach. The houses right on the river were up to the roof in the water, a high water mark on the old baker's house opposite the Mautnerschloss still reminds of the disaster. The bridge was torn away, and the houses on the higher town square were also badly damaged. There were many fatalities. For weeks the people in the city and called farmers from the surrounding area were busy removing the river mud from the city. Even if this flood was probably the worst in Burghausen's history, the floods were repeated regularly and meant a recurring plague for the city.
The 17th century was to bring even greater hardship to the city. In 1688, towards the end of the century, Burghausen was officially raised to the capital by Elector Max Emanuel at the request of its citizens , after the city had been considered as such for decades and was also called. However, a steady economic and political decline had already set in: when the last Bavarian state parliament met in Munich in 1669, the representatives of the city of Burghausen were already given back seats, against which they protested without success. The city was spared the direct warlike effects of the Thirty Years' War , as the Swedes were kept at a distance from the floods of the Inn twice in 1632 and 1648/49 - nevertheless, the city was overcrowded with refugees for years, which resulted in the repeated outbreak of the plague and other epidemics and ultimately brought economic life in the city to a standstill.
During this long war period, Burghausen and especially its castle were often a refuge for the electoral family and a repository for treasures from the area. This was also the case in 1632, when the external works were reinforced again, and in 1648. In 1634 the Swedish field marshal Gustaf Horn was brought to Burghausen after his capture and held prisoner until he was released again in 1642 as part of a prisoner exchange with Johann von Werth .
At the end of 1648 the plague came again to the city, and from this time more precise records of the numerous deaths have survived. Capuchins from Braunau and Mühldorf were called to the city to care for the sick. The plague raged until 1650, and in addition to hundreds of deaths in the city, it claimed numerous deaths among farmers in the near and far area, about a third of the population. When the plague was almost over, famine swept across the country, as only a few fields were still tilled and the harvest could hardly be transported. For the remuneration of the soldiers who had been hired in the course of the Thirty Years' War and who did not want to leave the country until they received their pay , Burghausen was forcibly borrowed from Elector Maximilian with a large sum of money, which put a heavy burden on the city for years. Another low point seemed to have been reached.
Already at the beginning of the century, under the sign of the near war, Duke Maximilian I increased taxes massively and in 1610 the first general muster for his armed forces was held in Burghausen. In 1618 the mendicant order of the Capuchins came to the city, but they only really settled after the end of the Thirty Years War and then remained until the end of the 20th century. In 1627 Jesuits came to Burghausen, who in 1629 were commissioned and financially provided by Elector Maximilian to build a church , a grammar school and a college (student dormitory). The area around the old salt storage in the Zaglau was chosen as the location. The foundation stone for the building was laid in 1630 and the church was consecrated in 1631. The construction of the other buildings dragged on for many years, not least because of the ongoing wars and adverse circumstances. The church and the grammar school (opened in 1665, meanwhile expanded) as well as the facade of the college are preserved today in the form of the Kurfürst-Maximilian grammar school . In 1683 the English women settled in Burghausen.
As a result of the Turkish wars in the 1680s, there were new tax burdens for the city, the so-called Turkish tax , and numerous other troop movements and stays, which drained the city and its surroundings. A large number of Turkish prisoners came permanently to Bavaria and to the Burghausen Rent Office, including children. There are records of several baptisms of Turkish girls in the Church of St. James in 1686.
18th and 19th centuries
In the early 18th century, the outer works of the castle and around the city were expanded according to the system of the marshal and fortress builder Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban . The city and its citizens continued to decline. After Bavaria's participation first in the Spanish from 1701 to 1714 and then in the War of the Austrian Succession from 1740 to 1748, the population of Burghausen was largely impoverished. Enemy occupations, billeting of troops and other burdens of war had led the city to economic ruin.
The sources in the first half of the 18th century speak of little other than war. All capable men were drafted into the service of the Bavarian troops of Elector Maximilian II Emanuels , who made pacts with France against the Empire and Austria. The city was inundated with forced loans to contribute to the huge cost of the war. In 1704, Bavaria was occupied by Austrian troops after the Second Battle of Höchstädt . An Austrian garrison moved into Burghausen. The taxes, now for the Austrian side, were again set extremely high and turned out to be no longer affordable. The citizens of Burghausen had to surrender their assets and were disarmed. The farmers in the area and the rent office were hit even worse than the urban population. When thousands of young men were finally to be recruited for the Austrian troops, a peasant uprising broke out in 1705 , which lasted until 1706 and raged in the vicinity of Burghausen. Burghausen was the last town in Bavaria that was still in the hands of the Landesdefension when it too had to surrender on January 18, 1706.
1714, in the year of the Rastatt Peace , after the withdrawal of the Austrian troops and the return of Elector Maximilian Emanuel to Munich, the magistrate of the city and the rent office were reinstated in Burghausen. In the following years a brief calm and recovery set in. Several construction activities can be found in the sources, for example the tower of the Jacob's Church was redesigned and raised. Elector Karl Albrecht also gave in to the request of the Burghausen magistrate to re-route the road from Neuötting to Salzburg via the Burghausen- Ach- Wildshut route and not via Mehring , as promised in a privilege of 1343 . A bypass via the (today's district) Lindach should be maintained, because the passage over the north side and over the steep Hofberg between the castle and town was considered too difficult. When Burghausen had built the road as requested, the elector forbade the use of the Mehring-Tittmoning connection under penalty of confiscation .
But the next war was just around the corner, which was to bring great suffering to Burghausen again: the War of the Austrian Succession from 1740 to 1748. As early as 1741, thousands of soldiers of various nationalities allied with Bavaria were coming week after week through Burghausen, often demanding food and accommodation in addition, money from the city and the citizens. In 1742 the city was besieged and bombarded by the opposing Hungarians and Austrians, and they finally moved into the city. The damage to the castle was negligible, but some town houses were burned. The city was largely looted and had to make all sorts of contributions . In the following months, other Hungarian soldiers and Croatian soldiers allied with them came through Burghausen. The city was shelled several times, including after it was briefly retaken by irregular Bavarian troops.
After the Bavarian defeat in the Battle of Pfaffenhofen , the war in southern Germany was over. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian III. Joseph recognized Austria's supremacy in the empire with the Peace of Füssen . Somewhat quieter times began again for Burghausen for a short time. The city's sources say little about the middle of the 18th century. The prison at the castle was massively expanded, which lasted almost two years. In 1754 the Capuchin monastery celebrated the centenary of its existence. In 1761 the church in Marienberg was renovated and valuable inventory was temporarily brought to Burghausen for safekeeping in a procession.
In 1763 Burghausen was named a garrison town . The castle was heavily rebuilt and changed. Bonifaz Huber writes: “In that year the princely castle at Burghausen suffered the saddest change; [the garrison] first fell victim to the great Dürnitz, later also to the old princely bath and the foremost large princely halls, all of which were converted into rooms. The interior of the residence and the main team were changed beyond recognition. ”At the beginning of the 21st century, some interventions could be reversed, but many architectural treasures of the residence period were lost forever at this time. In 1766 the hospital or toll tower (at the entrance to the “ Grüben ”) was demolished because it threatened to collapse and damage the toll lock . In the years 1771/72 there were grain shortages and price increases, some of which appeared to have been dramatic. Burghausen evidently got off lightly, other cities were hit harder. The Traunsteiners, for example, came to Burghausen to buy grain. In 1773 the Jesuit order was abolished by a letter from Pope Clemens XIV , and Cistercians from Raitenhaslach temporarily moved into their premises in Burghausen. They also took over the teaching activities in the school. In the city the streets were paved that year.
As a result of the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778/79, in which there was no significant battle due to a silent agreement between Maria Theresa and Friedrich II , and the subsequent Peace of Teschen , Burghausen became a border town through the cession of the Innviertel to the Duchy of Austria; Although the demarcation along the Salzach was briefly revised again under Napoléon I , after the Congress of Vienna the former courts of Braunau, Friedburg, Mauerkirchen, Ried, Schärding and Wildshut together with the Salzburger Land were finally awarded to the emerging Austrian Empire. Burghausen lost its economic and political hinterland. Although the government in Landshut was dissolved that year and some of the offices were relocated to Burghausen, this was only to be short-lived.
From 1780 Burghausen and the Innviertel were slowly separated administratively. So the church in Ach was raised to its own parish. Emperor Joseph II sent teachers from Vienna to the Innviertel, who had to teach the local residents the Austrian dialect - the dialect border can still be heard clearly today. From 1790 on, refugees who had fled the French Revolution came to Burghausen , mostly priests and religious. In 1796 the prison in Burghausen was so busy that several companies were transferred to the city to guard it.
The Napoleonic Wars destroyed the last remnant of prosperity in the city. After the Battle of Hohenlinden , remnants of the Bavarian and Austrian troops flew through Burghausen to the Innviertel. About two weeks later, the French military occupied the city. The population was held responsible for generously supplying the troops. At the beginning of 1801 an emissary from the electoral government in Munich came to Burghausen to confiscate large quantities of silver and gold from the churches and to have them melted down in Munich. The fortifications in the north of the castle were declared obsolete and large parts were demolished by French troops under Marshal Michel Ney . Subsequently, a number of other structures such as the old city gates and some churches and chapels were also demolished.
In 1802 Montgelas lifted the government in Burghausen and abolished the tax offices as administrative units. After the Peace of Pressburg in 1805, a French regiment again took up quarters in the city for about a year. The castle and a large part of the town's buildings were confiscated, and the people of Burghausen were responsible for feeding the soldiers. After the soldiers withdrew in 1806, the game in the area is said to have been exterminated and all fish ponds emptied. Even after the withdrawal, soldiers of all kinds of nationalities came through Burghausen again and again, and war contributions had to be made again and again - with corresponding consequences for the residents. In 1809 Napoléon I came to Burghausen with around 100,000 soldiers and spent a few days here until the Salzach Bridge was restored - it was destroyed by the fleeing Austrians. What this mass of people meant in a relatively small town like Burghausen is hard to imagine today: churches were used as prison camps and horse stables; the first floors of all houses had to be cleared for horses, all other floors for soldiers; the hospitals were overcrowded with the sick and injured; Tens of thousands of soldiers stayed in tents in front of the city, the farmers were stolen not only supplies and cattle, but also all equipment. After the French withdrew, the city was practically empty. The citizens would have starved to death if they had not received help from the surrounding area: the sources particularly emphasize the help of people from the nearby Tann .
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In 1807 Burghausen was stripped of the title capital. In 1810 the new court in Burghausen was created, which was then to be merged with the court in Altötting to form the Altötting district office in 1862. For a few years the Innviertel was once again part of Bavaria, but after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Burghausen finally became a border town. Around the middle of the 19th century, the no longer profitable river navigation was finally stopped. In 1835 and 1836 the Ludwigsberg was built, which replaced the dangerous medieval Hofberg as the main traffic artery and which is still the main connection between the old and new towns.
During the revolution of 1848/49 a free corps was founded in Burghausen and deputations from the city were sent to the parliaments in Frankfurt and Munich. Unfortunately, to this day hardly any more detailed research has been done about the revolutionary events in Burghausen. But we know that the first sledge race took place in Burghausen in 1850. In 1852 the old salt storage facility in the Zaglau was demolished. In 1856, after several years of renovation and reconstruction, the completely changed parish church of St. Jakob was reopened after a partial collapse . In 1857, for the first time, a steamship of the Royal Danube Steamship Operations Management on the way from Regensburg to Salzburg passed Burghausen and docked briefly. In 1860 another steamship passed by on the way from Laufen to Passau and Burghausen and promptly collided with a pillar of the Salzach Bridge, which meant a long repair stay in Burghausen. In 1891 the garrison in Burghausen was finally abandoned. Not only economically and politically, but above all also culturally, the city had developed from its prime to a largely insignificant small and border town.
In 1897, Burghausen was connected to the German and international rail network with the branch line from Mühldorf . What initially did not bring an immediate upswing was decisive for further developments and the rapid economic upswing of Burghausen in the 20th century.
20th century
Founded in 1914, Dr. Alexander-Wacker-Gesellschaft für elektrochemische Industrie KG began building a plant in Holzfeld in 1915, a community north of Burghausen, which was incorporated into the city a few years later. On December 7, 1916, operations began with 403 workers and 44 employees . Compared to the state of Bavaria, which is essentially only after the Second World War was industrialized, which sat in Burghausen industrialization so extraordinary one early. In 1916–1922 the Alz Canal was created, which was supposed to supply the Wackerwerk with energy. To date, the Wacker Chemie AG plant in Burghausen has grown to become the largest chemical industrial company in Bavaria and employs over 9,000 people. Be made plastics , synthetic resins , solvents , silicones , chloro-organic compounds , semiconductor raw materials with, pharmaceutical basic materials, pesticides and high-purity silicon .
Between 1965 and 1967, a petrochemical plant was built by the US Marathon Oil Company in the immediate vicinity of Wacker Chemie , which later belonged to Deutsche Marathon GmbH, which was spun off from the US company and has been part of OMV since 1987 . The plant is supplied with crude oil via the transalpine oil pipeline from the port in Trieste and produces various fuels and lubricants .
Against the background of this industrialization, Burghausen experienced rapid population growth. While the population only increased from 2,350 to 3,148 inhabitants between 1800 and 1900, there were already 5215 inhabitants in 1925, 7408 inhabitants in 1939, a five-digit number was reached for the first time in 1950 with 10,194 inhabitants, and since 1970 Burghausen has had a population of over 18,000. In just 70 years, the population had increased nearly sixfold. The city grew with the population: on the plain between the north end of the castle and the newly established industrial plants, far above the Salzach Valley and the old residential town, the Burghauser Neustadt developed from the beginning of the 1920s. The lavish tax revenues led to a rapid expansion of the communal infrastructure , especially in the decades after the Second World War . The housing shortage after the war was alleviated by the construction of social housing, and for a city of this size extraordinarily generous communal facilities gradually emerged. Life shifted "upwards" to the new part of the city. In addition, the size of the urban area grew with a number of incorporations:
- January 1, 1921: Holzfeld with 114 inhabitants and 1.83 km² area.
- April 1, 1937: Lindach with 516 inhabitants and an area of 1.52 km².
- February 15, 1956: Parts of the community-free forest district of Holzfeld with 63 inhabitants and an area of 0.11 km².
- October 1, 1958: Parts of the municipality of Mehring with 236 inhabitants and an area of 1.12 km².
- July 1, 1964: Parts of the community-free forest district Holzfeld (marathon area) with 27 inhabitants and 2.2 km² area.
- February 15, 1969: Hechenberg, municipality of Mehring, with 112 inhabitants and an area of 0.1 km².
- January 1, 1978: parts of Raitenhaslach with 1127 inhabitants and 6.53 km² area and parts of Mehring with 11 inhabitants and 0.76 km² area.
From the end of the 1960s, the entire old town and the castle complex were renovated. The decision to renovate the old town and against a large-scale demolition of it was made in the Burghausen city council with a narrow majority of just one vote. In the course of the renovation of the old town, a sea wall was built in 1969/70 to prevent the city from flooding in the future. Furthermore, a road was laid on the new protective wall, which relieved the medieval alley In den Grüben from the increasing car traffic. Today the traffic is completely relocated to the Uferstraße, the "Grüben" are a pedestrian zone.
literature
- Alois Buchleitner: Burghausen. Castle - Old Town - Neustadt - Raitenhaslach. 6th edition. Burghausen 2004.
- Johann Georg Bonifaz Huber: History of the city of Burghausen in Upper Bavaria . Lutzenberger, Burghausen 1862 ( digitized version )
- Volker Liedke: Building age plans for urban redevelopment Burghausen . In: Burghauser Geschichtsblätter . No. 34 , 1978, ZDB -ID 342459-5 ( DNB data set ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Georg Bonifaz Huber: The history of the city of Burghausen in Upper Bavaria, Burghausen 1862, p. 36.
- ^ Johann Georg Bonifaz Huber: The history of the city of Burghausen in Upper Bavaria, Burghausen 1862, p. 128f.
- ^ Johann Georg Bonifaz Huber: The history of the city of Burghausen in Upper Bavaria, Burghausen 1862, p. 256.
- ^ WACKER in Burghausen. Wacker Chemie AG, March 2017, accessed December 15, 2018 .