Novellaberg
Novellaberg (also Novellenberg , Graubünden Romance in the idiom Vallader Munt Novella ) is the historical name of the southern slope of Piz Mundin in the Swiss Lower Engadine .
The Novellaberg was a strategically interesting area with an area of 18 square kilometers. Austria and Switzerland fought from the 15th century to 1868 about the territorial affiliation of the Novellaberg, in the 19th century under the name Gränzanstand near Finstermünz . Since the State Treaty of 1868, the Novellaberg has finally belonged to Switzerland.
Location and size
The southern slope of Piz Mundin was called Novellaberg in the real sense. Today it is located in the lowest part of the Swiss Lower Engadine, in close proximity to Tyrol and Austria.
The name Novellaberg was closely related to the territorial conflict between Austria and Switzerland, which lasted from the beginning of modern times until 1868, and therefore in a broader sense also included the entire right flank of the Schergenbach , which, coming from Samnaun , into the Inn flows into it and today forms the border between the Lower Engadine and Tyrol.
The name Novellaberg was no longer used in the Swiss Dufour map, sheet XV of 1864 - published in the middle of the decisive negotiations in the border conflict between Austria and Switzerland. It was later not included in the Siegfried Map or the National Map of Switzerland .
The disputed territory of the Novellaberg including the Schergenbach flank in the Samnaun valley was around 18 square kilometers. This area was two and a half times as large as that of the Dappental , which in the 19th century was also an important border conflict territory in Switzerland. The fact that the border conflict around the large Novellaberg is less anchored in historical awareness than the Dappental issue is likely to be related to the fact that the Dappental was at least sparsely populated, that it was accessed by a road, that this road was of strategic importance for France and that Napoleon III . had the area administered by Switzerland military occupation in 1861.
At that time, the disputed area was not officially quantified in square kilometers, but in "hours": The Federal Council spoke of an "area of 8 hours in circumference". If this quantification is based on the 4.8 km length of the hour, which was common in Switzerland at the time , one receives a circumference of 38.4 km, but just as little an indication of the area as one would expect today in the media or in state negotiation documents .
history
middle Ages
Since 1140, the Lower Engadine and thus also the Novellaberg were under the secular rule of the County of Tyrol , while the ecclesiastical rule was exercised by the Diocese of Chur .
In 1363 Tyrol came to Austria. The Habsburgs increasingly lost their influence over the Lower Engadine.
16th Century
In the years 1542 and 1554 the residents of Tschlin built a footpath from Martina to the Austrian Schergenbach, which meant bypassing the Altfinstermünz customs office . These attempts could not be tolerated by Austria and both times the roads through Austria were destroyed.
Immediately after the destruction of the second road construction, the Austrian state administration bought the Novellahof in 1555 on behalf of the Habsburg King Ferdinand I in order to create facts on the Novellaberg. In return, the residents of Tschlin intervened in such a way that the work of the Austrian leaseholder on the Novellahof was made impossible.
In 1600 the Bundestag Tyrol in Graubünden made a proposal that came close to the current situation: Handover of the Novellaberges to Graubünden, but excluding the Schalklhof , the bridge and weir at Altfinstermünz and the connecting route between them.
17th century
In 1604 the Landvogt von Castels (in today's Swiss Prättigau , at that time an Austrian administrative seat) would have accepted the proposal of the Graubünden Bundestag from 1600, but the mutual ratification failed because of an additional claim by the Graubünden in connection with a border dispute from 1592 with regard to the Vinschgau Place Mals .
In July 1652, the Lower Engadine, which had since been reformed apart from Tarasp , bought itself free from Austria, but since then there has been disagreement about the exact borderline on Novellaberg. In the past, Austria was afraid that the Lower Engadine would be used as a gateway for military attacks. In addition, Austria still had no interest in its inland customs office in Altfinstermünz being bypassed.
18th century
The military importance of the Novellaberg is attested in the Atlas Tyrolensis : A military position in connection with the Bavarian hype is recorded for 1703 . In this war there was fear of a French invasion from the south.
After numerous negotiations, a new border was drawn in 1766, which struck Novellaberg with Austria. In the years 1769/70 the Austrian imperial family sent the cartographer Blasius Hueber to the Novellaberg to re-measure the border correction. The newly negotiated border course can be seen in the Atlas Tyrolensis in the edition of 1774: The lower part of the Novellaberg, but also the entire right flank of the Schergenbach, through which the Swiss Samnaunerstrasse runs today , belonged to Austria. The Piz Mundin, still called Mondiner Berg in the Atlas , was a border point. In the Engadin main valley, the Mühl-Lana valley (today Val Mundin ) separated the upper, Swiss Novellaberg from the lower, Austrian Novellaberg. The Ovellahof became the lowest Swiss settlement.
A decade later, in 1779, Altfinstermünz was abolished as an inland customs office. In the dispute over the Novellaberg, at least the argument that the Novellaberg could be misused to bypass its own customs office fell away for Austria.
19th century
In 1803 the canton of Graubünden joined Switzerland as an equal canton , which at that time was still a confederation. In 1830 there were ideas from the Grisons to build a road on Swiss territory from the Engadine main valley to Samnaun. At that time, however, this connection - at least assuming a route that would be similar to today's one, and another route would not have been feasible at the time - would not have been located on Swiss territory at that time, but mostly led through the Austrian Novellaberg.
In 1834 the Hochfinstermünz fortress was built below Nauders . This would have enabled Austria to see a possible Swiss road connection on Novellaberg and to control it militarily. In 1848 Switzerland changed from a confederation to a federal state. Switzerland has now become a negotiating partner for Austria.
Between 1850 and 1854, the Reschenpass was made accessible on the north side by a direct connection from the Kajetansbrücke to Nauders. This made Altfinstermünz unimportant and consequently also the threat posed by a possible Swiss road connection. On the other hand, the unconditional surrender of the Novellaberg would have given the young federal state military access to this modern Reschen pass ramp, and thus control of the connection to South Tyrol and Lombardy . Austria gave up its Lombard territories only a few years later, namely in 1859.
The divided Novellaberg was unsatisfactory for the young Republic of Switzerland. It still claimed the entire Novellaberg up to the confluence of the Schergenbach, while Austria insisted on the 1766 demarcation. The first conference proceedings took place on September 12, 1859, in Müstair, Switzerland . At that time, Switzerland based its argumentation on the natural border of the Novellaberg (Inn and Schergenbach) as well as the lack of other documents or practical advantages for Austria. However, Switzerland also openly declared a military interest in Novellaberg and feared an expansion of the Hochfinstermünz fortress to the left side of the valley, the Novellaberg.
In 1861 an Austrian proposal was made, which Switzerland rejected. As a result, diplomatic notes were exchanged for almost ten years - with an interruption from 1863 to 1866. On November 2, 1864, the Federal Council internally asked itself why Austria had not even started the agreed road construction while the section of Switzerland was almost finished. The border conflict was given the diplomatic name of Gränzanstand near Finstermünz , and at times Austria raised counterclaims on the border with the neighboring Münstertal and in the neighboring Paznaun Valley ( Ischgl and Galtür ).
state contract
Since 1863, the border distance at Finstermünz was one of the last major territorial conflicts between the 15-year-old Swiss republic and a neighboring state. In the Dappentalfrage where it had gone to an area of seven square kilometers on the border between Switzerland and France, could an agreement be reached on 8 December 1862 and on 20 February 1863, the Dappentalvertrag could be ratified. There was also the conflict over the Valle Cravariola , which could not be settled until 1874.
On July 14, 1868, a state treaty was signed between His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty and the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation , which now added the Novellaberg and the right flank of the Schergenbach to Switzerland. A mistake was made that would have isolated Altfinstermünz from the Austrian Inn Valley:
“ In consideration of the borders of the Grisons, a very serious mistake has crept in. From Finstermünz a small stretch of the country road is going, whereby one district with the other, i.e. H. the Vinschgau is united with the Oberinntal, indicated for Graubünden. "
The mistake has been corrected, the Swiss made no claims on this connection between Schalkl and Altfinstermünz. A narrow strip of land to the left of the Inn from Altfinstermünz to Schalkl is still Austrian today.
As a contractual consideration for the gain of territory, Switzerland had to make itself, literally, binding not to build any fortifications in the area that fell to it, and in particular on the Novellaberge.
In the contract, both contracting parties undertook to establish an appropriate road connection between the Engadine and Tyrol using the most efficient means of transport . In fact, the road connection was only opened in 1923, nine years after the opening of Samnaunerstrasse, the Swiss road connection to Samnaun through the formerly Austrian part of the Novellaberg.
Despite the new territorial affiliation, there were still cross-border rights of use. For example, the Schalklhof was allowed to mow on the slopes of Piz Alpetta and on Pra dal Cor , as an official announcement from 1897 stated:
“ [The Schalklhof] was delighted to be able to mow at will on Lentsche and Mundyn. "
Ovella courtyard
The Ovella-Hof (also Novellerhof, Novelles, Uella, Aguella, Juvelle or Jufell ) today consists of a courtyard used as a Maiensäss in a clearing between Martina and Vinadi , roughly in the middle of the historical Novellaberg. ( 46 ° 54 ′ 23.3 ″ N , 10 ° 28 ′ 35.1 ″ E )
On the one hand is hof Nawell (derived from the Latin NOVELLA to mean Neureute ) indeed mentioned in a list of Neuro Dungen built in 1482, as a belonging to the Grisons Tschlin, on the other hand Juvelle is already since 1258 in each case together with the former settlement Pontalt at Cinuos-chel - Brail (today Punt Ota , German High Bridge ) instead of Martina called as the border point of the Lower Engadine.
Ovella has been an important border point between the Engadine and Tyrol and Austria for many centuries. Until 1911 the valley path led across the clearing of Ovella. With the construction of the road between the Ovella clearing and the Inn, the Ovellahof was sidelined. The former route is now only used as a gravel access road from the main road from the north to the courtyard. The southern, about 1000 meters long part of the previous route is no longer normally accessible today.
Today's farm in the Ovella clearing consists of a farmhouse with an attached stable. The facade shows numerous paintings. The attic dates from the 19th century, the paneling in the room from around the 17th century. The rest of the building is of unknown date.
Until the beginning of the 21st century, the Ovella farm was connected by a path to the Ovella Arsüra pasture (also Pra d'Arsüra ), which is 500 m higher . However, this has recently been lost.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b SwissTopo.
- ↑ a b c Federal Gazette of the Swiss Confederation of January 7, 1860.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Robert Günter Klien: When the Mondin became a Swiss. Pfunders village newspaper, June 2014.
- ^ Otto Stolz: Political-historical description of the country of Tyrol. First part: North Tyrol . Archive for Austrian History , Vol. 107, p. 756, Verlag Karl Gerold's Sohn, 1923.
- ^ A b c Instruction of the Swiss Commissioner in Vienna by the Swiss Federal Council of July 1, 1867.
- ^ Minutes of the meeting of the Swiss Federal Council on November 2, 1864.
- ↑ Duden: "decency" in the meaning of "hardship" or "trouble".
- ^ Treaty between Switzerland and Austria on the regulation of the border at Finstermünz. (From July 14, 1868.). In: https://www.amtsdruckschriften.bar.admin.ch . Swiss Federal Council, accessed on November 28, 2019 .
- ^ Message from the Federal Council to the h. Federal Assembly, concerning the treaty between Switzerland and Austria on the regulation of the border at Finstermünz. (From July 20, 1868.). In: https://www.amtsdruckschriften.bar.admin.ch . Swiss Federal Council, accessed on November 28, 2019 .
- ^ Reichsgesetzblatt für das Kaiserthum Oesterreich, 1869. In: http://alex.onb.ac.at/ . Austrian National Library, accessed on November 28, 2019 .
- ↑ Otto Stolz : Historical Description of the Upper and Front Austrian Lands. 1943.
- ↑ Ambros Sonder: The rural life of the Lower Engadine community Tschlin (Schleins): in the mirror of its language. Engadin Press, 1944.
- ↑ Documentation ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the inventory of historical traffic routes in Switzerland, Finstermünz - Scuol line. With picture of the Ovellahof from June 2001.
- ↑ Settlement inventory of the Tschlin factions ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Page 128, with picture. PDF (21 MB).
Coordinates: 46 ° 55 ′ 0 ″ N , 10 ° 28 ′ 0 ″ E ; CH1903: 830 602 / 200625