Swedish Cross (Decree of Ferdinand III)

Swedish crosses according to a decree of Emperor Ferdinand III. are those wayside shrines, crosses and pillars, which according to an order of Emperor Ferdinand III. from the year 1650 in gratitude for the peace treaty after the end of the Thirty Years War were built or provided with a corresponding inscription. This means that these monuments, also known as “real Swedish crosses”, can be distinguished from the simple stone or expiatory crosses , which are often called Swedish crosses in the vernacular , and which have no historical reference to the Swedish Wars. By the decree of Ferdinand III. Given the given inscription, these Swedish crosses also stand out from those crosses and wayside shrines that have a historical reference to the Swedish Wars, but which are independent of the imperial decree and usually with a local reference (e.g. war victims' grave, thanks for the liberation of a village ) were built.

Historical background

In 1645/46, during the Thirty Years' War, Swedish troops invaded Austria. Northern Lower Austria in particular was occupied by Swedes for months. In 1648 the Thirty Years' War was ended by the Peace of Westphalia.

Ferdinand III. issued an imperial patent on September 16, 1650 as follows:

"So we hereby command you all and every upper-ranking authorities in particular, but you to the landlords and landlords of all Orthen in the whole country and want that you in honor and thanksgiving to God also to commemorate praiseworthy streets on the streets passes and Wegschaiden the stainers or other Creutz and bed Torture pillars which cover the old Christians of God through the whole of Germany, especially Christian ones, erect on those Wegschaiden who have fallen over in many places or otherwise been torn down, everyone on his jurisdiction ... from that date of our most humble ordinance within two months, rewrote and rewrite it Or grind a crucifix on it, especially each Creutz in a stain or egg tin with raised, probably eatable letters:
Praise and praise the God of peace who led us out of war. "

Occasionally, regionally similar resolutions were then passed, for example by the City Council of Wr. Neustadt on January 17, 1651. On the one hand, this decree Ferdinand III. new wayside shrines erected. On the other hand, existing columns and crosses that were previously erected for other reasons - often in the course of a renovation - were subsequently given the given inscription and thus rededicated.

A few decades earlier, in 1598, there had been a similar ordinance in connection with the Turkish Wars, to which the Raaberkreuzes go back.

List of Swedish crosses

The following list contains those objects that can be proven to have an inscription according to the decree of Ferdinand III. wear or wear.

In the Inscription column only those inscriptions (parts) are cited that roughly correspond to the decree. The reproduction of inscriptions is set in italics if it is not based directly on the original of a monument, but on other sources.

image	State, municipality	Address / location	Surname	description	Receive	inscription	Year (according to inscription)	Monument protection
	Lower Austria to bathe	at Wiener Straße 37 (location)	Wiserkreuz	Stone pillars with reliefs (S: Crucified, W: Christ on the Mount of Olives, N: Flagellation of Jesus, O: Christ carrying the cross), crowned by a stone Pieta.	Yes	PRAISE AND THANKS TO GOD OF PEACE WHO HAS LEADED US OUT OF THE WAR NEED	1651	77440
	Lower Austria Fels am Wagram	Gösing am Wagram, northern outskirts. (Location)	Swedish Cross	Pillar shrine with inscription on the tabernacle	Yes	LOBED ALE GOD BECAUSE ER VNS HAD GEFIRD FROM GRIEGES NOD	1656	23821
	Lower Austria Fels am Wagram	Gösing am Wagram, south-western outskirts. (Location)	Weelfel Cross	Pillar shrine with inscription on the tabernacle	Yes	LOBED ALE GOD BECAUSE ER VNS HAD GEFIRD AVS CRIGES NOD	1696 (probably: incorrectly renovated in 1656 )	23818
	Lower Austria Hainburg	Hainburg, Landstrasse 20 (location)	Ulrich's Chapel	Inscription over the gate of the Ulrich chapel.	Yes	Praise and thanks to the God of Peace who has us ...		11236
	Lower Austria Hainburg	Hainburg, Landstrasse, near the corner of Industriestrasse (location)	To the Immured / Thick Cross	Massive square column (in which two people were walled in) with picture niches.	Part of the inscription is missing	PRAISE PRICE VND THANKS THE FRIDENSGOT THE ourselves HAS GEFIRT from d ER WAR is Not H	1650	No
	Lower Austria Hollabrunn	Hollabrunn, Babogasse 9 (location)	Swedish Cross	Stone pillars with reliefs of the Crucifixion and Arma Christi .	Yes	Praise price u. Thanks to the peace God Who led us out of the war	1651	18651
	Lower Austria Near Korneuburg	outside Korneuburg, on the road to Stockerau		Column with an additional Raaberkreuz inscription.	?	Praise and thanks to the peace God Who led us out of the distress of war	1648	maybe identical to 22837 ?
	Lower Austria Krems at the Donau	Stein an der Donau , at Steiner Landstrasse 3 (location)		Massive pillar with relief depictions of the suffering of Christ, from 1610. Later with inscription according to the decree of Ferdinand III. Mistake.	only partially legible	Praise bruise and thank God for peace who brought us out of the war	-	77405
	Lower Austria Maissau	Maissau, Am Berg (location)		Part of an inscription immured in the press house	partially	... RIDENGOT THE VNS HAS CELEBRATED AVS THE EMERGENCY	1651	No
	Lower Austria Mödling	Mödling, Museum Park (original location: at Hauptstrasse 5)	Passion column	Gothic column, around 1500, similar to a spinner on a cross (Vienna) . 1650 supplemented by an inscription according to the decree of Ferdinand III. Dilapidated, sparse remains of the column since 1994 in the Mödling Museum Park.	sparse remains of the column; Inscription not received.	PRAISE PRICE VND THANKS TO GOD OF PEACE THE VNS HAS GUARANTEED AVS THE NOTH OF WAR	1650	No
	Lower Austria Neunkirchen		Parish Church of the Assumption of Mary	Inscription in the presbytery, opposite the high altar; discovered during church restoration in 1905.	?	All praise and honor to the god of peace, He who redeemed us out of war, which is thirty years away, then renovated this holy Orth.
	Lower Austria Pernersdorf	Peigarten, north of the village (location)	Swedish Cross	Tuscan column on a pedestal, with a square top and a crowning stone cross	Yes	PRAISE BREIS TEM FRIES GOT THE VNS HAS GEFIRDH AVS DER KRIGES NOTH	1656	12686
	Lower Austria Retz	Retz, northwest outside the city (location)	Swedish Cross	Pillar shrine with inscription on the tabernacle → Main article : Swedenkreuz von Retz	Yes	Praise and praise the god of peace, who led us out of war	1651	No
	Lower Austria Straning-Grafenberg	between Grafenberg and Wartberg	Engelbrecht Chapel	Pillar shrine from 1655, around which a path chapel was built in 1866.	Yes (walled in)	LOP HONOR PRICE VND THANKS TO THE FRIDENSGOT THE VNS HAS FIRED AVS OF GREAT NEED	1655	No
	Lower Austria Traiskirchen	Traiskirchen, corner of Wr.-Neustädter-Str. / W.-v.-d.-Vogelweide-Str. (Location)	Swedish Cross	massive tabernacle shrine, on polygonal column, with pointed helmet. Wayside shrine probably older than the inscription.	Yes	DRASKIRCHEN PRAISE PRICE VND THANKS TO GOD OF FRIDENCE THE VNS HAS CELEBRATED AVS THE WAR EMERGENCY	1650	78306
	Lower Austria Zwettl	Zwettl, at Galgenbergstraße 32 (location)	Swedish Cross	Pillar shrine with tabernacle and stone cross; Reliefs of the Arma Christi.	Yes	PRAISE PRICE VND THANKS TO THE FRIDENSGOT THE VNS HAD FIRED AVS CRIEGES NOD	1651	76251
	Upper Austria Aigen-Schlägl	St. Wolfgang	Peace Chapel	large chapel over the war grave	Yes	Praise praise and thank God, Who led us out of war	1652	16440
	Upper Austria Grein	Grein, at Kreuznerstraße 47 (location)	Blue cross	monstrance-like massive wayside shrine, erected by Sigmund Ludwig Graf von Dietrichstein	Yes	PRAISE VND DANCKH DEM FRIDENS GOT THE VNS HAS GEFIERDH AVS THE WAR NEEDS	1650	21747
	Upper Austria Linz	Linz, near the water gate	Burgfriedsäule	Border pillar between the Linz Castle Court and the Imperial Regional Court; Erected in 1655 in place of an older boundary stone from 1554 that was destroyed.	Yes (?)	PRAISE AND THANKS TO FRIDEN GOD THE VNS HAS FREEED FROM THE KHRIEGS EMERGENCY	1655	No
	Upper Austria Linz	Linz, Auerspergstrasse (location)	Plague column / peace obelisk	on a square base: obelisk, crowned by a metal double cross. Plague column from 1630, 1650 added an inscription	Yes	Praise and praise the god of peace the unß has gfiert out of the Khriegs distress	1650	118819
	Upper Austria Oepping			Lt. Oeppinger Gemeindezeitung: “In many places cross pillars were erected with the inscription: 'Praise, praise and thanks to the God of Peace, who freed us from plague, hunger and war hardship'. There are three such pillars on the road from Götzendorf to Rohrbach, one is on the way from Rumerstorf to Peherstorf. "
	Upper Austria Near Windischgarsten	Crossing Hengstpassstraße / Höllgraben (municipality of Rosenau am Hengstpass?)		Stone column with inscription (renovated in 1962) and modern attachment	partially (stone column is probably only the trunk of the original monument; inscription orthographically modernized during renovation)	PRAISE AND THANKS TO GOD OF PEACE WHO LEADED US OUT OF WAR	1662	No
	W. Vienna	Vienna, Triester Straße (location)	Spinner on the cross	Gothic stone column from the 14th century, later inscribed several times. → Main article : Spinner on the cross (Vienna)	Inscription no longer available	Praise and thanks to the God of Peace Who led us out of war	1650	86590

literature

• Werner Lamm: companion. Lights for the dead, wayside shrines and martyrs - striking signs along the way. in: Niederösterreich Perspektiven , 4/2011, pp. 22–24.

Web links

Commons : Schwedenkreuz according to the decree of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Education and Heimatwerk Niederösterreich: Princely influence on pillars of torture and crosses.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Education and Heimatwerk Niederösterreich: Princely influence on pillars of torture and crosses.
2. ^ Josef Mayer: History of Wiener Neustadt. Self-published by the City Council Wr. Neustadt, 1927. p. 40.
3. ↑ Wiserkreuz on www.marterl.at
4. ↑ Weelfel Cross. on: www.kleindenkmaeler.com. Salzburger Bildungswerk
5. ↑ Atonement Cross Hainburg (I). on www.suehnekreuz.de
6. ^ Trips in the areas around Vienna. Vienna 1794, p. 191.
7. ↑ Representation of the Archduchy of Austria under the Ens. Volume 2: Ober-Manhardsberg district. Vienna 1839, p. 49.
8. ^ Johann Gabriel Seidl: Vienna's surroundings. Vienna 1826. p. 253.
9. ↑ Mödlinger Hauptstrasse NEW. in: Mödlinger Stadtnachrichten 10/2013, pp. 6–7.
10. ↑ Das Vaterland , June 20, 1905, No. 197, p. 3.
11. ↑ Engelbrecht Chapel, at www.kleindenkmaeler.com
12. ↑ Christian art papers . Booklet 3, Linz 1936, p. 18.
13. ^ Georg Grüll : The Linz Regional Court (1646 - 1821). In: Historisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Linz 1957. Linz 1957, pp. 145–146, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
14. ↑ Erwin Hannerer: Oepping and his story. Episode 10. in: Oepping aktuell. March 2016.
15. ↑ wayside cross "to hell", on www.sagen.at
16. ^ Johann Hofmann: The journey on the railroad from Vienna to Baden. Vienna 1842, p. 6.

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