Resistance in the ‘holy land’ of Tyrol: a Tyrolean Taliban?

Heritage_attributes:

Modulinformation

Textangaben

Text

8824

True

save

The Austrian war propaganda hit the mark with the people of Tyrol – the land had to be handed over to Bavaria after the defeat of 1805, but there was soon resistance to the new foreign rulers. The Tyrolean peasantry, who since medieval times had enjoyed relatively extensive freedoms in the form of a constitution based on estates, now saw their privileges jeopardized. The popular anger that broke out with the resounding slogan ‘Mander, s’ischt Zeit’ (‘Men, it’s time’) was motivated not so much by reverence for the Habsburgs as by resentment at the loss of ancient rights and popular religious traditions. The resistance against Bavarian-French rule was led by Andreas Hofer, who was not only a farmer and landlord of the hostelry Am Sand but also a debt-ridden horse- and wine-dealer.

While Archduke Karl was celebrating his victory at Aspern, Hofer, who called himself a ‘commander by appointment of the House of Austria’, was scoring successes on the Bergisel against the Napoleonic troops, prompting Emperor Franz to declare euphorically that Tyrol ‘shall never again be separated from the body of the Austrian imperial state’ and that the only peace treaty he would sign would be one that ‘binds this land indissolubly to My Monarchy.’

However, the Emperor was not able to keep his promise – after the defeat at Wagram was compelled to conclude the treaty of Schönbrunn and accept the loss of Tyrol. Although Hofer fought on, his endeavours were in vain: on 1 November 1809, he was definitively defeated at the last battle on the Bergisel. He himself had to take flight and at the beginning of 1810 was betrayed to the French for 1,500 gulden by the peasant Franz Raffl. Hofer was arrested on the Pfandleralm, sentenced to death by a court martial in Mantua and shot on 20 February 1810.

Opinion on Andreas Hofer’s martyrdom has been strongly polarized: while he is revered in conservative Catholic circles as a freedom fighter, critics draw comparisons with the present-day Taliban movement. The comparison is corroborated by his religious tirades against Jews, Freemasons and proponents of the Enlightenment, and also by his decree forbidding women, on pain of rough justice, ‘to wear too little on their breasts and arms, or to cover them with transparent rags’. His betrayer was later called the ‘Judas of Tyrol’, carrying the saint-like veneration accorded him to the highest possible extreme by putting Hofer on the same level as Jesus Christ.

Medien

Zitate

Zitat (übernommen)

Legen Sie hier ein Textzitat ab

222

True

ignore

p-zu-mantua-in-banden-br-der-treue-hofer-war-br-in-mantua-zum-tode-br-fuehrt-ihn-der-feinde-..

p-text-und-melodie-des-andreas-hofer-liedes-bilden-ein-untrennbares-ganzes-es-ist-daher-verboten-..

p-die-bayern-haben-es-nicht-verstanden-tirol-zu-regieren-sie-sind-dieses-tapferen-volkes-dessen-..

Weitere Informationen

Literatur (übernommen)

4109

True

save

Schuberth, Richard: Tiroler Taliban?, in: Die Presse (Spectrum) vom 28. März 2009, S. III Vacha, Brigitte (Hrsg.): Die Habsburger. Eine europäische Familiengeschichte, Graz/Wien/Köln 1992 (Reprint 1996), S. 367 Vocelka, Karl: Glanz und Untergang der höfischen Welt. Repräsentation, Reform und Reaktion im habsburgischen Vielvölkerstaat 1699–1815, Wien 2001, S. 48–49, 181–182

Attributszuweisungen

Attribute (übernommen)

Weise Attribute zu

-1

True

save