The siege of Freiburg in 1744 (part 6)

Some will wonder why I write again about the siege of Freiburg. However I stumbled over some interesting aspects of the fortress and siege of Freiburg in 1744 during the last months. Therefore I don’t want to miss the chance to bring some notes to the attention of my readers.

A view on the area of the commander's garden today (2020). Photo by myself.

A magnificent view from the terrace on Freiburg. Behind the more darker hills on the right are a portion of the Kaiserstuhl-mountains. The low elevation on the left is a portion of the Tuniberg. Munzingen with the Munzingen castle, where Louis XV had his headquarters is in the Tuniberg area. You can even notice the Vosges-mountains in the far distance. We can assume that the commander could recognize from this position every enemy army aproaching at the town. (Photo: André Hanselmann)

The first topic is a more peaceful one. During the Corona-crisis I had the chance to find out more about the fortress, visiting some sights together with my kids. We often walked over the Schlossberg (the mountain of the former fortress of Freiburg). The “Kommandantengarten” was one of my son’s favourite places there, caused by the fact that you have a magnificent view from there on the landscape of the Breisgau towards the Kaiserstuhl mountain massif. After 1706 a garden terrace was erected in the French style under the “Ober Schloss” (fort Saint Pierre). Some paths connected the garden with the commander’s lodgings (the fort Carré) and the castle’s road leading to the main gate of the fortress. The garden was changed for several times, most prominently by colonel Melchior August de la Venerie, who was responsible for the fortification and strengthening of Freiburg’s fortress from 1707 to his death in 1739. De la Venerie planed a small “Maison de plaisance” for the garden. Although it seems that only a portion of the building was executed. Nevertheless we can today get some sort of an impression of a more different aspect of the life in a garrison there. It’s no doubt that this place was chosen for relaxation and a more gentlemen’s life for the commander of the fortress. Many clay pipes were found in the area of the commander’s garden indicating more about the common leisure activities of officers and soldiers[1]. We can imagine how the commander sit their together with his officers or other people of nobility discussing over contemporary topics and relaxing from the daily service.

A look in the area of the former commander's garden. Notice the significantly rising evalation at the right. Such aspects however often were integrated in 18th century gardens. (Photo: André Hanselmann, 2020)

The local plate shows a 18th century picture of the place. The steepness of the hillside is obvious. Please note the different paths from the garden to the main gate at the left and to the fort Carré at the right. There is a very tiny building too.(Photo: André Hanselmann)

The Elevation is still visible now after the large destruction of the fortress in 1744. A view from the garden up towards the fort Carré. (Photo: André Hanselmann)

A picture of de la Venerie's japanese-chinese style pavillion from the plate. (Photo: André Hanselmann)

The French siege had caused many troubles to the town. These destructions began before Coigny’s and Noaille’s army arrived. The Dreikönigshaus was one of the taverns outside the city’s fortifications before the war and was burned in 1744. In 1748 the destroyed building was replaced by a new one[2]. Halve of the tavern was effectively demolished by arson in 2015. The very nice architectural testimony of the building’s façade is visible even today. I had to remember Jeff Berry’s remarks about the French actions before the battle of Fontenoy destroying the civilian dwellings at Bourgeon and Peronne laying fire within the houses for getting a clear field of firing for his artillery and preventing places to cover for the approaching enemy[3].

A modern view on the tavern from the streetcorner Untere Scharzwaldstraße/Schwarzwaldstraße. (Photo: André Hanselmann)

I really much love nice tavern signs and this is a very good example. (Photo: André Hanselmann)

A good example for fine architectural components on profane 18th century buildings. (Photo: André Hanselmann)

A detail of the baroque door frame with the date 1749. It would be interesting to know if the owner of the tavern got any compensation for the destruction of his house and how he could rebuilt it in 4 years. (Photo: André Hanselmann)

Even places of worship were not saved from destruction by the battle. I found an example on a plate at the Anna-church (today officialy “St. Cyriak und Perpetua”) in Freiburg-Wiehre. The whole area often was demolished by the repeated attacks on Freiburg over the centuries. The Adelhausen monastery therefore was moved from the area of the Adelhausen village to a place within the city’s walls. But now I will include a translation of the text on the stone plate on the said church:

“In the year 1744 I was brought to the ground for a third time and to the honour of god, Maria and to the holy Cyriaciu and Perpetua erected again in the year 1753.”

The upper portion of the church. It was difficult for me to get a better picture from the side, where the stone plate was brought in. There are some exceptional old buildings around the church looking much like 18th century relicts. The place is very close and nice with high trees etc.. Please notice the impressive sculptures too. (Photo: André Hanselmann)

The plate itself, which kept my attention on the topic. There is a very nice baroque interior of the church, although closed today during the Corona-crisis. (Photo: André Hanselmann)

The French had shot 280.000 canon shots, 52.000 bombs and thrown 7.360 stone baskets on Freiburg during the siege, which was leading to massive destruction within the city[4]. During these days there are some relicts of the fortress and some glass handgrenades found by archaeologists, which are on show in the exhibition “freiburg.archäologie – 900 Jahre Leben in der Stadt”[5]. Dr. R. Johanna Regnath held a lecture about the important superior Euphemia Dorer talking about the stress suffered by the Usurlins not only during the siege, when they hold out within the town, but afterwards too, because the destruction of the city’s fortifications next to the Schwarzes Kloster (black monastery) led to heavy damage on their monastery[6].

The black monastery today. The area of the street today was occupied by the city's walls in 1744. (Photo: André Hanselmann, 2020)

A more detailed view on the monastery. The small Tower is part of the church St. Ursula. (Photo: André Hanselmann, 2020)

Besides a deep impact on the dwellings of the inhabitants of Freiburg, the distress by the terror of bombardment and some side effects like the plundering of civilian houses by the Austrian light troops during the siege[7], the siege had a huge consequence for the town’s economy too. Freiburg had a widely known reputation for gem work. Waldkirch and Freiburg got the monopoly on the import and processing of garnet from Bohemia since 1601[8]. The siege of Freiburg in 1714 had a great effect on the business. In 1718 only 28 masters were working, although there were 119 in 1606 and 40 in 1706. The rebuilt grinding mills were burned down during the explosion of the city’s fortifications by the French after the siege. The local administration had to invest a lot to erect again the mills at the “Gewerbekanal”. In 1753 1.400 people lived again from the boring and polishing of the garnets[9].

Considering such aspects it is clear why Freiburg’s population greeted the end of the fortress.

The town during the time of the fortress.
1: direction of the Dreiköngshaus.
2: direction of Adelhausen village.
3: The black monastery.
Picture of the Stadtmuseum, actually shown on a wall near the Stadttheater. (Photo: André Hanselmann 2020)

Text: André Hanselmann

Photos: André Hanselmann

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[1] Text on the „Schautafel“ at the commander’s garden by the “Schloßberg Freiburg” organisation

[2] Please look on this photo for a better impression of the whole complex: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreik%C3%B6nigshaus_(Freiburg_im_Breisgau)#/media/Datei:Dreikönigshaus_(Freiburg)_jm4255.jpg

[3] Jeff Berry: „Fontenoy 1745“ – here: "Waiting for Cumberland“ http://obscurebattles.blogspot.com/2017/09/fontenoy-1745.html (checked on June 12th 2020)

[4] „Oesterrichischer Erbfolge-Krieg 1740-1748“ V. Band, Seidel & Sohn, Wien 1901, p. 591

[5] You can find more information about the exhibition on the museum’s homepage. The exhibition lasts from November 23^rd  2019 until October 4^th 2020: https://www.freiburg.de/pb/1430498.html (checked on June 12th 2020)

[6] You could find an article by Dr. Regnath in the publication of the lectures: R. Johanna Regnath (editor – with others): “Auf Jahr und Tag – Leben in Freiburg in der Neuzeit” rombach, Freiburg, 2019

[7] Porges/Rebrachta p. 549

[8] Marina Reiling: „Bevölkerung und Sozialtopographie Freiburgs i. Br. Im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert“ Stadtarchiv Freiburg, Freiburg, 1989, p. 62

[9] Marina Reiling, p. 64-65

Hochbau im 18. Jahrhundert / Building construction in the 18th century

Das Thema Hochbau im 18. Jahrhundert ist ein derart facettenreiches, dass ich in unserem Blog ähnlich wie zum Straßenbau gewissermaßen nur an der Oberfläche kratzen kann. Ich selbst bin im Rahmen des Freiwilligen Jahres in der Denkmalpflege an verschiedenen Ausbildungsstätten wie im Kloster Johannesberg bei Fulda oder der Denkmalakademie Görlitz mit historischen Bautechniken in Berührung gekommen.

The topic of the construction of buildings is such a multifaceted, that I will only scratch on the surface as I did in my posting about the road building process. I myself became contacted with historical building technics during my “Freiwilliges Jahr in der Denkmalpflege” (Voluntary year in the preservation of monuments) in different training centers such as the Johannesberg monastery near Fulda and the Denkmalakademie Gorlitz.

Für unser konkretes Beispiel, das Steigengasthaus an der Roten Steige ist vor allem das Thema Fachwerk interessant. Es gibt zur Konstruktion und dem Bau selbst zahlreiche Bücher[1][2][3].

Man muss sich vor Augen führen, dass das Gebäude, das wir heute im Freilandmuseum Wackershofen sehen nicht gänzlich mit dem übereinstimmt wie es 1749 errichtet wurde. Der Tanzsaal von um 1800 ist eine für diese Zeit typische Ergänzung. Auf einem Schlussstein über der Eingangstür des Hauses prangt die Jahreszahl 1800.

For our special example, the tavern at the red steep road the topic of half-timbering buildings is interesting. There are many books about the construction and building process [1][2][3].

It’s important to notice that the building, as it is today in the open air museum Wackershofen, is not completely the same as it was built in 1749. The dancing hall from 1800 is a complement, which is rather typical for the period. On a keystone over the main entrance we can read the date 1800.

Wichtig für uns ist aber, dass auch die zahlreichen Beweisstücke des von mir intensiv untersuchten Prozesses zwischen Schwäbisch Hall und dem Erzbistum Würzburg wiederholt von einem völligen Neubau sprechen[4]. Die finanzielle Grundlage für den Neubau muss der florierende Wirtshausbetrieb[5] und eventuell weiteren Einnahmequellen gebildet haben.

Ich will kurz auf die verschiedene Aspekte anhand des Aussehens des Hauses selbst eingehen.

Das Steigengasthaus heute, Aufnahme 2011 (Foto: Michael Paulick)

It’s important for us, that in the trial between the archbishop of Wurzburg and Schwäbisch Hall, which I researched intensively, many documents are speaking about a completely new building [4]. The financial foundation for the building was constituted by the prosperous tavern [5] and maybe more sources of income.

I want to dive in more depth according to the several aspects of the look of the house itself.

Johann Conrad Körner: "Hall in Schwaben MDCCLV", Lavierte Tuschzeichnung. Der Ausschnitt zeigt Arbeiter im Steinbruch auf der westlichen Kocherseite. Archiv. (Foto: André Hanselmann)

Ankündigungen und Kurze Filme – Announcements and short films

Manche haben vielleicht schon auf Youtube die kurzen Filme des Freilandmuseums Wackershofen zu dem Steigengasthaus und dem Haus aus Zaisenhausen entdeckt. Darin sind wir jeweils kurz zu sehen. Einmal wurde auf unserer Veranstaltung „Landleben 1619“ 2019 und einmal bei „Anno Domini 1743 – Freud und Leid“ im Jahr 2018 gedreht. Viel Spaß beim Anschauen!

Some of you maybe have noticed on youtube some small films by the open air museum Wackershofen about the tavern at the steep road and about the house from Zaisenhausen. We are to be seen there. Once they filmed on our event “Landleben 1619” in 2019 and once they filmed on our event “Anno Domini 1743 – Freud und Leid” in 2018. I wish you joy by looking the films.

Die Filme / the films:

Zum Steigengasthaus : Teil 1-3 / About the tavern (Part 1-3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5_b1udJyIE

Zum Haus aus Zaisenhausen / About the house from Zaisenhausen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81jYJJEjlaQ

Was machen wir sonst so ohne Veranstaltungen? Vielleicht ist es spannend für militärhistorisch interessierte zu erfahren, dass ich zusammen mit Dr. Oliver Heyn einen Artikel in einer Fachzeitschrift zum Thema der Spanischen beziehungsweise Sachsen-Hildburghäusischen Werbungen veröffentlicht habe[1]. Daneben beschäftige ich mich weiterhin mit militärischen und zivilen Themen. Leider liegt mein kleines Projekt wieder tiefer ins Thema Dienstbotendarstellung einzusteigen infolge der Corona-Krise auf Eis. Man braucht doch dafür neben der Literatur auch persönlichen Kontakt, um sich auszuprobieren und um sich zu motivieren.

Sozusagen als Nachspiel zur Belagerung von Freiburg 1744 wird hier auf jeden Fall in den nächsten Wochen noch ein umfangreicherer Beitrag kommen.

Ansonsten habe ich beschlossen anlässlich der 275-Jahr-Jubiläen einiger Schlachten diese ähnlich wie Fontenoy hier vorzustellen. Der Österreichische Erbfolgekrieg, hierbei besonders der flandrische und italienische Kriegsschauplatz lassen mich einfach nicht los. Vielleicht eben weil er in der Öffentlichkeit so wenig vorkommt.

What do we do without events? Perhaps it’s exciting at least for some people, who have an interest in military history that I published together with Dr. Oliver Heyn an article in a journal about the Spanish and Saxon-Hildburghausen recruitment[1]. Besides my small project to revive on servant’s reenactment was put on hold by the Corona-crisis. Along with literature I just need personal contact to try out and get motivated.

So to speak as an aftermath of the siege of Freiburg in 1744 I will publish a long posting during the next weeks.

Besides I decided to present more battles of the 275-years-anniversaries as I did it with Fontenoy- The war of the Austrian succession especially the theater of war in Flanders and Italy still has a strong impact on me. Perhaps that’s the case because this conflict is so much neglected in the public.

Die 1. Phase unseres letzten Versuchs die Schlacht bei Melle 1745 nachzustellen (vor zwei Jahren). Die Truppen unter Moltke befinden sich in Marschkolonne, die französischen Einheiten sind weit verstreut. Das Ergebnis war nicht ganz zufriedenstellend. - The first phase of our last attempt (2 years ago) to represent the battle of Melle in 1745. The troops under Moltke are in a marching column, while the French Units are spread over the area. The result was not really satisfying.

Damit wäre ich auch schon beim finalen Punkt dieses Artikels. Inspiriert von Jonathan Freitags Blog schaue ich mir natürlich auch immer wieder an, welche unserer Blogbeiträge besonders viel Resonanz bekommen. Wie man das bei ähnlichen Blogs auch feststellen kann sind die Kommentare zu Sachthemen eher selten und von daher kein hinreichender Beleg für das allgemeine Interesse. Sondern es ist eher die Anzahl an Lesezugriffen, der sogenannten „Hits“. Hierdurch ergibt sich ein durchaus heterogenes Bild.

In den ersten 2 Jahren 2015/2016 diente der Blog ausschließlich als Plattform um Veranstaltungsberichte der vergangenen Jahre wiederzugeben. Der Bericht zur Veranstaltung „1763 - Endlich Frieden“ fand in dieser Zeit den größten Zuspruch[2].

Danach wechselten sich Berichte und Artikel zu speziellen historischen Themen ab. 2017 erschien unser Artikel „Unbewaffnete Bauern/Unarmed peasants“ zur Bewaffnung von Bauern im 30-jährigen Krieg, der bis jetzt die meisten Zugriffe bekommen hat[3]. Im gleichen Jahr waren aber auch die Beiträge zu unserer Veranstaltung „Landleben 1617“[4] und mein Schlachtfeldbericht zur Schlacht bei Simbach[5] besonders erfolgreich.

2018 hatte bei etwa ähnlich vielen Beiträgen wie 2017 einen deutlichen Rückgang der Leserzahlen eher wieder auf das Niveau von 2016. Es wäre interessant zu schauen, ob das Medium Blog damals vielleicht generell in Relation zu Facebookgruppen, Instagram-Accounts und ähnliche Plattformen wie ein paar Jahre zuvor zahlreiche Internetforen einfach an Relevanz eingebüßt hat. Nach dem Recherche-Artikel von Cecilia zur Kleidung in Steckbriefen, der nur auf Deutsch erschienen ist[6] kam mein Bericht „Das Gefecht bei Übrigshausen – the combat at Übrigshausen“ auf Platz zwei[7].

2019 waren dann der 4. Teil[8] meiner Reihe zum Thema Mobilität und mein 4. Teil zur Belagerung von Freiburg 1744[9] gleichermaßen gut angekommen. Eigenwilliger Weise können einzelne Artikel einer solchen Serie sehr viele „Hits“ andere aber fast keine bekommen. Eine Frage wäre hier, ob die Leser durch diesen Artikel auf das Thema stoßen und dann den Rest der Artikel nur überfliegen, sie nicht aufklappen und daher vielleicht nicht als „Leser“ gezählt werden.

Ob man besonders viele Bilder verwendet oder etwa besonders intensiv recherchiert scheint keine Rolle bei der Gunst der Leser zu spielen wofür die sehr verhalten angenommene Reihe zum Thema Tanzen ein gutes Beispiel ist[10]. Es ist freilich nicht so wie bei einem kommerziell oder halb kommerziell orientierten Blog, dass wir uns nach der Menge der „Hits“ richten, sondern es hier ausschließlich darum gehen soll unsere Rechercheergebnisse oder eben im Sinne des veranstaltenden Vereins „Cercle d’histoire vivante“ Informationen über Themen mit dem Schwerpunkt auf Veranstaltungen zu liefern.

Vielleicht hat ja jemand von unseren Stammlesern ein paar interessante Hinweise zu dem Thema, auch wie wir den Blog ohne viel technischen Aufwand spannender gestalten können.

Ich freue mich jedenfalls auf weitere spannende Jahre und darauf euch an unseren Aktivitäten teilhaben zu lassen. Vielen Dank fürs Lesen!

So I’m at the final point of this posting. Inspired by Jonathan Freitag’s blog sometimes I look on the resonance on our blog postings. It’s obvious from other similar blogs with that comments are rare in postings about factual topics. Therefore these are maybe no sufficient receipts for a more common interest. Rather there are a somehow contradicting number of read accesses, so named “hits”. From this data we get a very heterogeneous picture.

For the first two years 2015/2016 the blog served exclusively as a platform to represent the events of the last years in reports. My posting about the event “Endlich Frieden 1763” (finally peace 1763) got the most attention [2].

Afterwards reports and postings about special historical aspects rotated. In 2017 our posting “Unbewaffnete Bauern / Unarmed peasants” about peasantry’s weapons during the 30-years war period was published and is the post with most hits until today [3]. During the same year our posts about the “Landleben 1617” event [4] and my report about the battlefield of Simbach [5] were very successful too.

2018 saw with about the same number of postings a distinctly decline in the number of readers compared with 2017, lasting on a level like in 2016. It would be interesting from a scientific point of view, if the medium internet blog not lost its relevance in total due to the success of facebook groups, Instagram accounts and similar internet platforms as did the medium of internet forums some years before. Behind the posting of deep research by Cecilia about 18^th century garments in wanted posters, which was published in German only[6], my account about “Das Gefecht bei Übrigshausen – the combat at Übrigshausen” [7] got the second rank.

In 2019 the 4^th part of my series about the topic mobility during the 18^th century [8] and the 4^th part of the series about the siege of Freiburg in 1744 [9] got the same attention. It’s remarkable that an individual post from such a series can receive a lot of hits while others are getting nearly no hits at all. It would be a good question, if our readers are coming across the topic due to one posting and scan then rapidly over the other postings of the series and maybe their reading is not recorded if they don’t unfold the rest of the posting and are therefore not registered as readers.

It doesn’t seem that it’s of any importance if we show many pictures or offer postings with more and deeper research for the favour of our readers. The very rarely picked up series about dancing is a very good example for that fact [10]. However it’s not the case as in commercial or semi-commercial blogs that we are following the number of hits. Instead we have the goal to offer the results of our research and information in the interest of the organizing association “Cercle d’histoire vivante” with the main focus on our events.

Maybe some of our regular readers have an idea how to shape the blog a bit more exciting for you without too much of technical input.

I’m looking forward to many exciting years to come informing you about our activities. Many thanks for reading!

Text & Foto: André Hanselmann

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[1] André Hanselmann und Dr. Oliver Heyn: „Die spanische Rekrutenwerbung des Herzogs Ernst Friedrich III. von Sachsen-Hildburghausen (1768-1770)“ in Zeitschrift für Heereskunde, Nr. 475, Januar/März 2020, S. 2-13

[2] https://wackershofenannodomini.blogspot.com/2015/11/anno-domini-1763-endlich-frieden-23-25.html

[3] https://wackershofenannodomini.blogspot.com/2017/11/unbewaffnete-bauern-unarmed-peasants.html#more

[4] https://wackershofenannodomini.blogspot.com/2017/05/landleben-1617-22-23april-2017.html

[5] https://wackershofenannodomini.blogspot.com/2017/09/ein-besuch-des-schlachtfelds-von.html

[6] https://wackershofenannodomini.blogspot.com/2018/11/sie-seye-eine-ertz-diebin.html

[7] https://wackershofenannodomini.blogspot.com/2018/07/das-gefecht-bei-ubrigshausen-combat-at.html

[8] https://wackershofenannodomini.blogspot.com/2019/07/mobilitat-im-18-jh-teil-4-unter-fremden.html

[9] https://wackershofenannodomini.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-siege-of-freiburg-in-1744-part-4.html

[10] https://wackershofenannodomini.blogspot.com/2019/12/wie-wichtig-ist-das-tanzen-how.html