The siege of Freiburg in 1744 (part 3)

A painting by Pierre Nicolas Lenfant shows us a somehow idealized situation[1]. The king himself who visited the siege more as a spectator then as a commander wears his red dress, well known from different battle paintings by Parocel and Lenfant. (Look at the painting in the collection of Versailles: http://collections.chateauversailles.fr/#26dc20ed-9a28-43c2-ae71-9e72a84ef01b ) He is talking to some officers and generals and his position is characterized by the Loretto-chapel at the left of the painting. The guns are bombarding the town and the Austrian artillery answers the fire. What Lenfant paints is a mixed bag. The artillery is firing but the river Dreisam still is in the old riverbed in front of the town’s walls, which are partly destroyed already. The buildings at the Schlossberg are completely arising of the painter’s fantasy – you just have to compare them with historical maps. The most important features of the fortress like the “Salzbüchsle” or “Fort Aigle” (as the French called it) which were heavily modified in the 1720s after the lesson the Austrians learned from the 1713-siege, looked completely different. But for some studies of French camp-life, uniforms and the French view on the siege this painting really is interesting. The painter gave the landscape a more romantic atmosphere with rocky hillsides and nice exotic looking trees while in this period the hillsides were covered with vines.

The king's view at the town from the Lorettoberg.

The Loretto-chapel today.

The presence of the king was in fact of no great significance for the battle itself. In many biographies of Louis XV it is mentioned in a foot note at the most because his recreation from his serious illness in 1744 is of more importance for the outcome of the war than the siege of Freiburg. Bernier[2] gives a good impression of the character of the “bien aimé”, a better picture for sure then Reed Browning, although his book about the war is highly readable[3]. The king had his headquarters at Munzingen in the same castle where prince Charles of Lorraine stayed at the time of his attempts to cross the Rhine at Breisach in 1743. All sources mention that he observed the siege from the Lorettoberg. There was an agreement that the French would not bombard at the minster of Freiburg, if the Austrians would not shoot at the position of the French king. But it seems that the Austrians shot in his direction nevertheless because it’s possible to find a cannonball even today near his place of observation[4].

The canonball in the wall of the Loretto-chapel - although in my opinion neighter the caliber nor the place of the canonball make sense to me.

An indiscription at the Loretto-chapel mentioning the presence of king Louis XV observing the siege from that Point in 1744.
The inscription mentions the battle of 1644 too. The chapel was built in 1657 in memory of the bloody battle during the 30-years war.

Naturally Louis XV didn’t come to share the bloody warfare with his soldiers and for sure he didn’t share the heavy work of thousands of French peasants who were brought to Freiburg to build a new riverbed for the Dreisam. The king himself showed not much affection to stay until the town was won. He departed with his entourage at the morning of the 7^th November shortly before the French troops entered the town.

A view from the place of the Salzbüchsle, where nowadays is a modern tower, on the landscape.
Please note the two small hills in the middle distance. The lower one is the Lorettoberg, the position of the French king in 1744.

Text: André Hanselmann

Photos: André Hanselmann

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[1] Pierre Nicolas Lenfant: „Siège de Fribourg, 11 octobre 1744“ at the château de Versailles, No. d’invitaire MV 187

[2] Olivier Bernier: „Ludwig XV. – Eine Biographie“ Benzinger, Zürich, 1986

[3] Reed Browning: „The War of the Austrian Succession“ St. Martin's Press, New York, 2008

[4] Tilman Spreckelsen: „Patenschaft fürs Kirchenschiff“ Die Zeit, 10. September, 1998

The siege of Freiburg in 1744 (part 2)

It’s very interesting that hussars and light infantry played a major role in the defence of the town, although they had just 8 companies of light infantry and 300 hussars only as a part of the garrison which was around 6.500 men strong[1]. The commander in chief, FML Damnitz, was an experienced soldier who was not such a sort of town’s commanders, who saw little action in the open field. The French army was a mighty force of 66 battalions and 117 squadrons, although the cavalry was reduced later because there was not enough of fodder for the horses[2]. But for the first stages of the siege a large cavalry force was crucial for the encirclement of a besieged town.

A picture of the whole fortress at the Schlossberg. At the left: the Oberschloss or Fort St. Pierre with the "Große Hornwerk"; in the middle the Fort Carré (the lodgings of the commander of the fortress); at the right: the Unterschloss. The Unterschloss formerly was the old castle of Freiburg in the middle-ages.
At one of the plaques on the Schlossberg in 2018.

The Austrians launched some more outbreaks with modest success, destroying some of the work of the French engineers and setting a great stock of wood at the hillside of the Schlossberg in fire. The outbreak in the twilight of October 14th is especially interesting. The Austrians had 30 "Theisser" and 40 grenadiers under the command of Lieutenant Fetzer to attack a redoubt opposing the Schwabentor. The Austrians not only managed to destroy parts of the French earthworks and take away Tools, but the French lost the engineer Marquis d'Aversnes and the Maréchal de Camp de Coutomer killed too during the action.

But the light troops played not only a major role in these events but as feared robbers of the poor citizens of Freiburg too. The pandours and Theisser used the chaos of the bombardment which set a large part of the town in fire. When Damnitz heard the accusation of the citizens against his light troops, he convicted some of them to death, but the citizens pleaded him to show mercy. Besides Damnitz had raise up gallows at the Fischmarkt before the battle to demonstrate his earnestness to keep discipline and order in the citizenship.

A model of a French 16-pounder gun (in the middle of the photo) by Imperial (Hagen Figuren).



The famous French artilleryman de la Vallière (best known for the Vallière-system) was present at the siege and advised Coigny to not start with the bombardment before every gun was ready. But Coigny ignored the advice and if he was right or not, the result of the bombardment was devastating, not only destroying many civilian houses but the house of the commander – known as the fort carré – too. Soon it was clear that the positions of the French batteries in 1744 were a lot more effective than during the siege of 1713. Now the French guns could nearly not miss the target and could destroy huge parts of the fortress in a short time.

Text: André Hanselmann

Photos: André Hanselmann

Fort Saint Pierre today. At the left formerly the wall with Palisade, than a trench and at the right the place, where the barracks of the fort Saint Pierre stood.

The place of the chapel St Pierre marked by a wooden cross.

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[1] Porges/Rebrachta p. 530

[2] Porges/Rebrachta p. 533

The siege of Freiburg in 1744 (Part 1)

As it was with the battlefield of Simbach, I had the chance to walk over the landscape of the great siege of Freiburg. Therefore I decided to write about it and I hope that this topic is even more exciting for you, as we have the 275th anniversary of the battle (no great attention in Freiburg today nevertheless).

275 years passed since the great siege of Freiburg in autumn 1744. Fortunately this particular siege was viewed as one of the major events of the 1744-campaign in Germany. Therefor a big part of Porges and Rebrachas very detailed work about the War of the Austrian Succession is dedicated to Freiburg[1]. But there are many contemporary accounts printed during the mid 18^th century too like “Campagne de Monsieur le Maréchal Duc de Coigny en Allemagne” including many letters and statistics[2]. A really impressive number of maps and other pictures of this and other sieges of Freiburg and the fortress were published in 1988 as one volume of two about the fortress and city[3]. This book is really recommended to get an impression of the actions in 1744.

 A map of the Fort St Pierre on a plaque at the fortress.

I’m so fortunate to look at the remnants of the fortress of Freiburg every morning looking out of the window of our living room. It’s really inspiring for somebody who has an interest in military history. When Alex Burns asked me to write a short guest post I thought about all the remnants of the fortress still visible today and spend a day with my kids walking over the Schlossberg. Besides I was reading a biography about De la Metterie, one of Fredericks closest philosophers and drinking buddies, who suffered a lot from a fever during the siege of Freiburg, where he was present as an intimate of the Duc de Gramont (1689-1745) and as a doctor of the guards[4].

But let us commence more chronical.

The French army followed the Austrian troops under prince Charles of Lorraine and FM Traun when they had to march east to deal with Frederick II attempt to join the war again. The French commanded by Noailles and Coigny tried to attack the Austrians crossing the river Rhine but where thrown back by the Austrian rearguard at Auenheim and Suffelnheim at August 23th 1744. This fail reduced the French plans to catch the Austrian main army. Frederick II justly blamed Coigny and Noailles for their poor leadership at Auenheim. To get one objective for the rest of the campaigning season at least the Austrians began to encircle in September 1744 the city of Freiburg.  Some days later the French commanders send Belle-Isle with significant troops to Rheinfelden, Konstanz and later even to Bregenz to occupy these towns. After some easy success the French were humiliated during their attempt to invade Vorarlberg by local Austrian militias[5].

The militia in Vorderösterreich (Further Austria) were formerly very similar like the strong militia of Vorarlberg and sometimes organized by the same administration. In the 17^th century Further Austria assembled the men from 16 to 40 years old in 8 “Landfahnen” (banners). But since 1734 2 “Landfahnen” only remained. One of them, the “Hauensteiner Fahne”, had 906 men in 4 platoons. These relicts of the old militia were commanded by a baron Grammond (not to be mixed up with the French duke of the similar name!), who reinforced the garrison of Freiburg in 1733/34 and was again in Freiburg in 1744[6]. These troops naturally were not fit to fight regulars. But they were used as workers on the fortifications and should stock the old “Linien” (lines of fortifications) all over the Black Forest, when they first were built during the War of the Spanish Succession[7]. Though the militia of Further Austria was weak in numbers compared with the size of the territory (bigger than Wurttemberg for example!), the corporative recruitments were of no great significance too. Further Austria and Vorarlberg together had to put forward 1.500 men for the regular Austrian army in 1744. Most of them were infantry serving in the regiment Brandenburg-Bayreuth (IR 41)[8].   

A view from the Fort St Pierre at the town – one can imagine how easily the Austrians could shoot at the French in 1713 from this Position. The Kaiserstuhl lies in the background.

New content

I decided, that I will change the blog slightly.

The blog will report further about our events, but I would like to offer more diversity.

By the way I noticed that most of the questions and all comments were in English. Therefore I will write some posts in English only.

I have to confess that I really much like the style of Jonathan Freitag's blog Palouse Wargaming Journal for example with a wide range of postings about wargaming and historical sides in Europe as well. Especially his studies and analyzes about several battles like Mollwitz are fascinating.

Some of our blogentries have some similarities with Kyle Dalton's excellent blog "British Tars, 1740-1790", which is in his way quiet unique, as it is very narrowly focussed on the period and the main subject.

Occassionally we noticed that not our blogposts about our own events and research for them had the luck to attain the most attention of our readers but entries like our battlefieldwalks at Simbach for example (although the battle had some correlation with our encounter at Übrigshausen in 1743).

As most of you maybe had recognized we added more and more information about the 17th century period, because there is very much to research about that period since we organize an event yearly in the highly interesting open air museum Wackershofen.

But now to something different. I noticed two stones with dates engraved in Freiburg. One example is next to the Schwabentorbrücke.



What happened here in 1609?

The other stone is in the Augustinergasse in the old town of Freiburg. The canonball (?) beneath the stone with the date is especially remarkable.

The remnant of an archway of 1619?

Which context we will find?

To use contemporary pictures sometimes are problematic. Therefore we will maybe use pictures with model figures to illustrate historical incidents like the march of the Spaniards through Swabia.

What do you think of my idea to use figures and tabletop?

Text: André Hanselmann
Photos: André Hanselmann


„Anno Domini 1769 – Von Hall in die Fremde“ - „Anno Domini 1769 from Hall into the foreign“ Teil 3 / Part 3



Das schöne Fuhrwerk am Sonntagmorgen - the nice cart on Sunday morning (Foto: Claudia Behnke).

Am nächsten Tag ging es zur Predigt des örtlichen Pastors. Wir „Einwohner von Michelfeld“ zogen dazu allesamt zum Gasthaus an der Roten Steige. Von hier aus ging es immer den Berg hinauf. Der Fuhrmann das heißt eigentlich sein Pferd, half uns dabei den Karren mit den Kindern den Hang hinauf zu bringen.

Der Pfarrer erläuterte in seiner Predigt die Gefahren, die auf die Auswanderer während ihrer Reise und in der Fremde lauerten. Auch dass es im fernen Amerika vielleicht nicht genügend Pastoren gab, die ordentlich das Wort Gottes verkünden würden, machte unserem Pfarrer Sorgen. Wir sangen wohlgestimmt „Zieh aus mein Herz und suche Freud“ und „Lobe den Herrn“. Die Frau des Fuhrmanns, die allerhand katholischen Tand verkaufte, wurde kritisch vom Pastor betrachtet.

Wir versammeln uns am Wirtshaus an der Roten Steige - we are gathering next to the inn at the Red steep track (Foto: Stefan Winter).

Einige Landmänner singen inbrünstig mit dem Pfarrer - some countrymen are singing in high spirits (Foto: Claudia Behnke).

On the next day we went all to the preaching of our pastor. We “inhabitants of Michelfeld” therefore moved to the tavern at the red steep track. The carter and his horse helped us pulling the cart with our kids up on the hill.

The pastor explained in his sermon the dangers of the voyagers during their voyage to the far side of the world. The pastor feared too that there were not enough ministers to proclaim god’s word properly. We sung well-tuned “Zieh aus mein Herz und suche Freud” and “Lobe den Herrn”. The carter’s wife was recognized critically by the pastor because she sold different catholic stuff.

Der Schulmeister kommt zu Pferde von der Predigt zurück - the teacher returns from the sermons on horseback (Foto: Stefan Winter).

„Anno Domini 1769 – Von Hall in die Fremde“ - „Anno Domini 1769 from Hall into the foreign“ Teil 2 / Part 2

Das Szenario für den Sonnabend war ein bisschen spekulativ, sollte aber einfach die Problematik mit dem Verbot des spanischen beziehungsweise Sachsen-Hildburghäuser Werbeplatzes etwas verdeutlichen.

Der spanische Offizier von Maneze versuchte vor dem Steigengasthaus Soldaten zu werben. Der Schankknecht des Steigenwirts sah ja immerhin brauchbar aus. Maneze hatte einen Tambour dabei, welcher auch wirklich den einen oder anderen beinahe für die Sache gewonnen hätte, wenn dann nicht Maneze selbst auch die Härte des Dienstes offenbart hätte.

Gerade in dem Augenblick traf der Amtmann des Amtes Rosengarten ein, um weitere Versuche der Werber zu unterbinden. „Na, das glaube ich weniger!“ unterbrach der Amtmann den Offizier in der blauen Uniform, als dieser sagte, was er mit den Rekruten vorhatte. Es war ja ein kaiserliches Schreiben eingetroffen, welches die Werbungen unterbinden sollte.

Sind die Werber etwa beim Schankknecht erfolgreich? - Are they successfull with the waiter of the tavern? (Foto: Claudia Behnke)

Aber nein, der Amtmann ist da und hat einen Brief - but no, stop!, the Amtmann is there and has a letter (Foto: Claudia Behnke).

Major von Maneze nimmt verärgert das Schreiben entgegen - Major Maneze is upset (Foto: Claudia Behnke).

The scenario on Saturday was a bit speculative, but should demonstrate the problems of the ban of the Saxon-Hildburghausen or Spanish recruitment place.

The Spanish officer of Maneze tried to recruit soldiers in front of the tavern. The waiter of the innkeeper was looking useful. Maneze had a drummer, who was so successful to nearly get the waiter, although Maneze himself exposed the downsides of the military service.

Just at this moment the administrator of the district Rosengarten arrived to stop further tries by the recruiting officer. “I don’t believe that.” said the administrator to the officer, when he offered what he would do with the recruits. An imperial writing had arrived, which prohibited the recruitment.

Der Major und sein Trommler können es nicht glauben - the Major and his Drummer can't believe it (Foto: Claudia Behnke).



Der Trommler des Werbeofficiers - the drummer of the recruiting officer (Foto: Stefan Winter).

Nach einem üppigen Mahl im Steigengasthaus begab sich der Amtmann mit dem Grabenreiter zum Haus des Auswanderers, das an diesem Tage verkauft werden sollte.

Da ein höherer Verkaufspreis natürlich auch eine höhere Nachsteuer bedeutete, hatte der Amtmann ein Interesse daran den Preis für das Haus hoch zu halten. Der Schultheiß von Leoweiler, der eigentlich ein Haus brauchte, wollte nicht lange mitgehen. Zum Erstaunen der meisten Anwesenden aber überbot bald die Schultheißin von Michelfeld den Wirt von der Roten Steige. Der Amtmann wollte, dass das Häuschen für mindestens 300 Gulden verkauft wurde. Immerhin war das Dach in einem guten Zustand. Im hinteren Teil des Hauses war ein Zugang für Kleinvieh oder Hühner.

Der Amtmann kommt zum Haus des Andreas Juncker - the Administrator is arriving at the house of Andreas Juncker (Foto: Stefan Winter).

After a lush meal in the „Steigengasthaus“ the „Amtmann“ and his „Grabenreiter“ went to house of the emigrant, which was to be sold on that day.

A high price for the house effected that it would earn a high taxation and therefore the administrator had an interest to attain a high price. The Schultheiss of Leoweiler who needed a new house, didn’t wanted to pay a high price and was off soon. To the greatest surprise of most of the present countrymen the wife of the Schultheiss of Michelfeld started to bid more than the innkeeper of the “Red steep track”. The administrator wanted that the lodge would be sold for 300 florins at least. The roof was in a good condition. In the rear part of the house was an entry for goats or chickens.

Der Wirt will das Häuschen für seine eigenen Pläne - the innkeeper wants the small house for his own plans (Foto: Claudia Behnke).

„Anno Domini 1769 – Von Hall in die Fremde“ - „Anno Domini 1769 from Hall into the foreign“ Teil 1 / Part 1

Ein Jahr ist wieder herum und wieder hatten wir eine Veranstaltung unserer Anno Domini-Reihe. Diesmal mit einem Thema, das wir noch nie behandelt hatten, nämlich der Auswanderung. Am Donnerstag traf ein überwiegender Teil unserer Teilnehmer planmäßig ein. Wie immer mein persönlicher Blick auf die Veranstaltung.

A year passed and we've had again an event of our Anno Domini-series. This time the object was something we never did: emigration. On Thursday most of our participants arrived as they planned. As always it’s my personal view on the event.

Am Freitagmorgen stand ich auf, um festzustellen, dass dichter Nebel über der Landschaft lag. Ich prüfte auf meinem Rückweg vom Steigengasthaus die Ähren und beschloss sie dennoch gleich nach dem Frühstück einzuholen. Dazu hatten wir ein kleines Wägelchen. Für die Heuernte waren damals eher große Leiterwagen mit Pferden im Gebrauch, aber bei manchen Arbeiten kamen auch so kleine Fahrzeuge zum Einsatz. Wir waren frisch gestärkt von dem köstlichen Musmehl, welches die Hausmutter und meine neue hervorragende Magd, Franziska, zubereitet hatten. Mit der Hilfe meines Nachbarn, Andreas Juncker, brachte ich das Getreide zu unserer Scheune. Hier wurde es durch uns drei Männer in dem Weiler gedroschen. Mein Knecht sah es leider garnicht so ungern, als ein Dreschflegel zu Bruch ging. Später am Tag wollten wir aus einem Stamm Schindeln herstellen, aber das Holz war zum einen zu feucht und zum anderen taugte der Kern nicht dazu. Es war am besten noch als Feuerholz zu gebrauchen, aber auch dazu ließ es sich kaum hacken.

Ich bringe mit meinem Nachbarn, dem Auswanderer, das Getreide ein - I bring home the grain together with my neighbour, the Emigrant (Foto: Stefan Winter).

On Friday morning I woke up to realize, that a sick fog was lying over the landscape. I examined on my return from the Steigengasthaus the ears of the grain and decided to catch them up after the breakfast nevertheless. We had a very small cart for that. Historically there were large hay carts in use, but sometimes they had small vehicles like this for some jobs. We were fresh and strengthened by the delicious Musmehl, which was prepared by the mother of the house and our excellent new maid named Franziska. With the help of my neighbour Andreas Juncker we brought the grain to the barn. Here it was flailed by us – 3 men. My farmhand unfortunately didn’t saw it grudgingly when a flail broke. Later that day we wanted to produce shingles from a tree trunk. But the wood was too wet and on top of that the core of the trunk was unusable. It was best to be used for the fire but even for that it was difficult to hack.