Chapter 55 - Klingenbach History, Pt. 2 ... Rome and the Dark Ages

The Celtic kingdom of Noricum - stretching across much of modern Austria - supported itself with the salt trade until the Romans said "gimme." Rome forced out the Celtic tribes and took over the iron, salt and wine trades along the two main traffic arteries of the east-west Danube and the north-south Amber road (leading from Jutland near modern Denmark to Rome). Whale tusks and amber from the north were traded with bronze swords and oil pictures from the south.

Rome named its new province Pannonia which covered territory encompassing present-day western Hungary, part of Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Rome had to fortify the border areas of Pannonia to prevent barbarian incursions. The pesky Germanic tribes continued to cause trouble, and Rome had to fight several wars led by famous generals like Caius Marius, Augustus, Tiberius, Germanicus, Marcus Aurelius and Hadrian. Pannonia was productive with minerals and agricultural products like timber, oats, barley, beer, grapevines, olive trees and also hunting dogs.

On this map of the Roman Empire in 200 CE (the empire at its greatest size), note that Klingenbach is in Pannonia, near the border. Throughout history, you will see that Klingenbach is usually near the border of empires, never a comfortable place to be. Klingenbach is the red dot.


A bronze brooch from Pannonia.


This glass bottle is from 200 CE. How did it never break?


Always one of the most important items - a Roman coin.


In the year 296 Emperor Diocletian redrew boundaries and called the Austrian area Pannonia Prima. The situation gradually deteriorated as first Huns and then Visigoths continually raided the area.

Barbarian invasions in 350 CE. Klingenbach (the green dot) is getting it from more than one direction. The red part of the map is the Western Roman Empire, the pale green the Eastern Empire.


Imagine seeing these guys coming at you.


Alaric, King of the Visigoths (370-410), sacked Rome, then died of a fever.


Attila the Hun (406-453) led his army in invasions all over central Europe. He choked to death after getting drunk at his wedding to a very reluctant bride.


By 427 CE Pannonia was assimilated into the Huns' territory, never again to be controlled by Rome. After the fall of Rome in 476 to the Visigoths - the historically-accepted date for the beginning of the Dark Ages - central Europe continued to be invaded. The area was successively controlled by the Ostrogoths, Lombards, Avars and Slavs. In the sixth century the Bavarians fought back against the eastern tribes, and today's Austria still has place names divided along a rough north-south line from Freistadt and Linz to the Eastern Tyrol. Even 1,400 years later, people and towns on either side of that line have names distinctive of Bavarian or Slavonic languages.

Barbarian Kingdoms of Europe in 530 CE. Klingenbach is the red dot.


With the power of the Barbarian kingdoms came profound and catastrophic societal change, including the collapse of urban life, loss of literature, limited building activity, cessation of art patronage and the end of artistic training and production. The culture of northern Europe was determined by the tribes, and crafts important to them were work in fine metals, leather, wood and semiprecious stones. Only in Italy did art production continue.

These bronze cloaks and hoods depict typical Dark Ages clothing.


The little art that survived was religious in nature. This early Nativity is a wood carving dated to 500 CE.


This bronze beaker embellished with silver and gold has been dated to 500 CE.


This is typical clothing in 500 CE.


In the sixth and seventh centuries, the Bavarians fought against Carantania (roughly the modern southeastern Austrian province of Carinthia) and other eastern tribes. Bavarians settled across the area of modern Austria, a process that enabled it to become the mostly German-speaking country it is today. In 788 the Bavarians were defeated by Charlemagne, an event that profoundly changed the history of Austria.

Europe in 800. Note that Klingenbach is on the eastern edge of Charlemagne's Frankish kingdom. I'll bet they continued to face invaders from eastern tribes though. The light brown circles on the map aren't that far from Klingenbach.


There were still marauders. This is a Viking ship from 800.


But things were changing. On Christmas Day, 800, 58-year-old Charlemagne was crowned the first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.


The reappearance of painting in northern Europe was due to the conversion of the barbarians to Christianity. Iconography was important in the Church, and painted Christian images were indispensable as were relics of early Christianity.

This is reportedly a piece of Mary's dress worn when she gave birth to Jesus. It was given to Charlemagne by Irene, Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire.


This is Aachen Cathedral, begun in 805 by Charlemagne.


The Dark Ages were slowly fading, and the Middle Ages were about to begin.

Chapter 54 - Graz

We visited Graz last Sunday. It's the second-largest city in Austria with a population of almost 300,000 and the capital of the state of Styria. You never know if you're going to like a place or not, and although I always expect to enjoy the places we visit, neither of us cared that much for Graz. It's pretty in the Old Town area and is a World Cultural Heritage Site, but we just didn't get a good feeling.

First settled in the Copper Age, the town's name comes from a South Slavic word, "gradec," which means small castle. Apparently, a heavily fortified "castle" was built for protection sometime during the Dark Ages. The German name, "Graz," was first used in 1128 when Babenberg dukes ruled the area. Graz is close to the Slovenian border and was frequently assaulted by Hungarians and Turks who never took the town. It later came under the rule of the Habsburgs which used it as a city of residence for its Inner Austrian line.

The first university was founded in 1585. Among the great scientists who studied or taught at Graz universities are Nikola Tesla, Otto Loewi, Johannes Kepler and Erwin Schrodinger. Today 44,000 students attend six universities.

Some of the less savory incidents in Graz history include ruthless control of the university by the Catholic Church, the burning of 20,000 Protestant books by Archduke Charles II, the banning of Lutherans from the city (which is why Kepler moved to Prague) and the destruction of the thriving Jewish community by the Nazis and the burning of the grand synagogue.

At first I thought this was a plague column, but it isn't. It's a column commemorating victory over the Turks in 1664.


This is a fountain in the square in Old Town next to the column.


Part of the pedestrian area in Old Town


Beautiful flowers in Old Town


Some buildings in the Old Town area






I love the way these buildings have interesting statues decorating the corners.


Bob liked this copper weathervane.


This is Sacred Heart Church. It was built in Gothic Revival style in the 19th century and has the third highest spire in Austria at 359.6 feet.


The side entrance


Looking down the nave toward the altar


The main altar


The pulpit


Two of the Stations of the Cross that adorn the side walls


The church has some of the few extant examples in Austria of Neogothic stained glass. Here are two of the beautiful stained glass windows.




We found this graffiti to be particularly unsettling. To have anti-Nazi sentiments expressed, one presumes that there is neo-Nazi activity in the area. We did notice that Graz has a more varied ethnic population, probably because of the universities, so maybe that has contributed to some of these problems. One always hopes that mankind does learn from the past, especially after our recent visit to Mauthausen. Perhaps this contributed to our diffident reaction to the city.




This cheered Bob up. He loves the way these pigeons are so totally unafraid of people.


This is the first in what we had planned as a series of pictures of the Landhaus, a Renaissance building designed by Domenico dell'Allio, and now used as government headquarters. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the last picture we took that day. The batteries died in the camera, and since nothing is open in Austria on Sundays (except restaurants), we couldn't replace them.

Chapter 53 - Klingenbach History, Pt. 1 ... Way, Way Back

My plan, after we moved to the flat in Klingenbach, was to do a few blogs on the village of Klingenbach. It has been at the nexus point of history more than once. I thought I'd go back a few centuries, quickly cover the history and then get to the modern Cold War era where Klingenbach played a larger role, but in my research I kept having to go further and further back in time. Apparently, this area has been inhabited by humans since the Stone Age! I was more intrigued than ever and decided to do a series of blogs on the history of this area. This combines my three great loves - history, writing and teaching. What could be better? My goal is not to bore my readers so I've heavily edited the material and tried to provide what I always told my kids - the "outline version." The information will give you the quick tale of this area. If dates are not exact, please remember that many of these time periods overlapped.

At the start of the Upper Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, modern man replaced Neanderthals about 40,000 BCE. The era predates agriculture, but there is a sharp increase in the diversity of artifacts, including those made of bone and the first art.

Look at this little darling. She's called the Venus of Willendorf and has been dated to around 22,000 BCE. Carved from oolitic limestone (not available in the area where she was found) and tinted with red ochre, she stands 4 3/8 inches high. This anatomically-detailed goddess probably represents fertility, the Earth or women in general.


She was found 100 years ago along the Danube River near the village of present-day Willendorf, 24 miles north-northwest of Klingenbach. The blue dot is Willendorf, and the larger red circle (on this and the other maps) represents Klingenbach's modern location. Her current home is the Natural History Museum in Vienna.


The Mesolithic Period or Middle Stone Age, from 10,000 to 4,000 BCE, sees the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculture. Genetic studies show that modern Europeans are descended directly from these Mesolithic peoples.

A depiction of a Mesolithic Period house


Mesolithic Period artifacts


Overlapping the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods in Europe is the Neolithic Age from 7,000 to 1,700 BCE. Its duration varies in different areas, and its end was marked by the introduction of bronze tools. Neolithic Europe involved family-based communities and longhouses, early agriculture, first use of Indo-European languages and fortified settlements. Experts believe Central European settlers came through the Balkans from Anatolia (Turkey). Some of the first farmers in Central Europe lived in the middle Danube valley where modern Hungary, Austria and Slovakia meet, a short distance from Klingenbach.

Neolithic Europe - Klingenbach is in the Danubian Neolithic area


Cave art in Europe during the Neolithic Period


This vase is sturdy but still graceful-looking.


One of the most famous relics of the Neolithic Period is Otzi the Iceman. His glacier-bound mummy, dated to 3,300 BCE, was found in 1991 near the Austria-Italy border. Examinations show the 5'5" tall man weighed 110 lbs. and was about 45 years old. Examination of stomach contents showed that he had journeyed from farther north in Austria. He died violently, probably as a victim of assualt or ritual sacrifice. Otzi lived in the Copper Age which in Europe roughly dated from 5,500 to 2,800 BCE. The Copper Age boundaries are blurred because alloys were in and out of use due to the erratic supply of tin (usually tin was mixed with copper). The main archaeological sites are near modern Budapest, Hungary, about 120 miles east of Klingenbach.

Otzi the Iceman


Bronze is made by alloying copper with tin. In the early Bronze Age there were a number of different periods, usually marked by distinctive pottery and/or style of burial. The Beaker Culture, 2,800 to 1,900 BCE, was defined by pottery made in a bell shape.

One prime area of Beaker Culture was the upper Danube valley into the Vienna basin.


Distinctive Beaker Culture pottery


Another early Bronze Age culture was the Unetice, from 2,300 to 1,600 BCE. It is distinguised by pure copper objects, including weapons and ornaments as status symbols. Burials were in flat graves, lying in the fetal position. The deceased were often buried with copper weapons, rings and bracelets.

Excavating an Unetice grave


A bronze and copper medallion made in the Unetice Culture


The Tumulus culture, 1,600 to 1,200 BCE, in the Middle Bronze Age, is distinguished only by the practice of burying the dead beneath burial mounds (tumuli) located in groups. Many elaborate bronze weapons and ornaments adorned the dead.

A grave barrow from the Tumulus Culture


A bronze spiral-ended bracelet found in a Tumulus Culture barrow


The Urnfield Culture was a late Bronze Age culture defined by the practice of cremating the dead, then burying their ashes in urns. They lived in fortified settlements, and there is archaeological evidence of widespread warfare, social collapses and upheavals during the period. Bronze artifacts from this time include cuirasses, dishes, miniature wagons, shields and ornaments. They kept animals, cleared forests and grew grains.

Urnfield Culture, Early Bronze Age in Central Europe, 2,000 to 750 BCE. The arrows show the migration paths from the East. Klingenbach is in the Danubian Carpathian Culture.


A warrior from the Unfield Culture


One of the urns for which the culture was named


The Hallstatt Culture, from 1,200 to 500 BCE in the Early Iron Age, was the predominant Central European culture of its time. Named for a lakeside Austrian village, the culture was defined by hilltop fortifications, iron swords, burial rites and grave goods. Many were buried in full armor with axe and sword. Trade spread the culture to Spain and the British Isles. They exported salt and iron and imported fancy pottery, amber, ivory, wine and dyes from the south, mainly Greece.


Helmets from the culture


This beautiful necklace was found in a grave.


During this period the Celtic Migrations began. The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies whose culture formed in the Early Iron Age in Central Europe. The Greek historian, Herodotus, locates them first at the source of the Danube. The tribes used a common language, a branch of the larger Indo-European family of languages. Celtic river names are found in large numbers near the Danube and the Rhine. This period was marked by economic disruption and social transformation.

Celtic Migrations, 750 to 50 BCE


A typical Celtic warrior


A bronze vessel from Celtic culture


The La Tene Culture, 450 to 100 BCE, was an Iron Age culture named after an archaeological site in Switzerland. Elaborate burials and a wide trade network are the hallmarks of the period; trade goods included salt, tin and copper, amber, wool and leather, furs and gold. Artwork was intricate, stylized and elegant. The development of towns occurred during this period. The La Tene Culture was ended by the Roman conquest.

On this map, Klingenbach is located in Transdanubia, one of the main concentrations of the culture. The red zones contain rich burial sites, the lined areas contain many pottery sites. The arrows show the Celtic migrations.


Note the elaborate work on this sword hilt.


This intricate bowl is a beautiful example of La Tene Culture.


The rise of the Roman Empire changed everything in Europe. More on that next time.