The Great Historic Fires of the City of Bozen

Appendix.

History.

On the fires of the city of Bozen. – 1/2

In former times, the city of Bozen suffered severely on several occasions from fires. The most dreadful and, if the surviving reports are to be taken literally, unprecedented was the fire of the year 1224. The old Tyrolean chronicle, of which we use one of the oldest copies, from the year 1518, contains this passage: »Item das potzen verbrann mit funnftzehen Hundert menschen, das geschach da man zalt von cristi gepurt 1224 Jar an Sannt maria magdalena tag an mitwochen nacht.« For this statement in the chronicle, the Franciscan Ferdinand Troyer provides a proof in his Bozen chronicle completed in 1647 from an old Bozen parish book, in which it reads: »1234 combustus est burgus Bozavensis cum mille et quingentis hominibus, ideo omni anno in die S. Mariae erit circuitus ecclesiae trina vice cum responsoriis defunctorum ob commemorationem illorum defunctorum.« The event was thus so important and extraordinary that a lasting memorial was established for it, namely a procession to be held three times around the church on the anniversary of the fire, with prayers for the 1500 people who perished in the flames. Even 32 years later, in the year 1256, in which Bishop Egno of Trent granted the citizens of Bozen a reduction in annual tax, this pitiable fire is cited among the reasons.

In some copies of both the Tyrolean and Troyer's chronicle, the number of perished people is indeed given as only 150. One can see that to the copyists the number 1500 seemed far too large and appeared to be a clerical error which they wished to correct by removing a zero. But the difficulty cannot be resolved in this way, because both the Tyrolean chronicle in its oldest copies and the Bozen parish book express the number fifteen hundred not in numerals, but in clear words.

However, it will still be found unbelievable that in a single fire in a small town 1500 people, which was probably nearly half the population of Bozen at the time, should have lost their lives. — Without actually wishing to defend this indeed proportionally enormous figure, we nevertheless allow ourselves a few observations that might make it clear that the event could easily have been much more terrible than what we imagine based on what usually happens during fires.

Bozen was at that time without doubt still very far from the solid construction style it now has. It is also certain that all roofs were still made of wood. Consider the narrow streets of this town, and how its houses are crowded together in a very small space like a clump. Undoubtedly at that time, as in all old towns, everything had a much more irregular form than now, and we are probably also justified in forming a very low opinion of the police measures and precautions of that period. Consider further that this town stands as it were at the crossroads of four winds, blowing south from the lower Adige Valley, west from the upper Adige Valley, north from the Talfer or Sarntal Valley, and northeast from the Eisack Valley; that the fire occurred in hot Bozen at the height of summer, when everything combustible was likely dried out like tinder; finally that the fire broke out at night and, as Troyer says, at midnight, when the inhabitants were in the deepest sleep. Taking all these circumstances into account, one will no longer find it unbelievable that a fire once broken out could be spread by a violent gale in an extremely short time across the entire small town, and that all the houses, at that time probably still mostly made of wood, could be engulfed in flames and thick clouds of smoke, so that amidst the confusion heightened by the darkness of the night, it must have become impossible for many people, especially the sick, the elderly, and children, to save themselves.

In the same thirteenth century, on June 11, 1291, Bozen succumbed to a second great fire. Troyer indeed gives the number of burned houses as only eighty. But the council scribe Paul Falser, from whom we have annotations to Troyer's chronicle, claims that in the year 1291, as in 1224, the town became entirely a prey to the flames except for a few houses. This seems to be confirmed by the old Tyrolean chronicle, which states: „Item da verbrann Pozen die Stat unnder der Zal 1291 Jar.“

In the fifteenth century a similar hard fate struck the town twice again. In the year 1443, according to Troyer, 135 houses burned down, especially in Wanger Gasse, am Rain, and in the Gurmthal. The last great fire of Bozen was that of the year 1483. In Troyer's chronicle, where the houses burned down in this year are given as only fifteen, a clerical error has clearly slipped in. We find in a copy of the same a later marginal note to the effect that according to some municipal writings in this year the town except for fifteen houses burned down completely. Falser also describes this fire as very large. He found in the municipal documents that the fire not only consumed the main street under the arcades (Gewölbe, as they are called), but also spread across Musterplatz and Fleischgasse. An old tax register uses the expression that the town was burnt out at the time. The disaster was so great that the Bishop of Trent granted the town a significant reduction in kitchen taxes for several years, while the sovereign Archduke Sigmund, through issued mandates, not only publicly expressed his sympathy, but also instructed all authorities, officials, and subjects to assist the town of Bozen, which was grievously ruined by the calamity of fire, with help and counsel upon request. The Archduke also appointed a special commission from his councilors and the provincial estates to convene in Bozen and deliberate and order what measures should be taken for the restoration and recovery of the town. The calamity occurred on the Thursday after Oculi Sunday, hence during the mid-Lent market, and as the old tax book cited by Falser reports, besides a few people, great merchandise was destroyed. From this it is understandable how important it was to the government, for the sake of commerce, to help the town recover and to prevent a similar event in the future. (To be concluded.)