Historical Notes on Duke Frederick IV and the Vorherr Family

Appendix.

History.

The adventurous fortunes of Frederick with the Empty Pockets, who fled from Constance, are surely familiar to every friend of patriotic history and legends. Mention of this subject has already been made several times in these pages, and here and there a newly discovered feature of this romantic picture—such as the fugitive Frederick before Bludenz, etc.—has been recorded for a future historian or novelist.

Remarkable also is this legend, linked directly to Frederick's stay in Rosen, according to which the farmer of the Forcherhof, Forherrhof, on the Schnalserbach flowing into the Adige near Juval and Naturns (not far from the Schnals charterhouse founded by King Henry, weak son of strong Meinhard), brought Duke Frederick, who was no longer safe even in the Oetztal, to the miller Hendel, who was devoted to him unto death. In return, the farmer's person and estate were allegedly declared free by the duke, and he was granted a letter of coat of arms and the right of seal. — The Forcher, Forherr, Vorherr were, moreover, also resident in Naturns and in Elbigenalb in the Lech valley, where their names appear several times in the baptismal and death registers. The royal Bavarian building councillor Vorherr in Munich, who earned numerous merits in agriculture, regional beautification, architecture, and polytechnics, descends from this family. His father, who came as a merchant from Tyrol to Franconia and died while visiting a relative, still had that very patent of arms with seal and capsule; his mother, however, pawned it along with other small items to an itinerant peddler woman known to her, who unfortunately never brought it back.

Might there be no draft or any other trace of this most interesting document? — We would be just as eager to become acquainted with this faithful supporter of his persecuted lord as with Maximilian's rescuer from the Martinswand, the miner Ohaimb.

Moreover, the Forcher, Vorherr, were a widespread and very ancient lineage. Two farms in the Schnals valley bear the name Forch, and the Forcher, Vorherr, were also settled in the nearby Oetz valley and belong among the oldest agrarian families of the upper Inn valley. — It is documented that the Chiemsee women's convent held estates in the Oetztal ever since the days of the elder Welfs and Count Ulrich of Ulten, as well as the Andechs-Tyrolean heir, Count Gebhard of Hirschberg. The Forcher appear as neighbors of these pious women. Eberhard Vorher of Umhausen and Diemut, his wife, sold their estates and building rights to the venerable house of God in Chiemsee in 1341 for 20 Marks of Berner standard Merano currency. Heintz and Chuntz Vorherr appear as witnesses in a charter of the Chiemsee monastery in 1378.

Frederick's presence in Fineil, which lends greater credibility to the legend of Vorherr's reward, is also attested by a historical monument at that farm, the description of which we wish to provide beforehand. — Fineil, a large farmhouse and, until 1805 (when Tyrol fell to Bavaria for eight years due to the ill-fated day of Austerlitz and the Peace of Pressburg), a sovereign fief, lies a quarter of an hour north of Spechtenhaus on the mountain whose ascent is lined with larches. The location is pleasant in summer and so high that from here one can see the little church of St. Vigilius on the pass of the same name behind and above Aschbach, in the parish of Algund near Meran. The cereal crop, being very meager, barely deserves mention. The meadowland is extensive and good. An ancient legend passed down from father to son among the rural folk relates that Duke Frederick with the Empty Pockets stayed for a time at this very Fineil in 1416 before moving on to Rofen by the glacier. There he is also said to have herded sheep. The ballad of the shepherdess who loved him is well known. At Fineil, a silver spoon, knife, and fork of antique workmanship are still shown, presented as a keepsake by the princely shepherd. A silver goblet with a gilded rim, weighing about eight Loth, is also displayed. Yet this does not seem to originate from Frederick, as it bears the date 1567, unless this was engraved later. Although the dead silver is entirely useless to the farmer at Fineil and he would have need of circulating silver, he nevertheless carefully preserves this silverware, delighting in this token both of the presence and gratitude of the territorial prince and of the loyalty and hospitality shown to him by his forebears.

Near Fineil lies the Schnals charterhouse, founded in terrible solitude by King Henry, the unfortunate son of the great Meinhard, which existed until the days of Joseph II, and whose prior held a seat and vote in the provincial Diet. — Nearby also lies the estate of Pfelders, belonging to the Cistercian Abbey of Stams; hence the then Abbot Johannes Pusiula of Isny may have had such early news of Frederick's fortunes and taken such a warm interest in their turning, although nobility and prelates otherwise stood against Frederick and for his brother Ernest the Iron.