On the Trail of the Holy Roman Empire: Freiburg im Breisgau

(Above) The arms of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in the apse of the Freiburg minster. (1512)

The town of Freiburg lies in the south of the German region of Baden, near the Rhine and what is now the border with France. But originally it was not so. The Breisgau (in which Freiburg is located) in the 12^th century was controlled by the dukes of Zähringen. They founded Freiburg in 1120  (along with Freiburg (Friburg) in Switzerland and Bern) as a kind of real estate investment. The town prospered, among other reasons,  because of nearby mines. Around 1200 the town’s  famous church or minster was begun (even though it was ecclesiastically just a parish church!).

In 1368 Freiburg came under the direct rule of house of Habsburg as part of the area of “Further Austria” in which it remained until 1805. After 1438, the Holy Roman Emperor was almost always the Habsburg archduke of Austria.  Accordingly, Freiburg was subject to him not just in his imperial capacity, but as the direct ruler as well. In the 15^th century the famous university was founded

Freiburg enjoyed a special time of glory around 1500-1535. Noted scholars (Erasmus) lived there; great artists left their work in and around the city (Hans Baldung Grien, Hans Holbein). It was during this period that the Freiburg minster was completed by around 1513 . The minster and other buildings in the town preserve many reminders of the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperors and other members of that family.

The Freiburg MInster with Maximilian’s arms high in the apse window

The picturesque Kaufhaus (Merchant’s hall) of 1520 with statues of Hapsburg rulers.

(Above) Maximilian I.(Below) The arms of the Holy Roman Empire.

The “Haus Zum Walfisch” where Erasmus resided. It is famiiar to those who have seen the film”Suspiria.”

(Above and Below) Emperor Maximilian I in the minster. Note the fine renaissance inscription. (Some of these windows are copies; the original are in the town museum).

(Above) Philip the Fair, King of Spain (died 1506, never became Holy Roman Emperor)

(Above) Ferdinand I, later Holy Roman Emperor. (Below) Charles V Holy Roman Emperor)

Subsequent ages were not kind to this city. As a result of the Thirty Years’ War, it suddenly became a border outpost. Strasburg to the north eventually suffered a similar fate (but on the other side of the border!)  Freiburg was repeatedly fought over in the Thirty Years’ War and in the subsequent wars of Louis XIV; its surroundings were devastated.  The outpouring of South German baroque art in the 18^th century only just touched this landscape. This part of Germany bears mute witness to the declining fortunes of the Holy Roman Empire all along the Rhine River after 1618.  

Finally, Austria abandoned the entire region, primarily to the German states of Baden and Württemberg (which are now united). Freiburg lived on as a picturesque university town. In 1944 most of Freiburg was destroyed in an air raid. Fortunately, the minster and a few other key buildings and streets survived largely undamaged. 

(Above) Carving in the minster.

(Above and Below) The visitor can discover more traces of baroque art outside the city of Freiburg itself. This is the abbey of St. Peter in the Black Forest, dating to the 1720’s, where Zähringen rulers are buried.