Then at the commencement of the fifteenth century, according to Burglechner, a vein of silver ore was discovered through the rampant behaviour of a bull, who went mad or became uncommonly energetic, and, tearing up the grass on the hillside with his horns, was the means of disclosing what afterwards proved to be a vast deposit of silver ore. The news of the discovery was brought hot haste to the poor hamlet by the herdsman who was in charge of the animal, and the inhabitants flocked out to investigate the story of the shining metal which had been uncovered. In a very short time Schwaz regained its ancient prosperity and importance, and at one time, when the silver mines were at their best, the population, which nowadays is about 6500, was not far short of five times as many. The discovery of the silver caused several of the noble families in the neighbourhood to forsake the calling of arms and knightly service for that of mine owning and mine working; and the vast wealth of the Augsburg merchants and bankers, notably the Hochstetters, Ilsungs, and Fuggers, was largely employed in the working of the mines which had been speedily opened up. Amongst the noble families who turned miners or mine proprietors was that of the Fiegers, one of whom was an intimate companion of Maximilian I. The latter, when Fieger died full of years and leaving an astonishing progeny and an enormous fortune behind him, was present at his old friend's funeral. His son, Hans Fieger, married Margaret von Pienzenau, who, on her coming to her husband's home, was accompanied by a vast cavalcade consisting of four thousand horses, of which those drawing her coach were shod with silver.[24] The mining industry was speedily developed by the immense sums wealthy merchants in Bavaria and elsewhere were willing to embark in speculation, or advance upon the security of the mines themselves; and so skilful and daring did the Schwaz miners become, that later on their services were requisitioned for use in the mines of other districts, and for military mining operations against the Turks in Hungary. In the siege of Vienna in 1529 by the Turks, Soliman the Magnificent, who invested the city with an army of 300,000 men, was forced to raise it, after losing nearly a fourth of his men, owing to the countermining of the Schwaz miners. Two centuries later, the Schwazers undermined and blew up the splendid and almost impregnable fortifications of Belgrade before it was ceded to Turkey; and at various times their services were engaged by the Dukes of Florence and Piedmont. Schwaz, too, has the distinction of having had one of the earliest of printing presses set up in the town; and matters referring to mining and mining methods were often referred to the experienced and skilful miners and engineers of Schwaz.