Tyrol (Austria) -- Description and travel; Tyrol (Austria) -- History
On the morning of February 20th, 1810, Andreas Hofer, who lay in
prison but a short time after condemnation, was awakened early and led
forth to die. At the gates were gathered a handful of his friends and
companions in arms who had been captured and brought to Mantua, or had
followed him there, and these knelt and entreated his blessing as he
passed by them; this he gave calmly, remaining far less outwardly
moved than they who received it.
Then onwards to the Ceresa Gate, where the firing party halted. Hofer
declined to have his eyes bandaged; neither would he kneel. But
standing erect with unwavering courage he faced the file of soldiers,
who with loaded muskets were to do him to death. Giving his last
remaining piece of money to the corporal, he said to him, "Aim
straight." Then he calmly gave the signal to fire.
The muskets rang out, the bullets sped to their mark, and one of the
noblest of patriots Europe had ever seen fell without a groan.
At his own last request his body was buried at Mantua in the garden of
his friend and father confessor, Manifesti. There it lay for fifteen
years, until one night three officers of a Tyrol Chasseur regiment
stealthily removed the remains, distressed that the hero of Tyrol
should lie buried in foreign soil. The body was first taken to Bozen,
and shortly afterwards to the Abbey of Wilten.
When later a funeral worthy of his fame was accorded him, deputations
came from all parts of Tyrol to pay their tribute to the greatest hero
in its history; and amid a throng which was perhaps never before
equalled in the streets of Innsbruck, the remains of Andreas Hofer
were with great appropriateness borne to their last resting-place in
the church of the Franciscans by twelve innkeepers. On the coffin lay
his hat, sword, and decorations, and upon it were the armorial
bearings of his family, which had been ennobled by the Emperor Francis
I. in 1819. And thus, in a tomb cut from the marble of the Tyrol he
loved, his body was laid to rest.
In the same year that Hofer died, Tyrol was divided into three parts.
Italy took the southern, Bavaria retained the northern, and Illyria
the south-eastern or Pusterthal district. So it remained for three
years, until 1813, when the power of Napoleon was once and for ever
broken in eastern Europe, when he was defeated at the fierce battle of
Leipsic on October 16-18, by the allied forces of Austria, Russia and
Prussia. In this battle (known as "the battle of the nations") upwards
of 400,000 men were engaged; a fifth of the number were slain. The
allies were helped at a critical point of the fighting by the
defection from Napoleon of a large force of Saxons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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