Sankt Veit An Der Glan - History

History

Several archaeologic findings suggest a settlement in the area already in Carolingian times. According to legend, a 901 battle of Bavarian forces against invading Magyars instigated the founding of the town. As first mentioned in a 1131 deed, a Saint Vitus Church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk was located here within the Duchy of Carinthia. According to a 1137 agreement, it was "repurchased" by the Bishopric of Bamberg.

However, already in 1149 it served as a residence of the Sponheim duke Henry V of Carinthia, where he received King Conrad III of Germany on his way back from the Second Crusade. He was succeeded by his brother Duke Hermann II of Carinthia, who became Vogt protector of the church in 1176 and subsequently the Sponheimer made the estates of Sankt Veit their permanent residence and capital of the Carinthian duchy, which it remained until 1518. Herman's son Bernhard von Spanheim (d. 1256) had the ducal castle and fortifications built, and granted Sankt Veit town privileges 1224. Here he held a glamorous court and received minnesingers like Walther von der Vogelweide, who stayed here in 1214, and Ulrich von Liechtenstein. Sankt Veit also may have been the domicile of Heinrich von dem Türlin where he wrote his Middle High German Diu Crône poem.

After the House of Sponheim had become extinct in 1269, the Carinthian duchy was acquired by King Ottokar II of Bohemia, later it passed to the Meinhardiner Count Meinhard II of Tyrol. His granddaughter Countess Margaret in 1335 finally lost Carinthia to Duke Rudolf IV of Austria from the House of Habsburg, whereafter it was incorporated into the dynasty's Inner Austrian lands and ruled by stadtholders. In 1362 Rudolf granted the Sankt Veit citizens the permission to hold the annual Wiesenmarkt fair, which is arranged up to today as one of the oldest festivals in Central Europe. Its town hall dates from 1468 and the present-day ducal castle from the 15th to 16th century.