h5fler
382
HOFLER
escorted the departing Archduke John. Thenceforth
he attended quietly to his own affairs until, in 1S06,
he was called to Vienna with others, and was in-
formed of the proposed uprising in the Tyrol. At the
outset of the rebellion he was by no means its chief,
but acquired fame as a leader mainly by his capture
of a Bavarian detachment in the marsh of Sterzing.
Hofer was not engaged in the first capture of Inns-
bruck, being then an officer on the southern frontier
with the title of "Imperial Royal Commandant".
When the French broke \ictoriously into the Tyrol
and occupied Innsbruck, he issued a general summons
to the people, which roused many patriots and drew
them to his standard. The fact that the enemy,
underestimating the strength of the popular party,
left only a small garrison of troops, favoured their
cause. After various skirmishes Hofer's men broke
into Innsbruck on 30 May. The real battle came off at Berg Isel. The "Sandwirth"took no part in the con- flict ; nevertheless he directed it with skill and success.
The Tyrol was Uow free from in- vasion for two months; indeed, a few bands of in- surgents ventured into Bavarian and Italian territory. Under these con- d i t i o n s Hofer thought he could return to his home and leave the gov- ernment in the hands of the Intendant Hormayr, who had been sent from Vienna. But when, in spite of positive assurances from the emperor, the Tyrol was aban- doned at the armistice of Znaim, and Jlarshal Lcfebvre advanced to subdue the country, the people determined to risk their lives for faith and freedom, .\gain the written order of the "Sand- wirth" flew round the valleys. Haspinger and Speckbacher organized the people, and on 13 and 14 .\ugust occurred the second battle of Berg Isel. Haspinger decided the result of the day; but Hofer stood for some time in the very heat of the battle, and by his energetic efforts induced the already weakening ranks to renew their efforts. Henceforth, the Intendant having fled, Hofer took the government into his own hands, moved into the Hofburg, and ruled his admiring countrymen in a patriarchal manner. Francis II bestowed on him a golden medal, but this jiroved fatal to Hofer, who was thereby strengthened in his delusion that the emperor would never abandon his faithful TjTole.se. Thus it happeneil that he even disregarded a letter from the .Vrchduke John, as though it were a Ba- varian or French jiroclamation, and on 1 November lost the third battle of Berg Isel against a superior force of the enemy.
The renewed success of the French general and the Bavarian crown prince (afterwards Ludwig I) now determined Hofer to surrender; trusting, however, to his friends and to false rumours, he changed his mind and decided to fight to the last. The mighty columns of the allies soon crushed all resistance, and the leaders of the peasant army saw that nothing remained but flight ; Hofer alone remained and went into hiding. A covetous countryman, greedy for the reward offered for his capture, betrayed him. He was surprised in his hiding place, dragged to
Andreas Hofek.
Mantua amid insults and outrages, and haled before
a court. Without awaiting its sentence a peremptory
order from Napoleon ordered him to be shot forth-
with. He took his death-sentence with Christian
calmness, and died with the courage of a hero. The
prophecy he uttered in the presence of his confessor
shortly before he died: "The Tyrol will be Austrian
again" was fulfilled three years later. His remains
were disinterred in 1823 and laid to rest in the court
chapel at Innsbruck, where his life-size statue now
stands. The emperor ennobled the Hofer family.
The youth of Germany has been inspired by his
heroic figure, and German poets like Mosen, Schen-
kendorf, Immermann, etc. ha\-e sung of his deeds
and sufferings. Even the French pay a wondering
homage to his sincere piety, his self-sacrificing patriot-
ism, and his noble sense of honour (Denis in "Hist,
g^n."; Corr^ard in "Precis d'histoire moderne"; a
text-book for the pupils of the military school of
St. Cyr).
Andreas Hofer und die Tiroler Insurrektion (Munich. 1810); Hormayr, Dm Lund Tirol und der Tirolerkrieg, 7S09 (Leipzig, ls4.il; Rapp, riru; im Jahre ;*09 (Innsbruck. 1852); Eggeb, GesrhicMe Tiroh (3 vols., Innsbruck, 1880): Heigel, in Allg. d. Biofir., s. v.; Fhanke, Hofer im Liede (Innsbruck. 1S84); HlBN, TiroU Erhebung im Jahre 1809 (Innsbruck. 1909).
Pius \\'ittman.
Hiifler, Konst.\ntin von, historian; b. at Mem- mingen, Bavaria, 2fj March, 1811; d. at Prague, 29 December, 1898. After finishing his studies in the gymnasia at Munich and Landshut, he studied first jurisprudence and then history at the University of Munich under Gorres, Dolhnger, and especially .'>chelling, and received his degree in 1831 on presenting the dis.sertation " Ueber die Anfange der griechischen Geschichte". Aided by a pension from the govern- ment, he studied two more years at Gottingen, where he published a "Geschichte derenglischen Civilliste". He then went to Italy, residing chiefly at Florence and Rome, an<l worked there industriously in the examina- tion of original sources. Returning to Munich he accepted the editorship of the official "Miinchener Zeitung" in order to earn a subsistence, but while thus engaged he had by 1838 (|ualified himself as Prirat- (lozent in history at the imiversity. The following year he became extraordinary-, in 1841 ordinary, professor of history; in 1842 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1839 he published "Die deutschen Piipste" in two volumes. After this he devoted him.self to his duties as professor until 1840, when he fell into disfavour with King Ludwig I on account of the position he took, along with several other professors, in the popular agitation against the relations of the king with the dancer Lola Montez. He expres.sed his views on the subject in "Concordat und Constitutionseid der K;itli()liken in Bayern", and for this w;i.s removed from his imiversity position, 26 March, 1847. .\lthough the king after some months took Hotter again into the government service, he was, nevertheless, transferred to Bamberg (Upper Fran- conia), as keeper of the district archives. With his accustomed zeal he began the study of Franconian history and published in 1849-52 as the fruit of his investigations: " Quellen.sammlung fiir frankische Geschichte", in four volumes, and in 1852-53 " Fran- kische .Studien", parts I-V. During the same period he issued "Bayern, sein Recht und seine Geschichte" (18.50), also in the last mentioned year "Ueber die politische Refonnbewegung in Deut-schland ira Mit- telalter und den .\nteil Bayerns an denselben (18.50). Further, in the midst of these labours, he began the preparation of his " Lehrbuch der Geschichte" which appeared in 1856.
In 1851 when the Austrian school-.system was reorganized. Count Thun called Hofler as professor of history to Prague, where he taught with great success until he retired on a pension in 1882. In 1865 he be-
