8 m. to 14 m. across. Having no natural outlet, it was formerly subject to sudden rises, which occasioned inundations, and these in turn malaria. An artificial outlet was completed in 1898 from the south-east corner of the lake to the Caina, a small tributary of the Tiber. The work, which is about 4 m. long, cost only about £26,000. It is intended to leave about 2500 acres of land dry, and to convert another 2800 acres of marshy soil into cultivable land. The lake contains three small islands: Isola Maggiore, with a monastery, Isola Minore and Isola Polvese. Standing on a promontory jutting out into the lake is the town of Castiglione del Lago, which possesses a castle of the dukes of Cornia, built by Galeazzo Alessi, the architect of many of the Genoese palaces. Napoleon I. formed a project for draining the lake, which may ultimately be adopted. Here Hannibal disastrously defeated the consul C. Flaminius. Hannibal left his winter quarters in Cisalpine Gaul in the spring of 217 B.C. and crossed the Apennines, probably by the pass now known as the Passo dei Mandrioli (from Forlì to Bibbiena in the upper valley of the Arno). His march was much hindered by marshes (probably those in the Arno valley between Bibbiena and Arezzo). The Roman army under Flaminius was stationed at Arezzo (anc. Arretium), and Hannibal marched past it. Flaminius followed, and Hannibal occupied the heights on the north of the lake between Terontola and Tuoro, commanding the road from Cortona to Perugia, and also those on the east of Tuoro, so that when the Roman army (which had encamped the night before outside the entrance to the small valley of the brook now called Sanguineto, west of Tuoro), unable in the mists of early morning to see the enemy’s forces, had entered the valley, it was surrounded and there was no escape except by forcing a passage. The vanguard succeeded in making their egress on the east by Passignano, but the defeat of the rest of the army was complete, the Romans losing no fewer than 15,000 men.
See T. Ashby in Journal of Philology (1908), and refs. (T. As.)
TRASS, the local name of a volcanic tuff occurring in the Eifel,
where it is worked for hydraulic mortar. It is a grey or cream coloured
fragmental rock, largely composed of pumiceous dust, and may be regarded as a trachytic tuff. It much resembles the Italian puzzolana and is applied to like purposes. Mixed with lime and sand, or with Portland cement, it is extensively employed for hydraulic work, especially in Holland; whilst the compact varieties have been used as a building material and as a fire-stone in ovens. Trass was formerly worked extensively in the Brohl valley and is now obtained from the valley of the Nette, near Andernach.
TRAÙ (Serbo-Croatian Trogir; Lat. Tragurium). a seaport of Dalmatia, Austria. Pop. (1900) of town and commune, 17,064. Traù is situated 16 m. W. of Spalato by road, on an islet in the Traù channel, and is connected with the mainland and the adjoining island of Bua by two bridges. The city walls are intact on the north, where a 15th-century fort, the Castel Camerlengo, overlooks the sea. Above the main
gateway the lion of St Mark is carved, and the general aspect of Traù is Venetian. Its streets, which are too narrow for wheeled traffic, contain many interesting churches and medieval houses, including the birthplace of the historian Giovanni Lucio (Lucius of Traù), author of De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae (Amsterdam, 1666). The loggia, built by the Venetians, is a fine specimen of a 16th-century court of justice; and the cathedral is a basilica of rare beauty, founded in 1200 and completed about 1450. It was thus mainly built during the period of Hungarian supremacy; and, in consequence, its architecture shows clear signs of German influence. Among the treasures preserved in the sacristy are several interesting examples of ancient jewellers’ work. Traù has some trade in wine and fruit. It is a steamship station, with an indifferent harbour.
Tragurium was probably colonized about 380 B.C. by Syracusan Greeks from Lissa, and its name is sometimes derived from Troghilon a place near Syracuse. Constantine Porphyrogenitus writing in the 10th century, regards it as a corruption of ἀγγυρίον, water melon, from a fancied similarity in shape. He states that Traù was one of the few Dalmatian cities which preserved its Roman character. In 998 it submitted to Venice; but in 1105 it acknowledged the supremacy of Hungary, while retaining its municipal freedom, and receiving, in 1108, a charter which is quoted by Lucio. After being plundered by the Saracens in 1123, it was ruled for brief periods by Byzantium, Hungary and Venice. In 1242 the Tatars pursued King Bela IV. of Hungary to Traù, but were unable to storm the island city. After 1420, when the sovereignty of Venice was finally established, Traù played no conspicuous part in Dalmatian history.
See T. G. Jackson, Dalmatia, the Quarnero, and Istria (Oxford, 1887); E. A. Freeman, Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of Venice (London, 1881); and G. Lucio, Memorie istoriche di Tragurio, ora detto Traù (Venice, 1673).
TRAUN, OTTO FERDINAND, Count von Abensperg und
(1677–1748), Austrian field marshal, came of a noble family
and was born on the 27th of August 1677 at Oldenburg.
He was sent to Halle to complete his education, but in 1693
left the university to serve with the Prussian contingent of
the allied army in the Low Countries. He saw much service
in the War of the Grand Alliance, and at its close entered the
imperial army. The War of the Spanish Succession soon followed,
and Traun served with distinction in Italy and on the Rhine
till 1709, when he became lieutenant-colonel and aide-de-camp
to Field Marshal Count Guido Starhemberg (1654–1737) in Spain.
A year later, for specially distinguished services, he was made
colonel, and in 1712 chief of a regiment of foot. Soon after
the close of the war he was again actively employed, and at
the action of Francavilla in Sicily (June 20, 1719) he received
a severe wound. For his services in this campaign in southern
Italy he was promoted General-Feldwachtmeister in 1723.
In 1727 he became governor of Messina, and in 1733 attained
the rank of lieutenant field marshal. In 1734 he won a
European reputation by his defence first of the pass of S.
Germano and then of the half-ruined fortress of Capua, which
he surrendered, marching out with the honours of war on the
30th of November. He was at once promoted Feldzeugmeister
and employed in a difficult semi-political command in Hungary,
after which he was made commander-in-chief in north Italy
and interim governor-general of the Milanese, in which capacity
he received the homage of the army and civil authorities on
the accession of Maria Theresa in 1740. In the following
year he was made a field-marshal. The Italian campaigns of
the War of the Austrian Succession were successfully conducted
by him up to 1743, when, on the death of Field-Marshal Count
Khevenhüller (q.v.), he was made the principal military
adviser of Prince Charles of Lorraine (q.v.), who commanded
the Austrians in Bohemia and on the Danube. In this capacity
he inspired the brilliant operations which led up to the passage
of the Rhine (see Austrian Succession, War of the)
and the skilful strategy whereby Frederick of Prussia was
forced to evacuate Bohemia and Moravia (1744) without a
battle. Traun's last active service was the command of an
army which was sent to Frankfurt to influence the election of a
new emperor to succeed Charles VII. He died at Hermannstadt
on the 18th of February 1748.
See Biographien k. k. Heerführer, herausgegeben v. d. Direktion des k. und k. Kriegsarchiv; Thürheim, F. M. Otto Ferdinand, Graf v. Abensperg und Traun.
TRAUNSTEIN, a town and summer resort of Bavaria, situated, at an elevation of nearly 2000 ft., on the river Traun, 73 m. by rail S.E. of Munich. Pop. (1905), 7447. It distils salt from the brine of Reichenhall, whence (22 m. distant) it is brought in pipes. It has an historical museum, four churches (three of which are Roman Catholic), two fine fountains—a monument of the war of 1870–71 and one to King Maximilian II. There are saline baths and breweries. In the vicinity are Empling, with baths of all kinds and a cold water cure establishment on the Kneipp system. Traunstein received civic rights in 1375.
