Hof was built about 1080, on the site of an old robber castle. Originally it belonged to the empire, but afterwards it was held by the dukes of Meran, and then by the counts of Orlamunde, until it was sold in 1373 to the counts of Nuremberg. The cloth manufacture introduced into it in the 15th century, and the manufacture of veils, begun in the 16th century, greatly promoted its prosperity, but it suffered severely in the Albcrtine and Hussite wars, as well as in the Thirty Years’ War; and in 1823 the greater part of it was destroyed by fire. In 1792 it came into the possession of Prussia; in 1806 it fell to France; and in 1810 it was incor porated with Bavaria. See Widmann, Chronik dcr Stadt Hof, 1844 ; Ernst, Geschichtc und Bcschrcibung dcs Bczirks und der Stadt Hof, 1866.
HOFER, Andreas (1767–1810), a Tyrolese patriot, was born October 2, 1767, at St Leonhard, in the Passeyr valley. There his father kept a tavern called the Sandhof, which Hofer inherited, and on that account he was popularly known as the "Sandwirth." In addition to this he carried on a trade in wine and horses with the north of Italy, acquiring a high reputation for intelligence and honesty. On the outbreak of the war in 1796, he commanded a company of riflemen against the French at Lake Garda, and after the peace of Lune"ville he took an active part in organizing the Tyrolese militia. After the treaty of Presburg (1805), by which Tyrol was transferred from Austria to Bavaria, Hofer was chosen a member of the secret Tyrolese deputation which went to Vienna to confer with the emperor on the condition of their country ; and when, on the advice of Austria, the whole of Tyrol in April 1809 rose in arms, Hofer was chosen to the command of a large division of the insurgents, and inflicted an overwhelming defeat on the Bavarians at Sterzing. Reinforcements sent by Napoleon defeated the Austrians at Woergl and the Tyrolese at Feuersinger, but Hofer coming to the rescue of his country repulsed the Bavarians with great loss at Innsbruck. Notwithstanding also that Austria after Napoleon s victory at Wagram agreed to evacuate Tyrol, Hofer resolved to maintain the struggle, and on the 13th August, at Berg Isel, routed with great slaughter a combined French and Bavarian force, and com pletely freed his country from foreign dominion. For some time the internal affairs of Tyrol were administered by an independent Government of which Hofer was the head, but after the peace of Vienna the Bavarians again endea voured to assert their supremacy, and after a heroic resist ance Hofer was compelled to flee for safety to the mountains. A price was set upon his head, and on account of the treachery of one of his most trusted followers, he was captured, January 27, 1810, in a chalet in the Passeyr valley. He was sent to Mantua for trial, and on the 20th February, by the orders of Napoleon, was executed twenty- four hours after his condemnation. In 1823 his remains were removed from the place of sepulture at Mantua to Innsbruck, where they were interred in the Franciscan church, and in 1834 a marble statue was erected over his tomb. In 1819 the patent of nobility decreed for him by Austria in 1809 was conferred upon his family by the title of Von Passeyr.
See Lcben und Thaten dcs chcmaHgcn Tyroler Insurgentcn-Chcfs Andr. Hofer, Berlin, 1810; Andr. Hofer und die Tyroler Insur rection im Jahre 1809, Munich, 1811 ; Hormayr, Gcf<chlchtc Andr. Hofcr s Sandiuirths auf Passeyr, Leipsic, 1845 ; B. Weber, Das Thai Passeyr und seine Bcwohner mit bcsondercr lliicksicht auf Andreas Hofer und das Jahr 1809, Innsbruck, 1851; Rapp, Tirol im Jahr 1809, Innsbruck, 1852; Heigel, Andreas Hofer, Munich, 1874. His history has supplied the materials for tragedies to B. Auerbach and Immermann.
HOFFMANN, August Heinrich (1798–1874), known as Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet, philologist, and historian of literature, was born at Fallersleben, in Liineburg, April 2, 1798. He was educated at Helmstiidt and Brunswick, and afterwards at the universities of Gottingen and Bonn. His original intention was to study theology, but he soon devoted himself entirely to literature. In 1823 he was appointed librarian to the university of Breslau, a post which he held till 1838. He was made extraordinary professor of the German language and litera ture at the university in 1830, and full professor in 1835 ; but he was deprived of his chair in 1842 in consequence of his Unpolitische Lieder, which gave much offence to the ruling classes of Prussia. He then travelled for some time in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, and lived for two or three years in Mecklenburg, of which he became a natural ized citizen. The revolution of 1848 brought him back to Prussia, where he was restored to his rights, and received as a pension the " Wartegeld," that is, the salary attached to a promised office which is not yet vacant. Pie married in 1849, and during the next ten years lived first in Bingerbriick, afterwards in Neuwied, and then in Weimar, where he was one of the editors of the Weimarische Jahrluch. In 1860 he became librarian to the duke of Ratibor, and he retained this appointment till his death on the 20th of January 1874. Fallersleben was one of the best popular poets of modern Germany. In politics he ardently sympathized with the progressive tendencies of his time, and he was among the earliest and most effec tive of the political poets who prepared the way for the outbreak of 1848. As a poet, however, he acquired distinc tion chiefly by the ease, simplicity, and grace with which he gave expression to the passions and aspirations of ordinary life. Although he had not been scientifically trained in music, he composed melodies for many of his songs, and a considerable number of them are sung by all classes in every part of Germany.
The best known of his poetical writings is his Ocdicldc (8th edition, Berlin, 1874) ; but there is great merit also in liisAlcman- nisclie Lieder (5th edition, Mannheim, 1843), Soldatenliedcr (Mainz, 1851), Soldatcnlcbcn (Berlin, 1852), Rhcinlcben (Neuwied, 1865), and in his Fiinfzig Kinderlicder, Funfdg Ncuc Kinderlicder, and Alte und Neue Kinderlicder. His Unjwlitischc Lieder, Dcutsch Lieder aus der Schwciz, and Strciflichtcr are not without poetical value, but they are mainly interesting in relation to the practical movements of the age in which they were written. As a student of ancient Teutonic literature Fallersleben ranks among the most persevering and cultivated of German scholars, some of the chief results of his labours being embodied in his Horre Belgian, Fund- gritbcn fiir Geschichtc deutschcr SpracJie und Litcratur, Altdeutsche Blatter, Spcndcn zur dcutschen Literaturgcschichte, and Findliiige. Among his editions of particular works may be named Kcincke Vos, Monnmenta Eliwncnsia, and ThcopJiihts. Die Deutsche Philo- logie im Grundriss (1836) was at the time of its publication a valuable contribution to philological research, and historians of German literature still attach importance to his Geschichtc dcs dcutschen Kirchcnlicdcs Us avf Luther (1832 ; 3d ed., 1861), Unscre volksthiimlichen Lieder (3d ed., 1869), and Die dcutschen Gcscll- schfiftslicdcr dcs 16 und 17 Jahrh. (2d ed., 1860). In 1868-70 Fallersleben published in 6 vols. an autobiography, Man Lebcn : Aufzcichnungen und Erinnerungcn. See also Briefe von Hoffmann ron Fallersleben und Moritz Haupt an Ferdinand Wolf (Vienna, 1874); Wagner. Hoffmann ron Fallersleben, 1818-68 ( 7 ienna, 1869); and Gottschall, Porlrdts und Studicn (vol. v., Leipsic, 1876).
