Page - 190 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

190 ElisabethGruber Vienna, no other townhad these rights. The already long existing privilege that restricted the reloading of wine, grain and other goods on the left bank of the Danube between Grein and Korneuburg exclusively toKrems, togetherwithpermission tobuild thebridge,made the town aneconomichub.Presumably, thebridge itselfwasnotbuilt before theendof the 15th century. In the section of theDanube in theDuchy ofAustria, the conditions for building bridgeswere difficult. Thewidthand flowvelocity of the river required specialmeasures tobeable to create a stable structure. At least for the bridges in Linz, Enns andKrems, the use of a pile driver is documented. Thismechanical fixturewasused todrive in thewoodpiles thatwould carry the bridge.Aheavy, iron-strengthenedwoodpilewasdriven into the riverbedusinga rammer that waspositionedon rafts. Theconstructionof thisdevicewasnotonlyelaborate, butalsoexpen- sive.Theconstruction invoicesofEnns testify tomanyexpenses for theprocurementofmaterial that was needed to build the device. Debarked round oak piles were fixed together with iron ferrules to formamallet towhichan ironbaseplatewasattached. It tooksixweeksofprepara- toryworkuntil the fixturewas ready to use. There is a background to themanufacture of this device that is importantwhenexploringbridgesasobjectsand their connections. In1492,Fred- erick III had called upon the burghers of Enns to return this important device to Stein; it had been used in building the bridge in Stein and that had arrived in Enns under various circum- stances; it was to come back to Stein,where it was urgently needed to complete the bridge.58 BernhardKarlinger,an influentialburgherofKremsandmayor, townmagistrate, councilmem- ber and toll levier in Stein, had turned to Frederick III with this request. This last-mentioned functionmight have been the reasonwhyhewanted the absent pile driver be returned to the ownershipof the townspeopleof Stein. In recognitionof their contributions toGöttweigAbbey, Karlinger andhis firstwifeMarthawereadmitted in 1475 to theabbey’s fraternity.59Heandhis secondwifeMariaMagdalena donatedmanymasses in the churches of Krems and Stein. The sidewingsof theAltar of theHolyTrinity inSteindepictedhimandhis twowivesasdonors.60 The urgent need of a device that was indispensable for the construction of a bridge and that could not be reproduced for every single application, owing to the expense ofmanufacturing, not only brought together the protagonistswho activelywanted the pile driver to be returned to Stein, namelyBernhardKarlinger as the burghers’ representative, Frederick III as territorial lord and the citizensof Enns. At thebeginningof the 18th century, Zedler’s encyclopaediadescribedbridges as the ‘most elegantworks of architecture’ that ‘link a country to another being separated by deep valleys, streams, rivers, and crevices’. The associated advantages influence both ‘human society’ as a whole and ‘the trades’.61 Zedler did notmention anydisadvantages.He also ignored the ques- tion of howmissing bridges influenced potential access options. His interest focused on the existenceof bridges as the result of human intervention.A spatial connectionbetween the two sides of topographical situations, suchas bodies ofwater, that otherwisewere very difficult to overcome or only with much effort, enabled a secured and easier crossing, thus promoting the exchange of goods and information, but also the proliferation of danger anddiseases. The construction,maintenanceandrepairofbridgesrequiredagreatdealof investmentof financial, human,material andnon-material resources. Following thewater Water as one of thematters that are fundamental for the existence of living things entails not onlyavarietyofpossible interactionsbetweenpeopleandnature,but italsocompelsactionand 58 Katzinger 2014, 117–119. 59 Fuchs 1902, 81no. 1844 (1475March31). 60 Görg 1961, 29–31. 61 Zedler 1733, 1537.