Page - 201 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

12 Ice Jamsand their Impact onUrbanCommunities 201 WhereasWozniak’s forthcoming book on natural disasters in the Early and HighMiddle Ageswill provide the first comprehensive overview of ice jams and subsequent floods for the periodup to the year 1100, a systematic studyof extreme ice floods for the following centuries is still a desideratum in historical disaster studies. This is, of course, due to the increasing density of sources, which not only report on large ice flood events on amacro-level, but can also give insight into the effect of destructive ice floes and floods on amicro-level, including the impact onwatermills andurban infrastructure. In general, the reports on flooding events becamemoredetailed andalso referred to casualties andeconomic consequences. Anexampleof awell-documented ice flood is theone that tookplaceon theDanubeRiver inAustria in the early spring of 1234. After a very coldwinter, themelting of snowand ice led toanextremeflood,whereby theDanubespread far into thesurrounding land.Numerousvilla- ges and evenwalled citieswere submerged anddestroyed. Countless animals died, aswell as manypeople; fields,meadowsandvineyardswereheavilydevastated.Due to the large ice floes driftingdowntheriver–andprobablyalsocausing ice jams–anevenhighernumberofpeople was killed thanwould be expected in normal flooding; obviously those ice floes crashed into houses and city walls with full force. In addition, it can be assumed that all the people who wereseizedby thewatermasseshadnochanceof survivalowing to the lowwater temperature. The ice floes remained in the landscape fora long timeduring theyear 1234andmeltedslowly; agriculture was impossible in the devastated areas. As a result of the ice floods –which had alsodestroyed thegrain stocks–people suffered from famine.17 Ingeneral, iceontheriversandsubsequent icefloodsseemtohavebeenrather thenormali- ty compared to yearswithout frozen rivers. In thisway, the so-called ‘KleineKlosterneuburger Chronik’ (Little Klosterneuburg Chronicle) found it noteworthy that in the verymildwinter of 1355/1356 it hadbeennot only verydry and snowless, but also that therehadnot beenany ice jamsontheDanubeRiver (undgestießdieThainaunie).18Ontheotherhand, thesamechronicle tells us about theveryharshwinter of 1328,when theDanubeRiverwas coveredwith thick ice for 17 weeks. As a form of gallows humour, a peasant started to plough the snowweeds and hollowson the ice insteadofhis fieldduring carnival time.19 Preventionandadaptationstrategies for ice floods inanurbancontextcanbereconstructed inmoredetail from the 14th centuryonwards.Urban institutions, suchas thebridgemasters of Wels (UpperAustria),were responsible for the repairs tobridgesafter ice jams.Urbanaccounts have survived from the 15th century, such as the bridgemaster accounts ofWels, the weekly expenditurebooksfromBasel,or theso-called ‘Seckelmeisterrechnungen’ (treasurer’saccounts) from Fribourg (Switzerland). In combination with narrative sources, they have recently been used for flood reconstruction, including ice floods.20 Micro-historical case studies shed light on the impact of ice floods onurbanand suburban mills in theLateMiddleAges and inEarlyModernTimes.GerhardFritz has recently examined narrative sources, account books and urban regulations from southern Germany dealingwith the risk of natural hazards towatermills. His results show theuse of diversemeasures to cope with ice floods. In the case of awatermill on the Pleichach River inWürzburg, the landlords werenot co-responsible for the repairsafterdamagebynatural forces,but theowneralonehad tocarryall costs.21 In 1485,however, theCountofFürstenbergassisted themillerofHaslach im 17 Frass 1971, 165f.; Rohr 2007, basedon the contemporary reports in theAnnales sancti Rudberti Salisburgenses, theContinuatio Sancrucensis IIand theContinuatio Lambacensis. 18 Rohr 2007, 449. 19 Rohr 2007, 449f., basedon the ‘KleineKlosterneuburgerChronik’:Anno 1328 ist die Thonawgestossenundder stoss ist gestanden 17wochen, dasmolten darauf sindworden, das ainer im vaschang, (zu ainem schimpff) darauff geackhert in denmolten, die derwinddarauff gewaet hat. 20 Cf. forWels, Rohr 2006; Rohr 2007, 280–311; Rohr 2013, 139–144; for Basel, cf.Wetter et al. 2011; for Fribourg, cf. Longoni 2019. 21 Fritz 2018, 213, based on a charter of 1336 (Urkundenregesten zur Geschichte der StadtWürzburg, 1201–1401, ed.W.Engel,Nr. 154).