Page - 203 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

12 Ice Jamsand their Impact onUrbanCommunities 203 cause therewere, in fact, vineyards also higher up on the slopes above theDanube.However, thehouses of thewinemakers andat least someof thewine cellarswere locatednear the river bank, andwemayassume that theywereout of use formonthsor evenyears. Due to the consequences of the summer flood, the ice floodof 9–12 January 1573 becamea realdisaster. In thepetition to theEmperor, thisdramaticevent isdescribed ingreatdepth.The ice floesontheDanubeRiverbuiltupalargedamwithinafewhoursandthewaterrosequickly, bringingmore andmore ice floes into the city. Eventually, thewater and the ice brought down parts of thewalls, entered the city centre and flooded some streets up to thewindows of the houses. Thepeak level of the ice floodwas 1.5 feet higher than the summer flood.Only a third of thetwincities remaineddry.The inhabitantscouldnot rescuetheircattle,petsandhardware, andtheycouldonlyescapebyclimbingonto theroofsof theirhouses.30Theclean-upoperation only began 12 days after the flood, and even sixweeks after the event, blocks of icewere still lyingaround in the streets.31 According to the petition, the loss of wine and grain stored in the houses had been enor- mous.Thefuture for thewinemakerswasdark, thepetitionclaimed; theorchardsandvineyards would be devastated for years, houseswere severely damaged and thewine cellars no longer fit forpurpose. Thepetitionconcluded thatmore than40houses inSteinandasimilarnumber inKremswould remain emptyanddeserted.Given that the twin cities of Stein andKremscon- sistedof400houseseachin1565,32 thismeansthat10%of thehousesremaineduninhabitable. In addition, thewinemakerswould not be able to sell their products andwould therefore fall intopoverty.33Aparagraphof themunicipal regulationof 1524stated that in thecaseofa flood winemakers are allowed to bring their wine casks to a secure place and to sell wine there. In thisway, thewinemakers should still be able to provide for theirwives and children.34 Never- theless, this regulation failed to protect the winemakers in the ice flood of 1573, because it happenedsosuddenly,aswellasoccurringatnight, so therewouldhavebeennotimetoempty thewine cellars. The real dimensionsof thedamage,however,mightnothavebeenasdramatic as reported in the petition to the Emperor. It is assumed that ‘only’ the districts of the city situated in the plainsnear theshoreof the riverwerehit substantially.Peopleobviouslymanaged toescape in time and theywere presumably given shelter in the houses of other citizens, because there is nomentionof anywhodrowned, froze todeathor becamehomeless. It is clear that the damagewas far from terminal for some of the inhabitants of Krems, as one set of documents preserved in the Vienna Archive of the Imperial Chambermakes clear. Someof thecity’swealthier residentswereable tograntacreditof5,500guilders to theEmperor, whohadmajorproblems financinghiswaragainst theOttomans inpresent-dayHungary. In this series of documents, dating from 1572 and 1573, the summer flood of 1572 and the ice flood of 1573 are notmentioned at all. The loan of 5,500 guilderswas the last part of a 15,000 guilder credit, granted by the noblemanMichael Freiherr von Eyzing fromKrems. Over the following years, the Emperor asked for additional credit amounting to over 10,000 guilders.35 This indi- cates that at least some inhabitants ofKremscame through thedisasters of 1572 and 1573with- out remarkable losses. Thementalmanagement andmemoryof the 1573 catastrophewasachievedby fixing flood inscriptions that recorded thedate andwater level. Inscription tablets canbe found in several publicplaces inKrems, inparticularon the towngates.One inscriptionand floodmark relating to the ice floodof 1573 is still affixed to theSteinertor gate and reads: 30 Petitionof the city council of Krems (Kinzl 1869, 150f.). 31 Petitionof the city council of Krems (Kinzl 1869, 151). 32 Kinzl 1869, 137. 33 Petitionof the city council of Krems (Kinzl 1869, 151f.). 34 Municipal regulation forKremsandStein, 12March 1524,Article 63; seeRohr 2007, 377f. 35 Rohr 2013, 138f.