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202 ChristianRohr Kinzigtal (BlackForest) to copewithdamageafter thunderstorms, floods, iceandothernatural forces.22 TheannualaccountsofHohenbergandnarrativesources tellusmoredetailsaboutdestruc- tion to thewatermills causedby ice. Ice could shutdown,damageordestroy themill through drifting ice floes. People tried toprotect themillswith rakesor so-called ‘ice trees’,whichwere probably beamsmounted across the tributary channels. If that were not enough, staff would have to observe themill day andnight, keeping the ice away from themill with bars or other equipment. Sometimes that did not help either: in thewinter of 1395/1396, the Obermühle in Rottenburgwasdevastated twice ina row ‘by iceandwater’, as theannual accountsofHohen- bergdescribe ingreat detail.23 Bridges andwatermills seem to have been themost vulnerable places in urban and sub- urbanenvironments,butadaptivemeasuresobviouslywerehardtoachieve,because thesecon- structionsnaturallywereexposedtotheriver. Insomecases,citywalls, too,hadbeendestroyed andat leastpartsof thecitycentreswere flooded.Theresponsibility forcopingwiththedamage varied fromcase to case.However,wedonothaveenoughevidenceas towhether frequent ice floods led to a relocationof urban settlements or of single bridges orwatermills. The ice flood inKrems (1573) Theperiodaround1570wascharacterisedbymanyextremeweatherevents.Harvestswereoften destroyed or very poor due to the badweather. During this time ofmultiple crises within the Little IceAge, prices forwheat and rye rose significantly.24 In addition, peoplewere compelled topayadditional taxes tohelp fund thewarsof theHabsburgemperorsagainst theOttomans.25 In Austria, a series ofmajor floods occurred in 1567, 1569 and 1572.26 Furthermore, the city of Krems in Lower Austria, situated at the end of theWachau, a narrow passage of the Danube River,washit bya severe floodcausedbyan ice jam in January 1573.27 Theaccumulationof so many destructive events over such a short time caused this series of events to be viewed as a disaster evenwithinanexisting ‘cultureof floodmanagement’. People couldnot copewith the damage as they had done in the past. As a consequence, the city council of Krems petitioned theEmperorandlandlordMaximilianII (1564–1576)on17February1573.28Althoughtheoriginal of this document, formerly preserved in the Vienna Archive of the Imperial Chamber (Wiener Finanz-undHofkammerarchiv),nowseems tobe lost, its contentsareknown. In the first section of thedocument, thecouncillorsdescribedtheeffectsof the1572summer flood,whichhadbeen severe,butmanageablewithexisting resources.Due to thesubsequent ice flood,however, they hadbeenunable to cope and therefore pleadedwith theEmperor to commit financial support. Moreover, the city walls andmany houses were severely damaged and could not be repaired until thewinter. As a result, the city’s vulnerability to a second event wasmuch higher than usual. Thewinemakers of Krems alleged that their economic loss was even greater: most of the vineyards, fields andmeadowsnear the riverwere totally ruined and could not be quickly re- stored.29 Possibly the inventory in the petition was exaggerated to underline their cause, be- 22 Fritz 2018, 216, basedona charter of 1485 (FürstenbergischesUrkundenbuch4, ed. S.Riezler,Nr.50). 23 Fritz 2018, 217f., basedon theannual accounts ofHohenberg in 1395/1396. 24 Pfister –Brázdil 1999, 41f.; Behringer 2003. 25Winkelbauer 2003, 467–469. 26 Rohr 2007, 243–257. 27 For the following section, seeRohr 2013, 136–139;Rohr inprint. 28 Kinzl 1869, 150–153;Rohr 2007, 254–256. 332–336. 29 Petitionof the city council of Krems (Kinzl 1869, 150).