Between heaven & earth

Christian Mähr: The truth about Ostarrichi

On today's national holiday, the Austrian flag is proudly flown throughout the country. In the days of Ostarrichi, people had completely different worries.

(Bild: Huber Patrick)

The national holiday must be about Austria! "Krone" science expert Dr. Christian Mähr has therefore taken a closer look at the first document in which Austria was first mentioned as "Ostarrichi" and ventured a deeper look into the 10th century.

The first written mention of "Ostarrichi" was in a document of the Roman-German Emperor Otto III from the year 996, which refers to a "region popularly called Ostarrichi". This is a little vague; what is meant is the area around today's Neuhofen an der Ybbs, which the emperor donated to the Bishop of Freising, Gottschalk von Hagenau, in this document. The gift includes the farm itself as well as a further thirty royal hooves with everything that the early medieval wish list had to offer: meadows, pastures, forests, cultivated and uncultivated land, all waters, bee pastures, hunts, all paths, mills...