Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-29
"A GROUP OF ANCIENT GERMAN CITIES
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS
Written for Star and the Chicago Record Herald:

the summit Of a mountain. from which
a wonderful view may be had OF the sur
rounding country. They are still worked
for copper and lead, and a small amount
of silver and occasionally gold is turned
out by the smelter. Nearby is deposit
OF mineral which yields the ochre dye
used by textile manufacturers OF Ger
many.
Emperor Ohio I Of the Holy Roman
Empire, a great-grandson of Charlie
magne. built a hunting lodge near the
mines in $50, and called 1t Goslar: Hen
haus, as it Is called, in 973, and made it
his headquarters. His successors on the
throne enlarged it from time time until
it became the largest and the grandest
royal residence in Germany. And the
town of Goslar grew up around 1t. For
several centuries it was a prosperous and
influential place and became a member
OF the Hanseaic League in 1850. 1t
reached the zenith of it's prosperity at
the beginning OF the sixteenth century.
and from that time its importance began
to decline.
Emperor Henry " was born at Goslar
in 1850. and did a great deal to promote
the welfare Of his native city.
The last of the rulers Of the Holy Ro-
man empire to occupy Goslar as q cap
ital was Barbarossa.
The Kaiserhaus was burned down in
1889, but was afterward rebuilt on
smaller scale, and was disfgured by in
appropriate additions and extensions
during the succeeding centuries In 1867
Kaiser Wilhelm 1 had the ancient pal
ace restored to its original condition and
appearance. and the architects showed
great skill and conscientiousness. In COM
memoration Of this event statues Of Bar
barossa and Wilhelm I were erected in
front Of the palace in 1900, and those two
great Germans. Barbarossa and Barba-
blanca, as the people call them. are stand
ing guard forever. on their war chargers,
in front of the ancient palace.
The chapel Of st. Ulrich, attached to
the palace in the middle ages, once held
the largest collection of re-
St. Ulrich ligious relics of any church
c,, In the world outside of
OAoPeA' Rome and Constantinople.
They were brought home by the crusad-
ers and the rulers of the Holy Roman
empire to give sanctity to the place and
to furnish evidence Of their piety and
zeal. Henry III was one Of the largest
contributors to this collection, and on his
death, in 1856. his armored corpse was
placed in the chapel in a sarcophagus In
the form OF a Greek cross. 1t Is still TO
be seen there and is reckoned one of the
oldest tombs in Germany.
The body OF st. Matthew, the apostle,
rested In the Chapel of st. Ulrich for sew
eral centuries. and on the feast day OF
that saint 1t was carried about the
streets of the city, escorted by the en-
peror in his imperial robes and a brilliant
train Of princes, prelates, statesmen. war
riors and knights! One of the early en-
perors, who was in the crusades, brought
from the Holy Land half the body of the
apostle Philip. an arm OF inc inc a apostie
James the Less. a foot of st. Paul and
the upper part OF the left arm of st.
peter. These, with the entire bodies OF
st. Nicholas st. Lawrence. st. Cyril and
st. Dionysius, made up collection OF
a position among the most sacred cities
in the world.
The body Of st. Matthew, the apostle. is
not there now, but / have not been able
to learn what became OF 1t, and the rest
Of the relics are gone. Some of them, 1t
is said. were stolen when Goslar was
looted by Otho w in 12O6: others were
stolen during the Swedish occupation IN
the thirty years war, and the rest were
sold to different cathedrals during the
hard times that Goslar experienced, when
the capital of the holy Roman empire was
removed to the Aix-la-Chappelle.
X X
There are several quaint relics or an
cient days at Goslar that have no reli-
gious significance. and many
Hall of married men will find sat
isfaction in visiting an old
aV1uase' chapel connected with the
city hall. It dates back to the twelfth
century, and is called the Huldegungs-
thinner, or Hall of Homage. 1t is a mu-
scum now, and contains a collection OF
examples of early German printing, manu-
script copies OF the gospels dating back
to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
Of torture used in the middle
ages. ancient armor and weapons and a
"beisskatze''-you may never have heard
that musical name before, but 1t Is used
to designate an iron cage, in which scold-
ing wives used to be locked up until they
learned how to treat their husbands re-
spectfulIy. The fact that this is the only
to be seen in Germany to-
dav Indicates that such punishment Is
no longer needed to keep hausfraus in
good discipline, or, perhaps. there may
have been a change in the customs OF the
country.
houses to bear testimony to the ancient
grandeur of Goslar
From Goslar you can run over to Harz-
burg, in the midst OF the Harz mountains.
in four or five hours, and find several
and attractive summer re-
sorts with excellent hotels. salt baths
and other attractions for the summer
And from there you can motor IN every
direction through the Harz mountains
and find joy and comfort. rest and re-
freshment, and a pure. sweet atmosphere
laden with the fragrance of the pines.
At Ilsenburg is an iron mine and a group
of furnaces belonging to Prince Werni-
gerode, with a busy village of 1850 work
ing1nen around 1t. The prince has a beau
tiful and imposing romanesque castle on
an eminence that overlooks the surround
ing country. 1t was formerly a Benedic-
tine abbey, and was originally founded
in 1893 The town Of Wernigerode. six
miles farther on, has population Of
about $4,000, and is one of the largest
iron producers in Germany. The prince,
who owns every thing in this part of Ger
many. is a man of great enterprise and
energy and has done a great deal for the
welfare of his employees. Everybody in
the town and the surrounding country
either works for him or is semi-dependent
upOn his industries.