History of Bregenz
First settlements date back to 1500 BC. Strabo claims that the Brigantii are an Alpine Celtic sub-tribe.The Celts established Brigantion, a town in the fifth century BC, which subsequently developed into one of their most strongly defended sites. In 15 BC, following a number of battles, the Roman army prevailed and took Brigantion. As such, the city changed and became a Roman camp. Brigantium was granted official municipality status in 50 AD. The Roman admiralty presiding over Lake Constance also had its headquarters there. The Alemanni, a Germanic tribe that had arrived in the region in 450, destroyed the city of Brigantium in the year 259/60.
Saints Columbanus and Gall committed themselves to missionary activity at Bregenz between 610 and 612. The castle housed the Udalrichinger, the Vorarlberg royal family, starting in 917. They went by the title Counts of Bregenz. The house vanished in 1150. Son of Ulrich the First, Saint Gebhard was born in 947. He was made Konstanz bishop. About 1170, Hugo of Tübingen—also called Montfort—founded a municipal community. Documentation of this village first appears in 1249. Important growth of the settlement occurred in the 13th and 14th centuries, and again between 1650 and 1652.
Following its sales to the Habsburgs in 1451 and again in 1523, the city remained under Austrian administration. Carl Gustaf Wrangel’s Swedish army briefly seized the city during the Thirty Years’ War. Up to the 19th century, this custom was followed. 1805–1814 saw Bregenz governed by Bavaria. Built between 1842 and 1850, the port on Lake Constance saw further extensions in 1883 and 1889–1891. In 1884 an Austrian ship service was founded. Railway services were introduced in 1872 and expanded over the Arlberg mountain in 1884.
Ever since 1726, Bregenz has been the principal center of Austrian government in Vorarlberg. It was first called the Obervogtei and then, in 1786, the Kreisamt. It has housed the Landtag officially since 1861 and the Landeshauptmann’s official home since 1918. In 1919 and 1946, respectively, Bregenz absorbed the municipalities of Rieden-Vorkloster and Fluh. The town suffered by Allies bombing in 1945, which destroyed 72 homes.
Prehistoric and Celtic times
First human habitation in the region began in 1500 BC when a Celtic tribe erected a stronghold on a hill with a view of the lake. Meaning “high place” or “fortified place,” they called it Brigantion. Sophisticated metalworkers, merchants, and warriors, the Celts ruled a sizable portion of the Alps. They also maintained relationships with the Romans, who subsequently overran their territory.
Roman times
The Brigantii were among the Alpine tribes that the Roman emperor Augustus started a campaign to subjugate in 15 BC. Following a siege, his stepsons Drusus and Tiberius led the army and took Brigantion. Renaming the town Brigantium, the Romans used it as a naval station and military camp for Lake Constance. Along with roads and aqueducts, they constructed temples, baths, and other public structures. Brigantium grew to be a significant administrative and commercial hub, and in 50 AD it was proclaimed a municipality. Up until the Alemanni, a Germanic tribe that invaded the area in the fifth century AD, destroyed the town, Roman sovereignty continued.
Early Middle Ages
The Alemanni moved in and converted to Christianity after the Roman Empire fell. Later on, the Franks overthrew them and founded the Carolingian Empire. Irish and Scottish monks who arrived to the area in the eighth and ninth century established monasteries and churches, including Saint Columbanus and Saint Gall. Together with preserving ancient culture and education, they evangelized the local populace. Among the most well-known monks was Saint Gebhard, the bishop of Constance after being born in Bregenz in 947. Canonised in 1130, he was a reformer and arts patron.
High and Late Middle Ages
A aristocratic family ruling over a sizable portion of Vorarlberg made Bregenz their residence in the tenth century. They expanded the town below and erected a castle on the hill where the Celtic stronghold had stood. They also ran afoul of the dukes of Swabia and the bishops of Constance, who both claimed jurisdiction over the territory. Following the death of the last count of Bregenz in 1206, the counts of Montfort, another aristocratic line, inherited his estates. In 1200, they awarded Bregenz a town charter, which conferred upon it various rights and privileges including a town council and a weekly market. The Martins-Turm, a tower housing a church devoted to Saint Martin, was also constructed by the Montforts in the 13th and 14th centuries. Bregenz became Austrian territory when the Montforts ceded it to the Habsburgs in 1451 and 1523.
Early Modern Period
Religious and political upheaval characterized Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) ravaged many areas and the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation split the Christian world. Though Bregenz stayed Catholic and obedient to the Habsburgs, it too endured the consequences of the war, including poverty, starvation, and disease. In 1647, Swedish soldiers seized the town; in 1648, French forces besieged it. Ottoman Turk raids on the neighboring regions in 1664 and 1683 posed another threat to the town. The town took on a Baroque appearance throughout the 17th and 18th century when it was rebuilt and restored. Among the noteworthy structures from this time are the ancient town hall, the Seekapelle, and the parish church.Furthermore, in 1726 Bregenz was designated as the primary seat of the Austrian government in Vorarlberg, a position it held to this day.
19th and 20th centuries
Bregenz saw tremendous changes during the 19th century, much like the rest of Europe. Both the Habsburg dynasty and the Holy Roman Empire came to an end during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). Bregenz was included to the German Confederation in 1814 after Bavaria seized it in 1805. Returned to Austria in 1815, it joined the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867 and the Austrian Empire in 1804. The town likewise had social and economic growth as a result of the industrial revolution, the building of railways, and the tourist sector. Along with creating new infrastructure and amenities like the theatre, the museum, the port, and the hydroelectric plant, the town grew in size and population. In addition, the municipality organized cultural events, notably the 1946-founded and ongoing Bregenz Festival, a summer music festival. Two world wars also struck Bregenz and the rest of Austria throughout the 20th century. In 1945 the Allies bombarded the settlement, destroying 72 homes. Austria became independent again after the war and developed into a democratic and neutral nation. Bregenz kept expanding and prospering, and in 1919 and 1946, respectively, it added the nearby communities of Rieden-Vorkloster and Fluh.The Kunsthaus Bregenz, the Vorarlberg Museum, and the University of Applied Sciences Vorarlberg are only a few of the cultural and educational institutions the town created.
