experience sankt veit

The close relation to the Dukes of Spanheim

The close relation to the Spanheims was decisive for the rapid rise of the town. The ducal kitchen and a ducal barn in St. Veit were mentioned under Duke Ulrich II in a document from the year 1199. Also, a large number of ducal servants were mentioned in documents for the first time in the late 12th century.

Under Duke Bernhard, the dynasties that had a close relationship with the Spanheim dukes, namely the dynasties of the Osterwitzs, Kraigs and Karlsbergs, were mentioned for the first time as the holders of offices at court: cupbearers, sewers and marshals.
The far-reaching family connections of the Spanheims, who originated from the Rhineland, extending as far as Bohemia and Hungary, were a reason for the widespread cultural contacts of the ducal family. Besides vagrant minstrels, such as Walther von der Vogelweide and Ulrich von Lichtenstein, literature was also maintained by local poets such as Heinrich von dem Türlin from St. Veit. He is considered to be the author of the courtly novel “Der Aventiure Crone” that appeared between 1215 and 1230. The novel tells of the adventures of Knight Gawan at King Arthur’s Court and his search for the Holy Grail. Heinrich was either a citizen of St. Veit or presumably worked as a civil servant or ministerialis at the court of Duke Bernhard.

In 1224 St. Veit was referred to as a town for the first time. However, one could not speak of a definite residence of the sovereign prince in St. Veit because Duke Bernhard spent the most time of his rule in the wake of the German Emperors and Kings.

Besides St. Veit, castles of the sovereign prince were also mentioned in Völkermarkt and Klagenfurt in 1252. Duke Ulrich (1256 – 1269) shifted the centre of his activity to Krain/Kranj; but St. Veit remained his preferred place of residence in Carinthia. The town was not only of strategic but also of economic importance for the dukes. Particularly worth mentioning are the ducal toll and the mint, the oldest coinage of which dates back to as early as the last decades of the 12th century. So the first coin with a German inscription was a St. Veit pfennig minted at the court of Duke Bernhard.