There
is an old-world look about Herrmannstadt that gives one the sensation of
being landed in another age; it is a case of Rip Van Winkle, only
"t'other way round," as the saying is: one has awakened from the sleep
in the hills to walk down into a mediaeval town, finding the speech and
fashions of old Germany--Luther's Germany!
The Saxon immigrants in Hungary number nearly two millions. The greater
proportion of these is found in Transylvania; the rest, some forty
thousand, have a compact colony under the shadow of the Tatra Mountains,
in the north of Hungary, called from time immemorable the "Free
District." But it was to the slopes of the Southern Carpathians, to the
"land beyond the forest," where the first Saxons came and settled. It is
still called "Altland," being the oldest of their possessions in
Hungary. In fact this appellation of the "Oldland" belongs, strictly
speaking, to the Herrmannstadt district. Formerly no Hungarian was
allowed to settle in the town, so jealous were the burghers of their
privileges. I believe the earliest date of the Saxon immigration is
1143. The country had been wasted by the incursions of the Tartars, and
in consequence the Servian Princess Helena, widow of the blind King Bela
of Hungary, invited them hither during the minority of her son, Geysa
II. They appear to have come from Flanders, and from the neighbourhood
of Cologne. They were tempted to this strange land by certain privileges
and special rights secured to them by the rulers of Hungary, and
faithfully preserved through many difficulties; as a fact the Saxons of
Transylvania retained their self-government down to the middle of this
century.
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