From today's perspective, the Reformation may have been a matter of faith. However, if we look at faith as an essential building block of everyday life and the identity of contemporaries, we realise that it was only one expression of many things that were in a state of upheaval. The Reformation was a turning point for society as a whole, similar to 1848 or 1968. The majority of people may have remained unaffected on the surface, but many things changed for everyone as a result of these revolutions. The accompanying social and political changes did not stop at the Holy Land of Tyrol.

Around 1500, new discoveries and new ways of thinking began to herald the end of the Middle Ages. Artists, scholars and clerics throughout Europe began to question hierarchies, order and legitimisation. With the theological reformers of the 15th and 16th centuries, the feudal system, which saw the church and nobility above the people and bourgeoisie, began to crumble. In the 15th century, the Bohemian clergyman Jan Hus was one of the first in mainland Europe to question the omnipotence of the Pope and was banished to the stake at the Council of Constance for his actions. In France and Switzerland, it was Jean Calvin (1509 - 1564), in Holy Roman Empire Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) and Thomas Müntzer (1489 - 1525), who challenged the Roman Church in the 16th century.

In Tyrol, the mining towns of Hall and Schwaz were the main centres of the Reformation, where preachers such as Jacob Strauss stirred up the people with dissent in the early 16th century. The new teachings were a symbol of the new self-image and social significance that craftsmen, skilled labourers and entrepreneurs in this emerging industry had compared to the old system of feudal lords. The progressive sections of the aristocracy were also interested in the new way of living their faith, which was an important part of their lifestyle. Strauss preached to full churches - albeit in German according to Luther's teachings instead of those of the Pope in Latin.

Ferdinand I and his successors were able to successfully push back the Reformation in Tyrol. Ferdinand II described his motives with the words:

"...aus eingebung Gotes und seines Hayligen Geistes Inspiration. Alles zu ehre des aller höchsten aus ainem Rechen inprünstigen zu der heyligen Catholischen Alleinsseligmachenden Religion tragenden eyfer.“

The religious crisis also led to problems outside the churches. Faith and the secular were not separate spheres. If the miners were dissatisfied with the pastoral care, they went on strike. Public order was in danger, and not just because the miners had the right to bear arms. They were well connected with each other. A general strike could trigger an economic crisis. The Fuggers and Habsburgs, capital and political power, were very careful not to let things get that far and granted the miners special rights.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was mainly priests of the Jesuit order who were supposed to bring apostate communities and citizens from the Reformed faith back into the fold of the Catholic Church. In Austria, the Habsburgs appointed so-called Religious Reformation Commissions in. Did these "Missionare" Protestant-orientated pastors or subjects who owned banned books were arrested and expelled from the country and often had their houses set on fire. Protestant civil servants could not practise their profession. They either had to convert or emigrate. Particularly stubborn subjects were publicly chained, the lower the citizen's rank, the more severe the punishment.

Under Maria Theresia In the 18th century, Tyrolean Protestants were forcibly resettled in remote parts of the Habsburg Empire. However, the resettlements were not only a problem for the citizens concerned. The provinces were faced with the problem of what is now known as Braindrain labelled. With the resettled people, labour and skills also left the country. In 1781, the enlightened Emperor Joseph II issued the Toleranzpatent, das den Bau von protestantischen Kirchen erlaubte, wenn auch an Bedingungen gebunden. So durften diese Bethäuser keine Türme oder sonstigen baulichen Besonderheiten aufweisen. Die Gebäude durften keine straßenseitigen Fenster haben. In Tirol kam es zu Widerständen gegen das Toleranzpatent, man fürchtete um die guten Sitten und wollte fremdartige Religionen, Zwietracht und Unruhen aller Art vermeiden. Konvertierten Untertanen wurden Dinge wie Ehe und ein Begräbnis auf katholischen Friedhöfen verwehrt.

Bis heute gilt Tirol als selbsternanntes „Heiliges Land", whereby holy refers explicitly to the Catholic faith. Protestants were deported from the Zillertal as late as 1837. The descendants of the so-called Zillertaler Inklinantenwho emigrated under pressure from the authorities still live in Germany today. Tolerance gradually found its way into the empire and the federal states, but well into the 20th century the affiliation between the authorities and the Catholic Church remained firmly established in many areas of life, such as school education. In 1861, Emperor Franz Josef issued the Protestant Patent, which gave the Protestant Church more or less the same rights as the Catholic Church. The Tyrolean population did not allow its perseverance to be undermined by the imperial Protestantenpatent von ihrer Intoleranz abbringen. Das Argument lautete, dass es in Tirol ohnehin keine Andersgläubigen gäbe, es daher auch keiner Toleranz gegenüber Nichtkatholiken bedurfte. Erst 1876 kam es zur Gründung einer evangelischen Pfarrgemeinde in Innsbruck.

Maria Theresa is one of the most important figures in Austrian history. Although she is often referred to as Empress, she was officially "only" Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Queen of Bohemia. Her domestic reforms were significant. Together with her advisors Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz, Joseph von Sonnenfels and Wenzel Anton Kaunitz, she managed to emerge from the so-called Österreichischen Erblanden to create a modern state. Instead of the administration of its territories by the local nobility, it favoured a modern administration. The welfare of her subjects became more important. In the style of the Enlightenment, her advisors had recognised that the welfare of the state depended on the health and education of its individual parts. Subjects were to be Catholic, but their loyalty was to be to the state. School education was placed under centralised state administration. No critical, humanistic intellectuals were to be educated, but rather material for the state administrative apparatus. Non-nobles could now also rise to higher state positions via the military and administration.

A rethink took place in law enforcement and the judiciary. In 1747, a kleine Polizei which was responsible for matters relating to market supervision, trade regulations, tourist control and public decency. The penal code Constitutio Criminalis Theresiana did not abolish torture, but it did regulate its use.

Economic reforms were intended not only to create more opportunities for the subjects, but also to increase state revenue. Weights and measures were nominated to make the tax system more impermeable. For citizens and peasants, the standardisation of laws had the advantage that life was less dependent on landlords and their whims. The RobotThis was abolished under Maria Theresa.

As much as Maria Theresa staged herself as a pious mother of the country and is known today as an Enlightenment figure, the strict Catholic ruler was not squeamish when it came to questions of power and religion. In keeping with the trend of the Enlightenment, she had superstitions such as vampirism, which was widespread in the eastern parts of her empire, critically analysed and initiated the final end to witch trials. At the same time, however, she mercilessly expelled Protestants from the country. Many Tyroleans were forced to leave their homeland and settle in parts of the Habsburg Empire further away from the centre.

In crown lands such as Tyrol, Maria Theresa's reforms met with little favour. With the exception of a few liberals, they saw themselves more as an independent and autonomous province and less as part of a modern territorial state. The clergy also did not like the new, subordinate role, which became even more pronounced under Joseph II. For the local nobility, the reforms not only meant a loss of importance and autonomy, but also higher taxes and duties. Taxes, levies and customs duties, which had always provided the city of Innsbruck with reliable income, were now collected centrally and only partially refunded via financial equalisation. In order to minimise the fall of sons from impoverished aristocratic families and train them for civil service, Maria Theresa founded the Theresianumwhich also had a branch in Innsbruck from 1775.

As is so often the case, time has ironed out many a wrinkle and the people of Innsbruck are now proud to have been home to one of the most important rulers in Austrian history. Today, the Triumphpfote and the Hofburg in Innsbruck are the main reminders of the Theresian era.