Lienz

Lienz grew as a market on the Alpine route between Venzone in Friuli and Salzburg. The counts of Gorizia chose it as a residence and completed nearby Burg Bruck in 1278. The town had received its charter in 1242, and the castle remained the counts' local seat until their line ended with Leonhard's death in 1500. Their lands passed to the Habsburg ruler Maximilian and were incorporated into Tyrol. French troops occupied Lienz twice in 1797 during the Revolutionary Wars. After Austria's defeat at Austerlitz, the Peace of Pressburg transferred it with Tyrol to Bavaria in 1805. Four years later it became the administrative centre of a district in Napoleon's Illyrian Provinces, until Austrian troops recovered it in 1813.