Mighty Carinthian

The Keutschacher Rübe created the Salzburg bull

Salzburg's Prince Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach expanded numerous castles, including the one on Petersberg in Friesach, where the Keutschach turnip adorns a gate.(Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler)

Between Gmünd and St. Andrä in Lavanttal, you can see traces of Salzburg's Prince Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach. But who was the high lord with the turnip?

The veracity of the story is doubtful, but the legend attempts to explain why Leonhard von Keutschach bore the strange coat of arms with the root vegetable: Contrary to the biography, which knows him as a highly educated, hard-working, successful, deeply religious and credible churchman, the legend tells of a student who is often too funny, who also fumbles a year of study and is reprimanded for it by his uncle, a farmer.