Postal history and postage stamps of Bavaria

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Special stamp of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 in memory of Germany's first postage stamp (one value from a set of three stamps)

The history of the post in Bavaria has been an independent development over centuries, which only ended in 1920 with the transition to the imperial post .

history

The beginnings of the Post Office in Bavaria lay in the hands of the Taxis family, who had been allowed to call themselves Thurn und Taxis since 1650 . In Innsbruck , Regensburg and Augsburg they had set up post offices for the Imperial Post Office, from where messengers took care of the orders in the country. The Bavarian dukes themselves took care of these messengers. They had individual routes laid out as riding posts with a permanent change of horses , based on the Taxis model . Well known are riding posts ( post courses ) to Augsburg with a station in Bruck, or ( laid out in 1598 under Duke Maximilian ) from Munich via Dachau , Aichach and Rain to Donauwörth and from Munich to Schärding . Frederick IV set up a riding post between Amberg and Nuremberg with a connection to Prague .

Emperor Rudolf II warned the German imperial estates to accept the imperial posts, i.e. Thurn and Taxis, in their countries and to let them do their service. In 1652, Duke Ferdinand Maria of Bavaria insisted on only employing Bavarian electoral postmasters for the imperial posts going through his country. Six years later, Leopold I declared the postal system to be a “special shelf ” that had to be “properly respected”. But they remained loyal to the Thurn und Taxis family. In 1664 it was agreed with the General Post Office in Regensburg to establish a Taxis Reich Post Office in Munich. The messenger lines that were still preserved were abolished and new postal routes were created. Connections were established via Mittenwald to Innsbruck and via Geisenfeld to Regensburg, to name just the most important.

Elector Max Emanuel of Bavaria appointed Count Franz Ferdinand von und zu Haimhausen postmaster general in Bavaria and had a horse-riding post set up from Munich to Brussels . The emperor was indignant. The elector stuck to his order. Maximilian relented only when the emperor threatened to “dismiss his hereditary land postmaster, to abolish the state posts and only allow imperial mail throughout, then to seize the fiefs of Count Haimhausen in Bohemia”. The Thurn and Taxis had triumphed and remained active in the country. In 1784, a convention on the "Postfreitum" was signed between the Elector Karl Theodor of Bavaria and Prince Karl Anselm von Thurn und Taxis and renewed 15 years later.

Bavarian State Post

By the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of February 25, 1803 the Thurn und Taxis were confirmed in their postal rights, but their power was shaken. The emperor had lost much of his power. The Taxis'sche Post tried to secure itself through contracts. In 1804 a contract was signed with Bavaria in which Elector Max Joseph of Bavaria assured the Prince of Thurn and Taxis to manage all state posts for ten years. Thurn und Taxis was endowed with a feudal throne and the dignity of a hereditary postmaster. The post office officials, all local, had to be committed to the king and the taxissche postal administration and were subject to the sovereignty of a royal commission. But the contract had little strength. First of all, the elector took possession of the imperial post offices in the Franconian and Swabian parts of the area that had come to him as a result of the main imperial deputation. The contract was also not adhered to in the old Bavarian regions. On December 20, 1805, the post office officials were committed to the elector, the emblems of the imperial post were removed from the post houses and the elector's coat of arms was attached. The Elector of Bavaria took the post into state ownership. The postal system was subordinated to the Ministerial Department of Foreign Affairs . In a treaty dated February 14, 1806, this state act was approved. The postal system was now under constitutional law to the King of Bavaria . He granted the Prince of Thurn and Taxis the dignity of hereditary postmaster and let him manage the Bavarian postal system for the time being for a lease of 15,000 guilders. This contract also did not last.

On March 1, 1808, the Prince of Thurn und Taxis was compensated, the post office was declared a state institution and taken into its own administration. The Prince of Thurn and Taxis received the dignity of a Bavarian hereditary land postmaster and corresponding compensation. On July 1, 1808, the General Post Directorate, as a department of the Foreign Ministry, was given the management of the royal posts. At first there were upper post offices in Munich, Augsburg, Nuremberg and Innsbruck as subordinate offices. The local operation was entrusted to the post offices, which, depending on their size and importance, were called post offices, postal administrations or postal expeditions. There were also post offices and letter collections.

South Tyrol and Italy

With the Peace of Pressburg on January 1, 1806, Bavaria was awarded Tyrol and Vorarlberg . While in Bavaria even taxis kept the post management, in Tyrol and Vorarlberg the posts were taken over by the state. The former Austrian postal system remained in Tyrol until September 1807. Bavaria did not actually take control of the mail until the end of 1807.

In 1810 the upper post office in Innsbruck was converted into a post office and, together with the other post offices, assigned to the upper post office in Augsburg. Through the Peace of Tilsit and the Peace of Schönbrunn , further senior post offices were added in the newly acquired areas in Bayreuth, Regensburg and Salzburg. As a result of the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, Bavaria had to give up its Austrian gains again, but got back the Palatinate and areas around Würzburg and Aschaffenburg to compensate . The post offices that were still taxis were taken over and a post office was set up in Würzburg. The Salzburg post office was closed. In addition, there was an upper post office in Speyer in 1816 . The existing 6 upper post offices had to manage a total of 284 post offices.

administration

By ordinance of July 31, 1817, the administration was renamed “General Administration of the Royal Posts” and reorganized. From January 1, 1826, this authority came to the State Ministry of Finance as an independent department . In 1827 the upper post offices in Regensburg and Speyer were converted into post offices. While Speyer retained its powers, the Regensburg post offices in Munich and Nuremberg were assigned. On April 1, 1831, the post offices of the dissolved Oberpostamt Würzburg went to Nuremberg. In 1826, Bavaria introduced express cars on the route from Nuremberg to Hof with a connection to Leipzig. The facility worked so well that the most important routes had to be traveled on every day from 1838. In 1832 the postal service was placed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1834 new post offices were set up in Regensburg and Würzburg.

The oldest German brand, the " Black One " from 1849

The first German railway was opened on December 7, 1835 between Nuremberg and Fürth. On July 3, 1837, the relationship between rail and post was settled (carriage of letter and newspaper parcels and Estafetten shipments without remuneration, the mail for a lump sum). Bavaria introduced mailboxes in general in 1842 . Arrival stamps were introduced in 1843. Bavaria issued the first German postage stamps in 1849.

On May 27, 1847 the administration of the post office and railways was combined, on December 1, 1847 the “General Administration of the Kgl. Post and Railways ”subordinated to the Ministry of Finance, later subordinated to the newly formed State Ministry of Trade and Public Works.

  • Country mailbox Royal Bavarian Post 1860

  • City mailbox Royal Bavarian Post 1876–1884

  • City mailbox Royal Bavarian Post model 99/05 1905

German-Austrian postal association

Bavaria joined when the German-Austrian postal treaty between Prussia and Austria was signed . The German-Austrian Post Association came into force on July 1st. From February 9, 1851, the “General Directorate of the Royal Transport Authorities”, subordinate to the Ministry of Commerce , was formed. Now the administration of the telegraph system was also part of it. In the same year letters with cash payments were introduced.

An ordinance of August 6, 1858, led to the formation of eight administrative districts . Each administrative district was given a district authority, namely Upper Bavaria , Swabia , Middle Franconia and Upper Franconia , an upper post office each, as well as railway post offices in Munich, Augsburg, Nuremberg and Bamberg. The Palatinate , Lower Bavaria , Upper Palatinate and Lower Franconia , where the railways were not state property , each received an upper post office. At the beginning of 1854 in Bavaria there were eight main expeditions for letter, driving mail and newspaper service at the place of duty of the upper post offices, eight post and railway offices, two post offices, 15 post and railway administrations, three postal administrations, 72 postal and railway expeditions, 518 postal expeditions and 189 letter trays. In 1868 the Landshut Oberpostamt was dissolved and the district was assigned to the Regensburg Oberpostamt.

Time of the North German Post District

Letter from Tutzing to Palermo , around 1870

The different German state posts, the North German Post District had formed in the north , adapted more and more to the tariffs and treatment regulations. In the Treaty of Versailles of 1870, Bavaria was allowed to continue its postal service, with the result that Bavaria regulated internal affairs in the Bavaria department in Munich itself. With the constitution of the German Reich of April 16, 1871, the postal and telegraph legislation was passed on to the Reich , a Reich postal and telegraph administration was created for all federal states except Bavaria and Württemberg on the basis of the post of the North German Confederation . The two southern German states each kept their own post and telegraph administrations. After a few other small changes in the Bavarian postal administration with effect from January 1, 1876, the joint upper post offices and railway offices were separated. The respective traffic authorities were subordinate to them.

Rail mail

The first Bavarian rail post office was set up in Munich in 1882 (Nuremberg 1890, Würzburg and Augsburg 1898). The volume of traffic required decentralization, and so in 1886 a “General Directorate of State Railways” and a “Directorate of Royal Bavarian Posts and Telegraphs” were created. There were now 2225 traffic authorities. In addition to these, numerous post offices were set up from 1897. Since 1898/99, the subordinate post offices have been divided into three classes of post offices (depending on the size of the business), post agencies and post office auxiliaries, in addition there were so-called seasonal post offices that were only in operation during the summer months.

The first Bavarian power post bus from 1905

Kraftpost

In 1905, the Bavarian Post installed vehicles for the carriage of mail and people on the Bad Tölz - Lengries line. The prospect of improving the traffic conditions in the parts of the country remote from the railroad had been planned by means of such post office lines. As early as 1908, 11 lines were in operation all year round and 6 with summer operation. On April 1, 1920, there were 23 routes.

Transfer to the German Reich, establishment of the Munich Dept. of the Reich Postal Ministry

As a result of the adoption of the Weimar Constitution on March 29 and 31, 1920, between the Reich and the state governments of Bavaria and Württemberg, there were state treaties on the cession of the postal and telegraph services to the Reich. At the time of delivery there were 64 post offices I class, 118 II class and 409 III post offices in Bavaria. Class, 2563 post agencies and 2046 post office support points, plus 9 post offices without class designation, so-called seasonal post offices and 81 branches of post offices. The regulations for the post offices as well as those for the relations between post offices and postal customers were not regulated in Bavaria by laws, but by numerous service instructions, royal ordinances and ministerial announcements and resolutions. There was no fixed regulation of responsibilities in Bavaria.

Since the postal regulations of April 1, 1920, there has only been one imperial postal administration. In Munich, however, a Munich department of the Reich Ministry of Post was set up to regulate the internal affairs of the Bavarian Oberpostdirektion. On January 1, 1922, the Bavarian postal order was finally brought into line with that of the Reich, but a special pneumatic tube order was issued for Munich.

Postage stamps and postmarks

On February 22, 1849, Bavaria became the first German state to introduce postage stamps . The business community and the press weren't particularly enthusiastic. The first marks were numeric marks, the so-called black ones , which were used from November 1, 1849. Because of the revolutionary movements of the time, the use of the sovereign's head had been avoided. Later Ludwig II also refused to use his head portrait. In 1867 the square number issues were replaced by stamps with the state coat of arms in embossed printing. Postage stamps with the head of Prince Regent Luitpold followed in 1911 and those with the head of King Ludwig III in 1914 . In addition to the postage stamps, there were so-called official stamps and stamps to compensate for the postage due. Since the transfer of the Bavarian Post to the Reich (1920), there are no longer any Bavarian stamps of its own.

In Bavaria there were several separate forms of postmarks . The semicircular stamps are striking , showing the place name of the place of posting in a semicircle above the date. From August 1, 1850 to March 9, 1869, the use of so-called mill wheel stamps was mandatory for most postal items in Bavaria. These striking stamps only show the number of the posting post office in a circle surrounded by rays (closed mill wheel stamp) or segments of a circle (open mill wheel stamp). In the other old German states these types of stamps did not normally occur.

Rarities

One of the most remarkable pieces of world philately is the only known letter with a block of six from Bavaria's first postage stamp. The letter was posted on November 14, 1850 in Straubing and sent to the "Comité for the trade exhibition in Eichstätt". In addition, a vertical block of 12 is known in which the 4th stamp is upside down. It is a so-called tête-bêche , one of only three known tête-bêches of this brand. This strip was auctioned in Wiesbaden in 2009 for 320,000 euros and a horizontal strip of 3 on a letter to Neustadt for 40,000 euros.

Fakes

The first stamp from 1849 appears as a total forgery. Later stamps came onto the market with the wrong stamp. They should only be purchased tested. At least 6 imitations of black ones from the well-known forger Jean de Sperati have been identified, including a reverse print ( tête-bêche ).

  • 1850

  • Five early postage stamps and one postage stamp from the Kingdom of Bavaria as well as an official stamp with the imprint "People's State of Bavaria" after the end of the monarchy

  • 1862

  • Various "squares" with semicircle and mill wheel stamps

  • Embossed coat of arms (penny values ​​since 1876) with double circle stamp " Zinzenzell "

  • 1914: Ludwig III.

  • Cover with the only surviving block of six from Bavaria's first postage stamp.

literature

  • BE Crole (di Bruno Emil König ): History of the German post from its beginnings to the present . 2nd Edition. Publishing house W. Malende, Leipzig 1889
  • Konrad Schwarz (Postrat): Timeline of German postal history . (= Post and Telegraphy in Science and Practice; Volume 22). R. v. Deckers Verlag, Berlin 1935
  • Handheld dictionary of postal services .
    • 2nd Edition. Federal Ministry for Post and Telecommunications, Frankfurt a. M. 1953, pp. 87-93
    • 3. Edition. Pp. 225-227
  • J. Helbig : Bavarian Postal History 1806-1870. Basics for the interpretation of old German letters . Helbig, Nuremberg and Munich 1991, ISBN 3-927230-05-7 (also dissertation, Uni Bayreuth 1991)

Web links

Commons : Stamps of Bavaria  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Johann Peter Haseney  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Josef Kurzinger, Monastery and Market Geisenfeld, 2014, [1] , ISBN 978-3-86386-656-3
  2. ^ Heinrich Zschokke: Baierische histories, Aarau 1828, [2]
  3. ↑ Johann Wilhelm Stündt: "List of Millwheelcancel for places and numbers", Nuremberg 1917
  4. ↑ Hans Meyer: " Old Germany: Too much fear of forgeries " Deutsche Briefmarkenzeitung 25/83 p. 4437