Habsburg Post (1557–1597)

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Postal courses 1563, according to Giovanni da l'Herba's postal travel book

This article about the transnational Habsburg Post from 1557 to 1597 deals mainly with the difficulties on the Dutch postal route from Brussels to Italy , insofar as they concern the German Empire . The route served the Spanish Habsburgs as a transit line, and the Tyrolean and Lower Austrian provincial post offices as part of their network. The emperor had sovereignty over the post stations in the empire. At the center of this conflict was the Brussels Taxis family, which from 1650 called itself Thurn und Taxis .

The supra-regional postal system under Ferdinand II

Historical background

Charles V resigned as emperor in 1556 and traveled to Spain in September, where he died on September 21, 1558. From then on, the Habsburgs divided into two ruling houses, the Spanish Habsburgs and the Austrian Habsburgs. Nevertheless, a close bond remained through marriages.

Karl's brother Ferdinand was elected Emperor in Frankfurt in February 1558. Charles's son Philip became King of Spain in 1556, but stayed in Brussels. He had been married to Queen Mary Tudor of England since 1554 and only returned to Spain from Brussels after her death on November 17, 1558.

The Spanish-Dutch Post and the Habsburg Court Post

The two post offices were initially unaffected by these changes because the Dutch and Italian possessions belonged to Philip. The Brussels post office now worked for Habsburg Spain, and the Dutch postal route became a Spanish transit route through the empire.

Christoph von Taxis

The Augsburg post office on a postage stamp

Christoph von Taxis became the coordinator of the Hofpost in 1559 . He tried to introduce the foreign delivery of letters in this post office too, but the postmasters in Vienna , Innsbruck and Trento refused to deliver such letters.

After leasing the Dutch post office in Augsburg, a branch of the Brussels headquarters, for six years in 1557, he and the Venetian postmaster Roger von Taxis set up a weekly post from Augsburg to Venice at his own expense in 1559 , which Emperor Ferdinand approved. By undercutting the tariffs of the Augsburg Botenanstalt, Christoph tried to win over the Augsburg merchants for their own post to Antwerp and Venice.

In 1563 Christoph refused to return the Spanish-Burgundian post office in Augsburg, which had been leased for six years, to the rightful successor Seraphin II von Taxis . Leonhard I von Taxis protested from Brussels and sent his brother Johann Baptista , who later served as a diplomat in the Spanish service, to Augsburg. This appointed the Füssen postmaster Innozenz von Taxis to be the administrator of the Dutch post office in Augsburg, and Christoph received a warning from the emperor on December 17, 1563.

The post under Maximilian II and Philip II

The Habsburg inheritance and the fragmentation of the Habsburg court mail

After Emperor Ferdinand died on July 25, 1564, the hereditary lands were divided among his sons Maximilian , Ferdinand and Karl . This resulted in three independent court post offices with headquarters in Graz , Innsbruck and Vienna.

Archduke Karl, who died in 1590, received Inner Austria with Cilli , Carinthia, Krain , Gorizia , Trieste and Istria . His main residence was Graz with the postal routes Graz – Vienna and Graz – Venice. Johann Baptista von Paar was his top postmaster until 1599 , then Hans Friedrich von Paar until 1600 , then Hans Christoph von Paar until 1623 .

Archduke Ferdinand, who died in 1595, received Tyrol and the foreland. Its capital was Innsbruck, which was connected by postal routes to Vienna, Rovereto , Venice, Augsburg and Freiburg im Breisgau. Gabriel II von Taxis was its chief postmaster until 1583 . This was followed by Paul I von Taxis until 1613 , then Andreas von Taxis until 1620 , Wolf Dietrich and Paul II von Taxis until 1645 .

The new emperor Maximilian II was only responsible for Upper and Lower Austria, Bohemia and Hungary. His main residence was Vienna, which was connected with routes to Prague, Graz and Innsbruck and a line from Augsburg to Prague. Paul Wolzieh was his top postmaster until 1570, followed by Hans Wolzo until 1576 , Andreas Wolzo until 1580 , Michael Wolzo until 1583 and then Hans Christoph Wolzo .

None of these lines were open to the public. This also applied to some of the German princes' post relay stations. The Wittelsbachers set up a postal route from Munich to Augsburg in 1569, and Duke Julius of Braunschweig had a postal route laid from Wolfenbüttel to Leipzig in 1576.

Contract for the transit route Brussels – Augsburg

Leonhard I of Taxis

The new Emperor Maximilian II signed a contract with the Brussels postmaster Leonhard I von Taxis on August 24, 1564. The two Augsburg post offices were merged and placed under the Brussels headquarters. The Füssen postmaster Innozenz von Taxis was to become the head of this new post office. The court post office in Augsburg was closed and the administrator dismissed.

Seraphin II von Taxis litigated the appointment of Innocent and won. The Dutch governor Margaret of Parma confirmed Serafin as head of the new Dutch post office in 1567, and the Augsburg council expelled the incumbent postmaster Innocent v. Taxis out of town. Despite an imperial protest, Seraphin II took up his position in January 1569.

First payment difficulties at the Dutch Post

King Philip II assumed rule in Spain in 1559 and married the French princess Elisabeth von Valois in 1560 . With that he improved his relationship with France. The correspondence to his possessions in Sicily, Naples and Milan took place mostly on ships to Genoa. The land connection from Brussels through the empire to Italy lost its importance for him. This also had an impact on the Brussels post office. The financial situation of the Brussels postmaster Leonhard von Taxis worsened because after the Spanish bankruptcy in 1565 the subsidies from the Dutch tax authorities were suspended.

The first strike on the Dutch transit route

In the fall of 1568 there could be protests from post office owners from Rheinhausen to Augsburg because of the arrears. Then there was a slow strike. When the strike continued, Maximilian II complained to the governor of the Netherlands in December 1568 and to Leonhard in Brussels in August 1569. In order not to jeopardize his communication, Maximilian had the postman paid 400 guilders in August 1570.

The denominational dispute in the Netherlands

In 1572 the Calvinists conquered Holland and Zealand. In 1573 Louis de Requesens replaced the Duke of Alba as governor of the Spanish Netherlands. In 1574 there was another Spanish bankruptcy with the suspension of payments from the state treasury in Lille to the Brussels post office. On September 4, 1576, the coup in the Netherlands took place. The diplomat Johann Baptista von Taxis was arrested but was released from custody with the help of his brother Leonhard.

On October 12, 1576, Emperor Maximilian II died in Regensburg, and his son Rudolf II became emperor.

The national post under Emperors Rudolf II and Philip II of Spain

Effects of the uprising of the Netherlands in 1576 on the Brussels headquarters

In November 1576 the States General were proclaimed in the Netherlands under William of Orange . In the same month, Don Juan d'Austria's troops captured Antwerp and sacked the city. At the end of January 1577, Leonhard von Taxis and his son Lamoral von Taxis fled Brussels to Luxembourg to the camp of Don Juan d'Austria. On February 12, 1577 Philip II concluded a peace treaty with the States General. Afterwards Holland and the Zealand withdrew from the States General.

Don Juan d'Austria conquered the Namur Citadel in the summer and founded the Union of Arras . On December 7, 1577 he was deposed as governor of the States General. Leonhard also lost his property and the postmaster's office in Brussels. His successor was the Dutchman Johann Hinckart .

Seraphin II from Taxis in Augsburg and Johann Hinckart from the Netherlands were now fighting over the Dutch postal route.

The first branch off Wöllstein – Cologne

Seraphin II traveled to Cologne in November 1577 and, after consulting the city council, set up a post office there. The main reason was that he could no longer send letters from Augsburg to Antwerp via Brussels and was looking for a diversion via Cologne. In January 1578 a messenger line was created as a branch, which led from Cologne via Remagen , Waldesch , Kisselbach to Wöllstein on the Dutch postal route. In February 1578 Jacob Henot took over the post of post administrator in Cologne. On June 17, 1578, Hinckart concluded a contract with the Württemberg postman Joseph di Calepio in Antwerp to take over the post operator to Augsburg.

Competition from municipal messengers

Some urban messengers also responded to the unrest in the Netherlands. On March 3, 1578, the messenger services in Augsburg, Frankfurt and Cologne set up their own post relay to Antwerp, using horse changing stations for the first time. Seraphin II immediately protested to the emperor. On October 14, 1578, the latter issued a ban on merchants' mail with horses underneath between Augsburg, Frankfurt and Cologne to Antwerp.

As a counter-reaction, Jacob Henot, the new Cologne postmaster, converted the foot messenger line from Cologne to Wöllstein into a riding route on July 1, 1579 and set up a chain of posts to Antwerp. So there was another horse relay between Augsburg and Antwerp, which ran via Wöllstein and Cologne.

The postal reform in the Reich

The attempt to found a private Reichspost

As early as 1578, the Augsburg merchants proposed to the emperor to set up their own imperial post with a head office in Augsburg. The initiator was the Augsburg patrician Konrad Rott . This route should be accessible to the general public and bring the emperor free messaging without subsidies. This "private mail" was rejected by the emperor.

Konrad Rott then tried to persuade the Saxon elector to found a supra-regional Reichspost. That alarmed the imperial court. Between July and August 1579, Archduke Ernst in Vienna, Ferdinand in Innsbruck and Albrecht of Bavaria prepared postal reports on July 29th. They granted the Saxon elector a territorial post, but not the right to operate a post in foreign areas.

Formation of a reform commission

On November 13, 1579, Rudolf II appointed a mixed commission in Augsburg for the reformation of the postal system with the members Hans Fugger , Georg Ilsung and Anton Christoph Rellinger . The latter was replaced on September 29, 1582 by Marx Fugger .

On November 24, 1579, the Württemberg post office owners met in Esslingen under the direction of Calepio and decided to strike again. The letters were stopped in Wöllstein and Scheppach , and Calepio was briefly imprisoned in Augsburg. However, the post office owners on the Dutch postal route received 600 guilders from imperial aid.

Mediation attempts by Jacob Henot

Leonhard von Taxis, who, after being reinstated as postmaster in Brussels in 1580, was again active as postmaster in Brussels, submitted in January 1581 to the Augsburg commission through Henot a request for reinstatement as general postmaster in the empire. His request was rejected on May 5, 1581. The Augsburg postmaster Seraphin II aspired to this office, but died in January 1582.

In the second half of 1583 Henot made a trip to Venice from Cologne. He suggested to the post office keepers in Württemberg that the arrears should be paid in four installments. In return, he proposed a new postal order for the route Venice – Trient – ​​Innsbruck – Augsburg – Rheinhausen to Cologne.

In January 1584 Jacob Henot traveled to Leonhard von Taxis in Brussels. Leonhard gave the order to him and his son Lamoral; jointly to pay 3000 crowns to the post office owner. Henot and Lamoral met in Cologne in early summer. There was an argument. Lamoral asked the council in Cologne to dismiss Henot and to appoint another person as the Cologne postmaster. This was denied. Lamoral then traveled to Augsburg, married Genoveva, Seraphins II's eldest daughter, and proposed to the Augsburg commission to appoint him postmaster general in the empire.

On July 14, 1585, the Augsburg commission recommended that the emperor make Lamoral von Taxis postmaster general in the empire. The emperor accepted this recommendation, but the Spanish King Philip II successfully objected to it in Prague.

In September 1586 Henot traveled from Prague to Innsbruck and then on to Trento, Mantua, Milan and Venice. There he negotiated the expansion of the postal regulations from 1583. Leonhard in Brussels paid the post office holders between Brussels and Wöllstein the backward annual salaries at the end of 1586, so that the Brussels - Augsburg connection initially worked again.

On April 24, 1588 Henot received the order in Prague to create a draft for the reorganization of the imperial court post. Henot presented a concept on May 5, 1588, according to which the Hofpost should be merged with the future Reichspost, the postal route from Vienna via Graz to Venice should be abolished and the city's messenger services should be switched off. Henot's goal was to become Imperial Postmaster General with the involvement of the Hofpost. He promised the emperor that he would set up new post lines in the German Empire, wanted to forego all subsidies and assured him of free transport. Until the end of 1588 he waited in Prague to be appointed court postmaster. This appointment did not come about. Rudolf II resided in Prague, and the three Austrian post offices in Vienna, Graz and Innsbruck were independent and not under his control.

The post office in Brussels after the fall of the Spanish Armada

The situation in Spain had also changed after the sinking of the Armada in the Battle of Dover on July 31, 1588. Philip II was forced to redefine the priorities of his policy. Because of the conflict with France, he was unable to deliver his letters to the Spanish Netherlands through France or by sea through the English Channel. The only option was a land route from Genoa via Switzerland, Alsace and Lorraine.

In January 1589 Henot began his reform journey. By the end of April he signed new contracts in Tyrol, Italy and Württemberg. Since the imperial court chamber did not want to take over the payment of the debts, he failed. The imperial finances were in shambles and the emperor was unable to provide money to pay for the post. Henot was unable to obtain the necessary amounts of money through loans. In the course of 1589, for example, there was another strike by the Württemberg post office owners.

Meanwhile, Leonhard von Taxis took his chance. In 1589 he reconciled himself with his son Lamoral, confirmed Jacob Henot as Cologne postmaster and made arrangements with Calepio.

Consolidation of finances and establishment of the Imperial Post Office

Emperor Rudolf II held back with the appointment of a postmaster general in the Holy Roman Empire. The necessary debt repayment by Swiss Post could not be clarified either. The financial situation of Leonhard von Taxis, the postmaster in the Netherlands, improved a lot. Since July 27, 1593, he received an annual grant of 10,000 livres for a chain of posts through Lorraine and Burgundy to Italy and France. Furthermore, since December 31, 1593, he received an annual grant of 4000 livres from the Dutch governor Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld for the restoration of the posts from Brussels via Flamisoul to Augsburg and Trento.

On June 16, 1595 Leonhard von Taxis finally received an imperial letter of appointment for all posts in the German Empire, insofar as they were paid by the Spanish King Philip II. At the same time he received the title of General Obrist Postmaster in the Holy Roman Empire.

On October 16, 1596, a new postal order came into force, which all post holders of the Dutch postal course had to sign in Augsburg or at their home town.

Based on an imperial post office shelf , the Imperial Post Office began operations in 1597 . Initially, nothing changed in the tasks of the post office owner. The Dutch postal service to Italy via Augsburg, Innsbruck and Trento remained a transit line paid for by Spain through the Holy Roman Empire.

Literature (selection)

  • Hermann Joseph Becker, in: PgB Saarbrücken. 1962/1, pp. 12-17, 1962/2, pp. 4-10
  • Wolfgang Behringer: Thurn and Taxis. Munich 1990, ISBN 3-492-03336-9
  • Wolfgang Behringer: In the sign of Mercury. Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-525-35187-9
  • Martin Dallmeier: Sources on the history of the European postal system. Kallmünz 1977
  • Martin Dallmeier, In: Archive for German Postal History. 2/90, pp. 13-32
  • Eduard Effenberger: History of the Austrian Post. Vienna 1913
  • Eduard Effenberger: From old postal files. Vienna 1918
  • Rudolf Freytag, In: AfPuT. 1921/49, pp. 289-295
  • Engelbert Goller; Jacob Henot. Dissertation, Bonn 1910
  • Christine Kainz, In: Archive for German Postal History. 1/79, pp. 111-134
  • Ludwig Kalmus: World History of the Post. Vienna 1937
  • Ernst Kießkalt: The creation of the post. Bamberg 1930
  • Otto Lankes: The post office in Augsburg ... Dissertation, Munich 1914
  • Fritz Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis. Leipzig 1909
  • Max Piendl: The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. Regensburg 1980
  • Erhard Riedel and Lamoral von Taxis-Bordogna : On the history of Taxis-Bordogna. Innsbruck 1955
  • Joseph Rübsam: Johann Baptista von Taxis. Freiburg im Breisgau 1889
  • Friedrich-Wilhelm Siebel: The witch hunt in Cologne. Dissertation, Bonn 1959
  • Ernst-Otto Simon: The postal route from Rheinhausen to Brussels over the centuries . In: Archive for German Postal History. 1/90, pp. 14-41

See also