Jakob Broglin

Jakob Broglin (alternative spellings: Bröglin , Proglin , Pruglin ; * around 1395, presumably in Esslingen , † around 1435, presumably in Pforzheim ) was mint master , tax collector and envoy of the margraves Bernhard and Jakob von Baden as well as royal mint master under Emperor Sigismund .

Broglin probably came from Esslingen, but possibly also from Zurich . His wife was called Anna. From 1414 until his death he was mint master of the margravial mint in Pforzheim. From 1418 to 1423 he was also royal mint master at the imperial mints in Frankfurt and Nördlingen . His partner was Vois von der Winterbach until 1421 and then Peter Gatz from Basel .

As royal mint master, he resumed the production of gold guilders , which had been discontinued in 1403 . He was also responsible for the exchange office attached to the mint. He was exempt from the jurisdiction of the city of Frankfurt. For every gold mark he had minted, he had to pay half a gulden to the king as a treasure and also give Margrave Bernhard von Baden 300 guilders a year in protection money. Nevertheless, the management of the mint was evidently a profitable business, because he bought several estates from the margrave and also lent larger amounts to the king.

Conflicts arose with the city of Frankfurt and with Kurmainz . King Sigismund had decreed that Broglin should also mint silver coins, namely Turnosen , Schillinge and Heller . Since the city of Frankfurt feared that its sovereignty would be impaired, it prevented silver coinage by confiscating the already completed coin dies. Archbishop Konrad von Mainz protested against Broglin's monopoly on bills of exchange, which the city of Frankfurt enforced on the intervention of Margrave Bernhard. As a result, Konrad had it spread that Broglin's gold guilders were too easy. Bernhard defended his mint master against these allegations, but could not prevent Konrad from removing the mint master's die and thus practically closing the royal mint from 1422.

Since Broglin was not bound in Frankfurt, Bernhard commissioned him to collect taxes. In 1422 Sigismund had decreed that the Jews had to give up a third of their property in order to finance the king's fight against the Hussites . He commissioned Bernhard with the collection in the area from Lake Constance to Cologne, who in turn delegated the order to Broglin. However, this had little success in Cologne , because the city forbade him to work after consultation with the Archbishop and the City of Dortmund . In 1428 Broglin was twice as margrave ambassador in Cologne to represent his employer in a dispute with the city of Cologne.

literature

Friedrich Wielandt : Baden coin and money history . G. Braun, Karlsruhe 1979, ISBN 3-7650-9014-X , page 26 ff.