Janetto of Taxis

Postal entry in the Innsbruck Rait books 1489 mentioning Janettos von Taxis

Janetto von Taxis (* around 1450 in Cornello near Bergamo ; † 1517 or 1518 in Pisino / Istria ) also known as Johann Daxen , Jenne de Tasche or Janetto de Tassis , came from the Italian courier family Taxis , who were in Venetian and papal services. After the takeover of Tyrol by the German King Maximilian I in 1490, Janetto von Taxis joined Maximilian's service to set up post ( Felleisen ) and courier routes to Italy, France and the Burgundian Netherlands . In March of the same year he caught up with his brother Franz and his nephew Johann Baptista . From 1490 to 1506 Janetto was in the service of Maximilian as a courier master before he retired to his possessions in Istria . Janetto was married to a Magdalena whose origin is unknown. He had no legitimate male descendants, but had a legitimate daughter named Catharina, who later married the Augsburg postmaster Anton von Taxis .

activities

Janetto de Tassis was since entering the service of Maximilian procuratore generale della famiglia e società di Tassi , which meant something like head of the family.

The first mention of Janetto and the post office can be found in the Tyrolean Rait books (Innsbruck account books) of the year 1489 with the date of Friday after December 8th:

Johannetn Daxen Obristen postmaister on Friday after Conceptionis Mariae

through Waptistum (= Johann Baptista) his cousins (= nephews)

To emergency the post: on his receipt 300 guilders .

Most postal historians, including Behringer , contest the given dating with various chronological arguments, mainly because Maximilian I did not take over Tyrol until March 1490.

According to the Rait books, most of the payments for the post went to Janetto until the beginning of 1492, after which the Innsbruck Court Chamber stopped paying. In 1492 Janetto received a compensation payment from the Fugger in Augsburg. From 1493/4 to 1498 Janetto was almost exclusively active as a courier master, i.e. a leading organizer in the courier sector. The Felleisenstafetten from Innsbruck to the various court holdings in the empire, however, were looked after by Sebastian Meurl until May 1499 . Only the relay to Innsbruck and the Reichstag, paid for by Ludovico Sforza from Milan , continued to be organized by Janetto. Since there were renewed payment difficulties, Maximilian pledged toll income to his courier master Janetto between 1494 and 1498.

The retreat into private life

In 1504 Maximilian I lent a castle and lands in Istria to Janetto to pay outstanding debts. First, Janetto's nephew Johann Baptista took over the management of these properties in Rachele and Barban .

Through the mediation of Janetto, Gabriel von Taxis became head of the Innsbruck Post Office in 1504. At first he worked exclusively for the Burgundian postmaster Franz von Taxis in Mechelen , but from 1505 he organized the first Felleisen postal courses for Maximilian, which Janetto financed. From now on Janetto gradually withdrew from the postal and courier business. On March 29, 1505, Maximilian commissioned Janetto in Haguenau to set up an iron line between Innsbruck, Vienna and Ofen because of negotiations with the Hungarian king . Lt. Kalmus was transported on the interim course Wien-Ofen with open trolleys (Gutschi). Janetto worked for Maximilian for the last time on November 27, 1506 when he financed a skin iron route from Constance to Mechelen for 1,363 guilders.

Then Janetto retired to his castle in Istria. Maximilian demanded that Johann Baptista return and made him his new courier master.

In disgrace

After Maximilian had made himself emperor with the title “Elected Roman Emperor” in Trento on February 4, 1508 with the consent of the Pope, an eight-year battle for northern Italy broke out. The main opponent was Venice. On March 2, 1508, the Imperial Army suffered a defeat under Maximilian. The Venetians conquered Gorizia , Trieste , Istria and Fiume and threatened Tyrol and Carinthia. Janetto de Tassis got caught between the fronts. After the Venetians conquered Istria in March 1508 and confiscated Janetto's property, he took sides with Venice to save its lands. In a request to the Signoria in Venice, he claimed to have been in the service of the Habsburgs for 20 years and asked for his Istrian goods to be returned. During the reconquest of Istria Maximilian had him captured as a defector, and Janetto remained imprisoned in Pisano until his death. There are different statements about the date of death in the literature. What is certain is that Janetto wrote his will in 1515. Presumably he died two years later, at least before September 8, 1518.

It was not until 1524 that Janetto's heirs, on the recommendation of Charles V, were given back the right of disposal over Janetto's possessions in Venice.

Addendum

Staircase joke of history : When Franz von Taxis and his brothers received the simple nobility letter in 1512, the imprisoned brother Janetto was also ennobled because he was not expressly excluded. This was certainly not in Maximilian's mind.

literature

selection

• 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 for the History of the European Postal Service, Kallmünz 1977
• European Family Tables, Volume V, Plate 124
• Ludwig Kalmus, World History of the Post, Vienna 1937
• Ernst Kießkalt, The Origin of the Post, Bamberg 1930
• Eduard Leitner, in: Archive for German Postal History 2/80, pp. 32–53
• Memminger Chronik, transcription by Uli Braun, in: Archive for German Postal History 2/90, p. 7
• Fritz Ohmann, The Beginnings of the Post Office and Taxis, Leipzig 1909
• Horst Rabe, Germany 1500 - 1600, Munich 1989
• Joseph Rübsam, Johann Baptista von Taxis, Freiburg 1889
• Joseph Rübsam, various individual items
• Hermann Wiesflecker , Maximilian I, Vienna / Munich 1991 ISBN 3-7028-0308-4 u. ISBN 3-486-55875-7