Leonhard I of Taxis

Contemporary painting

Leonhard I von Taxis , French Leonard de Tassis , (* around 1522 - † May 5, 1612 in Brussels ) was appointed Postmaster General on December 31, 1543 after the death of his brother Franz II von Taxis . In 1546 he married Margaretha Damant († October 12, 1549) and before 1556 his second marriage to Louise Boisot de Rouha († July 10, 1610). Emperor Rudolf II. Appointed him in 1606 to the imperial eunuch and on January 16, 1608 to the hereditary Empire Barons .

Career

Leonhard, a son of the postmaster general Johann Baptista von Taxis , was appointed postmaster general ( chief et maistre general des postes ) after the brief term of office of his older brother Franz with the certificate of appointment of Emperor Charles V from December 31, 1543 . At that time he was still a minor and was under the guardianship of Seraphins I von Taxis . On May 8, 1545, Charles V forbade all merchants in the Netherlands, especially those from Antwerp , to accept letters and transport them by messenger or courier from the Netherlands by changing horses, unless they were instructed to do so by the Antwerp postmaster Anton von Taxis . In 1546 Leonhard von Taxis transferred the imperial post offices in Rheinhausen and Augsburg to his guardian Seraphin I von Taxis.

After first attempts, Leonhard had a weekly Ordinari post on the Dutch postal rate set up as a generally accessible post, mainly because of the merchants in Augsburg and Antwerp. For this purpose, Leonhard issued a postal order by circular , which, however, related more to postal travelers. The post office keepers were only allowed to provide horses and guides to imperial couriers. In November of the same year Charles V issued a decree that no outsider in Flanders was authorized to use the post horn or blow at night to have the gates opened.

Time after Charles V.

After Charles V abdicated as King of Spain on October 26, 1555, his successor, King Philip II , confirmed Leonhard von Taxis in his offices in Brussels only one day later. On February 15, 1556 Leonhard received the certificate of appointment as postmaster general of the Spanish Netherlands . On August 21, 1563, Emperor Ferdinand I confirmed him as General Postmaster in the Empire and the Austrian Hereditary Lands, as far as the Dutch transit route was concerned. In the same decree it was emphasized again that King Philip II had to bear the costs. Christoph von Taxis managed the two Augsburg post offices until 1563 . From mid-1563 Seraphin II von Taxis was to take over the Spanish-Dutch post office. After Christoph refused to hand it over, Leonhard stepped in. On August 24, 1564, he agreed with Emperor Maximilian II to merge the two Augsburg post offices under the leadership of Brussels. Initially, Innocent von Taxis was postmaster, while Seraphin II von Taxis successfully litigated. In 1567 he forced his termination. The dispute with Leonhard continued in 1568. The payments to the post office keepers from Rheinhausen to Augsburg were stopped. In autumn, the post office owners protested against the arrears in vain. Then there was a slow strike. In 1570 Maximilian II had to pay the post office owners 400 guilders at the Reichstag in Speyer in order to maintain communications with his court.

The situation during the uprising in the Netherlands

Leonhard's financial situation in Brussels worsened even more in the following years. In 1574 there was another Spanish national bankruptcy. All payments from Lille to the Brussels post office have been suspended. The coup d'état in the Netherlands led to the arrest of his brother, the diplomat Johann Baptista von Taxis , in Brussels on September 4, 1576 . However, Leonhard was able to obtain the release of his younger brother. After further unrest in Brussels, Leonhard and his son Lamoral fled at the end of January 1577 to the field camp of Don Juan d'Austria in Luxembourg. On December 7, 1577, the States General declared the deposition of the Dutch governor Don Juan d'Austria, the confiscation of Leonhard's property in Brussels and his deposition as head of the Dutch postal system. He was succeeded by a Dutchman named Johann Hinckart.

Power struggles and reinstatements

It was not until October 25, 1579 that Leonhard I was reinstated as Dutch postmaster in Brussels. Seraphin II von Taxis, the Augsburg postmaster, attempted to take over the postmaster general office in the empire in 1580. Leonhard allied himself with the Cologne postmaster Henot and applied for this office a second time. Seraphin's death in January 1582 eliminated this as a candidate. Leonhard's son Lamoral appeared as the next competitor. Leonhard had sent him to the Reich together with Henot in March 1584 to pay the debts to the post office owners. In Augsburg, Lamoral suddenly applied for the post of general postmaster and tried to disempower the Cologne postmaster. The emperor accepted Lamoral, but demanded that the accrued debts to the post office owners be paid. Lamoral was unable to meet this requirement.

In the Netherlands, King Philip II of Spain confirmed Leonhard as postmaster general. Lamoral's attempt had thus failed. In February 1586 Leonhard came to an understanding with his son and in September 1586 sent Jacob Henot on an inspection trip to reassure the postman. On March 15, 1587, the Ordinari-Post was resumed in Rheinhausen, Augsburg, Prague and Italy. In the following years the postmaster from Cologne, Jacob Henot, applied for the post of general postmaster. He wanted to set up a self-financing post office, but failed.

From 1590 negotiations began in Brussels to reinstate Leonhard as postmaster general in the empire, as he had done in the time of Emperor Ferdinand I. Emperor Rudolf II hesitated. In the next few years Leonhard's financial situation improved thanks to Spanish grants in the Netherlands. On February 18, 1594, further negotiations began with the Augsburg Postal Commission, and on June 16, 1595 Leonhard received a letter of appointment from the emperor for all posts in the German Empire insofar as they were maintained by the Spanish King Philip II. On January 15, 1596, the payment modalities for the post office keepers in Augsburg were determined by three Leonhard representatives named Herbais, Henot and Calepio. In the new postal regulations of October 16, 1596, all post holders at the Dutch postal rate between Brussels and Augsburg were sworn in to Leonhard I. von Taxis.

Head of the Imperial Post Office

After the proclamation of the Reichspostregal by Emperor Rudolf, the first Ordinari relay of the Imperial Postal Service rode in January 1597 . Leonhard stayed in Brussels. Jacob Henot was initially responsible for the post offices in the empire, and from 1601 the Augsburg postmaster Octavio von Taxis. Leonhard's liaison to Rudolf II's imperial court in Prague was his son Lamoral. On October 25, 1603, he received an imperial prescription from the Cologne post office and the post to Wöllstein to Leonhard, Lamoral and his son Leonhard II von Taxis, after he had waived the annual grant of 500 guilders from the Reichspfennigamt. Thereupon the Cologne postmaster Jacob Henot lost his office.

Over the next few years, Leonhard's son Lamoral took over more and more of his father's tasks without expanding the postal network in the empire.

The elevation of Leonhard and Lamoral von Taxis to the hereditary imperial baron status by Rudolf II took place on January 16, 1608.

Leonhard I von Taxis died on May 5, 1612 at the age of 90 and was buried in the Notre Dame du Sablon cathedral in Brussels .

Oddities

In a document of the Spanish King Philip II dated December 5, 1565, it is claimed that Leonhard's ancestors had already introduced a regular postal and courier system for 100 years during the time of Emperor Frederick and that they had been postmasters in the kingdoms and countries ever since. This document, which is not supported by any historical sources, was often used by older postal historians to prove the old age of the postal service in German-speaking countries.

progeny

The following children of Leonhard are also occupied as adults:

• Christina († after 1620), ∞ on February 15, 1571 with Jan von der Noot († 1611)
• Lamoral (1557–1624), Leonhard's successor as postmaster general
• Valeria (1573–1643), ∞ on January 12, 1588 with Augustin de Herrera, Spanish governor of Ghent († 1612), later a nun
• Margareta, ∞ on February 5, 1596 with Diego Rodriguez de Olivares, Governor of Nieuwpoort

literature

• Wolfgang Behringer : In the sign of Mercury . Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-525-35187-9
• Wolfgang Behringer: Thurn and Taxis . Munich and Zurich 1990
• Martin Dallmeier: Sources on the history of the European postal system 1501–1806 . Kallmünz 1977
• Engelbert Goller: Jakob Henot . Dissertation, University of Bonn 1910
• Joseph Rübsam: Johann Baptista von Taxis . Freiburg im Breisgau, 1889
• Josef Rübsam:  Taxis, Leonard Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, pp. 514-516.

Web links

Commons : Leonhard I. von Taxis  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Francis II of Taxis	Postmaster General 1543–1612	Lamoral from taxis