Leonhard II of Taxis

Leonhard II von Taxis, on the rider's carpet from 1646

Leonhard II von Taxis , French Leonard II de Tassis , (born July 5, 1594 in Brussels , † May 23, 1628 in Prague ) was general inheritance postmaster in Brussels from 1624 to 1628 . Since June 29, 1616 he was married to Countess Alexandrine de Rye , Comtesse de Varax. In 1624 he and his father Lamoral were raised by Taxis to the rank of imperial count .

Career

Leonhard was the only surviving son of Lamoral von Taxis. His upbringing was initially taken over by his grandfather Leonhard I von Taxis , who was in charge of the postal system in the Spanish Netherlands and, from 1597, the Imperial Postal Service .

On August 28, 1603, Emperor Rudolf II approved Leonhard I von Taxis to succeed his son Lamoral and his grandson Leonhard II in the postmaster's office. All three postmasters agreed to centrally control the Imperial Post and the Spanish-Dutch Post as a company. There were only differences of opinion about how independent postmasters were allowed to be on site. Lamoral rejected the postmaster from Cologne, Jacob Henot , while Leonhard I was ready to tolerate the postmaster's work. In the case of the Frankfurt postmaster Johann von den Birghden , Lamoral supported his work, while Lamoral's son Leonhard II quickly removed him from his position.

intrigue

Leonhard's first trip took place in the second half of 1622 to the Viennese imperial court. In January 1623 Johann von den Birghden was imprisoned for seven weeks in Aschaffenburg , the residence of the Mainz Elector . Viennese court circles suspected him of conspiracy with the Count Palatine near the Rhine . Birghden himself suspected in a later justification that Leonhard II von Taxis was behind it.

On his second trip to Vienna in the early summer of 1623, Leonhard tried on site to reverse the reinstatement of the Cologne postmaster Jacob Henot , or at least to mitigate the effects. His father, on the other hand, made major concessions. On August 2 and October 2, 1623, a contractual agreement was reached with Henot, which Leonhard II refused. At the imperial court in Vienna he succeeded in preventing an imperial approval.

The tensions between Leonhard and his father increased. Lamoral had found a mistress and needed additional funds. He had therefore agreed annual flat-rate payments with some postmasters in the Reich. On July 3, 1623, at Leonhard's request, the emperor issued a mandate against his father. Lamoral succeeded in refuting his son's accusations, and so the emperor withdrew the warning on December 5, 1623.

On June 8, 1624, Emperor Ferdinand II elevated Lamoral and Leonhard von Taxis to the status of hereditary imperial count.

Act as general inheritance postmaster

After Lamoral's death on July 7, 1624 in Brussels, the Reichspostlehen was transferred to Leonhard II von Taxis on August 17, 1624. After the Spanish King Philip IV had confirmed him as postmaster general of the Spanish Netherlands on October 9, 1624 , Leonhard II began to implement his planned administrative reform.

First he regained the post office in Cologne, helped him by the death of old Jacob Henot on November 17, 1625. Henot's descendants Hartger and Katharina continued to fight. On February 23, 1626, the taxis postmaster Johann von Coesfeld , who was active until 1623, was reinstated as head of the Cologne post office. Complaints from Henot's heirs to the Vienna Imperial Court Council failed. During Leonhard's stay in Cologne in January 1627, Katharina Henot was arrested as a witch and burned on May 19, 1627 without confession. The jury seemed to have been bribed. Possible claims for damages were no longer made, not least because Hartger Henot tried to rehabilitate his sister and was charged himself.

Then Leonhard drove the disempowerment of the postmaster Johann von den Birghden in Frankfurt. On March 3, 1627, he obtained an imperial decree to remove Birghden from his office. This was relatively easy for him because the Frankfurt postmaster was a Protestant. Leonhard II appeared in Frankfurt at the beginning of August and initiated Birghden's release. On November 2, 1627, the emperor renewed his reservations. Birghden had to resign. On December 11, 1627, he only received a personal declaration of honor from the emperor. On March 10, 1628, Leonhard then introduced Gerhard Vrints as Birgden's successor.

Effects of his death

Leonhard II died unexpectedly on May 23, 1628 at the imperial court in Prague. In this, Johann von den Birghden saw in his later justification an act of divine justice:

"... but God Almighty has come into the middle and clearly shows that the Lord Count was the greatest defensible person, then what figure he died in a short time, and was taken to Brussels in a closed box for students. "

Leonhard's widow Alexandrine, born von Rye (1589–1666) then took over the Reichspostgeneralat until 1646 on behalf of her underage son Lamoral Claudius Franz . Emperor Ferdinand II confirmed her in this office on August 1, 1628.

progeny

• Genoveva Anna (baptized April 16, 1618; † December 14, 1663), ∞ July 8, 1637 with Sigismondo Sfondrati , Spanish captain general of the artillery († 1652)
• Lamoral Claudius Franz (baptized February 14, 1621; † September 13, 1676), inheritance postmaster since 1646.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Quotation from the justification from the Birghdens from 1640, see Karl Heinz Kremer: Johann von den Birghden 1582–1645 . Bremen 2005, ISBN 3-934686-25-7 , page 301.

literature

• Wolfgang Behringer: Thurn and Taxis. The history of your post office and your company . Munich and Zurich 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, Martha Schad: The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. 300 years of history in pictures . Verlag Friedrich Pustete, Regensburg 1996, ISBN 3-7917-1492-9 .
• Karl Heinz Kremer: Johann von den Birghden 1582–1645 . Bremen 2005, ISBN 3-934686-25-7 .
• Josef Rübsam:  Taxis, Leonard II. Count of . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 516 f.

Web links

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

predecessor	Office	Successor
Lamoral from taxis	Postmaster General 1624–1628	Alexandrine of Taxis