Dutch postal rate

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dutch postal rate has been a European main postal rate since it was founded under King Maximilian I in 1490 and at the same time the first permanently operated postal line in the Holy Roman Empire . The route ran over old and imperial roads and connected Innsbruck with the Netherlands and Italy. In the Netherlands, had since 1505 Mechelen or Brussels endpoints, from 1516 only Brussels, where under Charles V , a new headquarters with General postmasters from the family of taxis emerged.

After the abdication of Charles V and the division of the empire, the Netherlands and the Italian possessions fell to Spain. Since then, the Dutch postal rate has been both a transit route between the Spanish Netherlands and the Italian possessions of the Spanish Habsburgs and the central postal rate of the Imperial Post within the Holy Roman Empire. Due to the wars of conquest of Louis XIV , this postal rate increasingly lost its importance. With the French occupation of the Spanish Netherlands and Luxembourg at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession and the termination of the Spanish-Dutch postal generalate of Thurn and Taxis in 1701, the Spanish transit mail course from the Netherlands to Italy ended.

founding

Payments for the post in the Innsbruck Rait books 1489/90

The year 1490 is considered to be the founding year of the modern European postal system. After the takeover of Tyrol , Maximilian I commissioned several members of the Italian courier family Tasso, such as Janetto , his brother Franz and their nephew Johann Baptista, to set up a mail iron and courier route between the Burgundian Netherlands , where his underage son Philip was raised, and his residence in Innsbruck, with a continuation via South Tyrol to Italy. In addition to Innsbruck, Maximilian had planned the Free Imperial City of Speyer as a point of contact for letters from the princes and imperial estates: “ after which Speyer ends at one ”. In a letter dated July 14, 1490, he complained to the Council of the city of Speyer that he had still not received a reply, even though he had sent sixty guilders, around there a Fußboten and a Postreiter to station. After this letter also went unanswered, the taxis set up a post office in the village of Rheinhausen on the eastern side of the Rhine next to the ferry . The first post holder from Rheinhausen was the ferryman, who verifiably exercised his office from 1495 to 1499.

Further sources are the Innsbruck rait books and the records of Heinrich Löhlin in the Memmingen city ​​chronicle

The Roman king places riding boats in the jar
from the land of austria, to the niderland, to in
franck rich and BIIS go Rohm and lay Allweg a potten
5. miles away from each other ...

The decisive innovation compared to the existing messenger system was that there were post stations where the riders and horses changed and only the locked and sealed fur iron with the letters was passed on like a relay . Since the post also rode at night, the travel time was shortened considerably, which is also evident from the Memminger Chronicle. Initially, horse changing stations were almost only set up in unfortified villages because the cities closed their gates at night. The distance between the individual stations was originally 5 long miles , which corresponded to about 37.5 km.

These first postal rates served on the one hand to transport Postfelleisen, but on the other hand were also courier routes. In addition, they offered many postal travelers the opportunity to change horses at the relay stations and to ride to the next exchange station with company. One example of this is the diary of Lucas Rem, an Augsburg merchant in the service of the Welsers .

The beginnings

Post rate from 1490/91

According to the Memmingen Chronicle and other sources, the post rode from the Netherlands via Rheinhausen, Elchingen , Pless and Kempten to Innsbruck and Italy in 1490 . The first change was made in 1491. The postal route from Innsbruck ran from Pleß further east via Mindelheim instead of Kempten. This already makes it clear that there were no fixed post offices yet. This is also evident from the Memminger Chronik, where it is reported that the mail riders were stationed in hostels.

Much later evidence confirms that the routes were also variable and based on Maximilian I's whereabouts and his limited budget. Post stations were closed, new postal rates were often set up and canceled again at short notice, or the postal riders ran away for lack of payment.

Postal rates 1495–1499

Ehrenberger Klause

At the Worms Reichstag in 1495 , Ludovico Sforza , the uncle of Maximilian's second wife Bianca Maria Sforza , had a new postal rate set up from Milan to Worms. This led from Bormio through Tyrol with Mals (South Tyrol), then via Landeck , past Innsbruck via Prutz , Nassereith , the Ehrenberger Klause near Reutte , Durach near Kempten, Boos in the northeast of Memmingen, Pfuhl near Ulm, Cannstatt , Knittlingen and Rheinhausen Worms, which is evidenced by several post hour passes. A letter from Antwerp also attests to a postal rate in the Netherlands. There they complained that the mail traffic was slow and that a letter from Worms to Antwerp would have taken 10 days. This postal rate existed until 1496. In a letter of July 24, 1496, Maximilian's son Philipp wrote that he had set up a new postal rate from Mechelen to Worms.

According to documents from 1494 and 1499, the northern route at that time ran from Worms along the Rhine via Bingen , Koblenz , Cologne and Jülich , with no intermediate stops being mentioned. The end point of the postal rate was dependent on Philip's whereabouts, although Antwerp (1495–1496), Mechelen (1496) and Ghent (1501) are occupied.

The postal rate of 1506

In the postal contract of January 18, 1505 between Philip the Fair and Franz von Taxis, exact time specifications were agreed, with the start and destination locations and the delivery times being named. According to this contract, the travel time from Brussels or Mechelen to Innsbruck could not be more than 5.5 days in summer and 6.5 days in winter. Only for the war-related special route to Geldern was a distance of 4 miles (about 30 km) between the post stations. Philip took over the costs up to Maximilian's residence within the empire. The contract did not provide for a postal rate to be paid for in Italy.

According to a post hour pass from March 25, 1506 initiated by Franz von Taxis, the following post stations were broken into:

Malines / Mechel = Mechelen (start of the relay)
Rellar = Rillaar near Aarschot
[NN] Name of the post office is missing
Peudargent Identification doubtful, Bois d'argenteau , or proper name?
"Vee" or "Der vee" Identification unsure
Bulesem = Büllesheim ( Groß- or Kleinbüllesheim ) near Euskirchen
Bryssche = Pulpy
Hatsport / Hatzenporten = Hatzenport (Moselle ferry)
Rempolen = Rheinböllen
Flonem = Flonheim
Heppenheim = Heppenheim near Worms
Speir = Speyer, ride by
Hausen = Rheinhausen
[NN] Name of the post office is missing
Blochingen = Plochingen , near the later Deizisau post office
Went = Went between Göppingen and Geislingen
Sefflingen = Söflingen near Ulm
Bless = Pless near Memmingen
[NN] Name of the post office is missing
[NN] Name of the post office is missing
Lermos = Lermoos
Pairwies = Barwies
Saying = Innsbruck

On March 31st, Gabriel von Taxis received the Felleisen in Innsbruck and forwarded it to Wiener Neustadt , where Maximilian I was staying at the time.

Post stations according to the diary of Lucas Rem 1515

In the years that followed, Augsburg was also involved in the postal service several times, so that the route to Innsbruck was extended. In 1515, when Maximilian I was staying in the Habsburg homeland, Augsburg was connected to the Dutch Post Course all year round and there was a short-term branch from there to Vienna. In the same year, from October 6th to 13th, the Augsburg businessman Lucas Rem rode the postal route from Brussels to Augsburg in just under six days.

" Adi. 6. Ottob. In 1515 I rode from Antorff to Brussels. Adi 7 dito fruo, I rit alda from the post office, and rode 5th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 4th post, (and) in 6 days to Augsburg, then I 13 ditto fruer, then I ride to Antorff fruo, came. "

His way back was hardly any slower.

" Adi December 4th, Nachtz rit I from Augspurg on the post. The same night only 1, then 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 5th 2nd 3rd post. Came to Brussels on the 11th. "

According to this, there were 23 post offices between Augsburg and Brussels in 1515. Unfortunately, Rem didn't mention the places he rode over. Rem made his next trip from Augsburg to Brussels and Antwerp in September 1518. On his return trip in January 1519 he rode again “ with the post to post ”.

Post stations according to the postal contract of 1516

The postal contract of November 12, 1516 between the 16-year-old King Charles of Spain , the later Emperor Charles V, and Franz von Taxis, as well as his deputy Johann Baptista von Taxis saw a restructuring, the termination of several "posts" (Postreiter, resp . Post holder), a reduction of the time limits and the establishment of new postal rates, also to Italy before. The average distance between post stations should be no more than four miles, and two horses should be kept at each post station.

It is possible that a postal route from Brussels via Flamisoul , Arzfeld , the Moselle ferry near Lieser , the Hunsrück , Rheinhessen and Württemberg was already planned at this time , but this was due to the ostracism of Duke Ulrich by Emperor Maximilian I on October 11, 1516 and the later impassability of Württemberg existed at most for a short time. In May 1518, Gabriel von Taxis received the order from Maximilian I to relocate the course to the Netherlands in such a way that it did not touch Württemberg under any circumstances. Even before that, it emerges from the Innsbruck Rait books of 1517 that a postal route to the Netherlands was via Markdorf on Lake Constance . Rem also reported a detour. From January 19, 1519, he rode the post from Brussels via Namur and Bastogne (Flamisoul) to Strasbourg , but then, despite concerns about Duke Ulrich's siege of Reutlingen , he chose a shorter route from Strasbourg via Württemberg, which was due to the networking that had already developed in the Middle Ages was made possible by independent hostels with hired horses. Together with the information provided by Rem, it emerges that until 1519 the route ran via Namur, "Bastuan" (= Bastogne, Flamisoul), the Ardennes , Lorraine , Strasbourg and further via Markdorf on Lake Constance to Innsbruck.

Establishment of fixed post offices

After 1519

After the death of Emperor Maximilian I, before Duke Ulrich was expelled by the Swabian Confederation , the new postmaster general Johann Baptista von Taxis had the postal route shifted back to a shorter route in April 1519. The financial and trading center of Augsburg was included again, also because of the costly royal election . Probably there was a branch to the polling place Frankfurt am Main at short notice . After Charles V was elected German-Roman King on June 28, 1519, Johann Baptista von Taxis rode as a courier from Frankfurt to Brussels and was able to report the election results to the Brussels court just two days later. According to this, the postal rate for couriers and postal travelers was as fast as in Rems Reise 1515. Sources from the following years testify that the post office traveled in the northwest on a different route than 1506 and that from now on there were fixed post offices on the main route, those of Postholders were directed.

Post stations in the northern part of the route

The oldest evidence to date of the course of the northern part of the route is a riding map for mail travelers, in which the post stations between Brussels and Speyer are listed. This riding plan was an appendix to a standardized letter of recommendation (“passport letter”) from the Postmaster General Johann Baptista von Taxis of January 22, 1522 to all post offices between Brussels and Innsbruck. In it all post keepers were asked to give the authorized person preferential treatment and to provide him with two horses and an escort. Furthermore, they were not allowed to ask for more than one guilder. The following post stations together with the riding times are mentioned on the riding map:

Oldest house on the Posthof in Lieser, early 16th century
A Vauer 4 hora Wavre
A namur 6th Namur
Embtim 4th Emptiness
A lignieres 5. Lignières
A flemesen 4th Flamisoul near Bastogne
A Arsfeldt 8th Arzfeld
A natten 3 Nattenheim
A lisur 4th Readers
A la musele 4th Lieserer Moselle ferry
A Eckwiller 5 Eckweiler
A flowed 5 Flonheim
A puffelken 3 Pfiffligheim ? or Bobenheim? at Worms
A Spira 6th Speyer
(Rheinhausen) (unnamed)

These post and horse changing stations are also documented later, such as Arzfeld in 1537 in the accounts of Neuerburg Castle . Flonheim is also documented several times between 1540 and 1550, but was replaced by Wöllstein before 1563 .

Post stations in the southern part of the route

Before Charles V left for Spain in 1522, the administration of the Habsburg territories was reorganized. Karl's brother Ferdinand took over Tyrol, Inner , Lower and Upper Austria , as well as the foothills , with the exception of Alsace and also provisionally the Duchy of Württemberg, which had fallen to Charles V after Duke Ulrich was expelled. Margaret of Austria , the aunt of Charles V and Ferdinand I, was again governor of the Netherlands.

In 1522 there is evidence of a postal route from Innsbruck via Trient to Rome. In 1523, the Innsbruck court postmaster Gabriel von Taxis set up a postal route from Trento to Stuttgart on behalf of Ferdinand I using the Dutch postal route , which was in the Habsburgs' possession until Duke Ulrich's return after the battle of Lauffen in 1534. According to the postal regulations of 1523, the Tyrolean Chamber of Accounts and the Brussels headquarters shared the costs of running the fixed post offices. The following post stations were ridden from Trento: Neumarkt , Bozen , Kollmann , "Newenstift" ( Neustift Abbey ), Sterzing , Steinach , Innsbruck, Barwies , Lermoos , Füssen , Brugg , Hurlach , Augsburg , Roßhaupten (Rochapt) , Elchingen , Altenstadt , Ebersbach , Stuttgart. Augsburg was finally included in the route since 1520. Cannstatt was not mentioned explicitly, so it remains uncertain when the post office, which has been attested since 1561, was built.

As the next stop on the way north, Enzweihingen was already occupied by taxis under the postman Hieronymus (Jeremias) around 1520 . This was followed by Diedelsheim near Bretten (replaced by Knittlingen in 1563 ) and later also Bruchsal , before Rheinhausen was reached by ferry to Speyer.

From now on, the course of the postal rate changed only slightly, unless, as in the Thirty Years War , route relocations were necessary. See the list of the post offices occupied after 1519 , in which the later additional intermediate stations are named.

Branch

At first, there were branches off this main postal rate mainly during the Reichstag, in which Ferdinand I or a representative took part. There was also a branch of the Hofpost from Innsbruck to Vienna and to Ferdinand's residences until 1527 . (see also main article Austrian postal history up to 1806 ). After Ferdinand was elected King of Bohemia in 1527, a branch from Augsburg to Prague was established , and the branch from Innsbruck to Vienna was canceled. From Rheinhausen a mail course to Ensisheim in Alsace branched off as early as 1521–1522 .

Regular mail after 1530

With the higher volume of mail, postal traffic began to slow down around 1534. According to Italian sources, there were two modes of transport on the Dutch postal route in 1539, the Ordinaripost (normal mail), which rode on set days, and the Extraordinaripost (express mail, special mail). Ordinary mail between Rome and Flanders and between Venice and Flanders was regular .

In 1545 Charles V forbade all merchants, especially those from Antwerp, to send their letters by their own messengers and couriers by changing horses. Instead, they should send their letters by post.

Post stations between 1540 and 1560

Dutch postal rate, the Rheinhausen ferry pier near Speyer, woodcut from Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia around 1550

In 1540 the postmaster general Johann Baptista von Taxis from Brussels transferred the post office Rheinhausen with the branches Bobenheim near Worms and Diedelsheim near Bretten to the brothers Seraphin I and Bartholomäus von Taxis for life . His eldest son Franz II von Taxis extended this transfer to Augsburg and Roßhaupten (Rochapt) in 1543 . These documents confirm the course of the postal rate and the postal stations that have been used since the 1520s. However, from the trial files between the Brussels postmaster general Leonhard I von Taxis and Seraphin II von Taxis , the postmaster of Augsburg and Rheinhausen, from 1568 it is also known that the Roßhaupten post office was to Scheppach as early as 1549 and the Diedelsheim post office to Knittlingen in 1563 was relocated, so that Seraphin II. the revenue was withdrawn.

Further evidence for the course of the Dutch postal rate between 1540 and 1560 are Austrian accounts and the Mailänder Postordnung from 1546. In 1540, the postal coordinator Matthias von Taxis rode the post from Haguenau in Alsace to Bruges on behalf of Ferdinand I and then did his math the fees. According to this source, on the Alsatian branch between Haguenau and Rheinhausen there were “ 3 items ” (post stations), then “ from Rheinhausen to Amur (= Namur) (14 items, one post 1 crown ) 22 fl. 30 kr. , via the Musel 1 Pazen ( Batzen ), from Amur to Brussels 3 fl. 4 kr “.

The Milan Postal Code of 1546, which stated the fees for “posting” travelers, confirms the number of post stations on the Dutch postal rate.

" A courier to [...] Ghent, on the way through Germany, there are 57 posts "
" A courier to Speyer, 37 items, costs 65 Scudi "

According to these sources, there were already 14 post offices between Rheinhausen and Namur in 1540. Because Arzfeld was mentioned in the accounts of Neuerburg Castle from 1537, it is certain that the post office continued to ride on the route occupied in 1522. On the other hand, it remains uncertain whether the course already led via the northern country of Luxembourg with Asselborn or whether the direct connection from Flamisoul to Arzfeld still existed. Only the Binsfeld post route cross from 1551 refers to a changed route and additional intermediate stations.

1561-1563

Title vignette of Giovanni da l'Herba's postal travel book
European postal rates 1563 to da l'Herba

With the final introduction of the Ordinaripost, a post that was open to the public at fixed times and also transported valuables and loads, additional horse changing stations were added, so that the distance was shortened to 2 - 3 miles. From now on, the Ordinari relay started once a week at the same time. A disadvantage of this regulation was that the riding times were known and could therefore also be planned for robbers . The raids increased in the period from 1555 to 1561. For this reason, the court postmaster Christoph von Taxis undertook an inspection tour on behalf of Emperor Ferdinand I in October 1561, riding on the postal route from Augsburg to Bobenheim near Worms. In his statement of accounts he mentioned various stations he had broken into, which were confirmed by Giovanni da l'Herba's manual for postal travelers, published in 1563.

Giovanni da l'Herba, the most detailed source for the early post stations, listed 20 stations between Rheinhausen and Brussels by name in his itinerary , as well as the stations between Rheinhausen and Trento. At the time of da l'Herba's travel book, the three-mile distance (22.5 km) between the individual post stations was introduced almost continuously.

Only in 1577 was a branch from Wöllstein to Cologne , initially as a foot messenger post, from 1579 as a mounted post.

Structural change through the Habsburg inheritance divisions

After the resignation of Charles V, the Netherlands and the Italian possessions fell to Philip II of Spain , while Ferdinand I ruled the Habsburg ancestral lands, Bohemia, Hungary, Upper Austria and as German king and emperor from 1558 in the empire. This also changed the structure of the Dutch postal route. On the one hand it was a postal course in the Reich, on the other hand it was a transit route from the Spanish Netherlands to Italy. The Spanish crown bore the main costs. The organizers and operators remained the Brussels postmaster general from Taxis.

With the division of the Habsburg ancestral lands after the death of Emperor Ferdinand I in 1564, Tyrol fell to Archduke Ferdinand . Thus the transit post exchange rate from the Spanish Netherlands to Italy ran on the one hand in the Reich, but on the other hand it was also used by the Tiroler Landespost to Trento and paid for on a pro-rata basis.

financing

The operation of the Felleisenstafetten on the Dutch postal course was initially very cost-intensive. From 1490 Maximilian I and the Innsbruck Chamber of Accounts ("Raitkammer") initially bore the costs. Between 1495 and 1500 Maximilian managed to win the Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan as financier. Maximilian's son Philipp has also been involved in the financing from the Burgundian Netherlands since 1596.

In the postal contract of 1505, the payment of the Dutch postal rate was reorganized. The postal rate to Innsbruck should be paid within the imperial borders up to Maximilian I's whereabouts, but not outside of it. So when Maximilian was in the Netherlands, the Innsbruck Court Chamber had to bear all costs, which after Philip's early death in 1506 led to a dispute with Maximilian's daughter Margarete of Austria, the governor of the Netherlands.

A new agreement was made with Charles V's declaration of majority and his assumption of the Spanish royal dignity in 1516 (Charles I of Spain). Karl took over all the costs for the transit route by land to Italy, for which Franz and Johann Baptista von Taxis received a lump sum as in 1505. In addition, Charles V bore the costs up to Maximilian's whereabouts, inside and outside the Holy Roman Empire.

Before Charles 'second trip to Spain in 1522 and the division of interests between Charles V and Charles' brother Ferdinand , there was another cost sharing. Ferdinand took over part of the cost of the Hofpostroute to Stuttgart and Württemberg, which was under Habsburg administration until Duke Ulrich's return in 1534.

After Charles' resignation in 1555/56, the Dutch and Italian territories of the Habsburgs fell to Philip II , making the Dutch postal rate a transit route, but at the same time a postal rate in the empire. From now on, the Spanish Netherlands, and with it Spain, bore the cost of the transit iron and the carriage of the dynastic mail, which was paid for by the Chamber of Accounts in Lille .

Due to the uprising in the Netherlands , the expulsion of the Brussels postmaster general Leonhard I from Taxis and several Spanish national bankruptcies , there were arrears. From the autumn of 1568 until the settlement of payments in 1596, this led to several strikes by the post office keepers between Wöllstein and Augsburg and to route interruptions, see Habsburg Post (1557–1597) .

Only after the establishment of the Imperial Post Office in 1597 and the increased opening to the public, the subsidies were reduced. In the course of the 17th century, the post office financed itself through the increased volume of letters and postage income and made high profits for the taxi family as operators.

After 1596

Title of Ottavio Codogno's postal travel book, 1611 edition

After the final consolidation, a new postal order came into force on October 16, 1596, which all postal operators at the Dutch postal rate had to sign. In these postal regulations, individual delivery times were also specified, which - except in the event of force majeure - could not be exceeded.

In 1597, the Imperial Post Office operated from the Brussels headquarters was established, which invoked a privilege of Rudolf II and had the right to sole representation. Nothing changed in the routing of the Dutch postal rate.

In 1615, the general inheritance postmaster Lamoral von Taxis and the Augsburg postmaster Octavio von Taxis agreed on a division of responsibilities and cost allocation. Octavio, who remained subordinate to the postmaster general in Brussels, was obliged to “ all posts from Lysur ” (= Lieser) “ up to and including Mantua, which the welsche and ndl. Ordinari lead “to pay quarterly in advance and settle on it. The post stations to Lieser, on the other hand, should continue to be paid for from the Brussels headquarters.

On the initiative of the Frankfurt postmaster Johann von den Birghden , the postal network of the Imperial Post Office was expanded from 1615 onwards, and additional branches of the main route and new postal routes were added.

Route shifts in the Thirty Years War

After the outbreak of the Thirty Years War there were frequent disruptions, but it was only with the intervention of the Swedes under Gustav Adolf that the route through the empire became impassable for the post office. Emperor Ferdinand II commissioned the Brussels postmaster general Alexandrine von Taxis on January 13, 1632, to set up an alternative route on the western side of the Rhine via Breisach and Nancy to Flamisoul, since the postmaster of Rheinhausen was “ ordained by enemies who crossed the Rhine taken away along with letters and horses. “Were. There was also a diversion via Düren and Cologne before 1636 , which meant a delay of six to seven days.

After the interim peace in Prague , the imperial order of August 13, 1636 shifted it back to the old course via the Duchy of Luxembourg, " Stift Tryer " ( Kurtrier with the stations Binsfeld and Lieser) and the Hunsrück. With the intervention of France in the Swedish-French War and the occupation of the Palatinate , the route across the Hunsrück became impassable. Therefore, around the beginning of the postmaster general Lamoral Claudius Franz von Taxis' term in office in 1646, an alternative route from Lieser was established, which led via Alf , Karden , and then via Dietkirchen near Limburg , Frankfurt am Main and Nuremberg to Augsburg.

Despite the Peace of Westphalia in October 1648, the Post did not return to the route via the Hunsrück, Rheinhausen, Württemberg and Augsburg until January 1651.

Reorientation after the Thirty Years War

In the years that followed, the postal network of the Imperial Post Office and of the competing state post offices expanded , and there was an increasing tendency to include cities. This also applied to the Dutch postal rate. Many village post stations were given up in favor of city post offices, not least because of the higher volume of letters and the introduction of mail coaches for mail travelers.

From 1680/81 there were serious changes in the northern part of the route due to the inclusion of the cities of Luxembourg and Trier , whereby the stations between Flamisoul and Lieser were canceled. Initially, the postal route ran from Trier via Lieser, but was moved via Büdlich and Haag in 1698 .

Effects of the Wars of Conquest of Louis XIV.

Postal rates in the northern part of the route around 1709/1714

New problems that endangered the continuation of the transit route arose from the wars of conquest of Louis XIV. As early as the Dutch War , there were disruptions in mail traffic, route interruptions, occupations and looting. During the Reunionskriege and the occupation of the Duchy of Luxembourg became the 1680/81 shifted leg from Flamisoul under French control, in the Nine Years' War , a large part of the electorate Trier. After negotiations with the French Minister of War Louvois , the Postmaster General Eugen Alexander von Thurn und Taxis reached an agreement in 1689 on the continued operation of the transit route, the transport of locked post office iron through the occupied territories, the mutual exchange of letters and the issuing of passport and protection letters for the mail riders, couriers and mail keepers. The French occupation did not end until October 1697 with the Peace of Rijswijk .

With the extinction of the Spanish Habsburgs in November 1700, the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701 and the occupation of the Spanish Netherlands and Luxembourg by the troops of Louis XIV, the traditional transit mail route Brussels - Innsbruck - Italy ended. In September 1701, the new Spanish King Philip V , a grandson of Louis XIV, announced the end of the Dutch Postal Generalate and the deposition of Eugen Alexander von Thurn and Taxis as Spanish-Dutch postmaster general. In the occupied territories, the Dutch postal rate was integrated into the French postal network and reorganized according to the French model.

Eugen Alexander von Thurn und Taxis moved to Frankfurt am Main at the beginning of 1702, where the new headquarters of the Imperial Post Office was built under his leadership.

outlook

Postal rates to Italy 1711

A postal route from Brussels via Rheinhausen and Württemberg to Augsburg, Innsbruck and Italy continued to exist with border and letter delivery points due to the war, but had lost its importance and from now on belonged to the Imperial Postal Service within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. The section south of Augsburg remained, on the one hand as a Tyrolean regional post office, on the other hand as a supra-regional connection to the war theaters in Italy. After the end of the Spanish War of Succession with the Rastatt Peace in 1714, which confirmed the Peace Treaty of Utrecht concluded in 1713 , the former Spanish Netherlands including Luxembourg and the Italian possessions fell to the Austrian House of Habsburg. It was not until 1725 that the general postmaster Anselm Franz von Thurn und Taxis was able to lease the entire postal system in what was now the Austrian Netherlands . so that there was again a postal route from the Netherlands to Italy under uniform management.

Post and travel map of the routes through France around 1703

Summary list

The list of post stations of the Dutch postal rate gives an overview of the fixed post stations occupied after 1519, together with the documented data . The major changes in the Brussels - Rheinhausen section in the late 17th century are also included in the list.

Historical reconstruction

On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Post in 1990, under the motto Historical Post Course , a rider relay rode once again under conditions similar to those in the early 15th century on the Dutch Post Course from Innsbruck to Mechelen.

swell

The literature of postal history shows that there is still a lot of unevaluated or only partially published material on the Dutch postal rate in Austrian, Belgian, French and Italian archives, as well as in the Fürst Thurn und Taxis central archive in Regensburg . The published sources on the course of the route and the post stations confirm that the post course has existed continuously since 1490 as a courier and riding route . Nevertheless, there are gaps in evidence up to the middle of the 16th century, both for the period between 1490 and 1506 and for the period between 1507 and 1563. Another shortcoming of the sources is that often only the operators and organizers, but not the names of the ridden post stations are handed down.

Secondary literature (selection)

  • Hermann-Josef Becker: The post course Brussels - Innsbruck in the Eifel, Moselle and Hunsrück areas , in: Postgeschichtliche Blätter Saarbrücken 1962/1, pp. 12–17, 1962/2, pp. 4–10
  • Wolfgang Behringer: Thurn and Taxis , Piper, Munich / Zurich 1990 ISBN 3-492-03336-9
  • Wolfgang Behringer: In the sign of Mercury , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003 ISBN 3-525-35187-9
  • Leon Bodé: The relocation of the Italian-Dutch postal course in the Hunsrück, Eifel and Ardennes region , in: Archive for German Postal History (AfdPg) 1/1994, pp. 8-19
  • Uli Braun: The post - mentioned for the first time in Memmingen , in: Archive for German Postal History 2/1990
  • Ottavio Codogno: Nuovo Itinerario delle poste per tutto il mondo , 1608
  • Martin Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, Part I, Sources - Literature - Introduction , Verlag Michael Lassleben, Kallmünz 1977
  • Martin Dallmeier: Sources on the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part II, document regest , Verlag Michael Lassleben, Kallmünz 1977
  • Martin Dallmeier: The Habsburg imperial imperial post under the princely house of Thurn and Taxis , in: Archive for German Post History 2/1990, pp. 13–32
  • Eduard Effenberger: From old postal files, sources on the history of the Austrian postal service, its facilities and development , Verlag der Zeitschrift für Post und Telegraphie, R. Spies & Co, Vienna 1918
  • Adolf Korzendorfer: Documents on the early history of the Deutsche Post , in: Archive for Postal History in Bavaria (APB), 3/1927, pp. 70–74
  • Otto Lankes: The post office in Augsburg from its beginnings up to 1808 , dissertation Munich 1914
  • Wilhelm Mummenhoff: The intelligence service between Germany and Italy in the 16th century , dissertation Berlin 1911
  • Fritz Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , published by Duncker and Humblot, Leipzig 1909
  • Lucas Rem (Ed. B. Greiff): Diary from the years 1494-1541 , Hartmann'sche Buchdruckerei Augsburg 1861
  • Joseph Rübsam: Johann Baptista von Taxis , Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1889
  • Ernst-Otto Simon: The postal course from Rheinhausen to Brussels over the centuries , in: Archive for German Postal History 1/1990, pp. 14–41

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ postal treaties of 18 January 1505 and of 12 November 1516 the full text at Rübsam: Johann Baptista von Taxis , 1889, pp 188-197 and pp 215-227.
  2. ↑ 1650 Renaming of the Taxis company to Thurn und Taxis, see: Behringer: Thurn und Taxis , pp. 207f.
  3. ↑ Korzendorfer: documents on the early history of Deutsche Post , in: Archives of Postal History in Bavaria, 3/1927; see also: Gottfried North : Maximilian I's letter to the city of Speyer , in: Archive for German Postal History 2/1990, pp. 10–12.
  4. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , Leipzig 1909, pages 318 and 324.
  5. ↑ Uli Braun, in: Archive for German Post History (AdPg) 2/90, p. 7 with illustration, transcription with small corrections, see also: Exhibition catalog 500 years Post Thurn and Taxis , Neusäß / Augsburg 1990, p. 63.
  6. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , p. 92, n 2.
  7. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal service and the taxis , pp. 319–326.
  8. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , p. 150 and p. 119.
  9. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal service and the taxis , p. 119.
  10. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , pp. 119 and 318, letters from the postman Meurl.
  11. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, Part II, Urkunden-Regesten , p. 3, Regest 1.
  12. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, Part II, Urkunden-Regesten , S. 3f.
  13. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal service and the taxis , pp. 326–329.
  14. ↑ Text after Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , p. 327: "je ambros aie rechus la bouget a III heurs a mantin et la livrens a peudargent (?) A IX heur a mantin" (I, Ambrosius, have the Leather bag received at 3 a.m. and delivered to Peudargent at 9 a.m.). According to footnote 1, p. 141, Ohmann believed that peudargent was "intentionally changing the name" to draw attention to the mail rider's lack of money and suggested the Bois d 'Argenteau south of Maastricht as a horse-changing station. On the other hand, Peudargent is also known as a family name, see the composer Martin Peudargent from Huy (Belgium) .
  15. ↑ Text according to the hour pass, Ohmann, The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , p. 327: "Moy pouste der vee aie rechus la bouget ..." (I, post rider from the vee , received the leather sack ...) Fritz Ohmann: The beginnings of Post office and the taxis , Verlag von Duncker and Humblot, Leipzig 1909, p. 141 suspected the foothills of the High Fens in “Vee”.
  16. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , p. 329.
  17. ↑ Lucas Rem (Ed. Greiff): Diary , p. 18.
  18. ↑ Lucas Rem (Ed. Greiff): Diary , p. 21.
  19. ↑ As Duke of Burgundy, Charles was declared prematurely of age on January 5, 1515.
  20. ↑ Behringer: In the sign of Mercury , p. 75.
  21. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part II , p. 4.
  22. ↑ Simon: The Post Course from Rheinhausen to Brussels over the centuries , p. 16 and p. 26.
  23. ↑ Rübsam: On the history of the oldest posts in Tyrol and the neighboring countries , in: L'Union Postale (UP) 12, December 1891, p. 201. See also Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , p. 192.
  24. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , p. 191.
  25. ↑ Lucas Rem (Ed. Greiff): Diary , p. 21.
  26. ↑ See also Ernst Kießkalt, The emergence of the post , Verlag Gustav Duckstein, Bamberg 1939, pp. 29–37.
  27. ↑ Behringer, Imzeichen des Merkur , p. 75, starts this detour, which bypassed Rheinhausen, as early as December 1516, so that “ the intended structural change ” no longer took place in the time of Maximilian I.
  28. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , p. 192.
  29. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal service and the taxis , p. 240.
  30. ^ Archives of the Katharinenspital zu Regensburg, estate of the diplomat Johann Maria Warschitz, archive number VI / 2 No. 4, folder of undated documents, see also the verification, postal rate from 1522 .
  31. ↑ Korzendorfer: Documents on the early history of the Deutsche Post , in AfPB 2/1927, p. 72. For the riding plan, see also sources for the Lieser Post Station with evidence of further evidence, footnote 9.
  32. ↑ A Jacob von Hesbeck, haunted by the literature of postal history, " roman Kr. Maj. Post á Hoffelt ", (see for example Simon: The postal course from Rheinhausen to Brussels over the centuries , p. 28) was not a postman in Hoffelt in northern Luxembourg, but in Flamisoul, see Philippe Geubel: Flamisoulle , Publication du Musée en Piconrue, Bastogne 1997, p. 13 with documents from the years 1519, 1530, 1533 and 1541.
  33. ↑ estate Warschitz, Archive of Katharinenspital Regensburg, document VI / 2 No. 4th
  34. ↑ Becker: The post course Brussels - Innsbruck in the Eifel, Moselle and Hunsrück areas , in: PgB Saarbrücken 5/1962, Heft 1, p. 13. (Original document today in the LHA Koblenz, Best. 655,252 No. 151, invoice book p. 39, line 15f).
  35. ↑ Simon: The postal course from Rheinhausen to Brussels over the centuries , p. 24.
  36. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal service and the taxis , p. 284.
  37. ↑ Then Württemberg became a Habsburg fiefdom, so that the post office could continue riding over Württemberg.
  38. ^ Rübsam: On the history of the oldest posts in Tyrol and the neighboring countries , in: L'Union Postale (UP) 12, December 1891, p. 199.
  39. ^ Behringer: Imzeichen des Merkur , p. 76f with reference to Rübsam, 1894.
  40. ^ Rübsam: On the history of the oldest posts in Tyrol and the neighboring countries , in L'Union Postale, December 1891, p. 200.
  41. ^ Rübsam: On the history of the oldest posts in Tyrol and the neighboring countries , in: UP December 1891, p. 200.
  42. ^ Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis , p. 244.
  43. ↑ Behringer, In the Sign of Mercury, p. 78.
  44. ↑ According to Brussels sources, Ordinaripost was introduced around 1535, see Behringer, Imzeichen des Merkur , p. 78.
  45. ^ Wilhelm Mummenhoff: The intelligence service between Germany and Italy in the 16th century , dissertation Berlin 1911, p. 28f.
  46. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part II , p. 14.
  47. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part II , p. 12f.
  48. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part II , p. 22f.
  49. ↑ Confusion of the Meuse (lat. Mosa) with the Moselle (lat. Mosella).
  50. ↑ Effenberger, From old postal files , p. 125.
  51. ^ Rübsam: The imperial post office in Milan in the first half of the XVI. Century under Simon von Taxis , in: Archive for Post and Telegraphie (AfPuT) 14/1901, p. 450.
  52. ^ Prince Thurn and Taxis Central Archive Regensburg, FZA PA 2347.
  53. ↑ Listing of the stations after da l'Herba, Brussels to Rheinhausen with Simon: The postal course from Rheinhausen to Brussels over the centuries , p. 17, as well as the stations Rheinhausen-Trient near Lankes: Die Post in Augsburg , pp. 28–31 .
  54. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part II , p. 3f
  55. ↑ Payment by the Chamber of Accounts in Lille, cf. Dallmeier: Sources on the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, Part II , p. 5.
  56. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part II , p. 4f, postal contract 1516.
  57. ↑ Rübsam: On the history of the oldest posts in Tyrol and the neighboring countries , in: L'Union Postale (UP) 12, December 1891, p. 204, and p. 199–200.
  58. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, Part II , pp. 51–55.
  59. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part II , p. 79f.
  60. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part II , p. 102.
  61. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part II , p. 107.
  62. ↑ Simon, in AfdPg, p. 32 mentions, with reference to MRhPG 1977, p. 9/14, a “post run” from 1644, see also: FZA PA 1241, as well as the specified web link.
  63. ^ Leon Bodé: The relocation of the Italian-Dutch postal course in the Hunsrück, Eifel and Ardennes area , in: Archive for German Postal History 1/1994, pp. 8-19.
  64. ^ Letter from Trier PM Ludwig of December 19, 1698 (FZA PA 1096, fol. 156), cf. also MRPG 1979, p. 32.
  65. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, Part I, Sources - Literature - Introduction, pp. 89f.
  66. ↑ Bodé: The relocation of the Italian-Dutch postal rate in the Hunsrück, Eifel and Ardennes area , p. 12.
  67. ↑ By decree of September 19, 1701, date based on a document dated October 8, 1701, see Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, Part II, Document Regesten , p. 246.
  68. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, Part I, Sources - Literature - Introduction , p. 130.
  69. ↑ Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501–1806, part I , p. 131f.
  70. ↑ First territorial losses already enshrined in the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659.
  71. ↑ Examples: Postal contract of 1501 in Lille, see Dallmeier: The Thurn and Taxis in the Spanish-Austrian Netherlands (Belgium). Origin - ascent - representation and possessions , in: De Post van Thurn and Taxis, La Poste des Tour et Tassis, Brussels 1992, p. 45 and p. 65, n. 16; Post rate from 1523, see Rübsam: On the history of the oldest posts in Tyrol and the neighboring countries in: L'Union Postale (UP) 12, December 1891, p. 198f.
  72. ↑ See for example Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal service and the taxis , pp. 118–119.