Princess tax

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The princess tax was an extraordinary tax that was levied in most of the secular territories of the Holy Roman Empire and in many German states in the 19th century to finance the trousseau of the daughters of ruling princes.

Princess tax and miss tax

Document on a miss tax, 1710, Rodheim (Hungen)

The Economic Encyclopedia by Johann Georg Krünitz defines the “princess tax” as “a tax that is given to equip a princess of the country”. One speaks of a “princess tax” in the narrower sense if this is the dowry of princesses, i.e. H. the daughters of princely (and higher-ranking) families. If a ruling house that is ranked below a prince levies the tax, it is called a “miss tax”.

history

The princess tax has been documented since the Middle Ages. It served to make it easier for the daughters to “marry off” by “controlling” them, ie. H. provided with sufficient dowry. By “marrying off” the daughters, one anticipated the undesirable situation that they remained single and had to be looked after in the household.

Tax liability and tax collection in the early modern period

The obligation to pay the princess tax was stipulated by law for many of the rulers of the secular bank of the imperial estates , and in some cases also the amount to be paid. In other territories, the tax liability was based on tradition; the amount was sometimes negotiated between the sovereign and the estates . Because the tax had to be paid by the estates, who usually collected the amount as a contribution . This is what happened when Princess Caroline Mathilde of Hanover married King Christian VII of Denmark in 1766 when the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg had to raise £ 40,000 . By the 17th century at the latest, the amount was in many cases no longer negotiable (or only to a limited extent) between the sovereign and the estates, insofar as the sovereign had already determined the amount of the dowry through a marriage contract for his daughter and was therefore entitled or at least endeavored to to have this amount "recompensated" by the estates. When Princess Anna Amalia of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel married Duke Ernst August II of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1756, the princess tax was z. B. to 18,000 Reichstaler . In the 1770s, it was 20,000 thalers in the Archduchy of Austria , 30,000 thalers in the Electorate of Saxony and 20,000 gulden in the Duchy of Württemberg .

Among the lawyers active in constitutional law, the question was disputed in which special cases the princess tax was legal and in which not, whether z. B. the ruling prince may also claim these for his granddaughters if their father has already died. When a princess is not equal married or has been married, the entitlement to the Princesses tax fell.

The princess tax in the 19th century

Since the beginning of the 19th century, it has become common practice in more and more German states to refrain from a special princess tax. There this was either included in the civil list or it was financed from the state budget, for example in the Kingdom of Bavaria since 1818 . In individual cases, the ruling princes waived the levying of the princess tax, for example King Friedrich Wilhelm III. von Prussia at the marriage of his daughter Charlotte to Tsar Nicholas I in 1817. However, he emphasized that this was done “out of grace and mildness, but without consequence for the future”, so it did not set a precedent for future marriages. Nevertheless, Friedrich Wilhelm III. when his daughter Alexandrine married in 1822, the princess tax was again canceled. In this respect, this decision was - regardless of the previous clauses - a preliminary decision for their abolition de facto (not de iure) in Prussia.

In any case, the princess tax was considered anachronistic by the 19th century bourgeoisie, if it was not felt to be improper. You have - as in the tradition of the Enlightenment standing General Encyclopedia of Science and Arts - now "won a spiteful reputation". In his novel Titan, Jean Paul has the “titular librarian of the Grand Master of Malta” Schoppe scoff at some antiquated duties and taxes, including the “princess tax”. The journalist Karl Heinrich Hermes wrote about the princess tax in 1845: “But it will not easily come to the opinion that it could have contributed in any way to the increase of the dignity of a princely house.” The princess tax is “a holdover from that medieval tax Romanticism ”, insofar as there were three extraordinary taxes in the Middle Ages, for which special events gave the occasion, each linked to certain people: if the prince was captured and had to be released, the accolade of his sons and the marriage of his daughters . The point of this fine ironic hint was clear: if ransom money for kings and accolades had gone out of use in the 19th century, the third braid could also be cut off.

But not all princes liked to see it that way. When in 1862 Princess Hermine, the daughter of Prince Heinrich XX. of Reuss-Greiz and Princess Caroline , who married Prince Hugo von Schönburg-Waldenburg, the princess tax was advertised in the Principality of Reuss older line . The satirical magazine Kladderadatsch made fun of it in a poem and a drawing by Wilhelm Scholz : middle-class families would have to pay for the weddings of their daughters themselves, but if a princess marries a millionaire, the taxpayer is tried. The Kladderadatsch have, a Berlin court, Princess Caroline reasoned like shown a beggar and the offense of insulting a foreign head of state met. As the person responsible under press law, editor-in-chief Ernst Dohm was sentenced to five weeks in prison. But King Wilhelm I was "amused", at Bismarck's request he released Dohm from most of the prison sentence. The princes of Reuss had received their princess tax, but they had also made a lot of ridicule.

Probably for the last time a princess tax was paid in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1905 , on the decision of the state parliament of December 20, 1904 on the occasion of the impending marriage of Princess Cecilie zu Mecklenburg with the Prussian Crown Prince Wilhelm in 1906. With the end of the Princely rule as a result of the revolution in November 1918 also ended the princess tax for good.

literature

in order of appearance

  • Art. Miss tax, princess tax . In: Johann Georg Krünitz (ed.): Oeconomische Encyclopädie , Vol. 14, Berlin 1778, pp. 740f.
  • Konrad Wilhelm Ledderhose : From the miss tax in Hesse. In: Ders .: Kleine Schriften , Vol. 5. Akademische Buchhandlung, Marburg 1795, pp. 4–74.
  • Art. Princesses tax . In: Karl Wenzeslaus Rodecker von Rotteck (ed.): Staats-Lexikon or Encyclopädie der Staatswissenschaften , Volume 13. Verlag von Johann Friedrich Hammerich, Altona 1842, pp. 135-138.
  • Art. Princesses tax . In: Meyer's New Conversations-Lexicon for all stands (= Meyers Konversations-Lexikon , 1st edition), Vol. 12, Hildburghausen 1859, p. 1119.
  • Reiner Sahm: To hell with the tax! 5000 years of taxes - a long path of suffering for mankind . Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-8349-4189-3 . In it p. 203: Art. Missing tax .
  • Philip Haas: Filiae Reipublicae, born in the country. Missing tax in Hessen as participation of the estates in dynastic marriages . In: Hessisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte , vol. 67 (2017), pp. 125–143.
  • Art. Princesses tax . In: Reiner Sahm: From the riot tax to tithing. Fiscal refinements from 5000 years . Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden, 2nd, reviewed and updated edition 2018, ISBN 978-3-658-19007-1 , pp. 78–79.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Fritz Neumark : Art. Taxes - I: Basics . In: Willi Albers (ed.): Concise Dictionary of Economics , Vol. 7. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1977. pp. 295–309, here p. 295.
  2. ↑ Article Princess Tax . In: Oeconomische Encyclopädie, Vol. 117, Berlin 1811, p. 404.
  3. ↑ Art. Princesses Tax . In: Meyer's New Conversations-Lexicon for all Stands , Vol. 12, Hildburghausen 1859, p. 1119.
  4. ^ Aloys Meister : German constitutional history from the beginnings to the 15th century . Teubner, Leipzig 1907. p. 34.
  5. ^ FA von Campen: The doctrine of the estates according to common German state law . Meyer, 2nd ed. Lemgo 1864, p. 64.
  6. ^ Carolin Philipps: Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark. The mistress of the personal physician . Piper, Munich 2005. ISBN 3-492-24369-X . P. 20.
  7. ↑ Ursula Salentin: Anna Amalia. Pioneer of the Weimar Classic . Böhlau, Cologne 2001. ISBN 3-412-13200-4 . P. 16.
  8. ↑ Article Miss Tax, Princesses Tax . In: Oeconomische Encyclopädie, Vol. 14, Berlin 1778, pp. 740f.
  9. ↑ Art. Princesses Tax . In: Staats-Lexikon or Encyclopädie der Staatswissenschaften , Volume 13. Verlag von Johann Friedrich Hammerich, Altona 1842, pp. 135–138, here p. 137.
  10. ^ Karl Friedrich von Klöden (ed.): Life and government history of Friedrich Wilhelm the Third, King of Prussia . Plahn'sche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1840, p. 245.
  11. ↑ Official Gazette of the Government of Magdeburg , Jg. 1817, p. 214, No. 109.
  12. ↑ Art. Endowment . In: Johann Samuelersch , Johann Gottfried Gruber (ed.): General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts , 1st Section, Vol. 27. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1836, pp. 207–214, here p. 208.
  13. ^ Jean Paul: Titan , first edition, published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Matzdorff, Berlin 1800, vol. 1, p. 26.
  14. ↑ Karl Heinrich Hermes: Views from time into time. Marginal notes on the daily history of the last twenty-five years , vol. 2. Westermann, Braunschweig 1845. p. 138.
  15. ↑ Hermann Egner, Karl Schuemacher: Our customs and taxation . EH Moritz, Stuttgart 1907 (= library of legal and political studies, vol. 21). P. 171.
  16. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung , October 6, 1864.
  17. ^ Max Osborn : Dohm, Ernst . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie , Vol. 48. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, pp. 219–224, here p. 223.
  18. ↑ Gerald Rosenberg: Finances and financial constitution in the two grand duchies of Mecklenburg from 1850 to 1914 . Lit, Münster 1999, volume 2, p. 707.