Quart (tax)

The quart , also known as Türkenquart , was a tax to finance the Turkish wars ( Turkish tax ). It was levied in the Austrian lands of the Habsburgs in 1529. The quart was designed as a compulsory loan. All property belonging to the Catholic Church was taxed at a quarter of its value. The name of the tax is derived from this amount (in the linguistic usage at the time, lat. “Quadrans, quartarius” for “quarter”).

background

The Inner Austrian countries had from 1415 to bear the brunt of the Turkish defense. They were considered to be "the yard fence of the German Empire." The high financial requirements of the Turkish defense forced a "most ruthless taxation of church property and the clergy". This financial requirement had already led to a number of tax measures, such as the third . The right of participation of the state parliaments and their entitlement to set taxes (in so-called "regulations") were not taken into account.

In 1526, the death of the Hungarian King Ludwig II of the Jagiellonian family in the Battle of Mohács against the Turks meant that the Habsburgs were able to lay claim to rule in Hungary . But that could only be achieved if on the one hand the opponent of these claims Johann Zápolya and on the other hand the Turks were defeated. Otherwise it would have been expected that the fight against the Turks would no longer have to take place in Hungary, but just before or around the Habsburg capital Vienna . The income from previous taxation such as the third or the confiscation of church treasures was insufficient to finance these struggles.

In May 1529 the Turkish army under Sultan Suleyman began a campaign to the west. The Habsburg lands in the southeast of the German Empire would have been the first areas to be affected by the war. With reference to the fact that the Pope had given the approval (the less successful third had been continued), it was stipulated under King Ferdinand I that the Catholic Church had to contribute to the financing of the war expenditure with the value of a quarter of its goods and its income . This was justified by the fact that the monasteries and spiritual benefices had been founded to preserve the Christian faith and it was therefore permissible to demand appropriate sacrifices to preserve it. Apart from that, compared to the time when most of the monasteries would have been founded, far fewer people would now live there (e.g. because of leaving the monastery as a result of the Reformation ). It was left up to the way in which the payments were to be financed, whether through sale, loan of a corresponding share of the property or through payment from one's own funds.

As buyers of church goods appeared among other aristocrats, so z. B. Siegmund von Dietrichstein , including those from Protestant families. Their acquisitions contributed to the economic rise of these noble families in the Austrian countries.

Tax collection began in 1529 and was completed in 1531.

Yield

Quart was economically successful: in Styria alone , at least 150,000 pounds pfennigs (88,800 guilders ) were collected from the assets of the Catholic Church, in Carinthia around 41,300 pounds. The income from the quart was sufficient to expand seven fortresses in Croatia and to occupy them with the necessary soldiers. From 1530 on, a defensive belt was created with this and with the taxes that were levied on the basis of resolutions of the state parliaments, which became the core of the later military border . The funds used also helped to stop a renewed campaign by the Turkish army against Vienna in 1532 before the city of Güns .

No repayment of the amounts declared as compulsory loans has been recorded. The assets of the Catholic Church were significantly reduced by the Quart, but were able to recover and in 1640 had reached the level of 1528 again, in some cases even exceeded them.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Othmar Pickl : Treasury, Church and State in Inner Austria in the Age of Reformation and Counter Reformation (16th / 17th century). In: Hermann Kellenbenz , Paolo Prodi: Treasury, Church and State in the Confessional Age. Writings of the Italian-German Historical Institute in Trento . Volume 7. 27. Study week 21. – 25. September 1987. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994. ISBN 3-428-08250-8 , pp. 100 and pp. 102-103.
2. ^ Dieter A. Binder: Heimatsuchen. Attempts at the cultural history of a federal state. In: Alfred Ableitinger, Dieter A. Binder (Hrsg.): Steiermark. Overcoming the periphery. In: Herbert Dachs, Ernst Hanisch, Robert Kriechbaumer (eds.): History of the Austrian federal states since 1945. Volume 7. Böhlau Verlag Vienna 2002. ISBN 3-205-99217-2 . P. 568.
3. ↑ Pickl: Treasury. Pp. 92-93.
4. ↑ Burkhard Seuffert, Gottfriede Kogler: The oldest Styrian state parliament files 1396-1519. Part I 1396-1452. In the series: Sources on the constitutional and administrative history of Styria. Edited by the Historical State Commission for Styria. Volume III. Verlag Stiasny Graz 1953. p. 22.
5. ^ Gerhard Rill: Prince and Court in Austria: from the Habsburg partition treaties to the Battle of Mohács (1521/22 to 1526). Volume 2: Gabriel of Salamanca, Central Administration and Finance . Vienna 2003, Böhlau publishing house. ISBN 3-205-98895-7 . P. 298.
6. ^ Franz Mensi: History of direct taxes in Styria up to Maria Theresa's accession to government, Part II. In: Research on the constitutional and administrative history of Styria. Edited by the Historical State Commission for Styria. Volume IX, Graz-Vienna, Verlag Styria 1912. pp. 319-324.
7. ↑ Franz Pichler: The tax burden on the Styrian population through the state defense against the Turks. In: Messages from the Styrian regional archive MStLA Volume 35/36, year 1985/1986 p. 95 Pichler, tax burden  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 3.2 MB)  
8. ^ Mensi: Taxes . P. 324.
9. ↑ Pickl: Treasury. P. 106.