Roman month
The Roman month was the basis for calculating a large number of taxes on the imperial estates in the Holy Roman Empire . This foundation was de facto since Emperor Maximilian I (1493-1519), de jure since the Reichsmatrikel the Wormser Reichstag 1521 under Emperor Charles V used until the end of the Old Kingdom in the year 1806th
Origin and name
Originally, the Roman month was derived from the obligation of the imperial estates to succumb to the army during the journey to Rome or from the payment of the troops for them. In accordance with the ideal idea of the Pope's coronation as emperor , the sovereign was able to construct an obligation for his followers or vassals from it.
This aid for the journey to Rome was to take the form of paying the wages of a troop contingent of 4,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers. This so-called "Simplum" of 24,000 men for one month each gave the tax its name and in the following years became the basic unit of account for the taxation of the imperial estates and for financial aid from the imperial estates. The Diet of 1521 promised Charles V a six-month Roman move, meaning that he was granted a total of six Roman months.
application
calculation
The quota of the affected class was determined by means of the Reich register. The calculation can be illustrated using the example of Aachen . In the register of the imperial estates of 1663 they were estimated at seven mounted men and 30 foot soldiers or 204 guilders . This defined the share of the respective imperial class in a Roman month. The total amount to be paid for an imperial estate thus resulted from its respective share in a Roman month and the number of approved Roman months.
The total amount of a Roman month was initially estimated at 120,000 guilders, later usually 128,000 guilders. The starting number was the army strength of 4,000 riders at 10 guilders each and 20,000 soldiers on foot at four guilders each, which resulted in the said total of 120,000 guilders. By increasing the sum for a rider to 12 guilders, the later sum resulted. However, as a result of mediatization and changes of area, the value of the Roman month decreased in the following period, so that in 1737 only 58,280 guilders were estimated.
Turkish Wars
During the Turkish wars, the respective Reichstag partially granted Roman months to help the Turks , which was then also called the Turkish Estimate .
Roman month and Peace of Westphalia
An unusual role was assigned to the Roman month in connection with the provisions of the Peace of Westphalia on June 13, 1648. Accordingly, the empire was to pay the Swedish army a severance payment of five million Reichstalers in three installments. The same Reich register was used for financing, whereby the seven so-called imperial circles subject to satisfaction or able to pay, to which z. B. Cologne, as part of the Lower Rhine-Westphalian district, should carry the lion's share of the sum as a Roman month . In order to be able to raise the enormous sum at all, each stand was charged with 133.5 Roman months. Considerable problems arose with the calculation bases, since z. In the case of Cologne, for example, the council referred to an imperial notice of 1567, which had exempted the Cologne residents with 825 gulden, a quarter of the sum of 1,100 gulden according to the imperial register of 1645. Since this annual sum has not been deviated from in the meantime, the people of Cologne ultimately successfully insisted on saving their 36,712 guilders.
The tax situation became completely chaotic when the emperor wanted to cover his costs with an estimate of 100 or later 150 Roman months. In view of this threatening flood of payments, it is not surprising that the Cologne residents refrained from signing the peace treaties of Münster and Osnabrück to end the Thirty Years' War as a precedent .
literature
swell
- Christian August, Cardinal of Saxony: Imperial Commissions Decree: Regarding the payment of the unrequited payment of the necessary repairs on the simple Roman month for the continuation of the necessary repair of the fortification of the fortifications that had fallen apart at the Fortification of Kehl, just as at such end all district registration offices are again most emphatically reminded ; publicè dictates Regensburg the 29th October 1717
Monographs
- Heinrich Medefind (arrangement) with the collaboration of Werner Allewelt, Hans-Martin Arnoldt and Sabine-Dorothea Pingel: The head tax description of the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel from 1678 (= publications of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen; 202), Hanover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung 2000 , 926 pp., Ill., ISBN 3-7752-5806-X
Remarks
- ↑ a b Michael Kruppe: The Turkish aid to the imperial cities of Nordhausen and Mühlhausen in the time from Maximilian I to Rudolf II (1493-1612) . Göttingen 2012, p. 116 ( uni-goettingen.de [PDF]).
- ↑ Directory / Deß Heyl: Römischen Reichs / Teutscher Nation / Most highly praised: High: and Wol-praiseworthy estates / after the toe Reichs-Craissen / . 1663, p. 34 ( wikisource.org ).
- ↑ Michael Kruppe: The Turkish Aid of the Imperial Cities Nordhausen and Mühlhausen in the time from Maximilian I to Rudolf II (1493-1612) . Göttingen 2012, p. 29 ( uni-goettingen.de [PDF]).