Schleswig-Holstein Species Bank
On February 28, 1788, the Schleswig-Holsteinische Speciesbank was set up in Altona / Elbe by royal Danish regulation . At that time Altona was the second largest city in the entire Danish state and the largest city in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein . The Speciesbank was created in the course of attempts to reorganize the finances of the Danish state in the second half of the 18th century. It was founded primarily as the state central bank for Schleswig and Holstein, but also took on general banking tasks in Altona. The Speciesbank existed until it was closed when the Danish national bankruptcy in 1813.
History of the establishment of the bank
From the late Middle Ages to the 19th century, Schleswig-Holstein's history was shaped by the competing power interests of a German-born nobility and the Danish crown. After the Treaty of Ripen , the Danish king ruled the two parts of the country in personal union as a duke, where he acted in the Duchy of Schleswig (as a royal Danish fiefdom) both as a king (liege lord) and as a duke (vassal). In Holstein and Stormarn , which belonged as a fief to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation , he only acted as a duke. After the Russian tsar title fell to the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf at the end of the 18th century , the Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo in 1773 determined that significant parts of the duchies that had not previously ruled from Copenhagen should fall under the direct rule of the Danish king. After a few small territorial consolidations, the area of today's Schleswig-Holstein was under Danish administration in the late 18th century, with the exception of the Principality of Lübeck and the Hanseatic City of Lübeck and the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg .
The basis of the Schleswig-Holstein currency system of the 18th century was initially the speciestaler , i. H. the fully-after Reichsmünzfuß (8¼ Credits from the refining Kölnischen Mark embossed silver) silver Kurantmünze . In Altona / Elbe , which had long been a royal Danish , a royal mint was established in 1771, which worked until 1863. The coin minted speciestaler and small coins. However, the duchies did not have their own bank. Banking tasks could partly be taken over by the Kurantbank, founded in Copenhagen in 1736 , a private bank of notes authorized to issue banknotes . The Kurantbank was induced by Friedrich V to increase the issue of banknotes in order to finance the state. In 1757 the obligation to redeem the banknotes of the Kurantbank in Speciestalern no longer applies. H. in full silver money. Due to increasing doubts about the intrinsic value of the Kurantbank's banknotes, the banknotes were viewed as paper money with an increasing discount compared to payment in full- value silver coins.
(See also History of the Danish Krone ).
From 1783 the Danish finance minister, Count Schimmelmann, ventured the idea of returning to an orderly system of coins , at least in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein . This was made easier by the fact that there was comparatively little paper money from the Kurantbank in circulation. Coins and banknotes should be kept separate from the rest of the entire Danish state. In February 1788, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, the rule of Pinneberg and the county of Rantzau therefore received their own new silver currency. A thaler in Schleswig-Holstein was exactly the same as a Hanseatic Kurant thaler and, like this, four fifths of a speciestaler. The thaler schleswig-holsteinisch courant was divided into 3 mark courant of 16 schillingen schleswig-holsteinisch courant each . At the same time, speciestalers were issued according to the old German Reichstaler coin footer.
As the first bank of the duchies, the Species, Giro- und Leihbank zu Altona was established in 1776 to promote trade, transport and industry. However, due to the business superiority of nearby Hamburg and especially the Hamburg Bank in regional and international payment transactions, the establishment of the bank was not very successful.
Establishment and tasks of the species bank
In order to completely separate the currency system of the duchies from the entire Danish state, it was not only necessary to mint their own coins. It was also necessary to set up a bank of its own that could issue banknotes. Over the Species, Giro- and Leihbank zu Altona it was possible to dispose of deposit money ; However, banknotes were not allowed to be issued there. For this task, the Schleswig-Holsteinische Speciesbank was founded on February 29, 1788 - at the same time as the ordinance on the new coinage. The Speciesbank was a state bank of notes or central bank. The tasks of the Speciesbank also included accepting approved silver currency according to weight and re-issuing full-weight silver money.
The " slip " issued by the Speciesbank had the following inscription, here for an 8 thaler slip (see illustration, see also):
For this species bank notes are in the Schleswig-Holstein Species Bank in Altona Eight Thaler, written 8 Thl. Species deposited which are paid upon presentation to the owner against return of the slip from said bank in Species.
In Altona, the bank should also be able to function as a giro bank; out of town, the banknotes should simplify payment transactions. The banknotes were not provided with a compulsory rate, but were accepted at face value by the species bank itself and by the state coffers for the payment of taxes and duties. Speciesbank could discount bills of exchange and borrow short-term money against the pledge of securities. Maximum rates were set for these forms of lending.
The Species-, Giro- and Leihbank was to remain independent for the time being, but went into the Speciesbank including its buildings in 1788. As for the previous bank, the city of Altona was liable for damage from fire and theft.
In order to secure the independence of the Speciesbank, the Danish king had completely waived the right to intervene in the bank. The bank's business was managed by the Altona bank management by the directors Johann Heinrich and Georg Friedrich Baur . The supervision of the bank was taken care of by a senior management , in which u. a. the Schleswig-Holstein mint director and a member of the German chancellery were represented at the Danish court.
As a result of the encouraging start of the Schleswig-Holstein species bank, a species bank was founded in Copenhagen in 1790 for the rest of the entire Danish state, which at the time still consisted of Denmark and Norway, the Danish-Norwegian Species Bank .
End and liquidation of the bank
The Schleswig-Holsteinische Speciesbank existed until the establishment of the new Danish Reichsbank (Rigsbank) as the sole new central bank in Denmark in 1813 in the course of the Danish national bankruptcy (see history of the Danish krone ). Half of the issued banknotes in the amount of less than 1 million speciestalers were paid out in silver by the Rigsbank and half were replaced by Danish government bonds.
Single sources
- ↑ a b c d e f g H. von Poschinger (1878) Banking and banking policy in Prussia. First volume, part 2, chapter VI: The banking history of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein . Pp. 171-193
- ↑ Paul Arnold, Harald Klüthmann, Dieter Fassbender (2006) Large German coin catalog from 1800 to today. 22., revised and expanded edition 2006/2007 by Dieter Faßbender. Battenberg Verlag, Regenstauf. Pp. 423-428.
- ↑ Michael Märcher (2010) Danish banking before and after the Napoleonic Wars: A survey of Danish banking 1736-1875. In Tuukka Talvio & Cecilia von Heijne: Monetary boundaries in transition: A North European economic history and the Finnish War 1808-1809 . Stockholm, pp. 127-143