Seraphin I of Taxis

Seraphin I von Taxis , also called Seraphin de Tassis in documents , (* before 1490; † July 18, 1556 in Brussels ) came from the family clan of taxis from Camerata Cornello near Bergamo . Nothing is known about a marriage and descendants. Seraphin and the descendants of his brother Bartholomäus († 1549) continued the legacy of the founder of the two Augsburg post offices, Johann Anton von Taxis, and thus created their own postmaster dynasty in Augsburg.

Postal history classification

Janetto de Tassis had been courier master under King Maximilian I since 1490 and co-founder of the riding post in the Holy Roman Empire . He was succeeded in this position from 1506 onwards by his nephew Johann Baptista von Taxis . Both courier masters usually employed members of their own clan as couriers. Seraphin de Tassis was mentioned for the first time in 1507 in the postal service of Maximilian I. After 1513, Johann Baptista withdrew from the management of the imperial courier service to take on duties in Brussels. After that the brothers Seraphin, Bartholomäus and Jeremias (Hieronymus), as well as a relative named Christoph and his son Anton carried out the imperial courier service. These five people received the simple nobility letter from Maximilian I in 1514 . With the exception of Jeremias, who was the postman in Enzweihingen between 1520 and 1565 , they founded the Augsburg postmaster dynasty .

The first Augsburg line was founded by (Johann) Anton von Taxis from 1522. He was the sole postmaster in Augsburg and married three times, including Janetto's only child, Katharina von Taxis. Anton's sons Johann, Ambrosius and Christoph von Taxis worked in the postal service of King Ferdinand I. They did not leave any male descendants entitled to inherit, and so this line died out. The second Augsburg line was founded by the brothers Seraphin I and Bartholomäus.

Career

From November 1512 to March 5, 1513, Emperor Maximilian stayed near Speyer because of a planned Reichstag. However, due to a lack of participation, this remained a quorum. During this preparatory phase, Seraphin worked as a postal coordinator in Rheinhausen and delivered the princely letters of reply that had been sent to Speyer.

In 1514 Seraphin and his brother Bartholomäus received the simple letter of nobility. From 1518 Seraphin and his brother Bartholomew were for the Brussels post office and the Spanish King and later Emperor Charles V operates.

After Emperor Maximilian's death in January 1519, Seraphin and his brother Bartholomew looked after the Dutch postal route between Brussels and Augsburg. In September 1521 his brother Bartholomäus became post administrator in Rheinhausen and set up a connection for Charles V from Rheinhausen to Ensisheim , the main Habsburg residence in Alsace . This postal route was closed again in June 1522 because Charles V went to Spain. The ties to Rheinhausen remained, however. The brothers bought property there.

Transfer of the post offices in Rheinhausen and Augsburg

On December 21, 1540, the postmaster general Johann Baptista von Taxis prescribed the post offices of Bobenheim near Worms , Diedelsheim and Rheinhausen to the brothers Seraphin and Bartholomäus, as well as his sons Georg and Seraphin II . In addition, they should set up a postal course from Rheinhausen to Haguenau (3 posts) in Alsace.

On June 4, 1543, Franz II. Von Taxis , the successor of the late Johann Baptista, as Brussels postmaster general, confirmed the prescription of December 21, 1540 and also awarded Seraphin I von Taxis the post offices of Augsburg and Roßhaupten (Rochapt) near Scheppach . Emperor Charles V confirmed this transfer on December 22, 1543. Seraphin leased the imperial post office in Augsburg to Ambrosius von Taxis, the second son of the late Johann Anton von Taxis.

After the death of Postmaster General Franz II von Taxis in December 1543, Seraphin took over the guardianship of his brother and successor Leonhard I von Taxis . On January 15, 1546 Leonhard I. von Taxis also confirmed the prescriptions to Seraphin, and on May 23, 1546 a new imperial confirmation followed.

Postmaster in Augsburg

Augsburg post office around 1616

On July 15, 1546 the council in Augsburg forced the dissolution of the imperial post office, and Ambrosius fled the city. In January 1547, the city again submitted to the emperor. The Füssen postmaster Innocent von Taxis then ran the imperial post office in Augsburg on behalf of Seraphin I until 1550. In 1549, Seraphin's brother Bartholomew fell from Taxis in the war. Seraphin moved from Brussels to Augsburg and took over the management himself.

Seraphin I. von Taxis died on July 18, 1556 after drawing up a will. He appointed Georg and Seraphin II von Taxis , the two sons of his brother Bartholomew, as heirs . However, Georg renounced the inheritance in favor of his underage brother.

literature

• Wolfgang Behringer: Thurn and Taxis . Munich 1990 ISBN 3-492-03336-9
• Wolfgang Behringer: In the sign of Mercury . Göttingen 2003 ISBN 3-525-35187-9
• Martin Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501-1806. Part I. Sources – Literature – Introduction . Publishing house Michael Lassleben, Kallmünz 1977
• Martin Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501-1806. Part II document regests , Verlag Michael Lassleben, Kallmünz 1977
• Ludwig Kalmus: World History of the Post . Vienna 1937
• Fritz Ohmann: The beginnings of the postal system and the taxis . Leipzig 1909
• Joseph Rübsam: Johann Baptista von Taxis . Freiburg 1889
• Josef Rübsam:  Taxis, Seraphin I. von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 521 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Martin Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501-1806, part II , Verlag Michael Lassleben, Kallmünz 1977, p. 13.
2. ↑ Martin Dallmeier: Sources for the history of the European postal system 1501-1806, part II , Kallmünz 1977, p. 14.