Turkish tax register of the abbey of Fulda
The Turks Tax Register of the Abbey of Fulda from 1605 is a written directory in German that lists the payments made by the subjects to the Abbey of Fulda for the Fulda share of the Turkish tax . This makes the register the most important source of population history for the area of the abbey of Fulda in the early modern period. Today it is kept in the Marburg State Archives . The processed archive material was made accessible to interested parties in 2004 in a monograph published by the Fuldaer Geschichtsverein in the Fuldaer Geschichtsbl Blätter. The volume was created under the direction of the Fulda city archivist Thomas Heiler with the participation of participants in an archival course at the Fulda Adult Education Center.
Turkish tax in the abbey of Fulda
see also main article: Reichstürkenhilfe
For the abbey of Fulda in 1521 a Roman month of 352 guilders for 14 horsemen and 46 servants was fixed in the registration fees at the Reichstag in Worms . In 1551, when the common pfennig was re-established at the Reichstag in Augsburg, the amount rose to 404 guilders for 17 riders and 50 unmounted men. This amount remained unchanged until 1691. At the Reichstag between 1556 and 1603, the emperors were granted 409 Roman months only for the Turkish Wars. This figure does not include the taxes paid by the imperial estates for other armed conflicts. Thomas Heiler calculated from the total burden of the abbey of Fulda of 165,236 guilders an amount of 11 guilders for each of the taxpayers he estimated at 15,000. This would mean a levy of 5.8 percent of the property for each payer only for the additional tax due to the Turkish wars.
The authorities completely passed the Turkish tax on to their subjects without making any contributions of their own. On the contrary, it can be seen from the final account of 1621, for example, that 20 percent of the income from the Turkish tax was withheld by the prince abbey to rehabilitate its own household . The type of tax collection was regulated differently by the respective state rulers. In the abbey of Fulda it was a pure wealth tax, in which the entire property and real estate as well as the cash assets were recorded on the basis of statements made by the taxpayer. The community and church assets were also invested. In the register there are numerous guardians who paid for their ward. Probably due to the assessment based on their own statements, there are hardly any taxpayers in the register who could not or did not want to make the payment. The taxation was carried out per 100 guilders assets with different high tax rates. Rates of ½ gulden (corresponding to 7.5 Batzen ) or 9 Batzen were common. A tender for half a guilder produced a total return of approximately 15,000 guilders.
In the Fulda territory, the tax had a constitutional and historical significance in addition to the financial one, which concerned the dispute over the actual exercise of power in the areas of the Buchon knighthood between them and the prince abbey. The knighthood did not leave the territorial association until 1656 and was not previously directly part of the empire . Even before that, she tried to be as independent as possible from the abbey, which in practice mainly concerned national and less imperial issues. It was typical that the prince-abbots used the knightly subjects to pay district, land and imperial taxes. The knighthood repeatedly fought against state taxes in particular. In the few cases where she resisted imperial taxes, which included the Turkish tax, the emperor advised her of the tax liability. This also explains the hesitant and ambivalent attitude of the knighthood towards the prince abbey, with which they did not allow an open conflict to arise, but nevertheless, especially in state parliaments, there were repeated discussions about tax collection.
At the Reichstag in Worms in 1603, Emperor Rudolf II was granted a further 86 Roman months for Turkish taxes. From this the sum of 5,000,000 guilders tax is calculated across the empire. In 1603, 10 Roman months were to be delivered on the feast day of St. Jacobi (July 25th) and on Christmas. In the years 1604 to 1606, eleven Roman months were to be delivered on the 4th Sunday of Lent and on the feast of the birth of Mary (September 8th). The Prince Abbot Balthasar von Dernbach , who was only reinstated in 1602, had to resign himself to the state parliament on 25/26. August 1603 allow another seven Roman months, which had been approved at the Reichstag in Worms as "urgent help" for the emperor in the Dutch War of Independence . In contrast to the cities and municipalities, the knighthood only entered the agreement with a written protest. Deviating from the payment dates in the Reich, the state parliament set a date for the first three installments on Martin's Day (November 11th) 1603 and only one date on Bartholomew's Day (August 24th) for the following years . In the first year a total income of 38 Roman months (corresponding to 15,352 guilders) was expected from a levy of half a guilder per 100 guilders of assets. The state parliament has not yet decided on the amount of tax to finance the remaining 55 Roman months.
From a complete list of receipts from 1621, which was also approved by the estates, it can be seen that the tax was collected within the abbey on the four dates mentioned as planned. Except on the third date in 1605, when the tax rate was fixed at three-fifths of a guilder, it was half a guilder for every 100 guilders of property. The total income of 62,938 guilders corresponded to 155.78 Roman months. This was considerably more than the originally planned 93. From this, all imperial claims were settled not only from the Turkish tax. In spite of this, the often-voiced criticism from the knighthood, who from the beginning had resisted being assessed at more than the rate for the Turkish tax, turned out to be correct. The fund of the prince abbey reorganized its own budget with the remaining 12,153 guilders, which at least corresponds to almost 20 percent of the total income.
Description of the Turkish tax register from 1605
External description
The Turkish tax register preserved in the Marburg State Archives consists of a collection of 37 loose pages in thread-stitched booklet form. The paper format and the number of sheets varies depending on the number of taxpayers and in one case consists of a single sheet of 16 × 16 cm.
The invoices are numbered, with the numbers 8, 9, 11, 13-20, 22-51, 55, 56, 59, 64, 68 and 75 missing.
content
The Turkish tax register contains the invoices of the charitable offices Altenhof , Bieberstein , Brückenau , Eiterfeld-Fürsteneck , Zent Fulda, Giesel , Großenlüder , Hammelburg (winery) , Haselstein , Herolz , Hosenfeld , Mackenzell - Hünfeld , Motten , Neuhof , Saleck , Salzschlirf , Schildeck , Steinau , Weidenau and Ulmbach - Ürzell . The offices of Geisa-Rockenstuhl , Dermbach-Fischbach , Neukirchen and Salmünster were pledged at the time the register was created, so that no taxes were levied by the monastery there. All invoice documents from the offices of Geisa-Rockenstuhl and Dermbach-Fischbach as well as the city of Geisa are now in the main state archive in Weimar . Documents from the Weyhers and Burghaun offices were verifiably available, but either have not yet been found or are no longer available. The accounts of the cities of Fulda, Herbstein , Brückenau , Hammelburg and Hünfeld are also preserved in the Marburg State Archives . Also available are the accounts of the provost's union offices Blankenau , Johannesberg , Michael Berg , Neuenberg , Rasdorf and Thulba and the winery Office Fulda. The documents are missing from the cathedral capitular audience, the provost offices of Petersberg and Zella as well as the collegiate monasteries Hünfeld and Salmünster, whereby the amount of the taxes paid is known of these.
The knighthood accounts of the nobility organized in the knightly canton of Rhön-Werra are completely missing . Only a few bills from Ebersberg have been preserved, as well as individual bills at a rate from Görtz and Barbara von Berlepsch . It is assumed that the missing numbers in the register previously contained the knighthood accounts and that these were taken from the files in 1656 when the knighthood achieved imperial immediacy. In the collective account from 1621 the following sums from the knighthood were named, so that it can be safely assumed that the tax was also paid by knightly subjects.
| Noble family | paid for (if mentioned) | gulden |
|---|---|---|
| Bastheim | Hettenhausen and Thalau | 12 |
| Berlepsch to Eichenzell | 79 | |
| Boyneburg | Borsch , Dipperz , Jossa , Lengsfeld and Völkershausen | 281½ |
| Buchenau | 180 | |
| Buttlar zu Wildsprechtroda | 4th | |
| Ebersberg called by Weyhers | 204 | |
| Eberstein heirs | 140 | |
| Goertz | slot | 494 |
| Heßberg heirs | 20th | |
| Mansbach | Mansbach | 72 |
| Merlau | Merlau , Steinau | 40 |
| Mörle called Böhm | Sarrod , Urzell , Weyhers | 144 |
| Rabenausche Ganerbe zu Steinau | 4th | |
| Rodenhausen | Weyhers Court | 14th |
| Romrod | Little juice , Buttlar | 40 |
| Schenck to Schweinsberg | 5 | |
| Woodpecker from Bubenheim to Eichenzell | 25th | |
| Fir | Tann (city and court), Brand , Melperts , Wehrda | 481 |
| Thüngen | Poppenhausen , Thalau , Hühnerkropf (today Thalau), Hettenhausen , Weyhers , Lütter vor der Hard , Wüstensachsen | 223 |
| Thüngen to Windheim | Windheim , Geroda | 44 |
| Thüngen to Wolfsmünster | 11 | |
| Trumbach to Wehrda | 35 | |
| Völkershausen | 132 |
Evaluations and explanations
In the edition there are some evaluations of the database. It can be seen from this that the average taxpayer paid 1.15 guilders, from which an average wealth of 190 guilders is calculated. The uncertainty remains in the areas of chivalry, in which, on the basis of the lists handed down by von Berlepsch (with an average wealth of subjects of 50 guilders) and that of Ebersberg (with an average wealth of subjects of 150 guilders), it would have to be assumed that ownership would be lower. To clarify the purchasing power, some prices and wages in Fulda from 1605 are mentioned, as currency conversion to today's values is not possible.
| power | gulden |
|---|---|
| Mayor's wages | 62 |
| Wages of city servants | 8th |
| Pound of meat | 1/12 |
| Loaf of black bread | 1/10 |
| Jug of wine | 1/4 |
| a kilo of bacon | 1/5 |
| printed book | 1/3 |
| Pair of boots | 1 |
| Musket from Suhl | 3 |
| a fathom of wood | 2 1/2 |
| a pig (1574) | 2 |
| a cow (1574) | 6th |
| a horse (1574) | 20th |
| a noble horse | 120 |
Thomas Heiler estimated the number of taxpayers at almost 15,200 based on the known total income at the third Turkish tax meeting of 17,459 guilders. From this number he deduces, based on a rule of thumb in demography, according to which a household consists of five people, about 75,000 inhabitants in the prince-bishop's area including the knightly territories. Of these, 5,000 lived in the largest city of Fulda, including the suburb of Altenhof, and 3,400 in the second largest city, Hammelburg. more than two thirds of the population lived in places with fewer than 350 inhabitants.
The average wealth of the residents in the individual districts was between 317 guilders and 63 guilders. It was highest in the southern offices (Hammelburg 317, Saleck 281) as well as in the Blankenau monastery (284) and the city of Fulda (277) while it was in the Vogelsberg (Hosenfeld 68, Giesel 819) and the Fulda outskirts (Altenhof 61, cellar office 86) was the lowest. Also of the seventeen largest taxpayers with an amount over 18 guilders, which corresponds to assets from 3,000 guilders, nine in Hammelburg and one in the nearby Hundsfeld . The remaining seven lived in the residential city of Fulda.
| place | Familys |
|---|---|
| Fulda | 43 |
| Hammelburg | 20th |
| Brückenau | 11 |
| Grossenlüder | 11 |
| Schondra | 6th |
| Untererthal | 5 |
The list also shows the number of Jews in the individual places. A total of 121 families lived in 17 places in the area of the abbey without the knightly areas. In addition to the places listed in the table, there were four families each in Weyhers, Hundsfeld, Obereschenbach and Thulba, three in Hünfeld, two in Steinau and one each in Diebach, Wartmannsroth, Hainzell, Geisa and Rasdorf.
You can also see from the register. that the proportion of widow households at 5.8 percent is considerably below the average calculated in other places. It must remain speculative how many of the 100 or so women's households, for which it is not noted whether they are widows, would have to be added here.
Interesting information can also be found on the witch hunt, which reached its peak at the time the register was created. The list includes the names of the perpetrators such as Balthasar Nuss , who stated that he owned 1,200 guilders in Fulda and Hofbieber. The self-declaration was probably far too low when you consider that he was later executed for illegitimate enrichment. The widower of Merga Bien , who was executed as a witch in 1603, is also on the list with a registered fortune of 2,000 guilders. Others came from less wealthy families. The heirs of Gertrud Keller, who had also been killed at the stake shortly before , only paid one guilder tax.
See also the location register for the Turkish tax register of the prince abbey of Fulda with all named locations and further information
meaning
From the time before 1605 there are only a few sources about the population of the individual places. From the period from 1510 one has Viehbedeliste obtained in which broken down by authorities, the farmers are guided. There, 2,600 taxpayers are recorded, whereby, due to the system, the urban citizens and the rural lower class without their own livestock farming were not included. In comparison, the Turkish tax register with the mentioned 11,000 entries from 300 locations offers the first more complete overview of the demography in the abbey of Fulda. The value is further increased by the fact that it was written shortly before the drastic changes caused by the Thirty Years' War .
Source edition reviews
Peter Rauscher noted on sehepunkte to the published by Thomas healer band's impressive scope, including a location and name register. With its summaries, it can answer questions that go far beyond the framework of family and home history. In the abundance of material, however, he found some factual errors in the transcription of some names, which in his opinion hardly diminish the performance of the authors and the value as source material.
Tobias Busch also described the book in the journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies as carefully edited and provided with a brief but informative introduction. He emphasized the value of the register lists from the pre-statistical period for demographic, social and economic history as well as genealogical research and praised the solid processing and the good equipment of the volume.
Edition
- Thomas Heiler (Hrsg.): The Turkish tax register of the prince abbey of Fulda from 1605 (= publications of the Fulda history association. Vol. 64). Parzeller-Verlag, Fulda 2004, ISBN 978-3-7900-0362-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Thomas Heiler: The Turkish tax register of the prince abbey of Fulda from 1605 , ( Publication of the Fuldaer Geschichtsverein in the Fuldaer Geschichtsbl Blätter ; No. 64), Fulda, Parzeller-Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-7900-0362-X , p. 13 / 14th
- ↑ a b Thomas Heiler (ed.): The Turkish tax register of the prince abbey of Fulda from 1605 , review of the book by sehepunkte (sehepunkte 6 (2006), No. 7/8)
- ↑ a b c d e Thomas Heiler: The Turkish tax register of the abbey of Fulda from 1605 , ISBN 3-7900-0362-X , pp. 15-19.
- ↑ a b Thomas Heiler: The Turkish tax register of the abbey of Fulda from 1605 , ISBN 3-7900-0362-X , pp. 19/20
- ↑ a b c Thomas Heiler: The Turkish tax register of the abbey of Fulda from 1605 , ISBN 3-7900-0362-X , pp. 20-22.
- ↑ a b c Thomas Heiler: The Turkish tax register of the abbey of Fulda from 1605 , ISBN 3-7900-0362-X , pp. 23-26.
- ^ A b Thomas Heiler: The Turkish tax register of the abbey of Fulda from 1605 , ISBN 3-7900-0362-X , p. 30/31
- ↑ a b c d e Thomas Heiler: The Turkish tax register of the abbey of Fulda from 1605 , ISBN 3-7900-0362-X , p. 28/29
- ↑ Review of Thomas Heiler (ed.): The Turks Tax Register of the Prince Abbey of Fulda from 1605 (sixty-fourth publication of the Fulda History Association), Fulda 2004, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies 111 (2006), pp. 258-259. ( online, pdf; p. 10/11 )