Who is the family Thurn und Taxis?
While I was waiting on the Christmas cards 2021 - I thought about the postal service in the past. Who took care of the royal correspondence? Immediately I came to the family Thurn und Taxis.
Who is the family Thurn und Taxis?
The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis is a family of German nobility that is part of the Briefadel. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th. century until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. It became well known as the owner of breweries and builder of many castles.
History?
The Tasso family was a Lombard family in the area of Bergamo. Omodeo Tasso organized 32 of his relatives into the Company of Couriers and linked Milan to Venice and Rome.
In 1443, Ruggiero de Tassis was named to the court of Emperor Frederick the Peaceful. He organized a post system between Bergamo and Vienna by 1450; from Innsbruck to Italy and Styria around 1460; and Vienna with Brussels by 1480. Ruggiero was knighted and made a gentleman of the Chamber.
Janetto von Taxis was appointed Chief Master of the Postal Services at Innsbruck in 1489. Philip of Burgundy elevated Janetto's brother Francesco I de Tassis to captain of his post in 1502.
By 1516 Francisco had moved the family to Brussels in the Duchy of Brabant, then under Habsburg Rule.
Traces of Francisco de Tassis in Brussels
At the death of Francisco in 1517, Emperor Charles V, appointed his nephew Johann Baptista von Taxis , Generalpostmeister of the Reichspost.
Raymond de Tassis (1515-1579) took over the office of postmaster general to the Crown of Spain and settled in Spain. He married into Spanish nobility and his son Juan de Tassis was created Count of Villamediana in 1603 by Philip III.
The name Turn und Taxis came from the translation into the German of the Family's French title: the Tour et Taxis (Tassis).
In 1695, under the rule of Emperor Leopold I, the family operated the Turn-und- Taxis Post, successor of the Imperial Reichspost of the Holy Roman Empire. This lasted until 1867.
Until 1919, the title of the head of the Princely House was His Serene Higness the Prince of thurn and Taxis.
Since 1748, the family seat was established in Regensburg, Germany at the St. Emmeram Castle.
I visited Regensburg and the St. Emmeram Castle in 2014. This was a blogpost about the castle.
Who is who?
Eugen Alexander Franz, First prince of Thurn und Taxis
Eugen Alexander Franz was the First Prince of Thurn und Taxis. He was baptized in Brussels on 11 January 1652.
In 1681, the last Habsburg King of Spain, Charles II, appointed Eugen Alexander Franz from a count to a prince. Emperor Leopold I made him an imperial prince in 1695.
Anselm Franz, 2nd Prince of Thurn and Taxis
Anselm Franz was the eldest child and son of Eugen Alexander Franz, 1st. Prince of Thurn and Taxis and his wife Prince Anna Adelheid of Fürstenberg- Heiligenberg. He was baptised on 30 January 1681 at the Our Blessed Lady of Zavel Church in Brussels.
When his father died, Anselm Franz was appointed Postmaster General by Charles VI in 1715. He returned to Brussels. However in 1724 he moved back to Frankfurt am Main. There he started the construction of the Baroque Palais Thurn und Taxis in 1729.
From 1739 he lived in the still unfinished palace in Frankfurt but then he returned to Brussels in 1739. There he died unexpectedly.
Alexander Ferdinand, 3rd Prince of Thurn and Taxis
Alexander Ferdinand was the eldest child and only son of Anselm Franz, 2nd. Prince of Thurn and Taxis and Maria Ludovika anna Franziska, Princess of Lobkowicz.
From 1 February 1743 till 1745, Alexander Ferdinand served as Principal Commissioner of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor at the Preptual Imperial Diet in Frankfurt am Main.
When the Diet relocated from Frankfurt am Main to Regensburg, Alexander Ferdinand moved the principal residence of the Princely House from Frankfurt to Regensburg. He died on 17 March 1773.
Alexander Ferdinand
Karl Anselm 4th. Prince of Thurn und Taxis
Karl Anselm was the eldest son of Alexander Ferdinand 3rd and his first wife Margravine Sophie Christine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
During the invasion of the French troops in the Austrian Netherlands in 1794, the local properties of the Thurn und Taxis family were seized.
Due to the Napoleonic Wars, Karl Anselm's Imperial Reichspost gradually lost more and more.
Karl Anselm was awarded in 1803 other Swabian lands, including the Free Imperial City of Buchau, the Imperial Abbey of Buchau, the Imperial abbeys of Marchtal and Neresheim, Ostrach and other villages.
Maximilian Karl, 6th. Prince of Thurn und Taxis
With the annexation of the Free City of Frankfurt by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866 and the forced sale of the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post, ended an era of the family's postal monopoly. The handover took place on 1 July 1867.
This happened when Maximilian Karl, the 6th. Prince of Thurn and Taxis was the head of the Princely House. He died on 10 November 1871.
Another drama took place on 26 June 1867. Then Maximilian Anton Lamoral, Hereditary Prince of Thurn und Taxis died of either kidney failure or lung paralysis. He only was 35 years old and left a wife and children. He was married to Duchess Helene in Bavaria the sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sissi).
Albert Maria Joseph Maximilian Lamoral, 8th Prince of Thurn und Taxis
Albert was born on 8 May 1867 at Regensburg, Germany as the younger son of Maximilian Anton Lamoral, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis and Duchess Helene of Bavaria. His father died when he was less than 2 months old and he was raised by his mother. He was made a knight of the Austrian
Order of the Golden Fleece on 30 November 1889. He died on 22 January 1952.
Order of the Golden Fleece on 30 November 1889. He died on 22 January 1952.
Franz Joseph Maximilian Maria Antonius Ignatius Lamoral,
9 th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
Franz Joseph was the eldest son of Albert, 8th. Prince of Thurn and Taxis and his wife Archduchess Margarethe Klementine of Austria. He was born on 21 December 1893 in Regensburg. His christening was attended by Emperor Franz Jozef of Austria.
On 6 August 1914 Franz Joseph joined the Prussian Elite Regiment Gardes du Corps. During the war he was promoted to lieutenant. After the war he returned to Regensburg.
He married Princess Isabel Maria of Braganza on 23 November 1920. They stayed most of their time at Schloss Haus in Neueglofsheim.
At the age of 46, Franz Joseph served Nazi Germany in the Invasion of Poland in 1939. By the end of June 1940, he was serving in the Battle of France. He was dismissed due to a decree from Adolf Hitler on the inability of the German Defense nobility.
Franz Joseph's son Gabriel was killed in action on 17 December 1942 in the Battle of Stalingrad.
He died after a severe illness on 13 July 1971 and he was interred in the burial chapel at St. Emmeram's Abbey in Regensburg.
Karl August Joseph Maria Maximilian Lamoral, 10th. Prince of Thurn and Taxis
Karl August was born on 23 July 1898 as the third son of Albert 8th. Prince of Thurn and Taxis and his wife Archduchess Margaretha Klementine of Austria.
On 18 August 1921, he married Princess Maria Anna of Braganza . They had 4 children. They lived at Schloss Höfling in Regensburg. Karl August forbade his children to join the Hitler Youth.
Becauwe of his anti-Nazi attitude, Karl August was imprisoned in a Gestapo prison in Landshut from 1944 to 1945.
Karl August restored interior parts of the Saint Emmeram's Abbey as well as tapestries from the 17th. and 18th. centuries. He died on 26 April 1982 and was entombed in the chapel of Saint Emmeram's Abbey.
Nowadays
One of the famous members of the family is Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis. She married to Johannes the 11th. Prince of Thurn and Taxis. Gloria and her husband were known for their lavish lifestyle, becoming social and fashion icons in the 1980s. She became part of the European jet set and was referred to in the media as the "punk princess" and "Princess TNT"
When her husband died in 1990, Gloria was left to settle his debts, which totaled at US$500 million. Her son, Albert, became the 12th Prince of Thurn and Taxis at the time of Johannes' death. She acted as the trustee for Albert, taking over management of the family estate, Saint Emmeram's Abbey. She went into isolation from society, studying finance, accounting, and estate management. She sold off
family property including art, jewelry, castles, cars, and land to preserve the family fortune. During this time she undertook a spiritual pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France,
emerging as a sobered Roman Catholic activist and philanthropist.
family property including art, jewelry, castles, cars, and land to preserve the family fortune. During this time she undertook a spiritual pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France,
emerging as a sobered Roman Catholic activist and philanthropist.
Gloria has become a successful artist, focusing mainly on portraits done with oil paint and pastel. The Hotel Chelsea asked her to do a series of pastels of its most famous denizens—a gallery show which brought her much acclaim as a painter. She has referred to herself as a "dilettante", and cites her art collection as inspiration for her contemporary style of portraiture. In 2015 she had a solo show at the National Exemplar Gallery in New York. She also paints freelance.
In January 2019 the El Museo del Barrio in Manhattan decided to cancel an upcoming exhibition of Gloria's work at their 50th anniversary gala due to her right wing political stances and comments she
had made about race and AIDS.
had made about race and AIDS.
A devout Catholic, Gloria serves 300 hot meals to the poor every day from a dedicated room in her home. She also works closely with conservative Traditionalist Catholic leaders including Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Cardinal Raymond Burke, Wilhelm Imkamp, and Steve Bannon.
Her palatial home, Schloss Thurn und Taxis was suggested by Bannon as a potential site for a school to educate and train right-wing Catholics, although no firm plans have been made.
Gloria is a personal friend of Hillary Clinton, and was one of a dozen women to attend her 2016 birthday party.
Albert 12th. Prince of Thurn and Taxis is the current head of the family. The family is one of the wealthiest in Germany. The family's brewery was sold to the Paulaner Group of Munich in 1996, but it still produces beer under the brand of Thurn und Taxis.
Conclusion
There always is a slight confusion about the family name: 'and' is in German 'und'; 'Tassis' is French, but the German name is 'Taxis'. However this princely House had made its goal in past and present times. Although the postal system luckily has changed a lot, we must not forget what they have achieved.
Source pictures
Regensburg: Own picture taken in 2014
Brussels: Own picture taken in 2017
Wikipedia
Gloria - Book cover
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