House of Thurn und Taxis#History

{{see also|Compagnia dei Corrieri|Kaiserliche Reichspost}}

The Tasso family (from the Italian word for "badger", the family's heraldic animal) was a Lombard family in the area of Bergamo. The earliest records place them in Almenno in the Val Brembana around 1200,Serassi, Pierantonio. La vita di Torquato Tasso, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oyelJXnKmZoC&pg=PA4 pp. 4 ff]. Pagliarini, 1785. Retrieved 2 October 2013. {{in lang|it}} before they fled to the more distant village of Cornello to escape feuding between Bergamo's Colleoni (Guelf) and Suardi (Ghibelline) families. Around 1290,The Encyclopedia Americana: The International Reference Work, Vol. 25, [https://books.google.com/books?id=em4rAQAAMAAJ&q=omedio+tassis p. 476]. Utgiver Americana Corporation, 1958. Retrieved 3 October 2013. after Milan had conquered Bergamo, Omodeo Tasso organized 32 of his relatives into the Company of Couriers (Compagnia dei Corrieri) and linked Milan with Venice and Rome.Turismo Lombardia. "[http://www.turismo-lombardia.com/il-borgo-di-camerata-cornello-dei-tasso.html Il Borgo di Camerata Cornello dei Tasso] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215436/http://www.turismo-lombardia.com/il-borgo-di-camerata-cornello-dei-tasso.html |date=2013-10-04 }}". Retrieved 3 October 2013. {{in lang|it}} The recipient of royal and papal patronage, his post riders were so comparatively efficient that they became known as bergamaschi throughout Italy.López Jurado, Luis Felipe. Prefilatelia de Murcia: Historia Postal del Reino de Murcia desde 1569 hasta 1861, pp. 26 ff. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=_ld3hUtoBeoC&pg=PA26 La Familia Tassis]". Editora Regional de Murcia, 2006. Retrieved 3 October 2013. {{in lang|es}}

Ruggiero de Tassis was named to the court of the Emperor Frederick the Peaceful in 1443. He organized a post system between Bergamo and Vienna by 1450; from Innsbruck to Italy and Styria around 1460; and Vienna with Brussels around 1480. Upon his success, Ruggiero was knighted and made a gentleman of the Chamber.Le Folklore Brabancon, [https://books.google.com/books?ei=JvVMUtzFKOmRiQfsioCADQ&hl=no&id=aGvwAAAAMAAJ&q=ruggiero p. 372].

(Brabant), 1981. Retrieved 3 October 2013. {{in lang|fr}} {{Interlanguage link multi|Janetto von Taxis|de}} was appointed Chief Master of Postal Services at Innsbruck in 1489. Philip of Burgundy elevated Janetto's brother {{Interlanguage link multi|Francesco I de Tassis|it}} to captain of his post in 1502. Owing to a payment dispute with Philip, Francisco opened his post to public use in 1506. In 1512 the family was ennobled by Emperor Maximilian I.Wolfgang Behringer: Thurn und Taxis, Munich 1990 By 1516, Francisco had moved the family to Brussels in the Duchy of Brabant, where they became instrumental to Habsburg rule, linking the rich Habsburg Netherlands to the Spanish court.Papadopoulos, A.G. Urban Regimes and Strategies: Building Europe's Central Executive District in Brussels (University of Chicago Press, 1996), [https://books.google.com/books?id=LpRVg5qygc4C&pg=PA41 p. 41]. Retrieved 3 October 2013. The normal route passed through France, but a secondary route across the Alps to Genoa was available in times of hostility.

At the death of Francisco in 1517, Emperor Charles V appointed Francisco's nephew Johann Baptista von Taxis (1470-1541) as Generalpostmeister of the Kaiserliche Reichspost. Johann Baptista was briefly succeeded by his eldest son, Franz II von Taxis (1514-1543), after whose untimely death the family split into two further branches. The youngest son, Leonhard I von Taxis, succeeded as Generalpostmeister and is the ancestor of the princely Thurn and Taxis family. Johann Baptista's second-eldest son, Raymond de Tassis (1515-1579), took over the office of postmaster-general to the Crown of Spain and settled in Spain. Raymond married into Spanish nobility, and his eldest son Juan de Tassis was created Count of Villamediana in 1603 by Phillip III. The Spanish line of the family became extinct with Juan de Tassis, 2nd Count of Villamediana, a poet who died in mysterious circumstances in 1622.Frederick A. de Armas, "The Play's the Thing': Clues to a Murder in Villamediana's La Gloria de Niquea," Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 78 (2001): 439-54.

In 1608 the Brussels line was raised to the status of hereditary barons, and in 1642 the Innsbruck line as well (which descends from Gabriel de Tassis, d. 1529). When the Brussels line was raised to the hereditary status of counts in 1624, they needed illustrious lineage to legitimize their intended further ascension to the high nobility. Alexandrine von Taxis commissioned genealogists to "clarify" their origin, who until then had only been considered a family descending from medieval knights who had become merchants. They now claimed, albeit without documentary evidence, that they descended from the Italian noble family Della Torre, or Torriani, who had ruled in Milan and Lombardy until 1311. She then applied to the emperor for a name change. With the Germanization, the coat of arms symbol of the Milanese family, the tower (Torre), became Thurn (an older German spelling, nowadays Turm) and was placed in front of the actual family name Tasso, translated with Taxis (an older German spelling for Dachs = Badger). The tower of the Torriani was added to the badger as a coat of arms.Max Piendl: Das fürstliche Haus Thurn und Taxis. (The princely House of Thurn und Taxis), publisher Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1981, p. 35. According to Piendl, since 1957 archivist and librarian of the House of Thurn und Taxis in Regensburg, however, only the descent of the Austrian Counts of Thurn and Valsassina from the Torriani is beyond doubt. They formally adopted the German form of their name in 1650, including the comital Innsbruck line, which also exists to this day.

In 1681 the Brussels line was elevated to the Spanish Netherlands' rank of prince with Eugen Alexander Franz, 1st Prince of Thurn and Taxis, with Braine-le-Château (acquired in 1670) as his titular principality (Principauté de la Tour et Tassis), and in 1695 to the rank of imperial prince at the behest of Emperor Leopold I, although at that time no territorial possessions existed in the Holy Roman Empire. Admission to the Imperial Council of Princes in the Imperial Diet took place in 1704.J. B. Mehler: Das fürstliche Haus Thurn und Taxis in Regensburg, p. 10. Publisher: Habbel Verlag, Regensburg 1898, online: [https://archive.org/stream/dasfurstlicheha00mehl#page/n7/mode/2up]

The Brussels line moved to Frankfurt in 1703 because of the War of the Spanish Succession; their new family seat built from 1731 was the Palais Thurn und Taxis. Emperor Charles VII appointed Alexander Ferdinand, 3rd Prince of Thurn and Taxis, Principal Commissioner (Lord Chancellor) of the Imperial Diet in 1743. He therefore moved to Regensburg, where the parliament was seated, in 1748. The position became hereditary in the family who lived in different houses there, but the company headquarters remained in Frankfurt. When Saint Emmeram's Abbey in Regensburg was secularized in 1803, the monastery buildings were donated to the princes of Thurn and Taxis, who had them converted into a residence, henceforth known as Schloss Thurn and Taxis, sometimes also called Saint Emmeram Palace. It has remained their family seat to this day.[https://www.thurnundtaxis.de/en/family/the-palace/ Website Schloss Thurn und Taxis in Regensburg]

In 1786, Karl Anselm, 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, acquired the Upper Swabian county of Friedberg with the lordships of Scheer, Dürmentingen and Bussen from the princes of Waldburg, which from 1787 was known as the County of Friedberg-Scheer. Only then did the Thurn und Taxis rule their own principality of the empire for 20 years, but their main source of income remained the Imperial Reichspost.

The family operated the Thurn-und-Taxis Post, successor to the Imperial Reichspost of the Holy Roman Empire, between 1806 and 1867. Their postal service was gradually lost over the centuries, with the Spanish network being bought by the crown in the 18th century and the German post being purchased by Prussia after the fall of the Free City of Frankfurt in 1866. By investing their earnings from the postal business - later also the settlements for the postal rights - in numerous landed estates, a large number of forests and farms as well as castles were added to the family property, especially from secularized church property, among them Buchau Abbey, Marchtal Abbey, Neresheim Abbey, Ennetach Abbey, Siessen Abbey, and others. In 1803 they were summarized as Imperial Principality of Buchau.Gerhard Köbler: Historisches Lexikon der Deutschen Länder. Büchergilde Gutenberg, Frankfurt am Main 1996 The buildings of these monasteries were mostly re-donated to the church in the 20th century, but the lands continue to be cultivated by the princely administration. Besides the St Emmeram's Palace the current prince still owns Taxis Castle (Trugenhofen) and Garatshausen Castle at Feldafing on Lake Starnberg.{{CN|date=May 2025}}

File:SchlossThurnundTaxis2010.JPG in Regensburg, Germany]]

Rainer Maria Rilke wrote his Duino Elegies while visiting Princess Marie of Thurn and Taxis (née Princess of Hohenlohe, wife of Prince Alexander) at her family's Duino Castle. Rilke later dedicated his only novel (The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge) to the princess, who was his patroness. Her son Prince Alexander (1881–1937) became an Italian citizen named Principe della Torre e Tasso and was raised in 1923 by the Italian king to Duke of Castel Duino. Today Duino Castle belongs to his grandson, Prince Carlo della Torre e Tasso, Duca di Castel Duino (b. 1952). The Duino branch is part of the family's Czech branch that in the early 19th century settled in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic).{{CN|date=May 2025}}

Several members of the family have been Knights of Malta.{{CN|date=May 2025}}

Until 1919, the titles of the head of the princely house were His Serene Highness the Fürst von Thurn und Taxis, Prince of Buchau and Prince of Krotoszyn, Duke of Wörth and Donaustauf, Princely Count of Friedberg-Scheer, Count of Valle-Sássina, Marchtal, Neresheim etc., Hereditary Postmaster General.Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser. Band XV, Limburg/Lahn 1997, S. 474.

The current head of the house of Thurn and Taxis is Albert II, 12th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, son of Johannes and his wife, Gloria. 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.{{CN|date=May 2025}}

{{Tree list}}

• Eugen Alexander, 1st Prince 1695–1714 (1652–1714)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Anselm Franz, 2nd Prince 1714–1739 (1681–1739)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Alexander Ferdinand, 3rd Prince 1739–1773 (1704–1773)
• Karl Anselm, 4th Prince 1773–1805 (1733–1805)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Karl Alexander, 5th Prince 1805–1827 (1770–1827)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince 1827–1871 (1802–1871)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Maximilian Anton, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis (1831–1867)
• Maximilian Maria, 7th Prince 1871–1885 (1862–1885)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Albert I, 8th Prince 1885–1952 (1867–1952)
• Franz Joseph, 9th Prince 1952–1971 (1893–1971)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} ''Prince Gabriel (1922–1942)
• Karl August, 10th Prince 1971–1982 (1898–1982)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Johannes Baptista, 11th Prince 1982–1990 (1926–1990)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Albert II, 12th Prince 1990–present (born 1983)
• Prince Raphael Rainer (1906–1993)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Prince Max Emanuel (1935–2020), two sons without dynastic rights
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Prince Philipp Ernst (1908–1964)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Prince Albert Friedrich (1930–2021)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Prince Maximilian Joseph (1769–1831), founder of the Czech branch of the family
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Prince Karl Anselm (1792–1844)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Prince Hugo Maximilian (1817–1889)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Prince Alexander Johann (1851–1939)
• Prince Erich Lamoral (1876–1952)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Prince Johann von Nepomuk (1908–1959)
• (1) Prince Friedrich (born 1950), ''heir presumptive
• (2) Prince Karl Ferdinand (born 1952), three sons without dynastic rights
• {{Tree list/final branch}} (3) Prince Maximilian (born 1955)
• {{Tree list/final branch}} Prince Alexander (1881–1937), 1st Principe della Torre e Tasso and Duke of Castel Duino 1923–1937 (some heirs are without dynastic rights)
• Prince Raimundo
• Prince Carlo
• Prince Luigi
• Prince Alessandro
• Princess Margarete

{{Tree list/end}}

The Thurn and Taxis family came to massive media attention during the late 1970s through mid-1980s when Prince Johannes married Countess Mariae Gloria of Schönburg-Glauchau, a member of an impoverished but mediatized noble family. The couple's wild, "jet set" lifestyle and Princess Gloria's over-the-top appearance (characterized by bright hair colours and avant-garde clothes) earned her the nickname of "Princess TNT".[http://www.vanityfair.com/fame/features/2006/06/princesstnt200606 Princess TNT] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026064449/http://www.vanityfair.com/fame/features/2006/06/princesstnt200606 |date=26 October 2007 }} (also referred to as "Princess TNT, the dynamite socialite") according to the June 2006 edition of Vanity Fair Magazine).

• The mail monopoly of Thurn and Taxis is central to the plot of The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.
• The board game Thurn and Taxis, by Andreas Seyfarth and Karen Seyfarth, is inspired by the family.
• The protagonist of Walter Jon Williams's Elegy for Angels and Dogs is the head of the Thurn und Taxis family.
• Thurn und Taxis are also mentioned in several volumes of the 163x series by Eric Flint and others, e.g. 1635: The Dreeson Incident and 1636: The Saxon Uprising.
• The credits for Season 3, Episode 4 of the television show The Good Place features a character named "The Baroness von Thurn und Taxis," played by Ilka Urbach.

• Czech branch of the House of Thurn and Taxis
• Donaustauf Castle (Bavaria)
• Donaustauf Palace (Bavaria)
• Dukes of Castel Duino (an Italian branch)
• Order of Parfaite Amitié
• Palais Thurn und Taxis (Frankfurt)
• Thurn-und-Taxis Post
• Tour & Taxis (Brussels)

{{reflist}}

• Wolfgang Behringer, Thurn und Taxis, Die Geschichte ihrer Post und ihrer Unternehmen, München, Zürich 1990 {{ISBN|3-492-03336-9}}
• Martin Dallmeier, Quellen zur Geschichte des europäischen Postwesens, Kallmünz 1977
• Martin Dallmeier and Martha Schad, Das Fürstliche Haus Thurn und Taxis, 300 Jahre Geschichte in Bildern, Regensburg 1996, {{ISBN|3-7917-1492-9}}
• Fritz Ohmann, Die Anfänge des Postwesens und die Taxis, Leipzig 1909
• Joseph Rübsam, Johann Baptista von Taxis, Freiburg im Breisgau 1889
• Marecek, Zdenek, Loucen a Thurn Taxisove. Pohledy do doby minule i nedavne. Obec Loucen, 1998.

{{commonscat|Thurn und Taxis family}}

• {{url|https://www.thurnundtaxis.com/|Thurn und Taxis family website}}
• [http://thurn-taxis.com/ Thurn & Taxis post and telecom history]
• [https://genealogy.euweb.cz/thurn/thurn1.html#R Pedigrees of Thurn und Taxis family]
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100705142945/http://www.stamp-collecting-world.com/germanstatesstamps.html Old German States Stamps Altdeutschland]}} – link to the postage stamps Thurn und Taxis issued, 1852–67
• {{PM20|FID=pe/017486}}

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Category:1608 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire

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