Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 52. (2007)
LINDQUIST, Thea: Clement von Radolt (1593–1670): A Multifarious Career in the seventeenth-century Imperial Service
Clement von Radolt (1593-1670) exclusively from the Hofkammer secretaries, as in his case, or from the Lower Austrian administration. After more than twenty years of dedicated service as a councilor, the Emperor finally promoted Radolt to Hofkammer director in October 1656. He held this position for fourteen years, up until his death in 1670.28 Great responsibility came with this post, for the director oversaw the day-to-day activities of the Hofkammer and often represented the president in his absence.29 Radolt and his Hofkammer colleagues did not have an easy job managing Imperial finances. On the contrary, the work of the Hofkammer in the early modem period, particularly during the Thirty Years’ War, was extremely challenging. Henry Frederick Schwarz made this point forcefully in his distinguished study of the Imperial Privy Council in the seventeenth century: Of all the manifold problems which faced the House of Habsburg, that of finances was one of the most serious. It is almost impossible to overemphasize the financial difficulties under which the administration labored in the seventeenth century. Lack of money was a constant problem; the Turkish wars of the sixteenth century were a tremendous drain only exceeded during the period of extraordinary expenses resulting from the Thirty Years’ War. [...] Unable to pay its armies, its diplomats, or its officials, dependent in large measure on subsidies from Spain or the mortgaging of its territory, the House of Austria came close to bankruptcy [...].30 The war wreaked havoc on Imperial finances. Ferdinand II’s assumed debt of four million florins doubled in the years from 1619 to 1624.31 The financial burden only became worse as the Emperor was forced to alienate long-term sources of revenue, for instance by mortgaging crown properties, to acquire “quick-fix” sums often borrowed on unfavorable terms. Throughout most of the seventeenth century, the crown was notoriously short of cash. To help alleviate his financial difficulties, the Emperor continually sought loans from foreign princes and even from his own councilors, including Radolt.32 The court treasury books (.Hofzahlamtsbücher) 28 Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv [hereafter: AVA], Hofadelsakten, Radolt, Konv. 13 August 1656, f. 4; HKA, FA R-10, ff. 60-67: 13, 15, 26 August 1656. 29 Although no instructions exist for the Hofkammer director, his title and salary (1,800 florins annually, as opposed to the 1,300 paid to a councilor and 2,600 to the president) indicate that he occupied a position above the rest of the councilors. 30 Schwarz: The Imperial Privy Council, pp. 28-29. For the attempts of Anton Wolfradt, Abbot of Kremsmünster and Prince Bishop of Vienna, and president of the Hofkammer from 1623 to 1630, to rationalize and improve the state of Imperial finances by creating a true central treasury into which the income of all provincial treasuries would flow, see Schwarz: The Imperial Privy Council, pp. 120-121, 386, and Fellner: Von Maximilian I., vol. l,pp. 83-85. 31 Fellner: Von Maximilian I., vol. 1, p. 83. 32 When Ferdinand was desperately seeking money to pay the army in 1634, for example, he not only tried to secure subsidies from the Archbishop of Salzburg and Italian princes but also required that almost all of his ministers contribute as well - Johann Ulrich von Eggenberg, the director of the privy council, was to pay 10,000 florins; Anton Wolfradt, Prince Bishop of Vienna, also a privy councilor, 5,000; the other privy councilors, the Hofkammer president and director, and the provincial governors (Statthalter) each 3,000; the Hofkammer councilors each 800; the Hofkammer secretaries and aulic councilors each 200, and so on down to the last civil official. (Briefe und Akten zur Geschichte des Dreissigjährigen Krieges in den Zeiten des vorwaltenden 15
