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)

war and peace.37 Although the Obristproviantamt reported to the Generalkriegskommissariat, which was responsible for managing army finances, as well as to the Hofkammer, it was a non-military institution commonly staffed by Hofkammer officials like Radolt. Feldproviantstäbe, subordinate offices of the

Obristproviantamt, operated with the field armies. While specific information is scarce about how the Obristproviantamt and its subordinate offices in the provinces and in the field functioned together to meet the army’s material needs in the early to mid-seventeenth century, it seems that the Obristproviantmeister organized and managed the supply of provisions from their assigned provinces and the Feldproviantdirektoren oversaw provisioning operations in the field.38

While he chiefly concentrated on financial matters, Radolt’s appointments were not restricted to those directly associated with the Hofkammer. He served the emperor in various other capacities over his career. In 1639, for example, he served as a councilor of the Lower Austrian provincial government {Regiment), which was also based in Vienna.39 His most prominent appointments, however, were as an Imperial representative in foreign lands. Over a period of thirty years, he visited courts in Italy, Poland, England, and Transylvania. Some of these trips were connected with finances in some way, while others were not. In 1632, Radolt traveled on the emperor’s behalf to Italy, and in the following year he visited the Polish royal court in Krakow, where he successfully negotiated an alliance with King Ladislaus IV.40 In 1634, he journeyed first to Salzburg and then to several Italian residence cities, including Turin, Genoa, Parma, Modena, and Florence, to

37 At this time, the system of provisioning was unreliable due to money flow and supply problems, another manifestation of the financial troubles the emperor faced during and in the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War (see above, p. 15). (Tepperb erg, Christoph: Das kaiserliche Heer nach dem Prager Frieden 1635-1650. In: Der Schwed ist im Land! Das Ende des Dreißigjährigen Krieges in Niederösterreich, Ausstellung der Stadt Hom im Höbartmuseum 22. Juni bis 2. November 1995, Horn 1995, p. 129).

38 I am grateful to Dr. Christoph Tepperberg of the Kriegsarchiv for much of this information. For more on army provisioning, in addition to the former’s article cited above, see P oh 1, Jürgen: Die Profiantirung der keyserliche Armaden ahnbelangendt: Studien zur Versorgung der kaiserlichen Armee 1634/35, Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs [hereafter: MÖStA], special vol. 1, Hom 1994, pp. 41-42, 70-75, 87-90; Feldzüge des Prinzen Eugen von Savoyen, Vienna 1876-1892, vol. 1, pp. 195-196; and Regele, Oskar: Der Österreichische Hofkriegsrat, 1556— 1848, MÖStA, supplementary vol. 1, issue 1, Vienna 1949, pp. 16-19.

39 Beiträge zur Geschichte der Niederösterreichischen Statthalterei: Die Landeschefs und Räthe dieser Behörde von 1501 bis 1896, Vienna 1897, p. 439. The Lower Austrian government was generally divided into two areas of competence, judicial (provincial high court) and administrative (government and military matters). Given his legal background and experience in central administration, Radolt was equally qualified to serve in either area. Ferdinand II allowed officials like Radolt to hold a court office concurrently with a councilorship in the Lower Austrian government, but they were often advised which to prefer. (Niederösterreichische Statthalterei, p. 53).

40 HKA, HZAB 79 (1632), f. 227; HKA, HZAB 80 (1633), ff. 338-339; HHStA, Staatenabteilung, Polen 1 (Polonica), cart. 56.

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