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) Bauernmarkt 1, a prime location within eyeshot of St. Stephan’s Cathedral. The house was quite large - a grand medieval patrician's home according to the court quartering books, which inventoried all available space in private houses within the city walls for the purpose of the assignment of living space to court officials.63 He purchased another, newer but smaller house located at Annagasse 18 in 1631.64 In addition, by 1670 he had acquired three more residences, “Meyrhoff’, “Rothes Haus”, and “Pläch Awflekh”, and a garden in “Unden Werth” (Unterer Werd).65 These homes and properties provided him and his family with convenient and comfortable accommodation as well as profitable investments, for as a property- owning Imperial official, Radolt made every attempt to turn the court quartering system to his advantage. In 1638, he asked for quarter in his Bauernmarkt house.66 Six years later, in 1643, he requested a visitation of both of his houses, most likely in an attempt to secure more favorable quartering terms for himself.67 Skillful exploitation of the Imperial system was not the only means available to Radolt to advance his interests. Financial and social assets gained through favorable marriage alliances certainly played a role as well. As his own career advanced, he successively “married up” to maintain and promote his family’s position. Radolt was married for the first time in 1626, to Anna Susanna Grapler. Although at this HKA, Hofquartier [hereafter: HQ], Quartierbücher [hereafter: QB] 19 (1664), ff. 129-131. The house is located in close proximity to St. Peter’s Church at the comer of Bauernmarkt and Freisingerstrasse. In his will, Radolt referred to the Bauernmarkt house as his house “am St. Petersfreythof ’ - an earlier name for Petersplatz - since a cemetery still surrounded the church in the seventeenth century. This is also the designation used in the court quartering books in 1638 and 1643, though it is called the house on Alter Bauernmarkt in 1664, (HKA, HQ QB 51 [ 1638— 1651], ff. 6, 208, HQ QB 19 [1664], ff. 129-131). Although Paul Harrer records that Radolt purchased the house from Maria Pfeiffer in 1648, the court quartering books confirm that he was already in possession in 1638, when he requested quarter in it. For a detailed description of the state of the house in 1399, see Harrer, Paul: Wien, seine Häuser, Menschen und Kultur, typed ms. in WSTLA, 1951-1957, vol. 1, p. 698. The building’s actual structure has changed little since Radolt’s time. Current details about and pictures of the house can be found on the Vienna Greens’ web site at http://wien.gruene.at/themen.php?tid=l 1189&wo=24&kat=kontrolle&kid=181 (accessed 23 July 2004). The house is described here as a magnificent old building served by several stairways. To give an idea of its size, the building’s area is given as 1,074 square meters, bringing its grand total over four floors to 4,296 square meters. Today it accommodates five stores in the first floor, five medical offices, and at least fifteen apartments. 64 HKA, HQ QB 19 (1664), f. 343; Schimmer, Karl August: Ausführliche Häuser-Chronik der innem Stadt Wien, mit einer geschichtlichen Uebersicht sämmtlicher Vorstädte und ihrer merkwürdigsten Gebäude, Vienna 1849, p. 191. Harrer mistakenly records that the property was located at Krugerstrasse 15. (Harrer: Wien, vol. 5, pp. 355-356). Both houses, with notation of their Radolt owners, can be seen on Daniel Suttinger’s 1684 map of Vienna. Albert Camesina’s 1876 version is reproduced in Czeike, Felix - Banik-Schweitzer, Renate, eds.: Historischer Atlas von Wien, Vienna 1981, fasc. 4, 5.1. 65 HHStA, Oberstmarschallamt, cart. 625: original will of 5 Nov. 1668, revised and corrected on 5 Sept. 1670, published on 7 Dec. 1670. 66 HKA, HQ QB 51 (1638-1651), f. 6. 67 HKA, HQ QB 51 (1638-1651), f. 208. 23
