»… Neither Me Nor My Brothers Will Ever Consent to Any Kind of Tax or Expenditure …«

When almost a quarter of a century ago the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia was preparing the exhibition titled »Sigmund Herberstein-Discoverer of Russia«, dedicated to the 450^th anniversary of the publishing of Herberstein's famous Notes on Muscovite Affairs (Rerum Moscoviticarum commentarii, 1549), we hoped to be able to offer our visitors a chance to see an example of a document hand written by Herberstein himself and preserved among the records of any of the Slovenian archives. Unfortunately, no such document could be found at that time. So, what ended up being exhibited were some of the earliest editions of the Notes on Muscovite Affairs in different languages and a number of other Herberstein's printed works. Among the exhibited items was also a 1528 charter in which the Cardinal and the Salzburg Archbishop Matheus Lang confirms Herberstein's privileges on some feudal estates for two years. The exhibited charter was one of the two documents containing the mentioning of Sigmund Herberstein that have been preserved among the archival records of the Historical Archives in Ptuj. Later on, another, even earlier charter regarding the Herbersteins was found among the records of the Historical Archives in Ptuj. This second charter issued in November 1514 even contained the hand-written signature of Sigmund Herberstein, along with the signatures of his brothers Hans and Wilhelm, all of them assuring to respect their brother Georg's written obligation in regard to some estates that Georg had intended for his future wife Margreth in his marriage agreement.

An example of Herberstein’s hand-written document is also a letter, which reached the offices of the Carniolan Estates in the second half of February 1524. The letter is an interesting case of the already famous Herberstein and his family saying farewell to the land of Carniola, its estates, and - specifically stressed - its taxes and other obligations. The letter was found a couple of years after the Herberstein exhibition, during a compilation of a study about the Carniolan Estates, the obtaining of the status of their member, about the taxes collected by the Estates and the relations between Carniola proper and the so-called annexed seigniories. It was found among the earliest documents contained in a source that has yet to be fully researched called Territorial matters - “Landsachen” (fasc. 281-312). Although the letter is interesting on its own right, it has gained some extra attention due to the fact that these days mark the 500^th anniversary of it being written.

Sigmund Herberstein was a member of a well-known Styrian noble family, whose name first appeared in charters at the end of the 13^th century. Upon his marriage to Ana Eberstein in 1409, Gunter Herberstein among other things received also the central Istrian seigniory of Lupoglav. Lupoglav was then inherited by his cousin Andreas, who established the Carniolan-Istrian or Lupoglav line of the Herbersteins. This family line was active in Carniola for another hundred years, until they eventually exchanged their estates in Istria and in the Karst for the Neuberg Castle and two villages in the Maribor territorial princely seigniory. In the second half of the 15^th century, Andreas’s son Leonard was an influential Carniolan nobleman, known predominately for his role as the governor in Postojna and in the Karst, as well as the steward of the Vipava seigniory. In August 1486, Leonard Herberstein and his wife Barbara Lueger welcomed their third son Sigmund, who was born at the Upper Vipava Castle and later went on to build an impressive diplomatic career in the House of Habsburg as well as become the author of the famous Notes on Muscovite Affairs.

Having been schooled in his native Vipava, Carinthian Gurk and in Vienna, Sigmund had received a decent education by the time he turned 18 years old. In 1506, he »got his first armour and followed the Emperor into war«. A short scuffle with the Hungarians was followed by a longer war with the Venetians in which Sigmund actively participated. During 1508 and 1509 he was a commander of mercenaries in Istria, and in the summer of 1514 a standard-bearer of Styrian troops that broke the Venetian circle around the city of Maran in the Italian region of Friuli. He was then transferred from the Styrian army to the imperial orderlies and was in 1514 decorated with military honours by the Emperor himself, who also bestowed knighthood on him and appointed him a member of the Court Council. This was the start of Herberstein's long court and diplomatic career. He served the Habsburg rulers (Maximilian I, Charles V and Ferdinand I) over a period of 55 years (1506-1561), 38 of them as a diplomat (1515-1553). During all these years, he made 69 diplomatic trips, most of them in relation to the Habsburg Eastern policy. Among his travels, two (not particularly successful) missions to the Moscow court in 1517 and in 1526 stand out.

After the death of the family's father Leonard (1511), his sons accumulated family estates and income, particularly around their seigniory of Hrastovec (Gutenhag) in Slovenske gorice, which in addition to Lupoglav was their only other hereditary feudal estate. In his own name and on behalf of his brothers, Sigmund agreed with Emperor Maximilian I to exchange their Lupoglav castle for the villages of Partinje and Zamarkova (Dorffer mit Namen Parthin und Samerckha) located in the Maribor territorial princely seigniory. Because Maximilian I had died before the agreement was concluded, Sigmund signed a new contract with Archduke Ferdinand I on November 20, 1524. According to this contract, Lupoglav with all its rights and fixtures was granted to the territorial prince for the sum of 10,000 Gulden, and in return the Herbersteins received the aforementioned villages and the Neuberg Castle (Neitperg) with all that came with them for the same sum of money. So, the transaction was the exchange of the estates valued at 10,000 Rheinish Gulden. The exchange contract stipulated the completion of the transaction within the following two months (by January 1525), but this deadline was soon extended until St. George's Day with the signing of a new contract. At least one contract with a similar content must certainly have been concluded even before that.

This is further supported by the letter written by the knight Sigmund Herberstein on February 12, 1524 to the Carniolan Estates, »the merciful and benevolent gentlemen and good friends«. Since the sessions of the Carniolan Diet, where the Carniolan Estates were to decide on the approval of their assistance against the Turks, was expected to take place shortly, Sigmund Herberstein took this opportunity to notify his Estates colleagues that in accordance with the exchange contract, Herberstein brothers would transfer their estates in Istria and in the Karst to the territorial prince by St. George's Day (April 23rd or 24th). He also asked the Estates not to impose any taxes on the Herbersteins for their estates in Istria and Karst, since they had no intention of collecting the money and paying it into the Estates's treasury (»auf vnß khain steuer noch hilfgellt auf gemelte guetter angelegt werde, dan ich vnd meine gebrueder mochten solhs nit einbringen noch ainer ersamen lanndschafft vberantburten«). He also added, »das ich noch meine gebrueder in khainen anschlag oder ausgab bewilligen will«, meaning that neither he nor his brothers will ever consent to any tax or expenditure. His letter with the enclosed copy of the exchange contract, the latter unfortunately not preserved, is a unique resignation statement, as the exchange of the Istrian-Karst estates for those in Styria meant that the Herbersteins no longer enjoyed the status of the Carniolan Estates members.

Although Sigmund, despite being born in Vipava, never considered himself a Carniolan, it is obvious that up to the point of the exchange, the Herbersteins had been paying taxes from their Lupoglav seigniory to the Carniolan Estates treasury and had been allowed to attend and had attended the Carniolan Diets. Leonard Herberstein is believed to have been present at the 1507 Carniolan Estates Diet in Ljubljana, but in general the data on the nobles from the annexed seigniories in Istra and in the Karst being present at the diets of the Carniolan Estates seems to be very scarce. It is clear, however, that the Estates’ tax policy reached Istrian noblemen as well.

Finally, let us return to Sigmund. Already famous for his diplomatic career, he wrote the letter that we are presenting here as this month’s archivalia and with it renounced his status as a member of the curiae of knights in the Carniolan Estates and (completely) transitioned over to the Styrian side. He signed his “resignation statement” as Sigmundt von Herberstain, ritter. As a reward for his diplomatic and other services, the Emperor Charles V granted Sigmund the title of a Baron in 1537 and »improved« his family coat-of-arms for him as well as for his brothers. From then on, Sigmund was known as »the Baron of Herberstein, Neuberg and Gutenhag« and he sat among the lords curiae at the Styrian Land Diet. Despite his later titles and fame, he kept the Emperor's knighthood very close to his heart and even immortalized it with a woodcut in the first German edition of his Notes on Muscovite Affairs.

Andrej Nared