VMs: Re: History, Tepenecz

["DANA SCOTT" <dscott520@xxxxxxx>]

Hello Manfred,

Welcome. Thank you very much for the interesting information. I do have one 
question. Are you suggesting that Jacob Horczicky might not have received 
the title 'de Tepenec'? Thank you again.

Regards,
Dana Scott


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Manfred Staudinger" <manfrstaudinger@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 8:58 AM
Subject: VMs: History, Tepenecz


> I'm specialist for natural history drawings and pictures in early
> modern times and also about the court of Rudolph II. I'll first
> comment on René Zandbergen's writing about Jacob Horczicky.
>    "His fame finally reached Rudolf who called him to his court and named
>     him imperial chemist in 1607."
> Do You know the source for this? I have looked at the books preserved
> here in Vienna/Austria and found him appointed as a "Hofdiener" with
> 20 fl (florins) per month, beginning with June 1, 1608. It might still
> be possible that he was used as a "chemist". As I know from other examples
> the title "Hofdiener" was a very unspecific one.
>    "He became a favorite of the emperor and received numerous presents."
> This seems very doubtfully to me. What he received actually was a
> one month's salary on April 15, 1609. This is consistent with the fact
> that he received the post in Melnik from Rudolph's successor Matthias,
> first provisional (Administrator) and afterwards definitive. If he had
> been a favorite of Rudolph he would have be imprisoned instead. Only
> after the dead of emperor Rudolph II. (January 20, 1612) he received
> the next payment on his salary: 80 fl in March 1612 for four month.
>
> The hostility between Rudolph and his brother Matthias is well known,
> for example Grillparzer's "Ein Bruderzwist im Hause Habsburg". In an
> attempt to settle this Rudolph came to an agreement with his brother.
> But what Rudolph considered a serious concession was a meager compromise
> in the eyes of Matthias. One minor point was to allow trustees of Matthias
> to join the court of Rudolph.
>
> Further:
>    "When, in 1608, he managed through his botanical knowledge to
>     cure the emperor from a grave disease, he was raised to the
>     nobility and received the title 'de Tepenec'."
> Again, I don't think this can hold. For one, the monthly salary of a
> "Leibmedicus" would have been at least 30 times the sum Horczicky
> got. For the nobility he received, it is the lowest one and gives the
> name only for the kingdom of Bohemia and not for the empire. I'm not
> sure for the moment, but I think the nobility was a prerequisite to
> become a "Hofdiener", which is much better than to become a servant
> in a labratory or a gardener.
>
> Regards, Manfred Staudinger, Vienna, Austria
>
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