Thurn & Taxis invented Telecom industry
732 years later the story continues ...
a long long time ago ...
There are several direct links
between the old T&T Postmasters and
Phone Book of the World
This article covers a very long period.
You can click on a year
like 1986 to navigate though time
also see
PBof.com/history
Alexander Bell.com
Aimee de Heeren.com
Omodeo / Amadeo / Omedeus Tasso No1 (1245 estimated - 1309) organised a courrier service (compagnia dei corrieri) connecting Venice Milan and Rome. He had the Spirit of Telecommunications. Mail transport strated around 1290 and was asumed by Post riders. His family lived in Camerata Cornello in the Alps of Lombardy (northern Italy). The family was first mentioned in 1117 with Reinerius Tasso This was about 554 years before our Cremerie de Paris / Hotel de Villeroy Bourbon became a Telecom Hotspot in 1671. The courrier service was continued by his son Ruggero Tasso No2, grand-son Benedetto Tasso No3, great-grand-son Palazzo de Tassis No4, great-great-grand-son Pasimo de Tassis (?-1496) No5. The next generation are four brothers Jeannetto de Tassis (1450-1518) No6, Ruggero de Tassis (145?-1515) No6, Pietro de Tassis (145?-1515) No6, and Francesco / Franz (1459-1517) No6
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Baron Leonhard I von Taxis (1521-1612) No8 married to Louisa Boisot de Rouha (1540-1610) Count Lamoral von Taxis (1557-1624) No9 married to Genoveva von Taxis (1561 estimation -1628) Count Leonard II von Taxis (1594-1628) No10 married to Alexandrine de Rye (1589-1668) 6th generation: Lamoral Claudius von Thurn und Taxis (1621-1676) No11 married to Countess Anna von Horn (1629-1693) Eugen-Alexander, 1st Prince von Thurn und Taxis (1652-1714) No12 married to Princess Anna von Fuerstenberg (1658-1701). |
signature of Louis Leon Pajot on a letter from 1725. Louis Leon Pajot was also called Comte / Count Donsenbray (Ons-en-Bray) He was married to Princess de Galiffat Martigue. |
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Karl Anselm 4th Prince of Thurn & Taxis (1733 - 1805) No15 always remembered how Louis XV has just taken the Pajot & Rouille Post in Paris. Under no means we wanted another king to be able to seize his Thurn & Taxis postal empire. Karl Anselm operated the postal company during time of decline due to loss of many territories. The loss was a result o the French Revolution wars and wars by Napoleon Bonaparte. Karl Anselm had nine children. Maria Theresia Thurn und Taxis / Oettingen-Wallerstein (1757 - 1776) Sophie Thurn und Taxis / Raziwill (1758 - 1800) Franz Johann (Thurn und Taxis ( 1759 - 1760) Henrica Thurn und Taxis / Oettingen-Spielberg (1762 - 1784) Alexander Karl (1763 - 1763) Friederika (1764 - 1764) Karl Alexander (1770 - 1827) Friedrich (1772 - 1805) Nikolaus (1787 - 1854) |
Karl Alexander 5th Prince of Thurn & Taxis (1770 - 1827) No16 was born in Regensburg. 1806 with the end of the Holy Roman Empire Imperial Reichspost and the hereditary office of Postmaster General held by the Thurn and Taxis ceased to exist. Karl Alexander's wife Therese of Mecklenburg (1773 - 1839) took part in the management of the postal organisation and negociated with Napoleon and the States of the Confederation of the Rhine. At some moment the family was even considering moving their headquarter to Paris but the project was abandoned. The result of the negociations was that Thurn & Taxis could continue it's postal operations as a private company called Thurn & Taxis Post first based in Regensburg, relocated 1810 back to the free city of Frankfurt. 1812 Karl Alexander lost the postal operations in Bavaria and received the St Emmeran Castle in Regensburg as a compensation. They had seven children: Charlotte Luise Thurn & Taxis (1790 - 1790) George Karl Thurn & Taxis (1792 - 1795) Maria Theresia Thurn & Taxis / Maria Theresia Esterhazy Galantha (1794 - 1874) Friederike Thurn & Taxis (1798 -1798) Maria Sophia Thurn & Taxis / Maria Sophia Wuerttemberg (1800 -1870) Maximilian Karl Thurn & Taxis (1802 - 1871) Friedrich Wilhelm Thurn & Taxis (1805 - 1825) Letter sent from Frankfurt to Rheims (today Reims) in 1825. |
Maximilian Karl 6th Prince of Thurn & Taxis (1802 - 1871) No17 was the last postmater of the Thurn & Taxis. He became head of the postal operations in 1827 This letter from Luebeck to Paris in 1844 took 6 days to travel. The letter sent to the Rothschild Brothers is in the collection of Didier Lebouc, website histoire postale. 1852 Maximilian Karl introduced stamps the picture shows Thurn & Taxis stamps for 1 and 2 Groschen Stamps were issued from 1852 to 1866 There are 54 different items Visit a Thurn Taxis stamp store Maximiian Karl, the last Postmaster was married twice and had seventeen children from his first marriage with Wilhelmine von Doernberg Karl Wilhelm Thurn & Taxis (1829 - 1829) Therese Thurn & Taxis / von Pirch (1830 - 1881) Maximilian Anton Thurn & Taxis (1831 - 1867) Egon MaximilianThurn & Taxis (1832 - 1892) Theodor Georg Thurn & Taxis (1834 - 1876) from his second marriage with Mathilde zu Oettingen Otto Johann Thurn & Taxis (1840 - 1878) Georg Maximilian Thurn & Taxis (1841 - 1884) Paul (1843 - 1879 Cannes) (boyfriend of King Ludwig II of Bavaria) renamed as Paul von Fels married to singer Elise Kreuzer son Heinrich von Fels (1867 - 1955) Amalie Thurn & Taxis / Amalie Rechberg (1844 - 1867) Hugo Thurn & Taxis (1845 - 1873) Gustav Thurn & Taxis (1848 - 1914) Wilhelm Thurn & Taxis (1849 - 1849) Adolf Maximilian Thurn & Taxis (1850 - 1890) Franz Maximilian Thurn & Taxis (1852 - 1897) Nikolaus Thurn & Taxis (1853 - 1874) Alfred Thurn & Taxis (1856 - 1886) Marie Thurn & Taxis / Marie Waldburg Zeil (1857 - 1909) 1863 This letter was sent from the village of Dillenburg in Hessen via Giessen, Bremen, Hamburg to Louis Gaie, 103 Maiden Lane, New York / USA It is one of the early transatlantik letters. The postage fee was 22 Kreuzer Kreuzer were a currency in use before the unification of Germany Does anybody know how much the postage fee was in Thaler or even in todays Euros / Dollars ? Letter on auction with Heinrich Koehler via Stamp Circuit 1867 July 1 the state of Prussia nationalized the Thurn & Taxis Post. The year before the same people from Prussia had already forced the independant Kingdom of Bavaria, the Grand Duchy of Hessen and the free city of Frankfurt, seat of the postal operations, into an alliance. Occupying the free city of Frankfurt where was located the Thurn & Taxis post Maximilian Karl had to transfer his century old postal company.
1895 April 1 28 years after the nationalisation of the T&T Post Albert Thurn & Taxis sells the Frankfurt T&T Palace for 1.500.000 Marks to the German Reichspost. The originial palace was destroyed during world war 2 2004 -2009 a reduced version has been reconstructed. Interesting Books about Thurn & Taxis history by Wolfgang Behringer, Martin Dallmeier + Martha Schad and Vincent Schouberechts 1870 Prussia's desire to annex Alsace Lorraine also provoked war with France resulting in the abdication of Napoleon III and the end of the French Second Empire. Napoleon's wife Empress Eugenie with her diademe crown jewel of France. Eugenie also has links with the Cremeries de Paris as she was the creative mind of the construction of rue des Halles at the corner of the historic postal building ... |
Maximilian Anton Heriditary Prince of Thurn & Taxis (1831 - 1867) was the oldest son of Maximilian Karl. 1856 august 24 he married Helene in Bavaria (1834 - 1890) No18 The marriage was celebrated at Schloss Possenhofen on the lake of Starnberg. Maximilian Anton Thurn & Taxis with his wife Helene in Bavaria and their daughters Louise T&T / Hohenzollern (1859 - 1948) Elisabeth T&T / Braganca (1860 - 1881) mother of Maria Theresia T&T/T&T (1881 - 1945) grandmother of Maximilian Albert T&T (1913 - 1928) missing in the picture Maximilian Maria 7th Prince of Thurn & Taxis (1862 - 1885) Albert 8th Prince of Thurn & Taxis (1867 - 1952) Helene in Bavaria (1834 - 1890) No18 was the older sister of Sissi, Elisabeth of Austria (1837 - 1898) No19. They were cousins of King Louis II of Bavaria (1845 - 1886) Helene in Bavaria / Thurn & Taxis had the nickname "Nene" Sissi was was the younger sistyer of Helene in Bavaria / Thurn & Taxis 1867 / 1871 After the early death of her husband Maximilian Karl and the death of her father in law Maximilian Karl, the last Postmaster Helene managed the Thurn & Taxis fortune. Helene was acting on behalf of her minor son Maximilian Maria 7th Prince of Thurn & Taxis (1862 - 1885) When Maximilan Maria turned 20 the fortune was transmitted to him, but as he died 3 years later Helene continued to have the responsability of the fortune for another 3 years until it was transmitted it to her next son Albert. She was assisted by Franz Josef von Gruben (1829 - 1888) and used the 3.000.000 Thaler received from the state of Prussia in compensation of the Thurn & Taxis Post to make a multitude of real estate investments. Many smart investments were made buying as much real estate as possible. This way the family avoided losing their cash assets through the many devaluation that took place in Germany in the following decades. |
Albert 8th Prince of Thurn & Taxis (1867 - 1952) No19 was the second son of Maximilian Anton and Helene in Bavaria. He succeded his 5 year older brother Maximilian Maria who died in 1885. Due to the real estate investments of his mother Helene using the 3 million thaler compensation payments for the Postal Services Albert was one of Germany's richest man. As a wedding present to his wife Margarete of Austria he went to Paris to buy something unbeleivable, the Diademe of Empress Eugenie crown jewel of France. The jewel made by Alexandre Gabriel Lemmonier was sold by Julius Jacoby who had acuired it for 78.100 Francs in a 1887 sale of the French Royal Crown jewels. 1890 Albert bought ithe tiara using a a certain amount of the 3.000.000 thalers his grandfather Maximilian Karl had received as compensation payment for the Thurn & Taxis Postal Services two decades earlier. 1890 July 15 he married married in Budapest. Margarete of Austria (1870 - 1955) was a descendend of the Bourbons. Louis XIII, the father of Louis XIV has her ancestor. Once Johannes Thurn & Taxis (grandson of Margarethe) showed the editor of this article a statue on the Paris Place de la Concorde. The statue for the city of Lille represents Clementine of Orleans (1817 - 1907) the grandmother of Margarethe and daughter of King Louis Philippe of the French (1773 - 1850) According to their granddaughter Mathilde von Sachsen No20 the greek word for perls was "Margarita" this was the reason why Albert had the idea to buy this wedding present. The perls had been mounted in previous jewels of the Bourbons, Kings of France. Franz Josef (1893-1971), Joseph Albert (1895-1895), Karl August (1898-1982), Ludwig Philipp (1901-1933), Max Emmanuel (1902-1994), Elisabeth Helene (1903-1976), Raphael Rainer (1906-1993) and Philipp Ernst (1908-1964) seven sons and one daughter of Albert and Margarethe of Austria The only daughter Elisabeth Helene (mother of Aja Sachsen, grandmother of Memo Sachsen) and her brother Karl August (father of Johannes Thurn & Taxis) 1920s. next generation Gabriel (1922-1942), Michaele (1922-1922), Helene (1924-1991), Maria Theresia (1925-1997), Maria Ferdinande (1927-2018) children of Franz Josef and Isabel Maria of Braganza Mafalda (1924-1989), Clothilde (1922- 2009) and Johannes (1926-1990) children of Karl August and Maria Anna of Braganza Iniga (1924-1989) and Anselm (1924-1944) children of Ludwig Philipp and Elisabeth of Luxembourg Maria Emmanuel (1920-2000), Maria Josepha (1928-2018), Maria Anna (1929-2012), Albert (1934-2012) and Mathilde / Aja (1936-2018) children of Elisabeth Helene and Friedrich Christian von Sachsen The picture taken around 1941 shows the 3 girls with their mother. Max Emmanuel (1935-2020) son of Raphael Rainer and Margarethe Thurn & Taxis Albrecht (1930), Margarete / Daisy (1933-2019), Antonia children of Philipp Ernst and Eulalia Thurn & Taxis |
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1872 The Thurn & Taxis Palace in Brussels
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A birthday party 1986 June 6, about two weeks after visiting the old postal mansion in Paris the student went to Germany to go to the birthday party in Regensburg, Bavaria. Quite a long drive from Paris. In the picture Johannes Thurn & Taxis, with his friend Aimee de Heeren during the first of several receptions. Some years later both of them would have an impact on the invention of the Phone Book of the World. June 7 in the morning, boat trip on the Danube river. Johannes Thurn & Taxis with the Begum Aga Khan. In the background the editor of this website with hardly visible Sao Schlumberger. June 7 at night, Don Giovanni costume Ball, Johannes Thurn & Taxis in a costume, his wife Gloria wearing the tiara of Empress Eugenie. In the second picture the editor of this article in a red circle. The photographer Clarisse Grumbach Palme made a portrait of many of the party guests. Above picture with Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall. A little thank you to the photographer for sending this image 2021 August |
Pushing young People
Johannes Thurn & Taxis liked to be around young people. Most of the times he met them out of the blue, in a cafe, a nightclub, waiting for a plane. Whenever someone had a bit entrepreneurial spirit he liked to give out a "lottery ticket with a high chance to win". One, two, three thalers from the old Postmasters and his connections someone in his early 20ies would never have be able to get by himself. Thurn & Taxis was very generous and it was his passion to use his power and money to be a springboard for the career of young people This is how Cremerie de Paris and Phone Book of the World came alive ... 1986 June end ot the month the student had the key of the little Boutique in the heart of Paris, 50 m from the old Postal Building ... This was like jumping into water ... Knowing nothing about nothing the Boutique took a bit of time to open. An idea needed to be found and the shop needed to be renovated ... Well when you are 20 and you open a Boutique on a Telecom hotspot in the center of Paris a lot of adventures are waiting for you ....
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1992
An unbeleivable opportunity came up. The historic Cremerie No1 was for rent. The place was right in the postal building, not next door, not opposit, right on the spot. We tried to get it but the owner was scared to rent such a big place to people that were still so young. Preference was given to a large established furniture company which did not work. 1993 Again Cremerie No1 came on the market Again the owner was scared to rent us the historic building but Aimee de Heeren had an idea. "You should ask the landlord to sell you the place so that he has no risk with rent payments" Sony adaptors, batteries, plugs, connectors were little cashcows but not enough to get a breal estate loan for such a big space. Our young company had no financial background. Thurn & Taxis who would have more Thalers to make the aquisition was not there any more ... His friend Aimee watched what we were doing ... She knew our place since a long long time not from the Postal stories of her friend Thurn & Taxis but from someone elso. flashback 1938 Aimee had arrived in Paris back in 1938 as a fashionista shopping clothes and attending parties. But her real mission was something else ... a secret service agent for her country Brazil. Everybody in Paris society was fascinated including the fashion designer Coco Chanel. Chanel loved our staircase with a mysterious No5 logo forged into the railings. She knew it since 1920 taken there for the first time by her glamorous boyfriend Dmitri Romanov. In the 1960s old Coco Chanel and Aimee de Heeren used to do nightwalks through Paris. The staircase of the old postal building was their destination. Before leaving this World Chanel had left Aimee a little jewel she had once received from her Romanov. Aimee who had watched our Telecom Boutique adventures from the very beginning knew that both her friends Thurn & Taxis and Chanel would have told her to "take action". So she decided to use the little jewel to strenghten our finances so that a bank would finance the acquisition. Cremerie de Paris No1 boosted our Sony activities The store worked from the day it opened but soon new unexpected turbulances were on the way. |
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Cremerie No1 in the old Postal Building reinvented as an iconic Pop Up Store Location 2011 No more need for Cybercafes, the old Postal Building has to be reinvented, once again. The idea was to convert it an expo center to show new products and inventions. Again the start is a little difficult, but havn't the old postmasters left us the lesson that difficulties are there to find new ideas ... ? 2012 - 2017 building a new subway exit facing the Cremeries de Paris and connecting them to Paris largest subway station Chatelet les Halles 2017 - 2018 redesigning our old rue des Halles / rue Dechargeurs the picture shows the last big construction night 2018 July 12 While taking these pictures around our old postal gate thinking about the crazy and funny stories of the Post horses that were leaving from our old gate 300 years ago to carry mail to hundreds of Pajot & Rouillet or Thurn & Taxis post relais. According to Johannes Thurn & Taxis everything was extremely well organised. The horse coaches had a timetable that was the same every week. Every monday 7 am mail left for Brussels Every thuesday 7 am mail left for Frankfurt Every wednesday 7 am mail left for Venice ... no phone, no electricity, no computer
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Feeling grateful for having had the chance to "pick up"
a bit ot the T&T Spirit of Telecommunications.
Thurn & Taxis was known for making jokes at wealthy and snobbish hi society Ladies.
What is less known is that he
was very generous with those that did not have much
He
loved to give to young people
"lottery tickets with hi winning chances"
He met them out of the blue in cafes, nighclubs, fashion events
or in the lobby of a Grand Hotel
...
Johannes Thurn & Taxis in the late 1950s
early 1960s
with his friend Soraya Esfandiary / Princess of Iran
who came to Cremerie de Paris in
2000 / 2001 to get internet lessons.
2017 Returning to the castle in Regensburg with one of our web developers No22.
2021 visiting the church Notre Dame au Sabon
where the old postmasters are buried
The above web developer with the sunglasses was asking:
"what would have happened if you had not met Johannes Thurn & Taxis No20
when you were a student ?"
The answer is simple
"There would be
no Cremeries de Paris
and no Phone Book of the World"
Sometimes some crazy and funny stories
and
the equivalant of half a fancy cocktail dress
is all you need ...
If you have some information
or
pictures we can add to this article,
please email them
b "at" vb.com
or instagram
@cremeriedeparisofficial
Connected Articles
Franz von Taxis by Google Arts & Culture
Museo del Tasso.com - Museum in Camerata Cornello / Italy
Thurn und Taxis.de/museen -several T&T Museum in Regensburg / Germany
Thurn und Taxis.com - Family website and Museum in Regensburg / Germany
Si.edu - Smithsonian Postal Museum / Germany
Bath Postal Museum.org.uk
Eugenie de Montijo.com - intial owner of the French Crown Jewel
Alexander Bell.com - more about the inventor of the Phone
Aimee de Heeren.com - Brazilian Secret Service Agent and friend of Johannes Thurn & Taxis
Whitepages.fr / French White Pages
Whitepages.de / German White Pages
Whitepages.it / Italian White Pages
Whitepages.in / Indian White Pages
Whitepages.com.br / Brazilian White Pages