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20-626: A member class within the patrician ruling elite, the Grand Burgher was a type of urban citizen and social order of highest rank. They existed as a formally defined upper social class , made up of affluent individuals and elite burgher families in medieval German-speaking city-states and towns under the Holy Roman Empire . They usually came from a wealthy business or significant mercantile background and estate. This hereditary title (and influential constitutional status)

40-674: A Reichsthaler equivalent unit called the Hamburg Reichsthaler Banco , equal to 3 Hamburg Marks Banco and which subdivided further as This Mark Banco turned out to be one of Europe's most stable currencies. While the Reichsthaler was originally defined as 25.984 grams ( 1 ⁄ 9 th a Cologne mark , or 233.856 g) fine silver, the Bank of Amsterdam 's lower standard for the Dutch rijksdaalder of 25.4 g prevailed for

60-609: A Reichsthaler , Germany's main unit of currency which the Hamburger Bank (Bank of Hamburg) defined and maintained until 1875. The Hamburg Mark Banco was a form of bank money created by the Hamburger Bank in 1619 in order to provide a more reliable medium of exchange in the midst of the monetary chaos of the Kipper und Wipperzeit . It accepted silver of verified weight from customers and credited their accounts with

80-542: A bank account, as well as be elected to the Senate of Hamburg , amongst other privileges. As with the administration expense for conferring letters patent to nobility, both types of burghership were also subject to expenses. The burghership expense in Hamburg in year 1600 was 50 Reichstaler for the grand and 7 Reichstaler for the petty burghership, in 1833 the initial expense for receiving grand burghership in Hamburg

100-528: A person the right to exist in the territorial jurisdiction of the city-state or town of burghership, be an active member of its society, acquire real estate, pursue their specified economic activity or occupation, access social protection and participate in municipal affaires amongst many other exclusive constitutional rights, privileges, exemptions and immunities, especially that of the "grand" burghership (German: Großbürgerschaft ). Grand Burghers held rich historical and cultural roles created and expanded over

120-583: A ruling class in free imperial cities (such as Hamburg , Augsburg , Cologne , and Bern ) that held imperial immediacy , or where nobility had no power of authority or supremacy. Since before the 15th century the group of legally coequal " burghers " started to split into three different groups: hereditary grand-burghers, ordinary burghers termed petty-burghers (German Kleinbürger or simply Bürger ) made up largely of artisans , tradesman , business owners, merchants , shopkeepers and others who were obliged according to city or town constitution to acquire

140-504: A tale of 1 Cologne Mark = 10.5 thalers courant = 31.5 marks courant (the Zinnaische standard). In 1690 it then decided to follow the standard of Lübeck issued at a tale of 1 Cologne Mark = 11 1 ⁄ 3 thalers = 34 marks courant. This Hamburg Mark Courant was worth 27.625/34 = 13 ⁄ 16 th of a Hamburg Mark Banco (or 6.88 g fine silver) and was also divided into 16 schillings courant. A mostly similar currency system

160-535: The Norwegian rigsdaler specie. The Vienna Monetary Treaty of 1857 unified the various German currencies with the Vereinsthaler of 16 2 ⁄ 3 g fine silver, with Hamburg's Reichsthaler Banco worth 1.5169 Vereinsthaler. With full German unification in 1871 and the introduction of a uniform German gold mark currency in 1873 there was little need for an institution like the Hamburger Bank to verify

180-654: The Weimar Constitution. It seems that this medieval German concept has been taken over by other countries and cities. In Hamburg, hereditary grand and ordinary petty burghership were existing before 1600, and in like manner, France . In 1657 the Dutch council of New Netherland for example established criteria for the rights of burghers in New Amsterdam (present day New York City ), distinguishing between "great" and "petty" burgher rights following

200-416: The decades, including union with other families of the same eminent status and branches of nobility, Grand Burghers were often of such extraordinary wealth and significant economic importance that they far exceeded the wealth and influence of even the most highest-ranking members of nobility, the latter often sought inter-marriage with elite grand-burgher families to maintain their noble lifestyles. The names of

220-400: The details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 547870835 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:49:45 GMT Hamburg Mark The Hamburg Mark refers to two distinct currencies issued in the city of Hamburg until 1875: Each mark is divided into 16 schilling , each of 12 pfennig . Three marks were equal to

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240-586: The distinction made in this regard in Amsterdam 1652. In New Amsterdam during the mid-1600s, the ordinary petty-burghership was conferred at the administration expense of 20 Dutch florins , the hereditary great-burghership 50 fl. 1664 the concept was assumed by Beverwijck (present day Albany ). Patrician (post-Roman Europe) Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

260-615: The individuals and families is generally known in the city or town where they lived, and in many cases, their ancestors had contributed to regional history. The conferred grand-burghership was in most instances hereditary in both their male and female family descendants, and a hereditary title or rank stated as the person's occupation in records. In Hamburg for example only the Grand Burghers were privileged to full unrestricted freedom of large-scale trade , including unrestricted foreign import and export trade, were allowed to entertain

280-460: The next two centuries. From 1770 the Hamburger Bank accepted bullion and coin, buying one Cologne mark of fine silver for 27 5 ⁄ 8 marks banco (9 5 ⁄ 24 thalers, or 25.40 g per thaler), and selling it for 27 3 ⁄ 4 marks (9 1 ⁄ 4 thalers, or 25.28 g per thaler). The reichsthaler banco of Hamburg and Amsterdam was also equivalent to the Danish rigsdaler specie and

300-405: The ordinary petty-burghership, and non-burghers, the latter being merely "inhabitants" or otherwise resident aliens without specific legal rights in the territorial jurisdiction of a city or town and largely consisted of the working class , foreign or migrant workers and other civil employees who were neither able nor eligible to acquire the ordinary petty-burghership. Burghership in general gave

320-607: The value of the currency of a unified Germany. The bank was closed in 1875 with the Reichsthaler Banco or 3 Marks Banco converted to 4.5 gold marks. Even with the existence of standardized currency denominated in Reichsthalers and Marks Banco, it was desired to issue coins (or courant ) in Northern Germany valued at a fraction of these standard units. Hamburg first issued local currency in 1667 at

340-538: Was 758 Mark 8 Schilling ( Hamburg Mark ); that of the petty burghership, 46 Mk 8 Sh. Other ways to become a Grand Burgher were to marry a grand burgher or, subject to meeting constitutional conditions, the daughter of a grand burgher born in the city or town. These rules varied locally. Following the German Revolution of 1918–19 , the German "Großbürger" along with German nobility as a legally defined class

360-741: Was abolished on August 11, 1919, with the promulgation of the Weimar Constitution , under which all Germans were made equal before the law, and the legal rights and privileges due to the Großbürger (Grand Burgher) and all ranks of nobility ceased. Any title, however, held prior to the Weimar Constitution, were permitted to continue merely as part of the family name and heritage, or erased from future name use. The Grand Burghers would nevertheless continue to retain their powerful economic significance, political authority and influence, as well as their personal status and importance in society, beyond

380-462: Was privy to very few individuals and families across Central Europe . The title formally existed well into the late 19th century and early part of the 20th century. In some instances, the Grand Burghers (Großbürger) or patricians ("Patrizier") constituted the ruling class . This was true in autonomous German-speaking cities and towns of Central Europe that held a municipal charter , town privileges ( German town law ). Grand Burghers also existed as

400-606: Was used in Denmark , Norway and Schleswig-Holstein , but with a slightly lower thaler courant worth 4 ⁄ 5 the Reichsthaler specie , so that the latter equalled 60 schillings courant (or 120 skillings Danske in Denmark and Norway). Prussian thalers and Vereinsthalers became more common in Hamburg after 1840 and began to be exchanged for a higher price of 2 1 ⁄ 2 marks courant , thus implying

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