AUSTRIAN NETHERLANDS

AN IMPERIAL EDICT, 2ND JUNE 1725

Here we have some wonderful typesetting in the "official" idiom: a proclamation of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. I find the language here a little tricky but the gist seems to be that, on the 28th November 1724, an imperial edict held that cider would henceforth be subject to the same taxes and duties as "strong beer". This edict however overturns the 1724 edict: the emperor acknowledges the complaints made to him about the increased duties, suspends the duties, and assures everybody that "Our sovereign intention is, and shall always be, to try to relieve Our good subjects."

By way of wider context, the governor of the Austrian Netherlands between 1716 and 1724 was one Hercule-Louis Turinetti, Marquis de Prié. De Prié was, seemingly by all accounts, cruel and corrupt, and was deeply unpopular with the locals. He was eventually sacked sometime in late 1724 and recalled to Vienna, replaced as governor by the more congenial Wirich Philipp von Daun. This decree seems like an attempt to generate some goodwill towards von Daun (and to Hapsburg rule generally): an unpopular edict of the de Prié era is repealed, and very conspicuous credit is given to von Daun for advising the emperor to this effect — his credentials are set out at length and he is described as a "very dear and very beloved cousin" of the emperor. 

Anyway this is pretty self-explanatory as an object, I think. For its age it's in a fair condition, although the damage to the crown at the top is very unfortunate. Printing was carried out by a Mr Eugene Henry Fricx, who apparently had a royal appointment. The document is dated 1724 at the bottom, but this must surely be a typo for 1725, as specific dates in 1725 are referenced in the text. The coat of arms at the top is intriguing: the eagle, imperial crown and etc. are typical decoration of the Holy Roman Emperor, but the arms themselves are the arms of Spain. Charles VI had been pretender to the throne of Spain (and used the arms of Spain in that capacity but he seems to have given up this claim in 1720 — so the presence of the Spanish arms feels a little unusual. Could perhaps just be an oversight: the typesetter just reached for the first big eagle he could see, without taking time to check the arms on it, or something like that. All very mysterious.