Public postal service
Correo postal regular (postas de Thurn und Taxis)
- Date
- 1490 · confidence high
- Place
- Innsbruck and Brussels (the imperial route)
- Credited to
- Francesco Tasso (Franz von Taxis), in the service of Maximilian I
- Field
- Communication
What it is
A network of horse relays on fixed schedules linking the Habsburg domains, opened to the paying public from 1516. It cut journeys of weeks down to days and created the information infrastructure of modern Europe.
The Tasso family already operated posting stations in Italy; Henry VIII created the Master of the Posts in 1516, and France its royal service in 1477.
What it led to
- Regular scientific correspondence (the Republic of Letters)
- The periodical press based on correspondents
- Long-distance banking and trade with reliable bills of exchange
- A modern state capable of governing scattered territories
Built on
- Roman and Mongol relay posts
- Horseshoe and saddle
Made possible
- Printed newspaper1605
- Stagecoachc. 1640-1660
- Scientific journal and learned society1665
- Passenger stagecoach
- Postage stamp (19th century)