"One of the more significant trends of the later Middle Ages was the development of international commerce and, with it, the growth of business correspondence. Many corporations or guilds established messenger systems to allow their members to maintain contacts with customers.

"...systems that developed during the later Middle Ages also conveyed letters between private persons, with or without official sanction and for a substantial fee in either case. Initially, such letters were relatively few. Outside the institutions with their own postal services, the number of literate people having interests that ranged beyond their own neighbourhoods was small.

"In the late 15th century, however, the trend toward improved postal service s was reinforced by Gutenberg's printing press ( c. 1450) and the expansion of education. The growth of demand made letter carrying a profitable business, leading to the rise of private undertakings... By far the most famous and extensive of such systems was that built up by the Thurn and Taxis family, who originally came from Bergamo near Milan, Italy. ... Their system developed throughout the 16th century until it covered most of Europe, using 20,000 couriers to operate a relay system that was speedy, efficient, and highly profitable.

"Although the remnants of the Thurn and Taxis postal system survived in Germany up to 1867, it was essentially out of keeping—like the empire and the petty German states it served—with the main trend of development in Europe, the rise of nation-states with strong central governments. The first reflection of this trend in the postal sphere was the establishment of efficient national systems of relay posts under the control of the state. In France ,Louis XI set up a Royal Postal Service in 1477 employing 230 mounted couriers. In England, a Master of the Posts was appointed by Henry VIII in 1516 to maintain a regular postal service along the main roads radiating from London. Neither of these systems was comprehensive, nor were they intended to serve the public. The security and regularity of the service along certain routes, however, inevitably resulted in an increasing amount of unofficial correspondence being carried. After initial attempts to prevent this practice in France, its fiscal advantages were realized, and the carrying of private mails was legalized about 1600. The basis of a real public service was not created until 1627, when fees and timetables were fixed and post offices established in the larger cities.

"In both countries, these state systems naturally began to develop into monopolies since such an evolution was seen by rulers as advantageous both to the security and to the revenues of the state." Interesting: 400 years ago the network was snatched by the state, unlike today... also interestingly, the University of Paris was one of the principal early postal system operators... so the first 'global' network, like the Internet and its precursors, also had roots in academe...
Comments 8:56:06 PM    

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