How the Habsburgs Established the Imperial Postal Service
On the beginnings of modern postal service in 16th century. How the Imperial Post was established and how it was organized.
Following the marriage of Maximilian of Habsburg and Mary of Burgundy in 1477, the Habsburgs came into possession of the Low Countries and some other territories which used to belong to what historians now call the Burgundian State, territories ruled by the dukes of Burgundy. At the time, the Habsburg family was already firmly entrenched in Austria and surrounding Hereditary Lands, as well as some other domains in the Holy Roman Empire where the Habsburgs also held the title of the Emperor. They were in the middle of building a global empire as they would soon gain possessions in Spain, Italy, Hungary and Bohemia as well, and eventually in the New World under the reign of Charles V (1516-1556) who represented the peak of Habsburg power.
But despite its impressive size, this 16th century Habsburg Empire was very unusual and hard to govern. It consisted of disjointed territories which were very different to each other. It did not have the kind of centralized control that you’d expect a powerful empire to have. It had many enemies from both within and from the outside, unable to dictate the pace of warfare, continuously pressured by exhausting conflicts. This eventually led to the split of the Empire of Charles V in 1556 among the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs. From there things began to slowly go downhill for them while centralized kingdoms like France and England began to take over.
For these reasons, the Habsburg Empire is largely seen as a backward empire, mostly consisting of periphery and borderlands of Europe which lagged behind in development and progress when compared to the more developed interior of Europe. Large parts of the Habsburg empire included lands like the war-torn Hungary, rural southern Italy and mountainous Tyrol which were not really known for development of important urban financial centers and retained a very archaic structure. The wealthiest part of the Habsburg empire were the prosperous and thriving cities of the Low Countries which were very mutinous and would eventually drag the Spanish Habsburgs into the costly Eighty Years’ War. The Habsburgs continuously struggled with finances and relied on loans from wealthy merchants like the Fuggers.
Facing all these problems, the Habsburgs soon realized that in order to keep their vast disjointed empire together and maintain their control, they needed to establish good communication links between the various possessions they had.
This is what ultimately led to one of the most spectacular and underrated achievements of the Habsburgs, the establishment of the Reichspost, the Imperial Post, in 16th century. This institution would evolve into a very organized and efficient postal system for its age, a result of gradual meticulous development of a system of communication between Germany, the Low Countries, Italy, France and Spain. It was not just used for the interests of the Habsburgs but was also open to the public. By 1516, this postal service was already delivering private mail over the Holy Roman Empire and beyond. By 1534 there was already regular post service which ran weekly on a fixed schedule between Antwerp and Augsburg. In 1536 it was extended from Augsburg to Venice. Very soon there was a post line from Brussels to Rome. The Holy Roman Empire would become the center of communications in Europe. The city of Augsburg, which was right in the middle of it, particularly benefited from it and became an important center of early capitalism. In this article, I will explore how this system was established and how it worked.
A depiction of Jakob Fugger’s office in Augsburg from 1517. The names of the major European post offices are displayed on the letter drawers. Jakob Fugger would become one of the wealthiest people in all history, and during his time the city of Augsburg thrived as an important center of early capitalism and communication.
But the story of how first modern postal service was developed begins even earlier and will forever be linked with an obscure Italian family. It begins in a tiny village of Cornello near Bergamo…