WOLFGANG BEHRINGER
Core and Periphery: The Holy Roman Empire as aCommunication(s) Universe
in
R. J. W. EVANS, MICHAEL SCHAICH, AND PETER H. WILSON (eds.), The
Holy Roman Empire 1495-1806 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011)
pp. 347–358
ISBN: 978 0 19 960297 1

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18

Core and Periphery:
The Holy Roman Empire as aCommunication(s) Universe
WOLFGANG BEHRINGER

The benefits of infrastructure and the importance of location are
obvious today. The same, of course, was true during the Industrial
Revolution. Railway tracks could determine the rise or decline ofentire cities, regions, and even states. 1 Before the introduction ofrailway systems, postal networks had a similar importance. In fact,
they represent the most advanced communication facility
throughout the early modern period, as was rightly emphasizedby both Werner Sombart and Lucien Febvre. 2
If we look at a post map of Europe shortly before the introduction of the railways, such as the one created by the Viennese
Franz Raffelsberger (1793-1861), 3 we find that the postal network
was denser in those areas where a century later the network of
railways, or nowadays the network of highways, and perhaps eventhe network of airports and airways, would also be denser. To be
sure, it could be argued that demographic density is closely related
to the density of infrastructure, and northern France, for instance,needs denser networks than the south. On the other hand, compared to conurbations in Russia, Turkey, or Egypt, transport facilities in western Europe have always been amazingly advanced,
with the leading industrial nations of Britain, France, Belgium,
Germany, and northern Italy displaying the densest networks.
1 Walt Whitman Rostow, 'The Take-Off into Self-Sustained Growth', Economic Journal,
66 (1956), 25-48.
2 Werner Sombart, Der modeme Kapitalismus: Historisch-systematische Darstellung des gesamteuropiiischen Wirtschaj/slebens von seinen Aefringen bis zur Gegenwart, 3 vols. (Munich, 1916-27;
repr. Munich, 1987); Lucien Febvre, 'Avant-propos', in Pierre Sardella, Nouvelles et speculations ii Venise au debut du XV!e siecle (Paris, [1948]), 5-8.
3 Franz Raffelsberger, Der Reise-Secretiir: Ein geographisches Posthandbuch fiir Reisende,
Kaujleute, Geschef/smiinner und Postbeamte, 3 vols. (Vienna, 1829-31 ). The first volume contains
two illuminated maps of Germany and Europe reproduced as copperplate engravings.

WOLFGANG BEHRINGER

However, we can trace these postal networks back even further.
The areas mentioned above already had the densest networks inthe middle of the seventeenth century, as can be demonstrated
from the earliest post maps. 4 Indeed, in order to locate the rootsof this development, we can go back to the very beginning of themodern period. In 1501, Brussels became the centre of the firstinternational postal network. 5
Why Brussels? The postal courier system, developed by the
famous Machiavellian princes of Renaissance Italy, 6 was brought
to the rest of Europe by Maximilian I (r. 1493-1519), who waselected king of the Romans in 1486, while his father, Frederick III(r. 1440-93), was still reigning, as can be be seen in a Flemish tapestry. 7 Maximilian was the ruling prince of the Netherlands,
which he had inherited from his first wife, Mary of Burgundy(1457-82). In 1490, when he inherited the duchy of Tyrol, hedemanded effective communication lines between Brussels andhis new capital Innsbruck. He invited the Taxis company from
Italy to maintain these services, which were originally meant tobe exclusively reserved for the Habsburg dynasty. 8 But it was only
a matter of months before the kings of France and England began
to imitate Maximilian. The French postal network was soon
denser than the imperial one, while Henry VII (r. 1485-1509) andsubsequent Tudor monarchs remained content with a line ofcommunication from Dover to London and from London to
Berwick on the Scottish border. 9 The imperial network, however,gained importance when it was extended to Spain and the
Spanish possessions in southern Italy after the succession of
Maximilian's son Philip I (r. 1502-6) in Spain. And after Philip's
sudden death, when his son Charles took over, the whole system
4 [Nicolas Sanson] and Melchior Tavernier, Carte geographique des posies qui traversent laFrance (Paris, 1632); Nicolas Sanson andjan Lutgenburg, Cart,e des posies de Paris dans les nryaumes du nord: !'Empire d'Allemagne et les XVI! provinces des Pqys Bas (Paris, 1645); Nicolas Sansond'Abbeville, Carles generates des toutes les parties du monde (Paris, 1654); id., L'Empire d'Allemagne(Paris, 1674).
5 Wolfgang Behringer, 'Brussel: Centrum van het internationale Postnet', in Luc
Janssens and Marc Meurrcns (eds.), De Post van Thum und Taxis: La Post,e des Tour et T assis1489-1794 (Brussels, 1992), 21-42.
6 Giorgio Migliavacca, The Post and Courier Service efEarly Modern Italy (New York, 1980).
7 Octave le Maire, Franfois de Tassis (145fr1517): organisateur des posies int,emationales et latapisserie de la ligende de Notre-Dame du Sablon ([Brussels], 1956).
8 Hermann Wiesfleckcr, Kaiser Maximilian I.: Das Reich, Osterreich und Europa an der Wende
zur Neuzeit, 5 vols. (Munich, 1971-86), v.
9 Philip Beale, A History efthe Post in England.from the Romans to the Stuarts (London, 1998).

The Empire as a Communication(s) Universe349

was entirely transformed. Pushed by the Taxis company, Emperor
Charles V (r. 1519-56) opened the imperial posts to the public.
Nouvelles postes were established which offered open access to'offices', soon to be followed by a fixed price for the transport ofletters and goods, known as the porto. 10 By then, the Holy Roman
Empire had become the centre of the European communication(s)umverse.
The terms 'centre' and 'periphery' refer to the dependency
theory introduced into historical debate by Immanuel Wallersteinsome decades ago, implying that the system of unequal exchange
and indirect rule which characterizes the modern world can betraced back to the sixteenth century. Curiously enough, communication lines are not mentioned at all in Wallerstein's master narrative.11 However, as we can learn from the story of Maximilian andCharles, to contemporary rulers they appeared more important
than transport vessels. During the reign of Emperor Maximilian,when private use of the imperial posts was still illegal, the terminuses of the first transcontinental post lines were already shiftedfrom Innsbruck to Venice in the south, and from Brussels to
Antwerp in the north. 12 News arrived from all over the world inthese towns, and this is where the communication and news businesses started to merge. And even more importantly, the Fuggers
and other trading companies had their most important branches inthese ports. Although it is widely assumed, 13 in reality the Fuggers
did not maintain a communication system of their own. They
merely gained access to the imperial posts, presumably as early as
the 1490s, as official members of Maximilian's court. This is illustrated by the fact that the letter drawers inJacob Fugger's (14591525) office display the names of the major European post offices. 14
10 Wolfgang Behringer, Im ,?,eichen des Merkur: Reichspost und Kommunikationsrevolution in der
Friihen .Neuzeit (Gottingen, 2003).
11 Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System, 3 vols. (New York, 1974-89).
12 Fritz Ohmann, Die Arifange des Postwesens und die Taxis (Leipzig, 1909).
1'1 Victor von Klarwill (ed.), The Fugger .Newsletters: Being a Selection ef Unpublished Letters
ftom the Correspondents ef the House qf Fugger during the rears 1568-1605, trans. Pauline de Chary(London, 1924); Victor von Klarwill (ed.), The Fugger .Newsletters, Second Series: Being a Further
Selection ftom the Fugger Papers Specially Referring to Qjieen Elizabeth and Matters Relating to England
during the rears 1568-1605, Here Publishedfor the First Time, trans. L. S. R. Byrne (London,
1926).
1-1 Wolfgang Behringer, 'Fugger und Taxis: Der Anteil Augsburger Kaufleute an der
Entstehung des europaischen Kommunikationssystems', in Johannes Burkhardt (ed.),Augsburger Handelshti.user im Wandel des historisclzen Urteils (Berlin, 1996), 241-8.

WOLFGANG BEHRINGER

There is some coincidence involved when we ask why Upper
Germany became the centre of the communications universe in
the sixteenth century. First and perhaps most crucially, France
failed to open its post lines to the public. French post houses could
be used for travelling by hiring horses there, but it remained illegal
for them to accept mail until the time of Louis XIII (r. 1610-43).15
Secondly, although the Habsburg Empire began to spread overlarge parts of Europe, Emperor Maximilian stayed loyal to
Augsburg as one of the cities where he conducted most of his business.16 During the sixteenth century the city became the dominantcentre of early capitalism, and the location of the most important
post office within the Holy Roman Empire. A broadsheet designedby the famous artist Lukas Kilian (1579-1637) for Octavio vonTaxis (1572-1626) announces that news spreads from this posthouse 'through the whole of the Empire of the German Nation'. 17
Other reasons for Augsburg's central importance were the proximity of Austria, its legal status as an imperial city, good transport
links to Italy via the Brenner pass, and its convenient location
between Antwerp and Venice, and Vienna and the Habsburg
lands in the Alsace-right at the heart of Europe, as contemporaries would have said. Augsburg benefited greatly from being at
the centre of the communication system. Bankers profited fromthe steady flow of communications, and the town became the preferred venue of imperial diets in the sixteenth century, which
resulted in such important documents as the Augsburg Confessionof 1530, and the Religious Peace of Augsburg in 1555. 18
However, unlike the dynasties of ancient Persia and Rome, orcontemporary non-European empires such as those of China,
Russia, Mexico, and Peru, the Habsburgs were unable to maintain a regular postal system at their own expense. 19 In 1501
Eugene Vaille, Histoire generate des postesftanyaises, 6 vols. (Paris, 1947-53).
Christoph Bohm, Die Reichsstadt Augsburg und Kaiser Maximilian /.: Untersuchungen zum
Beziehungsgeflecht zwischen Reichsstadt und Herrscher an der Wende zur .Neu;::eit (Sigmaringen, 1998).
17 [Octavio von Taxis], Aus disem als dem HaupthaujJ hat I Gset;::t Kqyserliche Mayestatt I
Durchs gantz Reich Teutscher .Nation I Aller Endts her di£ Post Zuegohn (Augsburg, 1616).
111 Rosemarie Aulinger, 'Augsburg und die Reichstage des 16.Jahrhundcrts', in Welt im
Umbruch: Augsburg zwischen Renaissance und Barock, 3 vols. (Augsburg, 1980-1), iii. 9-24;
Winfried Schulze, 'Augsburg 1555-1648: Eine Stadt im Heiligen Romischen Reich', inGunther Gottlieb et al. (eds.), Geschichte der Stadt Augsburg von der Riimer;::eit bis zur Gegenwart(Stuttgart, 1984), 433-49.
19 Jacob Strieder, 'Finanznot des Staates und Entstehung des neuzcitlichen kapitalistischcn Wirtschaftslebens', .Neue]ahrbiicher.far vVissenschqft und]ugendbiulung, 8 (1932), 447-6s;
reprinted in id., Das reiche Augsburg: Ausgewiihlte Aefsiitze zur Augsburger und siiddeutschen
15

16The Empire as a Communication(s) Universe

351

Maximilian had urged his son Philip of Burgundy, the later King
Philip I of Spain, to take over, which is why Brussels became thecentre of the imperial network. But shortly after succeeding to the
Spanish throne, Philip came to the conclusion that his bureaucrats
were unable to run the system. For this reason he signed an agreement with Franz von Taxis (1459-1517), the head ('regierer') of theTaxis company, enabling the firm to maintain the post lines
unhampered by state interference as long as they served the
Habsburgs well. The agreement was renewed after the accessionof Charles of Burgundy, and again when he became king of Spain
and was elected Roman emperor as Charles V. 20 Whereas thestatus of private mail remains unclear in the treaty of 1506, it isobvious from the contract of 1516 that the Taxis company had theright to carry mail and keep the profit as long as it guaranteed thedelivery of court mail at clearly defined speeds, regulated by time
sheets to be filled in by the post riders on the way to their destination. In return, imperial privileges guaranteed exemption fromlocal taxes, local jurisdiction, and military service. 21 The terminology of the early modern communications system and the legal
status of its participants were invented at these negotiations.
Postmasters acquired a legal status akin to members of the church.
AndJohn Baptist von Taxis (1470-1541), Charles V's general postmaster and second director of the Taxis company, was granted
the right to display the imperial eagle in the family's coat ofarms. 22 All these privileges were intended to encourage theowners of the company to invest in and improve the system.
John Baptist von Taxis also stabilized the service by introducing
a franchise system. He recruited wealthy innkeepers, who werepermitted to display the company's symbols, the imperial eagle
and the post horn, and to enjoy the privileges mentioned above,
including imperial protection. They could keep the profit of thetravelling services, but had to use their own capital for any necessary investment and to hire post riders. This system proved so successful that it did not break down until the end of the Holy
Wirtschaflsgeschichte des 15. und 16. ]ahrhundertr, ed. Heinz Friedrich Deininger (Munich, 1938),
9- 29.
20 Alfred Kohler, Karl V. 1500--1558: Eine Biographie (Munich, 1999).
21 Martin Dallmeier, Qyellen zur Geschichte des europaischen Postwesens 1501-1806, 3 vols.
(Kallmilnz, 1977-87).
22 Wolfgang Behringer, Thum und Taxis: Die Geschichte ihrer Post und ihrer Unternehmen(Munich, 1990).

352

WOLFGANG BEHRINGER

Roman Empire. In Upper Germany and Austria many inns andhotels still bear names such as Zur Post or Schwarzer Adler. 23 UnderCharles V a number of further innovations turned the imperial
posts into a unique device. The most important, almost revolutionary, improvement was the introduction of a regular service inthe 1530s. The ordinary post ran weekly on a fixed schedule
between Antwerp and Augsburg from 1534. Two years later thisservice was extended from Augsburg to Venice, and soon after
intensive negotiations with the papacy and Italian states resulted
in the extension of the ordinary service to Rome for the Councilof Trent. The post line between Brussels and Rome, as represented in Giovanni da l'Herba's Itinerario delle paste per diverse partedel mondo, 24 soon became the backbone of European communications. From about 1540 the messenger system also began tochange in response to the newly established postal service: couriers
no longer walked the whole way to their destination, but merely
delivered important mail to the next post office where it was
picked up by the ordinary rider. Thus European communications
began to follow the rhythm of the main post line. 25 From the startof the ordinary service, the postal system's superiority was
obvious. The very terms post and ordinary became so popularthat all kinds of institutions started to imitate the postal system's
periodicity. One of the spin-offs was the periodical press, and I
have shown elsewhere that this media revolution originated in theimperial post office at Augsburg. 26
After Charles's resignation, however, the imperial post ran into
difficulties. The Protestant princes complained first that the organization was no longer imperial, but Spanish, a fief of Philip II
23 Rudolf Freytag, 'Dachs, Horn und Adler als Symbole der alten Reichsposten', Archiv
j/ir Postgeschichte in Bayem (1953), 156-62.
24 Giovanni da l'Herba and Cherubinus da Stella, ltinerario delle poste per diverse parte de!
mondo: opera piacevole, et utile a quelli eke de lei se voranno servire: con ii viaggio di Santo Jacomo di
Galitia, & altre cose notabili, con tutte lefiere, che sijanno per tutto ii mondo (Rome, 1563).
25 Ottavio Codogno, Nota de gli ordinarii che partono da la citto. di Milano per diverse parti de!
mondo (Milan, 1616); [Johannes von den Birghden), Kurtze dock eygentliche VerzeichnujJ I Alfif
was Tag unnd Stunden I die Ordinari Posten in diser.fteyen Kayserlichen Reichs-, Wahlund Handel Statt
Franclfort am Mayn / abgefertiget werden I und wie solche wider allhie ankommen (Frankfurt am
Main, 1621); Caspar Augustin, VerzeichnujJ al/er Ordinarien-Posten / Reitend- und FujJgehender
Botten / famembster Fuhren, etc. wenn und zu welcher zeit sie Wochentlich alhero nacher Augspurg
kommen und von hier wider abreisen I deflgleichen, wo sie losiren und anzutreffen sein / I tern wenn allerhand Brief[ alhier miigen tifgeben, und von da an gehiirige Ort versand werden ... (Augsburg, 1626).
26 Wolfgang Behringer, 'Communications Revolutions: A Historiographical Concept',
German History, 24 (2006), 333--'74-

The Empire as a Communication(s) Universe353(r. 1556-98) of Spain and based in the Spanish Netherlands.
Secondly, they complained that the post only connected theGerman south and west, but ignored the north and the east; and,thirdly, the Austrian Habsburgs had established their own court
posts after the Habsburg division oflands in 1521, providing separate postal services in Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary. 27 The
princes therefore also claimed the right to create postal networks.
In response, Emperor Rudolf II (r. 1576-1612) proclaimed an imperial postal monopoly and initiated a postal reform which, in 1597,
resulted in the foundation of the Reichspost, the new Imperial Post.
The postmasters, post houses, post riders, and the general post
office located in Brussels remained the same, but now the offices
bearing the imperial eagle depended entirely on the emperor. They
retained the same privileges and the general post office evenbecame a hereditary fie£ The Taxis of Brussels remained in office
until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in August 1806. No
German prince dared to touch the royal prerogative until the Peaceof Westphalia (1648). It was only in 1649 that the electorate of
Brandenburg created a postal network of its own, and otherProtestant princes, such as those of Hesse-Kassel, BrunswickLiineburg/Hanover, and Saxony followed its example. 28
The core of the German territorial posts, curiously enough, was
Swedish. 29 King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (r. 1611-32), who
had no postal services at home yet, employed Protestant renegades
from the Imperial Post during the Thirty Years War to create a
Swedish postal network in the Holy Roman Empire. It was directedby Johannes von den Birghden (1582-1654), the powerful former
Reichspostmeister, who became Swedish postmaster general. 30 Von
den Birghden elevated his office in Frankfurt to become the heartof the Swedish system. After the Swedish retreat his employees
manned the key territorial posts of Saxony, Hesse, and Sweden.
The Imperial Post still provided the model and, unsurprisingly, theSwedish communication services were called Rijkspost. 31
27 Rudiger Wurth (ed.), ,<,wei Jalzrtausende Postwesen: Vom cursus pub/icus ;;.um Sate/liten(Halbturn, 1985).
28 Ludwig Kalmus, We/tgeschichte der Post: Mit besonderer Beriicksiclztigung des deutsclzen
Spraclzgebietes (Vienna, 1937).
29 Georg Rennert, 'Die schwedische Post in Deutschland um 1632', Deutsche Postgeschichte,
I (1937-8), 188-95.
3 Karl Heinz Kremer,Johann von den Birghden 158:r-1645.' Kaiser/icher und kiiniglich-schwedisc/1er Postmeister ;;.u Franlfurt am Main (Bremen, 2005).
31 Eberhard Klass, Die Arifange des schwedischen Post- und ,<,eitungswesens bis ;;.um Tode Karls
XII. (Berlin, 1940).

°

354

WOLFGANG BEHRINGER

After the war the larger Protestant territories created postal networks of their own. Compared to the steady growth of the imperial posts, these territorial posts were introduced quite suddenly,
by decree, as in the electorate of Saxony. 32 After 1650 the communication(s) universe of the Holy Roman Empire was no longer
imperial, but became fragmented and remained so. The territorial
posts were, of course, intended mainly to serve their own territories. 33 Provincialism, therefore, is one reason why Germany had
one of the densest communication networks in the world. As aconsequence, there was no longer one core within the German
communication system, but many. The location of these centres
and sub-centres was determined not by function, but by historicalcoincidence. And the competing posts became peripheral at
European level.
By this time the model for geometrical networks was provided
by France. The kingdom had opened its infrastructure to publicaccess and had systematically introduced mail coaches on anationwide scale. By 1632 the new communications system wasrepresented by an entirely new medium of travel planning, thepost map, invented by the engraver and geographer Nicolas
Sanson (1600--67), later count of Abbeville. 34 But Britain, Spain,
and Poland had also opened their systems to the public, and in
Denmark and Sweden national networks were also being introduced. There were postal networks all over Europe now. Most
were less dense than in Germany, but some were more efficient,
for instance, those in France, Britain, and the Spanish Netherlands, the latter still run by the Taxis company. 35 Clearly, statemonopolies such as that of France had advantages. For example,
the king could simply issue an order to introduce an innovationsuch as the mail coach. And this is exactly what the elector of
Brandenburg did in the 1650s. The private Taxis company, on
the other hand, experienced the resistance of princes who fearedthat their traditional carriers would suffer, or just did not like
32 Kurt Krebs, Das Kursiichsische Postwesen ;::ur <,eit der Oberpostmeister Johann Jacob Kees I
und II (Leipzig, 1914).
33 Emeran Ackold [i.e. Andreas Ockel], Griindlicher Unterricht Von dem Aus Landes-Fiirstlicher
Hoheit herspringenden Post-Regal Derer Chur- und Furs/en des H[eiligen] R[iimischen] R[eichs], Kiirt;:.lich.fiir-gestellet, Und Herrn Ludo!f! von Homicks irrigen Meinungen entgegen geset;::et (Halle, 1685).
34 [Sanson) and Tavernier, Carte geographique; Guy Arbellot, Au/our des routes de paste: Lespremi.eres routieres de la France XVI!r-XIXe siecle (Paris, 1992).
35 Berthe Delepinne, Geschiedenis der intemationale Post in Belgie, onder ed Postmeesters der
Familie de Tassis (Brussels, 1952).

The Empire as a Communication(s) Universe

355

foreigners, labelling them as Spanish, Dutch, Italian, or Catholic.
Despite early attempts, the Imperial Post also failed to introducecoach services, and was the butt of public criticism for being so
slow and backward.
The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14), when the Taxis
lost their postal network in Belgium and could only rent it backfrom Austria, 36 came as a shock. For reasons of safety the Taxis
transferred their general post office from Brussels to Frankfurt,
and began to present themselves as a German dynasty, withGerman marriages and careers in imperial institutions, 37 eventually serving as the emperor's lieutenants at the imperial diet inRegensburg. 38 To secure their hereditary fief the Taxis introduced
a tight regime of supervision and systematic improvement within
the Imperial Post. In 1705 a mail coach system was finally introduced, governed by four directors in Frankfurt, Cologne,
Nuremberg, and Augsburg, and represented on the famous post
map of 1714 published by Johann Peter Nell (1672-1743), Prague's
imperial postmaster. 39
After a generation, the Imperial Post's mail coach stations wereranked among the communication centres with the highest frequency of service and were considered more efficient than the territorial posts of Prussia, 40 Hanover,4 1 and Hesse-Kassel. 42 They
were regarded as so effective that Archduchess Maria Theresa ofAustria, queen of Hungary and Bohemia (r. 1740-80), asked forhelp in introducing exactly the same system throughout the
Habsburg lands from Bohemia to Milan. In 1764 the Imperial
Post introduced the first transalpine ordinary mail coach from36 Janssens and Mcurrens (eds.), De Post van Thum und Taxis.

37 Max Piendl, Dasj/irstliche Haus 17lum und Taxis: ,Zur Geschichte des Hauses und der Thumund-Taxis-Post (Regensburg, 1980).
38 Walter Fi.irnrohr, Der lmmerwiihrende Reichstag zu Regensburg (Kallmi.inz, 1963); Max
Piendl, 'Prinzipalkommissariat und Prinzipalkommissare am Immerwahrendcn Reichstag',in Dieter Albrecht (ed.), Regensburg: Stadt der Reichstage (Regensburg, 1980), 131-50.
39 Johann Peter Nell, Pas/arum seu veredariorum stationes per Germaniam et provincias adiacentes:.Neu vermehrte Post-Charle durch gant::. Teutsc/1/and nach Italien, Franckreich, Nieder/and, Preeflen, Polenund Ungam, etc. (Nuremberg, 1714).
40 Heinrich Stephan, Geschichte der preuJJischen Post van ihrenz Ursprunge bis auj die Gegenwart(Berlin, 1859; repr. Heidelberg, 1987).
41 Henri Bade, 333 Jahre Braunschweigische Post 1535-1867 (Brunswick, 1960); Heinz
Drangmeister, 'Die hannoversche Staatspost und das Generalpostdirektorium', Postgesclzichlliche Blatter Hannover, 4 (1980), 3-18.
42 Julius Boes, 'Das Hessen-Kasseler Postwesen', Archivj/ir deutsche Poslgeschichte (1957),
no. 2, 25-9; (1958), no. 1, 41-51.

WOLFGANG BEHRINGER

Augsburg to Venice, making it possible to travel in scheduledimperial mail coaches from Hamburg to Venice. In the second
half of the eighteenth century the Imperial Post was again themost powerful organization in the communications universe of
the Holy Roman Empire. When the troops of revolutionary
France began to invade neighbouring territories and occupied thewestern parts of the Holy Roman Empire, 43 they found theImperial Post at its peak, as many sources including the development of revenues between 1746 and 1806 testify. 44
Post officials were dedicated to enlightened ideas in their correspondence and everyday work. Mail coach commissioners(Fahrpostkommissare) such as the published author Franzjoseph
Heger (c.1700-69) of Mannheim did their best to ensure the speed,
punctuality, reliability, safety, comfort, and even equality of theservice. The best service was not automatically to be reserved forthe wealthy and noble, but for those who came first. For thesecommunications specialists, postal communications represented
progress, 45 or even industrial take-off in Walt "Whitman Rostoff's
sense. And certainly, progress was not bound to particular states
or nations. The Austrian post officials Johann Christian Oleariusand] osef Efinger put forward the idea that the post did not servea dynasty or even a state, but humanity itself. Communicationtranscended the boundaries of states, they argued, and even of
civilizations. Eventually, the same services would be available in
the Ottoman Empire and in the rest of the world. 46
Imperial Post officials such as Franz Maximilian Diez (17671851), whose pioneering postal handbook of 1790 covering thewhole of the Holy Roman Empire and some neighbouring countries was updated and remained in print under various titles until
43 Guido Sautter, 'Die franzosische Post am Niederrhein bis zu ihrer Unterordnung
unter die General-Postdirektion in Paris 1794-1799', Annalen des Historiscl,en Vereins Nwderrhein,
65 (1898), 1-92; id., 'Die Reichspost beim Einbruch der Franzosen in das Reich 17921793', Archiv.fiir Post und Telegraphie, 41 (1913), 1-16, 43-53, 85-92.
44 Behringer, Thum und Taxis, 113.
45 Franz Joseph Heger, Post-Tabellen oder VerzeiclznujJ deren Post-Strq/Jen in dem kayserlichen
Roinischen Reich, verfq/Jt durch den Chuif. Maynzischen und Fiirstlich T axisscl,en Hefrath, auch deskayserlichen Reiclws Post Commissarium (Mainz, 1764); id., Tablettes des posies de /'Empire d'Allemagne
et des provinces limitrophes (Mainz, 1764).
46 Uohann Christian Olearius], Geographisches Hand- und Postbuch, welclzes a/le Lander der
Welt, ihre Griinzen, Grif/Je, Fliisse, Eintheilung, Beschaffenheit . . . enthiilt, nebst allgemein niitzlichen
Postnachrichten, oder summarischer Auszug eines vollstiindigen Post-ffystems ... lngleiclwn dem gesammten
Publiko no"thige und niitzliclze Postcours- und Speditionsnachrichten, 3 vols. (Vienna, 1779). The foreword is by Joseph Efinger.

The Empire as a Communication(s) Universe357

the 184os,47 and his successors as authors of similar publications,
Johann Christian Hendschel (born 1766) and his son Ulrich(1804-62), who integrated rail and steamship schedules into his
postal handbooks, 48 were proud to belong to dynasties of postal
officials who had served the Holy Roman Empire. But they clearlyconsidered themselves part not just of an organization, or anational service, but of a far greater, if not universal, system of communications-a communications universe. They were living in the'space of flows' and working for a 'network society' more than 200
years before Manuel Castells wrote of these phenomena. 49
When the Holy Roman Empire collapsed and Germany
moved from the centre to the periphery of international communications, imperial communication specialists sublimated theconcept of universal monarchy into the utopian idea of a universal
realm of unrestricted communication. It was only a few years
before nostalgic voices suggested that the Holy Roman Empire
had already come close to this ideal. 50 Johann von Herrfeldt(1784-1849), a former Imperial Post employee, 51 was among thefirst to establish journals of transport and communications, 52 to
47 Franz Maximilian Diez, Allgemeines Post-Laef- und Stra}Jenbuch durch das ganze Heilige
Ro'mische Reich und einige angriinzende Landen mit der bey yeder Haupt- und Handelsstadt bemerkten
Ankunfl und Abgang sowohl reut- alsfahrender Kaiserlicher Reichsposten (Frankfurt am Main, 1790);
id., Post- und Reise-Karle von Deutsch/and und den anliegenden Liindem ... nach den Postcursen aus
meist efficiellen Qyel/en bearbeitet vom Hefrat und Postcommissar F. M. Diez, geographisch entwo,fen von
Ad[o!I] St[ieler] durchausrevidiert und berichtiget bis I.Juli 1827," MitNachtriigen im]ahr 1833 (Gotha,
1833); Adolf Stieler, 'Dcutschland und anliegende Lander: Zur Obersicht der Hauptstrallen
und Entfernungen zwischen Paris, Mailand, Warschau und Konigsberg: Nach Diez'neuester Post-Karte berichtigt 1835', in id., Hand-Atlas iiber a/le Theile der Erde und iiber das
Weltgebiiude (Gotha, 1840), no. 27.
48 Ulrich Hendschel, Neuestes Post- und Eisenbahn-Handbuc/1 von Deutsch/and und den angrenzenden Liindern (Frankfurt am Main, 1845); id., Telegraph: Monatliche nach Notizen des Kursbiiros
der Fiirstlich Thurn und Taxisschen General-Post-Direktion und anderen efjiziellen Qyellen bearbeitete
Obersicht iiber Abgang und Ankurifi der Eisenbalmen, Posten und Damjif.rchijfe in Deutsch/and nebst
Angabe der En!fernungen (Frankfurt am Main, 1847); id., Hendschel's Telegraph: Obersicht derEisenbahn-, Post-, Dampfichiff und Telegraphen-Verbindungen. Nach Notizen des Coursbureaus derFiirstl. 17mm und Taxisschen General-Post-Direction und anderen ef]iciellen Qyellen bearbeitet(Frankfurt am Main, 1854).
49 Manuel Castells, 77ze !reformation Age: Economy, Society and Culture, i: The Rise qf the Network
Society (Oxford, 1996).
50 Johann Ludwig Kluber, Das Postwesen in Deutsch/and, wie es war, ist, und seyn ko'nnte(Erlangen, 1811); [id.], Patriotische Wiinsche, das Postwesen in Teutschland betreffend (Weimar,1814);Johann Herrfeldt, 'Historische Nachrichten von dem fiirstlichen Hause Thurn und
Taxis', Archiv.fiir das Transportwesen (1829), 42-5.
51 Johann Herrfeldt, ~stem der Post-Einric/1/ung (Frankfurt am Main, 1808).
52 Id. (ed.), Archiv far das Transportwesen (Frankfurt am Main, 1829); id. (ed.), Archiv der
Postwissenschef/ (Frankfurt am Main, 1829-35).

WOLFGANG BEHRINGER

publish a number of useful surveys and handbooks on thesubject, 53 to propose the institutionalization of a science of communication(s), 54 and to found a global organization of postal services, the Weltpostverein, 55 which came into existence in 1874
under the name Union postale universelle (UPU). The Universal
Postal Union-from 1947 under the umbrella of the United
Nations-regulates international postal exchange to the presentday.
Postal services have since disintegrated, and the internet has
attained overwhelming importance and developed into the leading
sector of global communications. 56 The utopia of boundless, quick
exchange, however, does not seem too far from the ideas of earlymodern communication specialists, such as those educated within
the transnational Holy Roman Empire, which served as a firstmodern communication(s) universe. As for the origins of the internet, it seems short-sighted to link it to the invention of the telegraph,57 and too generous to start with Dante Alighieri. 58 A moreplausible suggestion points towards Gutenberg and the printing
revolution. 59 However, there seems to be a serious misunderstanding: books are containers of information, and they resemble bricks
rather than networks. I would prefer to relate the internet to theintroduction of the postal services in the early modern period,
which generated an ever improving network of communication(s)and sparked off waves of media revolutions. At the core of thesecommunications revolutions was the invention of the public
network, which was first tested within the Holy Roman Empire.
53 Id. (ed.), Sammlung al/er europdischen Post-Verordnungen (Worms, 1827); id., 'Literatur desPostwesens', Archivfor das Transportwesen (1829), 154-6!; id., Die Transport-Wissensclu!fi: Ein
Handbuch for das praktische Geschi!ftsleben und wissensclu!filiche Belehrung (Frankfurt am Main,
1837); id., Die freie Concurren::; im Transportwesen als unbedingtes E,ji,rdernis ::;ur Befiirderung derCultur, des Handels, der lndustrie und des Nationalwohlrtandes (Frankfurt am Main, 1839); id., 'Die
Literatur des Postwesens', Der Freie Verkehr, 1/6 (1847), 41-4.
54 Wilhelm Schroder, '.Johann von Herrfeldt: Ein Post- und Verkehrswissenschaftler
der ersten Halfte des 19.Jahrhunderts', J,Vzssenscheftliche .?,eitschrfft der Hochschulefor Verkehrswesen Dresden, 7 (1959-6o), 76!-71.
55 Lud\\~g Kammerer, Johann von Herrfaldt und die !dee des Weltpostvereins (Hamburg, 1963).
56 Manuel Castells, The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on Internet, Business and Society (Oxford,2001).

5 7 W adc Rowland, 171e Spirit ef the Web: 171e Age ef Information from Telegraph to Internet(Toronto, 1997).
58 Margaret Wcrtheim, 77,e Pearb• Gates ef Cyberspace: A History ef Space from Dante lo theInternet (London, 1999).
59 Asa Briggs and Peter Burke, A Social History ef the 1v!edia: From Gutenberg to the lntemet(Cambridge, 2001).