Postage Stamps and Postal History of Germany - Thurn Und Taxis

Thurn Und Taxis

In 1497, on behalf of Emperor Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire, Franz von Taxis established a postal service that replaced the ad-hoc courier for official mail. A horse relay system was created that shortened the transit time for mail and made its arrival predictable. Thereafter, the house of Thurn und Taxis using the imperial yellow and black livery maintained the postal privilege for many centuries. The Thurn-und-Taxis-Post employed the first horse-drawn mail coaches in Europe since Roman times in 1650, - they started in the town of Kocs giving rise to the term "coach".

• Thurn und Taxis stamp, Northern District, 1865.

• Thurn und Taxis stamp, Southern District, 1859.

Thurn und Taxis lost its monopoly when Napoleon granted the Rhine Confederation the right to conduct postal services. The agency continued to operate and even issued some stamps (v.i.) but when Prussia created the North German Confederancy Thurn und Taxis had to sell its privileges in 1867.