Note 1 — I. Posts—Post-Offices, Ancient and Modern.

In 1516 a regular line of posts was established in the Tyrol, connecting Germany and Italy, by Roger, Count of Thurn and Taxis. His successors received from the Emperor of Germany repeated enfeoffments of the imperial post, and extended it over the greatest part of Germany and Italy. Venice, Genoa, Leghorn, and Naples were thus connected with Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck, and Frankfort-on-the-Main; and the active commerce which had sprung up between these cities became facilitated by such postal advantages as the system afforded. The Counts of Thurn and Taxis retained their postal monopoly till the fall of the German Empire.