Photo: Massimop, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons⁸

Janetto von Taxis

Janetto de Tassis (1450 – 1517 or 1518) also Tasso, and also known as Johann Daxen, Jenne de Taschen was an Italian postmaster and courier. He came from the noble Italian family of Tasso, who were in the service of the Venetians and the Pope.²

From Wikipedia’s article on Janetto von Taxis (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 1450, died Sep 8, 1518.¹

About

After the takeover of Tyrol by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in 1490, he entered Maximilian's service to organize postal and courier routes to Italy, France and the Burgundian Netherlands (Kaiserliche Reichspost). He served Maximilian from 1490 to 1506 as a master courier before retiring to his possessions in Istria. In 1508, after the Venetians conquered Istria, he sided with them to save his lands. He was confined in Pisino as a deserter upon Maximilian's reconquest of Istria in 1509. In 1515 he made his will in Pisino, and died there a few years later, probably around 1517 or 1518.

From Wikipedia’s article on Janetto von Taxis, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.²

Companies

Kaiserliche ReichspostFounder⁷

Career

Date not recordedFounded Kaiserliche Reichspost³

Personal life

Born1450, Camerata Cornello⁴
DiedSep 8, 1518, Pazin⁵
CitizenshipRepublic of Venice⁶

The retreat into private life

In 1504 Maximilian I lent a castle and lands in Istria to De Tassis to pay off outstanding debts. He was invested of the castle Rachele in 1504, for his "service to the House of Habsburg in his capacity as postmaster". Initially, his nephew Giovanni Battista took over the administration of these properties in Castelnuovo (so-called Rachele, Rakalj) and Barban.

Through the mediation of Janetto, Gabriele de Tassis, a relative of his, became head of the Innsbruck post office in 1504. At first he worked exclusively with the Burgundian postmaster Francesco de Tassis, his brother, in Mechelen, organizing the so-called "Post of Flanders" between the court of Maximilian and that of Philip the Handsome in Mechelen and Brussels, but from 1505 he organized the first Felleisen postal courses for Maximilian, which he financed. From now on, De Tassis gradually withdrew from the postal and courier business. On 29 March 1505 Maximilian met Janetto in Hagenau, to organize with him a new postal route that would easily connect Innsbruck, Vienna and Budapest (then known as Ofen). He organized for this route a complex postal transport system, even for large loads. On 27 November 1506, he received from Maximilian I the sum of 1,363 gulden for the construction of a postal route from Konstanz to Mechelen.

After that, Janetto retired to his castle in Istria. As a result, Maximilian demanded the return of his nephew Giovanni Battista and made him his new master courier.