{"product_id":"postal-intelligence-the-tassis-family-and-communications-revolution-in-early-modern-europe-9781501779923","title":"Postal Intelligence: The Tassis Family and Communications Revolution in Early Modern Europe","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePostal Intelligence\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e connects and situates histories of the post and government intelligence alongside print technology and state power in the wider context of the early modern communications revolution.\u003c\/b\u003e In the sixteenth century, postal services became central to domestic governance and foreign policy enterprises, extended government reach and surveillance, and offered new control over the public sphere.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRachel Midura focuses on the Tassis family, members of which served as official postmasters to the dukes of Milan, the pope, Spanish kings, and Holy Roman emperors. Using administrative records and family correspondence, she follows the Tassis family, their agents, and their rivals as their influence expanded from northern Italy across Europe. \u003ci\u003ePostal Intelligence\u003c\/i\u003e shows how postmasters and postmistresses were key players in early modern diplomacy, commerce, and journalism, whose ultimate success depended on both administrative ingenuity and strategic ambiguity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eRachel Midura is Assistant Professor of Early Modern European and Digital History at Virginia Tech. She researches the history of intelligence, travel, and statecraft in the information age of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51175202357522,"sku":"9781501779923","price":37.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e436ab05-bbef-4409-be7a-927cbbecee99.jpg?v=1744288462","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/postal-intelligence-the-tassis-family-and-communications-revolution-in-early-modern-europe-9781501779923","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}