Omodeo Tasso or Omodeo de Tassis (
XIII Century
The 13th century was the century which lasted from January 1, 1201 ( MCCI) through December 31, 1300 ( MCCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar.
The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan, which stretched from Eastern Asia to Eastern ...
– 1290) was the late-13th century
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
patriarch of the
Thurn und Taxis dynasty generally credited with initiating the first modern
postal service
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...
as the administrators first of the
Imperial Post and later
their own postal network.
Omodeo's family was known to have lived in the
Val Brembana in
Cornello dei Tasso since . The feuding between the
Guelf Colleoni
The House of Colleoni was a Guelf-allied noble family in medieval Bergamo. Their Ghibelline opponents were the Suardi family, of which the Colleoni themselves were a branch.
History
When the Visconti of Milan seized Bergamo, they exiled the ...
and the
Ghibelline Suardi in the nearby
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
of
Bergamo
Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Com ...
caused them to relocate to the more distant village of
Cornello, where Omodeo grew up. Around 1290, after
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...
had conquered Bergamo, Omodeo organized 32 of his relatives into the Company of Couriers ( it, Compagnia dei Corrieri) and linked Milan with
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
and
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. The recipient of royal and papal patronage, his company was so comparatively efficient that
post riders
Post riders or postriders describes a horse and rider postal delivery system that existed at various times and various places throughout history. The term is usually reserved for instances where a network of regularly scheduled service was provid ...
became known as ''bergamaschi'' throughout Italy.
[López Jurado, Luis Felipe. ''Prefilatelia de Murcia: Historia Postal del Reino de Murcia desde 1569 hasta 1861'', pp. 26 ff.]
La Familia Tassis
. Editora Regional de Murcia, 2006. Accessed 3 October 2013.
Legacy
Under the misspelling "Omedio Tassis", Omodeo figures prominently in the
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...
novella ''
The Crying of Lot 49
''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel by American author Thomas Pynchon. The shortest of Pynchon's novels, the plot follows Oedipa Maas, a young Californian woman who begins to embrace a conspiracy theory as she possibly unearths a centuries-ol ...
''.
Pynchon, Thomas
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...
. ''The Crying of Lot 49
''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel by American author Thomas Pynchon. The shortest of Pynchon's novels, the plot follows Oedipa Maas, a young Californian woman who begins to embrace a conspiracy theory as she possibly unearths a centuries-ol ...
''. Lippincott & Co., 1966.[Hurley, Patrick J. ]
Pynchon Character Names: A Dictionary
', p. 155. McFarland & Co., 2008.
See also
*
Postal history of Germany
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Germany and philatelically related areas. The main modern providers of service were the Reichspost (1871–1945), the Deutsche Post under Allied control (1945–1949), the Deutsche Pos ...
*
Princely House of Thurn and Taxis
The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (german: link=no, Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the '' Briefadel''. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the en ...
Notes
References
*
13th-century Italian nobility
Thurn und Taxis
Postal history of Germany
13th-century Italian businesspeople
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