LFU:online

Acquisition of skills for a critical use and interpretation of historical sources of the Habsburg Monarchy; learning to present this knowledge in a written or an oral form.

The postal and news service can be regarded as a constituent element of the early modern period: The first state postal service between Innsbruck and Mechelen near Brussels created by Maximilian I in 1490 established a communication route between the Habsburg centers of power that greatly accelerated the transmission of news. The expansion of the European postal infrastructure in the following centuries made it possible to further accelerate and simplify the transmission of news, which was used for private correspondence as well. Economic difficulties of the Taxis led to increasing competition between territorial postal organizations by the individual imperial states and the imperial postal service (since 1650 Thurn und Taxis). On the basis of selected source material we will analyse the interdependence between postal history and the beginning of professional newspaper business, which developed from the early 17th century onwards. 

Reading and interpretation of historcal sources, contextualising historical sources, discussion

Participation in classes, presentation, short exam

Will be announced 

Before attending this course it is recommended to complete the VO "Basiswissen aus dem Kernfach Österreichische Geschichte"