agreements with the Thurn und Taxis family post, tried to establish a regular postal service in Cracow, which was enabled on a small scale, however the enterprise was closed down after his death. The death of the Polish queen Bona Sforza in 1557 was the factor that influenced the emergence of the Polish Post, because King Sigismund II Augustus had to maintain permanent and regular correspondence with Italy in order to collect his inheritance. On the 18 October 1558 the monarch granted the right for the establishment and management of the post to the Italian Prospero Provana. The services of this post, which ran from Cracow to Venice, could also be used by private persons, despite the fact that the costs of its maintenance were borne by the crown. Provana, however, started a conflict with the Thurn und Taxis family, who controlled postal communications in Austria, Hungary and Italy. This resulted after four years in the withdrawal of the benefit granted to Provan. On 11 July 1562 the king concluded a New agreement with Krzysztof Taxis, the executive director of the imperial post in Vienna, on the basis of which, he acquired all posts in Poland, establishing the institution under the name of Poczta Polska (Polish Post), i.e. Royal post. It was composed of the Italian post (Cracow-Vienna-Venice) and Lithuanian Post (Cracow-Warsaw-Vilnius). The postal messenger left Cracow each Sunday morning, arrived in Vienna on Wednesday and then left for Venice, where he arrived after seven days journey. The courier set off to Lithuania each week on Wednesday, in order to arrive in Vilnius after a week's journey. Therefore, the letter from Cracow to Venice took 10 days and from Cracow to Vilnius 7 days. The postal charge amounted to 3 grosz from 1 lot of weight of private parcel. The king's and court's parcels were free of charge, but the monarch paid yearly subsidy for the benefit of the post in the amount of 1500 thalers (1200 for the Italian post, 300 for the Lithuanian post). This amount was collected in instalments from the Cracow duty. The director, who received the total income from the post, in return had to take care of the maintenance and its supplies. Although the Polish post under the management of a new director created new extensive and proper international connection, the contract with Taxis was terminated after two years due to various intrigues. Italian