a source of much anxiety to the Crown from
fear of the fomenting of sinister and treasonable plots against
itself.[4]

The establishment of the _nuncii_ or _cursores_ developed into a regular
system. On certain lines of road relay stages were set up, at which the
messengers might without delay obtain a change of horses, a system first
set up by Edward IV in 1482, during the war with Scotland.[5] Such relay
messengers were called "posts," a word borrowed from the French.[6] The
term was also applied to the line of route, and the expression "post,"
or "line of posts," was used to denote a route along which, at certain
stages, post-horses were kept in readiness for the use of the King's
messengers. Travelling in this way the messengers were able to cover a
hundred miles a day. The establishment of lines of regular posts became
a feature of the administrative system, and a special officer of the
royal household was appointed to control them.

The first recorded Master of the Posts was Brian Tuke, who held the
office in 1512. The posts, like the establishment of special messengers,
were maintained solely at the cost of the King. The master received a
salary from the King (which in a patent issued in 1545 is given as [L]66
13s. 4d. a year), and also the amount of his expenses incurred in
providing for the carrying of letters. The regular postmasters received
a daily wage from the King. On lines along which no regular post had
been established, but along which it might on occasion be necessary to
send special messengers, the townships were obliged to furnish horses
for the service of the messengers. Remarks in contemporary papers
suggest that no payment was made in such cases, but that horses were
supplied gratis for the King's service.[7] There is no record of the
early days of Tuke's tenure of the office of Master of the Posts; but in
1533 Thomas Cromwell complained to Tuke concerning the condition of the
posts, and the great default in the conveyance of letters.[8]

The posts were in many cases established on account of some special
circumstance, and were of a temporary character. The first regular
post--that established in 1482 during the war with Scotland--was, of
course, temporary; but at much later dates, when "ordinarie," or
permanent, posts had been established, such as the post from London to
Berwick and that from London to Beaumaris, it was still usual to
establish "extra ordinarie" posts "in divers places of the