Circa 1476

Louis XI establishes the equestrian mail.

1533

Appearance of the Guide des chemins de France by Charles Etienne, the first guidebook to French roads.

16 October 1627

Publication of the first postal rate for letters; monetary commodities and quoted values are used for the first time.

March 1672

Louvois establishes the Ferme des Postes whose first lease is granted to Lazare Patin.

7 December 1673

State Council decree protecting the lessee from any attempt to undermine his privilege.

June and November 1681

In an attempt to put an end to the fraudulent use of the Farmers rights, these two decrees issued by the Kings Privy Council exclusively confer the postal monopoly on the lessee, even when faced with a specific legal competition.

1708

Birth of the first Post Book, a guide to postal routes for public use.

14 April 1719

Patent letters merge the university messenger service with the Postal Farm, thereby removing the main obstacle to an official institution.

1758 - 1760

By letters of patente from the king Louis XV, Piarron de Chamousset sets up the "Petite Poste" (small Post Office) of Paris which named the letters boxes scattered in the capital, by opposition with the "Grande Poste" (Big Post Office) which appointed the main post-office, state-approved service for collecting (by the mail boxes) and delivering (by the mail carriers) of the inner-city area of Paris.

This type of service was successfully installed in others cities (Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes, Rouen, Nancy, Strasbourg, Marseille and Lille), all these "Petites Postes" joined the national "Grande Poste" in 1780.

8 July 1759

A royal decree establishes a new postal rate for letters and gives the public the option of registering mail and documents without declaring their intrinsic value, for a charge of twice the regular rate.