The postal history of Hungary is strongly linked to the history of Hungary. While a messenger system was brought to the Carpathian Basin by Árpád as early as 895, modern mail delivery was first organized by the Habsburgs under the Austrian Empire.
After continued development, the postal systems of Austria and Hungary were formally separated following the Compromise of 1867, with both becoming fully independent after 1908. Both world wars caused heavy damage to the infrastructure. The Hungarian Post was nationalized after 1947. Until 1990, the Post Office controlled not only mail and package delivery, but also the full range of telecommunications, including radio, telephone and television transmissions. When the Post Office was split into separate companies, Magyar Posta JSC was established to handle postal administration.
The Middle Ages
After the colonization of the Carpathian basin in the period up to the late 16th century, the messages of the Hungarian kings were delivered by messengers (pracecones) and couriers (cursores), but counts and lords also maintained separate messenger services. The common people had to ask travelers and merchants to deliver their packets. After the 15th century a service of communal messengers was established to act as an official link between local authorities, assisted by the newly invented carriage.
In 1526, Ferdinand I entrusted the Taxis family with the operation of a permanent postal service between Vienna and Pressburg/Pozsony (modern Bratislava). Leopold I issued a postal patent regulating postal delivery routes, post offices and posthorns. The operation of the postal system was later transferred to the Paar family as a feudal tenure. During Rákóczi's War for Independence a separate postal system was operated in the territories under Rákóczi's rule, operated by János Szepesi, and later by Márton Kossovits.
On 1 July 1722 Charles III nationalized the postal system, and declared the delivery of messages and the establishment of post offices to be a state monopoly. He placed the imperial coat of arms on every postal building, regulated postal tariffs, and developed the existing postal routes, subordinating every post office to the main post office at the imperial court in Vienna. The language of administration was German, and most of the employees were Austrian. In 1784 Maria Theresa's Postal Patent further modernized the system, separating normal and mail-coach delivery. The mail-coach service started one year later throughout the empire, establishing a permanent route between Vienna and Buda in 1752.
1800-1867
The first public mailboxes for letters were introduced in 1817. Telegraphy appeared, but was not widely used until its development and standardization of language by Samuel Morse. The first telegraph station on Hungarian territory was opened in December 1847 in Pozsony. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 attempts were made to create a separate system under the supervision of the Agricultural, Industrial and Commercial Ministry. One of the first tasks of its minister, Gábor Klauzál, was to legislate for privacy of correspondence, and the use of Hungarian language and symbols in stamps and seals. Mór Than designed what was intended to be the first Hungarian stamp, but due to later military developments it was never printed.
After the failed revolution of 1848, the Hungarian post was reabsorbed into Austrian administration. Franz Joseph I issued a Postal Patent on 26 December 1850, which restored pre-1848 conditions. There were several developments in the next few years, including the unification of normal and mail-coach delivery, and the introduction of stamps and of money orders in 1850. From 1855 letters were delivered to home addresses, trains started to carry letters, and express delivery was introduced in 1859. Postage stamps were issued for the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary on 1 June 1867 in eight values along with one 1 Kreuzer (krajcár in Hungarian) newspaper stamp. Stamps of Austria were withdrawn from the Kingdom of Hungary on 31 May 1867. The dual monarchy stamps were in use there for just over one year.