Jean-Jacques Renouard de Villayer

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Jean-Jacques Renouard, seigneur de Villayer (born June 24, 1607 in Nantes; died March 5, 1691 in Paris) was a member of the French Conseil d'État, to whom the absolutist ruling king Louis XIV delegated special juristic powers.

As tenant of the Paris City Post Renouard de Villayer ordered letter boxes to be set up at different places in Paris, in which letters prepaid with a uniform postage of 1 sol could be put, which then were delivered within the same day within the city. The receipts (billet de port payé) issued for this purpose, that had to be attached to the letters as postage, are considered to be early precursors of the postage stamp. No copy is conserved. The so-called Petite Poste was an economical failure, but later was successfully imitated in other European cities (for example by the London Penny Post since 1680).

In 1659 Renouard de Villayer became a member of the Académie française as the successor of Abel Servien.

In 1944 the coat of arms of the house of Renouard de Villayer was depicted on a commemorative stamp by the French post on the occasion of the Day of the Postage Stamp.