How did people find out about the news before newspapers were invented? Too often we assume that ordinary people in the early modern period knew little and cared less about the great debates of the day, yet contemporary records show that they could be surprisingly well-informed about local, national and international events. This course will explore the exchange of news through oral and literate media, in a period when there was no regular and reliable access to information.
Students will investigate the history of news culture from the explosion of print in the 16th century to the birth of the newspaper. We will address current historiographical debates around, for example, literacy & orality, trust & reliability, and free speech & censorship. Indicative content may include themes such as witchcraft, crime, gender and rebellion, and sources such as news ballads, letters, sermons, pamphlets and early newspapers. Examining the soundscapes of early modern England through matters of performance, melody and memory, we will explore how, in Andrew Pettegree's words, the early modern world 'came to know about itself'.