Making News in Renaissance Europe

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The regular public transmission of news was one of the great inventions of the Renaissance. This Element, while offering a general account of news in the period, will convey the latest research results concerning the dynamics and significance of this major development. Drivers of change, apart from sheer curiosity, included state officials seeking opportunities, merchants seeking markets, writers seeking jobs. Traditional oral settings for news exchange, in homes, at court, and in public squares, from this period onward would have a constant supply of new topics of conversation originating not only from local occurrences but from far away, and not only from books, pamphlets and private letters, but also from regularly produced news sheets – first handwritten, then printed –covering what were thought to be the major events of the day, with significant effects on widespread ways of thinking and behaving.