Course:History 344 Nasty Families/Professions/Printing
The printing press, invented in 1440, was not a new invention during the Stuart Period but began to serve as a tool of ever growing importance. With a change in methods of political and religious thought, as well as the evolution of renaissance rhetoric (BN: ?) the printing press became a weapon of many social and reformist movements of the period.[1] The use of printed materials began to come into prominence with a growing – as small as the growth may have been – literate population. This represented both an economic and ideological outlet.
Copyright and royalty laws during the Stuart age started out lax, and began to improve through the period. During the early Stuart age books could be published on a national level for as little as thirty pounds, and pamphlets for far less than that.[2] Both of these became weapons of the Church and private interest over the government. The reason the monarchy and government could not combat harmful written works was due mostly to the lack of power and resources – principally a salaried bureaucracy – to oppose this.[3]
Due to this lack of enforcement, the church and private interests were able to distribute political material on both a national and county level to help combat forms of mass movement.[4] The church used materials they printed to help combat the rise of popular puritanism, and protect the Anglican church which was falling victim to a rise in puritan worshipers. Private interests used these materials to help further their own motives from primitive forms of advertisement to political thoughts (such as elections to the lower house).
The gentry class were the principle class of printing. Seen as a job best suited for those who had experience in areas such as law, many educated sons moved into the printing and publishing industry. While not significantly popular an worthwhile until the later Stuart Age with the rise of theatre, it served as respectable, although politically charged, profession.
- ↑ Anthony Milton, “Licensing, Censorship, and Religious Orthodoxy in Early Stuart England” (The Historical Journal 41, 1998), 626.
- ↑ William Underwood, “Thomas Cromwell and William Marshall's Protestant Books.” (The Historical Journal 47, 2004), 517.
- ↑ Evan Haefeli, “Words and Power in Stuart England” (Huntington Library Quarterly 69, 2006), 627.
- ↑ Milton, 626.
BN: Potentially a big topic. Printing might be a profession, and writing an activity, of your families.