News in the Middle Ages

Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-3-032-34314-7
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan

Buch, Englisch, 303 Seiten, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm

Reihe: Palgrave Studies in the History of the Media

This book is about the idea and reality of news in the Middle Ages. In this period, news circulated among all levels of society. Major news stories were disseminated widely. Other news items of interest to a limited social group or within a particular locality were more restricted in their transmission. But everyone had an appreciation for and interest in news – as it pertained to them. Then, as now, news was an important part of how people interacted: the communication of new information based on shared interests reinforced long-term relationships and enabled strangers to connect. News was – and is – an essential part of humanity’s social environment. That there was news in the medieval period is, generally, accepted by historians, but, sometimes, only grudgingly so. This is because the history of news is intimately tied up with the history of printed news and newspapers, and with ideas of technological innovation, democracy, and modernity. For scholars working on news in the early modern and modern periods, there is a sense that news in the era before print must have been very different. In some ways it was, but in other ways it wasn’t. This book provides an informed overview of news in the Middle Ages, highlighting similarities and differences with later periods, and offering new ways of understanding how news functions in human societies, particularly those without the technology of print. It makes use of previous work on medieval news, and combines this with fresh insights drawn from the primary sources and prompted by engagement with scholarship on later periods. It is not the first word on news in the medieval period and it should not be the last. This book is the start of a conversation that, its authors hope, will see news in the Middle Ages fully incorporated into the history of news.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Birkett, Helen

Franklin-Lyons, Adam

Given-Wilson, Chris

Scase, Wendy

Shaw, David Gary

Sidorova, Vasilina

Smith, Thomas W.

Filippov, Igor S.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Historiographie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Vocabulary and Concepts.- Chapter 3. The Logistics of News I: Speed and the Distribution of News by Church and State.- Chapter 4. The Logistics of News II: Other Communications Systems.- Chapter 5. News as a Social Practice.- Chapter 6. Credibility, Verification, and Truth.- Chapter 7. News and History.- Chapter 8. Conclusion: The Novelty of Old News.

Über Autor(innen)

Helen Birkett is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Exeter, UK.

Adam Franklin-Lyons is Associate Professor of Medieval History at Emerson College, USA.

Chris Given-Wilson is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of St Andrews, UK.

Wendy Scase is Emeritus Geoffrey Shepherd Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of Birmingham, UK.

David Gary Shaw is Professor of History and Medieval Studies at Wesleyan University, USA.

Vasilina Sidorova is an independent historian, previously affiliated with the Russian Academy of Sciences and Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia.

Thomas W. Smith teaches history at Rugby School, UK, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Igor S. Filippov is Professor of Medieval History at Moscow State Lomonosov University, Russia.