News and the Shape of Europe, 1500-1750

Queen Mary, University of London, 26-28^th July 2013

Registration open: http://newscom.english.qmul.ac.uk/events/items/83801.html

How did news cross Europe, and how did news make Europe? News in early modern Europe was a distinctively transnational phenomenon; its topics were international in scope; the forms and terminologies of news, as well as the news itself, crossed national boundaries; practices of news-gathering relied on networks of international agents; it was widely translated; it travelled along commercial routes, or through postal networks that were designed to be mutually connected; and the forces attempting to control the press operated (or attempted to operate) well outside of their actual jurisdiction. The spread of news and the appetite for it reflect changes in the geopolitical and confessional maps of Europe, spreading through ethnic and religious diasporas as well as diplomatic, mercantile, and scholarly networks. It helped forge communities on a local, national and international scale. This three-day conference will explore ways in which this history can be written, and features speakers from across Europe and the Americas. 

News and the Shape of Europe is the final stage of the Leverhulme international network, News Networks in Early Modern Europe, a two-year investigation of news communication laying the groundwork for a European history of news.