DATE TBD
WORKSHOP:
THE HANDWRITTEN NEWSLETTERS OF EARLY MODERN EUROPE
GIORNATA DI STUDIO:
AVVISI MANOSCRITTI NELLA PRIMA ETÀ MODERNA
The widespread communication of statements and narratives, true and false, regarding current occurrences of common interest, which under the term ‘news’ constitutes a much-discussed feature of contemporary life, first emerged in the post-medieval world, with profound effects on cultures, economies and states. A major portion of news was circulated in the form of weekly or biweekly semi-public manuscript newsletters (also called avvisi, geschriebene Zeitungen, nouvelles à la main, etc.), an invention consisting of usually anonymous sheets, reproduced in multiple copies, which eventually became the basis of the first printed journalism. Until recently the structures of distribution have been little known and the matter distributed, even less. Our workshop examines, among other issues, what there was in this material that could have shaped peoples’ lives, mental horizons and views of the world, including the ways in which at first it circulated sporadically, and then drew directly upon the manuscript networks. The Medici papers at the state archive in Florence contain one of the largest and most varied repositories of this source, including sheets originating from all over Europe, bearing news from everywhere including Ireland, Scandinavia, the eastern Mediterranean, Asia and the New World. A new project called EURONEWS will be introduced, funded by the Irish Research Council, which proposes to study this repository with a view to re-creating the news environment that shaped early modern times.
Themes for discussion: Regions, Power, Commerce, Diffusion, Rhetoric
PARTICIPANTS TO INCLUDE (among others): Brendan Dooley (University College Cork), Davide Boerio (University College Cork), Carlotta Paltrinieri (University College Cork/Medici Archive Project), Lorenzo Allori (University College Cork/Medici Archive Project), Wouter Kreuze (University College Cork), Sara Mansutti (University College Cork), Mario Infelise (University of Venice), Zsuzsa Barbarics-Hermanik (University of Graz), Massimo Rospocher (Italian-German Historical Institute, Trent), Lana Martysheva ( European University Institute).
