Rise of broadsides, pamphlets, and newsbooks in Early Modern Europe (c. 1550–1700)

1. Stationers’ Company charter tightens London print trade

   May 4, 1557Labels: Stationers' Company, London

   • Britannica
   • Stationers
   • Cambridge

2. Marprelate tracts show pamphlets’ political bite

   Jan 1, 1588Labels: Marprelate tracts, Puritans

   • Britannica

3. Johann Carolus begins Strasbourg’s printed weekly news

   Oct 1, 1605Labels: Johann Carolus, Strasbourg

   • COVE
   • WikiDE

4. Avisa appears as another early German news periodical

   Jan 15, 1609Labels: Avisa, Wolfenb ttel

   • Avisa

5. Dutch corantos feed cross-border news markets

   Dec 2, 1620Labels: Dutch corantos, Dutch Republic

   • Corante

6. First English-printed coranto appears in London

   Sep 24, 1621Labels: Corante 1621, London

   • Corante

7. Renaudot launches France’s state-shaped Gazette

   May 30, 1631Labels: La Gazette, Th ophraste

   • Britannica
   • LaGazette
   • Huntington

8. Star Chamber abolished, loosening English print controls

   Jul 5, 1641Labels: Star Chamber, England

   • Constitution

9. First English newsbooks emerge amid 1641–42 crisis

   Nov 1, 1641Labels: Newsbooks, England

   • Newsbook
   • EEBO

10. Civil War newsbooks turn news into partisan warfare

    Jan 1, 1643Labels: Mercurius Aulicus, Civil War

    • Aulicus
    • Nedham

11. Parliament imposes Licensing Order to control print

    Jun 14, 1643Labels: Licensing Order, Parliament

    • FirstAmend
    • LicOrder

12. Milton’s Areopagitica argues against licensing

    Nov 23, 1644Labels: Areopagitica, John Milton

    • Areopagitica

13. Commonwealth backs Mercurius Politicus as official voice

    Jun 1, 1650Labels: Mercurius Politicus, Commonwealth

    • Politicus
    • LondonMuseum

14. Broadside ballads peak as cheap street literature

    Jan 1, 1660Labels: Broadside ballads, street literature

    • Magdalene
    • Britannica

15. Restoration licensing law reasserts control over presses

    May 19, 1662Labels: Licensing Act, Restoration

    • UKLeg
    • LicPress

16. Oxford Gazette launches and becomes London Gazette

    Nov 7, 1665Labels: Oxford Gazette, London Gazette

    • GazetteHist
    • LondonMuseum

17. Pepys documents survival and collecting of ephemeral print

    Jan 1, 1666Labels: Samuel Pepys, broadside collection

    • Magdalene

18. Licensing Act lapses, accelerating the newspaper transition

    Apr 22, 1695Labels: Licensing lapse, England

    • LicPress