The second part of our saga of the press. This time, after studying the appearance of the written press in the form of the Acta Diurna (see our first article), we're going to delve into the Middle Ages, from the 5th to the 15th century, to follow the development of written communication, which gradually opened up to all social classes and began to play a real role in providing information... or disinformation (fake news was widely used in the Middle Ages)
The period between Antiquity and the Middle Ages
In fact, until the Middle Ages, information of all kinds circulated mainly orally, generally in markets and public squares. Few people could read. Written information was found on scrolls or letters. Unfortunately, this method of dissemination has left behind a minimum of archives, which are often neglected by historians, and which were difficult to find because of the limited circulation of communication routes and the slowness of the forms of transmission.
If we go back to the word information, we realize that its current meaning (communication of knowledge) only appeared in the 14th century in the form of the Old French informacion. The 14th century was precisely the time when the exchange of news accelerated as a result of numerous wars and the growth of states.
Information, from the Latin informare meaning to give shape to or form an idea of something
The Old French word informatio means concept or idea.
At the end of the 14th century, informacion began to mean the act
of informing, the communication of news.
Information could be abused in the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, handwritten sheets stuck to walls or scattered by hand, notices, were used to transmit news on an occasional basis. Each sheet reported a single event, which could be a victory for the king, a flood or other important news that the authorities wanted to pass on.
Before being relayed on the notices, these news messages were relayed by messengers whose job was undoubtedly a high-risk one. The first messengers were the monks who carried the scrolls of the dead (parchments passed from monastery to monastery when a cleric of the issuing community died), but also used them to pass on the news.
Until the 14th century, lords who wanted to get their news across more quickly used messengers on horseback, but remember that a horse does not travel more than 30 km a day if it is well looked after by its rider.
If you think that fake news is a recent phenomenon, you're very much mistaken. In fact, in the Middle Ages, it was commonplace to inform, but also to disinform in order to manipulate and deceive. Poor messengers could easily be killed to prevent their news reaching its destination, and they could even be replaced by an impostor who delivered a false message, sometimes literally the opposite of the true one.
These messengers, sent by the lords and also by the king, brought information or royal news which, once they reached their destination, were shouted out in public squares or markets, preceded by the famous phrase Oyez, oyez...
As in ancient times with the praeco, it was the town crier (dressed in a special uniform) who announced the news to the people, the vast majority of whom could not read. If he announced new taxes, for example, he could be taken to task by the crowd, who would molest him. Considered an intermediary between the authorities and the people, the town crier could also work privately for a lord or a town. And here, other quarrels arose, because each client demanded that his crier be given the best place so that everyone could hear and understand his true or false information.
The first communication network created in France by powerful Italian merchants
A special note on the very powerful Italian merchants (they knew how to read): always wanting to be informed before their competitors, they created the first private postal services using messengers on horseback or by boat. In this way, they wove a veritable network of communication between cities, which enabled them to anticipate needs and become even richer.
The Pope, who was based in Avignon at the time, used these postal services, which he also backed up with his own network of clerics and pilgrims who travelled the length and breadth of the country, bringing back a wealth of news that could then, if necessary, be shouted out in public squares.
Fake news was rife in the Middle Ages
Coming back to fake news and conspiracy theories, we can cite the example of Jean-sans-peur, Duke of Burgundy (1371-1419), who, after killing his cousin, Duke Louis I of Orléans (1372-1407), did not hesitate to spread the worst rumors and slander about the latter, in order to justify his crime. The Duke of Orléans thus became a sorcerer, a schemer and a poisoner, but also an enemy of the public good in order to rally the people to his cause.
The spoken word is not a reliable means of communication, and transmitting information orally can lead to all sorts of abuses; it was an invaluable asset for those in power, who used it for good and ill. In times of defeat, rulers had no qualms about spreading optimistic news, citing enemy leaks. This news was not only shouted out, but also declaimed or sung in poems or songs, or told in chronicles.
Chroniclers already existed in the Middle Ages
During the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) between hereditary enemies France and England, misinformation was rife on both sides. The people, seen as a dangerous mass, always needed to be reassured and their morale kept high. They had to believe that the King was fighting a just war for their own good. Their attention was diverted by religion, whose power was as powerful as that of royalty, and by tales, often false, of battles ideally won. Even though the French king became a prisoner of the English, the disinformation continued: the English opponent was savage and not loyal, the English king bore no resemblance to the French king, who was courageous and a victim of the nobility...
In the face of this misinformation, Jean Froissart (1337-1410), in his Chronicles, which cover half the period of the Hundred Years' War, endeavored to maintain his impartiality by recounting in great detail all the events of the war, while emphasizing the prowess of the kings and their valiant knights. Like a good journalist, he claimed to report only what he had seen himself or to base his accounts on real events told by reliable witnesses, such as the other chronicler, Jean Le Bel (1290 -1370).
Information that comes close to propaganda
Information, akin to propaganda, took all forms, including that of entertainment, when a chancellor recruited jugglers to sing the valor and loyalty of his king, Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199), in the towns. Italian rulers, meanwhile, had no qualms about commissioning praise singers who placed them on pedestals. If glorifying a man or a group was commonplace, discrediting or slandering the enemy was just as common.
Unfortunately, the people, uneducated, illiterate and naïve, could only accept and believe all this information, true or false. Hence the political power of information in the Middle Ages, when it was disseminated by royalty, the lords or the clergy.
Lastly, this political power was transmitted not only through words, but also through images (iconography), when kings and lords were always represented (effigies, portraits, coins, etc.) in such a way as to express their greatness and splendor through ceremonial images that displayed their power, which was then akin to divine power. Painted posters could also be used to announce events, in the same way as today's visual displays.
What language was used in the Middle Ages?
Although Latin was the dominant and official language, particularly in administrative and religious writing, regional dialects (called langues d'oil in the north and langues d'oc in the south) played a dominant role in everyday spoken exchanges. However, French (first Old French, which appeared in the 9th century, derived from Vulgar Latin, and Middle French, which evolved over five centuries from Old French) soon took its place, especially with the growing influence of the royal court, for whom unilingualism was of political importance.
The growth of French as a spoken and written language (which replaced Latin as the administrative and literary language) did not eliminate the regional linguistic diversity that can still be found today in regional accents and dialects.
The French spoken in the Middle Ages bore no resemblance to our present-day French. Over the centuries, the French language moved away from its origins in Vulgar Latin (spoken in Rome) to incorporate foreign influences such as Germanic, Celtic and many others. The phonetics of Old French were very different from those of present-day French, as were the declensions (identical to Latin) of nouns, adjectives and pronouns.
Our third instalment of the saga of the printing press will be coming soon, with the invention of printing by Gutenberg (1398-1468) in 1454, which changed everything...
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