satire, libel, society, seditious literature, rumour, proclamations, libel laws
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26
sooner happened” for all their venom; however, both Sir Philip Sidney and Thomas Campion accept that others give credence to such beliefs, although they are noticeably noncommittal when it comes to subscribing to them themselves.
35
Neuroses about the dangers posed by satire and libel were deeply ingrained in Reformation and Renaissance society at all levels. From an official point of view the propensity of libel and rumour to seduce the populace into tumult and disobedience is a stock theme of official reactions to the spread of proscribed literature.
36
This concern with the effects of subversive literature is particularly evident in royal proclamations. Twelve proclamations were issued specifically against seditious literature and rumour during the reign of Elizabeth. During the reigns of her predecessors the issuing of such proclamations seems to escalate gradually: Henry VII (one), Henry VIII (four), and during the shorter reigns of Elizabeth’s siblings, Edward VI (two) and Mary I (five).
37
Legislation included the tightening of libel laws during the Marian years, the Bishops’ Ban on satire (1st June,
35 When considering the possibility that his Observations in the Art of English Poesy (1602) might be met with detraction, Campion writes of “those very expert and ready at their weapon, that can if need be extempore (as they say) rhyme a man to death”. Although he associates a hostile poetics of response with rhetorical accomplishment here, he consigns the incantatory magical powers of such verse to hearsay. At the close of his Apology for Poetry, Sidney threatens jokingly to satirise to death those readers inappreciative of the value and power of poetry in terms which suggest his attitude towards such beliefs is equally non-committal:
Though I will not wish unto you the ass’s ears of Midas, nor to be driven by a poet’s verses (as Bubonax was) to hang himself, nor to be rhymed to death, as is said to be done in Ireland; yet thus much curse I must send you.
Both quoted from Jones ed. (1961), p.56 and p.54.
36 One of the numerous examples is provided by a proclamation of 1536, ‘Pardoning Pilgrimage of Grace’, in which supporters of the protest are absolved upon the grounds of their credulity towards antigovernment propaganda. Their offences
proceeded of ignorance and by cause of sundry false tales never minded or intended by his highness or any of his council, but most craftily, untruly, and most spitefully set abroad amongst you by certain malicious and seditious persons.
Tudor Royal Proclamations, ed. Paul L. Hughes and James F. Larkin, 3 vols (London and New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1961-9), I. (1964), p.246.
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