"The counterfeit silly curr": Money, Politics, and the Forging of Royalist Newspapers during the English Civil War

Abstract

THAT THE 1640S SAW THE EMERGENCE of mass popular print culture is now widely acknowledged. The explosion in the market for printed opinion and newsreflecting both an unprecedented interest in politics and disarray in the control over the print industry-ensured that cheap print was profitable. With money to be made and little effective authority to police the presses, however, the situation was also ripe for fakes and forgeries. If the period saw the emergence of something resembling a "public sphere," then the free market in pamphleteering and propaganda was bedeviled by those interested in literary hijacking. And although Civil War newsbooks have long fascinated scholars,' the phenomenon of counterfeit journals is more often recognized by bibliographers than studied by historians.2 One of the most important of these newsbooks was the royalist paper Mercurius Pragmaticus (1647-50), as may be measured by the energetic opposition it inspired: one contemporary decried it as "the court jester, the cavalier's fool, the chief squib-crack, arch pamphlet puppy," and it even spawned a short-lived title on the Parliamentary 1

From Tyrant to Unfit Monarch: MarchamontNedham's Representation ofCharlesStuart andRoyalists during the Interregnum

“…In a mocking tone, Nedham, in 1649, encouraged his readers to ‘witnesse Nol Crumwell, who by reforming himself from his wenches, to a more spirituall conversations with Cobblers and Car men, is crept up to be a Prince of the last edition, and now is taking care to settle the Government in his Family’. Royalists were not the only ones to link Cromwell to kingship. After Cromwell returned from Ireland and then from Scotland, A Speech or Declaration of the Declared King of Scots and Another Victory in Lancashire described Cromwell receiving a ceremonious welcome that rivaled that of kings.…”

Review of periodical literature published in 2004

“…Tubb’s two articles explore the aftermath of the regicide, with the authorities’ capture of the ‘news agenda’ in February 1649 contrasted with royalists’ minor print victory about Leveller insurrection. Peacey investigates the rival versions of a royalist newsbook, which stemmed from political disagreements among the king's supporters rather than commercial rivalry. McElligott shows how royalist propagandists resorted to sexual libel in the 1650s to discredit their foes, and explores the semiotics of these depictions.…”