Papal Bull: Print, Politics, and Propaganda in Renaissance Rome

In Papal Bull, Margaret Meserve explores how the Renaissance popes used print as a political tool to broadcast ancient claims to authority and underscore the centrality of Rome to Catholic Christendom, deploying it many decades before Luther.

Format: Hardback
Length: 456 pages
Publication date: 03 August 2021
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

The arrival of printing in Europe in the 1460s marked a significant turning point in the history of politics and society. Renaissance scholars, poets, and pilgrims flocked to Rome, creating a demand for mass-produced books that had never been seen before. Rome, as the capital city of the Renaissance papacy, was a hub of international diplomacy, and print played a crucial role in these circles as well. In her book, Papal Bull, Margaret Meserve delves into a previously unknown aspect of the history of early Italian printing by exploring how the Renaissance popes wielded print as a powerful political tool.

Spanning over half a century of war and controversy, from approximately 1470 to 1520, the papacy and its agents employed printed texts to great effect. They used these texts to excommunicate enemies, pursue diplomatic alliances, condemn heretics, publish indulgences, promote new traditions, and attract pilgrims and their money to the papal city. While early modern historians have long focused on the innovative press campaigns of the Protestant Reformers, Meserve reveals that the popes were actually early adopters of the new technology. They deployed mass communication many decades before Luther.

The papacy cleverly exploited the new medium to broadcast ancient claims to authority and emphasize the centrality of Rome to Catholic Christendom. Drawing on a vast archive, Papal Bull sheds light on how the Renaissance popes used print to project an authoritarian vision of their institution and their capital city, even as critics launched blistering attacks in print that foreshadowed the media wars of the coming Reformation. These publishing campaigns tested longstanding principles of canon law promulgation, developed new visual and graphic vocabularies, and prompted some of Europe's first printed pamphlets.

In conclusion, the arrival of printing in Europe in the 1460s transformed the political landscape and paved the way for the Renaissance. The popes, as early adopters of the new technology, used print to project an authoritarian vision of their institution and their capital city, even as critics launched attacks in print that foreshadowed the media wars of the coming Reformation. Papal Bull provides valuable insights into this critical period of history, shedding light on the ways in which print shaped the political, social, and cultural landscape of early modern Europe.

Weight: 854g
Dimension: 161 x 238 x 37 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781421440446