A nyomtatott információ értéke és funkcióváltozásai a kora újkorban
The Value and Functional Change of Printed Information in the Early Modern Period

Summary/Abstract: In the early modern period, the quantity and quality of printed information got a boost, and not only the elite but also everyday people, considered as a receptive audience, too, were quick to learn how to use it. Those making a living from the “black art”, such as print-ers, punchcutters, publishers, schoolmasters and the intellectual elite, were themselves personally involved in teaching the masses how to handle the news, and reflected on the significance of printed newspapers, weeklies and pamphlets illustrated by engravings as well as the value of the conveyed information. The illustrated pamphlets helped interpret the quickly changing political situation with witty political allegories. By the beginning of the 17th century, it had become a requirement for the audience to recognize the interests and any manipulative intent behind the propaganda. The manifold and many-centered propaganda related to the anti-Ottoman war played an important part in the development of early modern international political publicity. During the 16th and 17th centuries, with the help of printed news, actual information was built on the tradition of Ottoman wars in Hungary, amassing a significant corpus of information about the political, military and economic importance of the Kingdom of Hungary. The manuscript municipal chronicles from Augsburg, Nuremberg and Regensburg from the 17th century prove that the educated city dwellers followed and collected published printed news. During the Thirty Years' War, printed political cartoons and pasquinades were inserted even in manuscript news collec-tions. An anonymous diarist from Regensburg reported on the rivalry of representatives and the pro Ottoman war propaganda of the Imperial Diet that opened in 1663 in a compe-tent manner and using printed materials.

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