Printed Poison

Pamphlet Propaganda, Faction Politics, and the Public Sphere in Early Seventeenth-Century France

Jeffrey K. Sawyer

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780520334885
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520334892
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Combining a broad analysis of political culture with a particular focus on rhetoric and strategy, Jeffrey Sawyer analyzes the role of pamphlets in the political arena in seventeenth-century France. During the years 1614-1617 a series of conflicts occurred in France, resulting from the struggle for domination of Louis XIII's government. In response more than 1200 pamphlets—some printed in as many as eighteen editions—were produced and distributed. These pamphlets constituted the political press of the period, offering the only significant published source of news and commentary. Sawyer examines key aspects of the impact of pamphleteering: the composition of the targeted public and the ways in which pamphlets were designed to affect its various segments, the interaction of pamphlet printing and political action at the court and provincial levels, and the strong connection between pamphlet content and assumptions on the one hand and the evolution of the French state on the other. His analysis provides new and valuable insights into the rhetoric and practice of politics. Sawyer concludes that French political culture was shaped by the efforts of royal ministers to control political communication. The resulting distortions of public discourse facilitated a spectacular growth of royal power and monarchist ideology and influenced the subsequent history of French politics well into the Revolutionary era. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.

Many titles in the Voices Revived program are also newly available as ebooks, offered at a discounted price to support wider access to scholarly work.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• ABBREVIATIONS
• EDITORIAL NOTE
• CHRONOLOGY
• Introduction
• ONE The Public Sphere in Early Seventeenth-Century France
• RHETORIC AS POLITICAL ACTION
• PAMPHLET PRODUCTION
• TWO Political Tactics and Rhetorical Strategies
• GOING PUBLIC
• THREE
• The Production and Distribution of Pamphlets
• PAMPHLET PRODUCTION
• FOUR Pamphlet Readers and the Public
• LOCAL POLITICIZATION AND THE ISSUES
• THE AFFAIR OF POITIERS
• FIVE Ethos and Audience
• PERSONA AND PERSUASION
• POLITICS AND COMMON SENSE
• WHOSE ACTION OR INACTION?
• SIX The Rhetoric of Absolutism
• THEOLOGIANS AND JURISCONSULTS VS. BIRTH, HONOR, AND TRADITION
• Conclusion Pamphleteering and the Development of Absolutism
• THE PUBLIC SPHERE RECONSIDERED
• CENSORSHIP RECONSIDERED
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX