“The Revolutionary Evolution of the Media”: King James VI and I and the Taverns – Paul S. Maxwell

This is a book in progress amp8230 How a changing world has made media what it is todayGo here to read the previous chaptersChapter 6 Part 1Early media had amp8211 as media does today amp8211 reputable and not so reputable aspects The roots of official media today often originated in the awakening from the Dark Ages via religious initiativesBefore the printing press there were a number of versions of the Bible in English beginning at the turn of the 15th Century with followers of John Wycliffe working from the Latin Vulgate version While it was preprinting press and was in manuscript form it was widely circulated In 1525 William Tyndale began work on an English translation that became the first English Bible in print After a decade of working on refining the New Testament and beginning to translate the Old Testament Tyndaleamp8217s work became the basis for the first authorized version during the reign of Henry VIII When Mary I ascended to the throne she returned Englandamp8217s official communion to the Catholic Church Many protestants fled England and many established an English colony so to speak in Geneva That city became a center of protestant scholarship under John CalvinThat group produced another translation known as the Geneva Bible which was soon joined by another called the Bishops Bible resulting in confusion James VI of Scotland in 1601 attended a conference of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Fife that suggested a new translation of the Bible from the original written languages A couple of years later James VI added James I of England to his titles and convened a conference at Hampton Court in 1604Work on the new translation was undertaken by 47 scholars of the Church of England as 1604 ended After four years of work the King James Version as printed contained a note stating the new Bible had been quottranslated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared and revised by His Majesty39s special commandquotAn aside James was a significant player in the originations of as Christine Desanamp8217s book amp8220Making Money Coin Currency and the Coming of Capitalismamp8221 puts it money itself When some argued that a debt needed to be paid in a set amount of silver the Kingamp8217s privy council declared amp8220the King by his prerogative make money of what matter and form he pleaseth and establish the standard of itamp8221In 1611 the new Bible was first printed by the Kingamp8217s printer one Robert Barker His editions were available as complete folios for 10 shillings looseleaf and 12 shillings for bound copies These original Bibles were oversized meant for church leaders to read from the pulpit they werenamp8217t for the common EnglishmanBut it wasnamp8217t long before editions appeared in more easily digested versionsAnd it wasnamp8217t long before oral perversions of the new authorized Bible along with rumors and odd additions to official pronouncements proliferated around Europe Literacy after all was just growing as printing presses printed more pamphlets broadsheets song sheets and other forms of information amp8230 and misinformationAlong with the official forms of print misinformation grew from travelers taverns and marketplaces amp8230 all of which trafficked in rumorTravelers were when entering a new place bombarded with the question amp8220What news ofamp8221 whatever and wherever Never mind that few had real news Except for the elite subscribers to trusted news correspondents few common people had any source of real information from far away places While some news traveled fast in various forms most consisted of unverifiable information Though to be real some news was accurate as in the reign of Henry VIII when yet another axe fell on a queenamp8217s neckSort of the social media of the dayRumors thrived in the natural gathering places of taverns then more than pubs more like bed and booze and marketplaces But the revival of minstrels and singers throughout Europe began to change thatNext week Chapter 6 Part 2 amp8211 The News SingersIn an almost 50year career writing and reporting on media Paul S Maxwell started andor ran some 45plus publications ranging from CATV Newsweekly to Colorado Magazine to CableVision to Multichannel News to CableFAX and The BRIDGE Suite of daily newsletters and research publications In between publishing stints Maxwell served as an advisor andor consultant to a number of major media companies and media startups including running a unit of MCI and managing a partnership of TCI and McGrawHillSend any and all criticisms suggestions rants threats corrections etc to him at cablemaxmaccom He has a new Web site coming soonamp160Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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“The Revolutionary Evolution of the Media”: King James VI and I and the Taverns – Paul S. Maxwell

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