CENSORSHIP
How did censorship affect literature and those
writing it?
OUTLINE
Censorship affected literature through causing authors to
target the public with their ideas
 Understanding Freedom of Speech in Context
 Acceptable Opposition to Censorship
 Pressure from the Church
 Controlling Censorship – The Stationers Company
 The 1662 Licensing Act
 The Public Sphere?
UNDERSTANDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH
 David Colclough – As historians we run the risk of viewing freedom of
speech as a fixed concept
 Philosophers, rhetoricians and political theorists were well regarded and
respected links to the Ancients
 Freedom of speech was seen an impressive skill reserved for specific
sections of society
 Parliament was arguably a public forum where its members could exercise
freedom of speech for the common people
ACCEPTABLE OPPOSITION TO CENSORSHIP
James Milton “Since therefore the knowledge and survay of vice is in this world so necessary to the
constituting of human vertue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we
more safely, and with lesse danger scout into the regions of sin and falsity then by reading all
manner of tractats, and hearing all manner of reason?” (Areopagitica 1644)
- Milton argues for freedom to question ideas and seek truth, but is careful not to argue against
political censorship
- Similarly Locke, later commented on the 1662 Licensing Act that some censorship was
necessary, but that power should be used with caution
- Opposition to religious censorship was made possible in part by the fall of the ecclesiastical
courts
PRESSURE FROM THE CHURCH
Censorship for the people
Censorship of the people
 Peter Laslett - People at the time
were ‘literal Christians’ and disagreed
with unorthodox practices
 Christopher Hill - ‘only a fool would go
out of his way to […] attack
monogamy in front of ecclesiastical
judges’
 Censorship was often justified as a
method of preventing moral decline
and protecting the Church
 Henry VIII was introduced early forms
of censorship to limit criticism to the
Church of England
 Freedom from censorship could mean
freedom from religious restriction on
thought
CONTROLLING CENSORSHIP
The Stationers Company
 Monopoly control over printing and publishing rights
 Limited monopoly over materials
 Control of the Stationers Register (Copyright)
 Control of ideas to an extent (early links to ecclesiastical courts, the Star Chamber and the
Privy Council)
 Heavily entrenched powers (prerogative powers, Royal Charter)
Annabel Patterson – Censorship laws and regulations caused literature to increasingly rely
on metaphor and allegory (an acceptable medium for unacceptable ideas)
THE 1662 LICENSING ACT
The Act was possibly the most important piece of censorship legislation
 It was met with criticism with regard to its reinstatement of Church power in censorship
(Milton)
 It solidified the power of the Stationers Company through their monopoly over publishing
 The required licences for books could only be obtained after they had been checked by an
authority in the field (E.g. The Archbishop of Canterbury managed texts involving religion
and philosophy)
A.B. Worden – There were ways of avoiding the censorship. The Stationers Company often
had conflictions over trade vs constriction
Lois Schwoerer – ‘no one objected to the Licensing Act from 1662 to 1679 on the grounds that
it violated the principle of freedom of the press’
THE PUBLIC SPHERE?
Understanding Freedom of Speech
VS
Exercising Freedom of Speech
DID THE PUBLIC SPHERE EXIST?
 An increase in the number of political pamphlets available following the 1640’s
has caused debate among historians as to whether this was the beginning of a
Public Sphere.
 The existence of some form of public sphere is evident, however, they may not
have been accessible to all (Only 55% of men could read by the Early 18th Century)
Mark Knights – Pamphlets and manuscripts often showed more radical views and
cannot be directly used to prove a public sphere or speak to the attitudes of the
readers
Lois Schwoerer – The Crown passed specific legislation (1662 Licensing Act) to try
and censor and stop the spread of pamphlets, making specific note of the “coffee
men”
CONCLUSION
The public sphere and public forums allowed critical approaches to the Church and
to literature to be more widely understood and accepted
- The use of metaphors and allegory allowed some circumvention of the 1662
Licensing Act and the Stationers Company regulations
- Where metaphor and allegory failed, pamphlets and manuscripts prevailed; with
coffee houses helping to spread ideas (Whigs)
- Printing presses became more widely available, destabilising the idea of freedom
of speech being reserved for rhetoricians and members of Parliament