Jeremy Norman’sHistoryofInformation.com Exploring the History of Information and Media through Timelines
Jeremy Norman’s
A: London, England, United Kingdom
"Detail from document connected with the foundation of Henry VII's chantry and almshouses at Westminster. The King sits in the Star Chamber and receives the Archbishop of Canterbury William Warham, Richard Fox, the Bishop of Westminster and clerics associated with Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral as well as the Mayor of London. This image is from the collections of The National Archives Image no.5063510. Date: July 16th 1504 Our Catalogue Reference: E 33/2 This image is from the collections of The National Archives."
Abolition of the Star Chamber court in 1640 removed the machinery of censorship in England. This resulted in an outpouring of publications on topics which previously had been suppressed. In 1642 two thousand titles were published in England, and three thousand five hundred were published in 1643— "more titles in a single year than at any time before the eighteenth century" (A. Hessayon, "Incendiary texts: book burning in England, c.1640 – c.1660", Cromohs, 12 [2007] 1-25).
