Reporting in the time of Bouts
Not only academics were now making use of the new printing press. Other people could also have their religious ideas or views printed and widely disseminated around the world for relatively little money. This development caused social unrest. The printed word had always been a source of reliable knowledge, but could it still be trusted now?
In the 15th century, there were no newspapers, magazines or other regular news reporting like today. Miraculous incidents, scientific discoveries, knowledge of the 'New World' and all sorts of newsworthy information were disseminated in the form of reports, leaflets, pamphlets and spectacle prints. Reporting on miraculous occurrences, for instance, was often coloured. Pamphlets or leaflets often appeared anonymously and were sold on the streets by market vendors. This popular form of news reporting reached wide sections of the population and is in fact a forerunner of the modern tabloid press. Although this 'coloured' reporting was often considered truthful in Bouts' time, today we know better: is this fake news avant la lettre?
Pierre d'Ailly, Imago Mundi et tractatus alii.
Leuven, Jan van Westfalen, c. 1480-1482.
KU Leuven Libraries Maurits Sabbe Library, P Inc Q°R37UPETR1483*.
A well-known example of misinterpretation based on printed works is found with Christopher Columbus. He used a printed copy of the Imago mundi by the French theologian and cardinal Pierre d'Ailly to support his claims that one could reach India westward, via a short crossing of the Atlantic Ocean ('to be sailed in a few days'). The copy containing Christopher Columbus' personal notes, by the way, is still kept in Seville.
An issue of the oldest newspaper in the Southern Netherlands
and one of the earliest in the world.
KU Leuven Libraries Special Collections, 7A4757.
More information was available from 1620, when the first copies of Nieuwe Tijdinghen appeared. Even though publication was still irregular until 1629, this title can be considered the earliest newspaper in the Southern Netherlands. It was printed by Abraham Verhoeven (1575-1652) from Antwerp. The printer gathered news and items through informants. The accounts are very detailed and always accompanied by an illustration. Verhoeven's texts are clearly pro-Spanish and Catholic in tone, probably to avoid falling into disfavour with the government and thus losing his livelihood. The readership of this first newspaper consisted of wealthy merchants, magistrates, the upper middle class and the well-to-do middle class.
The miscarriage of a calf in the village of Wildeshuysen near Munster.
Liefrinck, Hans (I) (engraver), The monster calf, PK.OP.14792.
City of Antwerp collection, Museum Plantin-Moretus.
This impressive woodcut dates from around 1550. It is a particularly rare copy of printed matter that was widely distributed during the early modern period. Occasional prints such as this one brought newsworthy reports in both words and images to the masses for the first time. They were often printed anonymously and sold on the streets. Given the printed matter was not meant to be kept, such prints rarely survived. This piece is coloured by stencils, indicating that it was distributed in large numbers. The spectacle print bears the miraculous news of the miscarriage of a calf. The event is artfully depicted and captured in text.
The text relates that the beast was born in a village called Wildeshuysen not far from Münster. The animal remained alive for some time and made a terrible sound during birth.