The World's First Full Press Freedom: The Radical Experiment of Denmark-Norway 1770–1773

Ulrik Langen; Frederik Stjernfelt

book: The World's First Full Press Freedom

Open Access Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2022

The World's First Full Press Freedom

The Radical Experiment of Denmark-Norway 1770–1773

Ulrik Langen and Frederik Stjernfelt
Funded by: Carlsberg Foundation

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110771800

Overview
Contents

About this book

Open Access

The book charts an extraordinary period in Danish history: the "Press Freedom Period" of 1770-73, in which King Christian 7's physician J.F. Struensee introduced a series of radical enlightenment reforms beginning with the total abolishment of censorship.

The book investigates the sudden avalanche of pamphlets and debates, initiating the modern public sphere of Denmark-Norway. Publications show a surprising variety, from serious political, economic, and philosophical treatises over criticism, polemics, ridicule, entertainment, and to spin campaigns, obscenities, libel, threats.

A successful coup against Struensee led to his subsequent public execution in Copenhagen, and the latter half of the period saw the gradual smothering of the new public sphere as well as an international pamphlet storm over what was happening in Denmark.

Readers all over Europe proved curious to learn about the radical experiment with enlightened absolutism in Denmark; interest was heightened by the involvement of the Danish Queen, the English princess Caroline Matilda to whom Struensee had an intimate relation.

The book is a detailed portrayal of a seminal event in the development of the public sphere in Europe.

Author / Editor information

Ulrik Langen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Frederik Stjernfelt, Aalborg University Copenhagen, Denmark.

Reviews

“‘Denmark-Norway’, a single kingdom in early modern times, was the first Western society to decree full freedom of the press without restriction or censorship. Being far ahead of Britain, France and North America in this respect, the press freedom brought in the Danish realms in 1770-73 created a huge drama and international furore. This excellent book provides the first comprehensive account in English of one of the great landmark events of world history in the Enlightenment era.” – Jonathan Israel, Professor Emeritus, Princeton Institute for Advanced Study

“This is the first exhaustive study of the astonishing Press Freedom experiment that took place at the fringes of European Enlightenment. The book offers a rich and entertaining account of the eruption of new voices, topics, tones and self-reflective communication practices that came with the sudden liberty. Historians have formerly dismissed the Press Freedom writings as "a mud bath of trash literature" and "a Walpurgis Night of rudeness, stupidity and meanness". In today’s fast-changing and challenging media landscape, the remarkable years of Press Freedom gain new relevance. Ulrik Langen and Frederik Stjernfelt’s study is a compelling demonstration of the importance of this moment, in the history of Denmark-Norway as well as in the general history of freedom of expression.” – Ellen Krefting, Professor of Intellectual History, University of Oslo, Norway.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Graphs, Maps, and Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	XIII
1 Introduction Open Access Download PDF	1
2 Eighteenth-Century Denmark-Norway and the Introduction of Press Freedom Open Access Download PDF	17
3 Absolutism and Press Freedom Debated Open Access Download PDF	48
4 Press Freedom Debates During Press Freedom Open Access Download PDF	88
5 Economy and Good Government Open Access Download PDF	101
6 Church and Religion in a Free Public Sphere Open Access Download PDF	136
7 The City of Press Freedom – People and Place Open Access Download PDF	170
8 A Copenhagen of Books and Pamphlets Open Access Download PDF	207
9 How the Pamphlet Market Turned against its Originator and Fed into his Fall – from the Summer of 1771 to the January 1772 Coup Open Access Download PDF	236
10 The New Order of 1772 – A Clerical Campaign and a Clean-Up Party Open Access Download PDF	276
11 Struensee The Monster Open Access Download PDF	328
12 A European Cause Célèbre – the Struensee Affair and its International Reverberations Open Access Download PDF	358
13 An International Pamphlet War Open Access Download PDF	404
14 The Slow Smothering 1772–1773 Open Access Download PDF	431
15 Perspectives Open Access Download PDF	462
Cast of Main Characters of the Press Freedom Period Open Access Download PDF	482
Archive Material, Papers, and Periodicals Open Access Download PDF	496
The Luxdorph Collection with addenda Open Access Download PDF	498
Literatur Open Access Download PDF	517
Index Open Access Download PDF	539

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
Audience: Scholars in the field of media studies, 18th-century history, Enlightenment intellectual history, Danish history.
Pages
- Front matter: 15
- Main content: 551
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 30
- Coloured Illustrations: 27
- Coloured Line drawings: 3
- Coloured Maps: 7
Keywords: Freedom of expression; enligthened absolutism; Struensee; Johann Friedrich von; Denmark.

eBook

Published: May 9, 2022
ISBN: 9783110771800

Hardcover

Published: May 23, 2022
ISBN: 9783110771237