Browsing by Author "Ahern, Sheila"

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The Author-Printer in Tudor Society a Study Based on the Activities of Early English Printers
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 1982) Ahern, Sheila
Printing held particular appeal for those with literary, educational, and social interests and the concept of the meritorious printer serving his fellow-countryman was an ideal shared by many of the trade. Prefaces written by early printers invariably speak of their educational and literary goals or show a professional pride in their accomplishments. Frequently such prefaces describe the services rendered by their craft to society and it is not uncommon for printers to declare that they have given greater consideration to the common good than to their own self-interest. Aware of the power of the printed word, printers made good use of the opportunity to educate and to mould public opinion. The provision of vernacular texts for a new class of lay readers opened up a sphere of influence to the printer which was recognized and exploited. In most of the sixteenth century movements for the dispelling of ignorance, the promotion of the vernacular language or the exposure of social abuses, printers took a lead. Moreover, many were influential religious reformers intent upon directing the public's choice of reading material and influencing popular religious beliefs. Motivated by deep convictions, they were prepared to place their business and liberty at risk. Printers are to be found among the writers of all kinds of literature: as authors (and especially as editors) they preserved the nation's literary heritage. Further, they contributed to the development of language, literature, the writing of history, and to the dissemination of theological ideas. Classical works were made available by them in translation and they succeeded in popularizing hitherto specialized areas of knowledge like medicine, law and local government. Through their efforts the learned were encouraged to place their knowledge at the disposal of society and to accept that commonplace matters were not unworthy subjects for their attention. Printers themselves wrote on the major social questions of their day: on rebellion, on enclosure, on poverty; and on public manners, morals and vices. In attempting to enlighten the ignorant, they made some contribution to the popular literature which exposed fraud and revealed the deceptions practised by the wily and the dishonest upon more simple folk. The mass-production of books had a major effect on all aspects of English society and profoundly affected its traditions. In the several movements for popular education, for social reform and for religious change, printers assumed a leading role. They raised matters of national importance to the notice of the public and kept the issues in current focus. Although much that they wrote themselves was not great literature, nevertheless, they worked in its service and they wielded a powerful influence upon contemporary society.
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William Harrison and sixteenth century humanism
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 1977) Ahern, Sheila
William Harrison's reputation is well established as the leading authority on the social conditions of Tudor England and his "Description of England" is generally acclaimed as the most valuable source of social history that exists for the Elizabethan period. To look upon him solely as a commentator on Elizabethan society is, however, to miss the point that he was primarily an historian engaged upon research for a history and that the "Description of England" was a by-product of that research. To his contemporaries he was a man of learning, an historian of merit, and the friend of such notable scholars as Harvey, Stow and Camden. His "Chronology" was never published, although Holinshed made use of it in manuscript form, and it is our loss that the manuscript copy of Harrison's history was lost from the Derry Diocesan Library in the nineteenth century. The purpose of this thesis is to examine William Harrison's place in the intellectual history of the sixteenth century and to look at his work in the context of the transformation taking place in the approach to the study of history, changing the largely uncritical medieval attitude into the scholarly method of Renaissance humanism. The impact of the new methods of accurate scholarship upon him personally is discussed as well as his interest in new trends in scholarly thought. The extent to which he shared the continental humanists'concern to understand their society and analyse the forces at work within it, as well as to make that knowledge generally available for the good of the commonwealth, is also focused upon. In producing such a comprehensive survey of the life, people and land of Elizabethan England, Harrison was making a new departure and he found a pattern already set on the European continent. He was well aware that his work was novel in England and he called himself an innovator, expressing the hope that others would follow his example in extolling and displaying their native land. The way in which he presented topographical facts was of particular relevance to later antiquaries and marks a step in the development of antiquarian studies. Harrison had the wide-ranging intellectual interests of the Renaissance scholar: history, archaeology, etymology, natural history, medicine, weights and measures, coins, map-making, chronology and the development of language. He knew Greek, Latin and Hebrew well; and he had also taught himself Anglo-Saxon, the Scottish version of English and the rudiments of the Welsh language. Patriotism and concern for the good of the commonwealth were powerful elements of English humanism and, despite the fact that Harrison was a clergyman, the secular motive was the force which underlay his interpretation of society. Divine interpretation had no place in his scheme of things: he looked to the state to provide defence, order and the maintenance of religion and it was to "law and nature" that he turned to "permit all men to live in their best manner".