The world's first full press freedom : the radical experiment of Denmark-Norway 1770-1773

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. Preface Contents Graphs, Maps, and Illustrations 1 Introduction 2 Eighteenth-Century Denmark-Norway and the Introduction of Press Freedom 3 Absolutism and Press Freedom Debated 4 Press Freedom Debates During Press Freedom 5 Economy and Good Government 6 Church and Religion in a Free Public Sphere 7 The City of Press Freedom – People and Place 8 A Copenhagen of Books and Pamphlets 9 How the Pamphlet Market Turned against its Originator and Fed into his Fall – from the Summer of 1771 to the January 1772 Coup 10 The New Order of 1772 – A Clerical Campaign and a Clean-Up Party 11 Struensee The Monster 12 A European Cause Célèbre – the Struensee Affair and its International Reverberations 13 An International Pamphlet War 14 The Slow Smothering 1772–1773 15 Perspectives Cast of Main Characters of the Press Freedom Period Archive Material, Papers, and Periodicals The Luxdorph Collection with addenda Literatur Index The book investigates the world's first full legal press freedom. In 1770, king Christian 7's physician, the German enlightener J.F. Struensee, effectively became ruler of Denmark. His first decree, complete abandonment of censorship, led to 3 years of press freedom and an avalanche of pamphlets and debates. In early 1772, a coup led to his execution, giving rise to European outcry and fascination with the radical political experiment of Denmark