Copyright History. Part 2: Bloody Mary

Original author: Rickard Falkvinge
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To be continued. The first part is Black Death .


On May 23, 1553, the Archbishop of Canterbury invalidated the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, officially making their daughter Maria Tudor a bastard. Catherine was Catholic and used the location of the Pope, who did not give permission for divorce. Henry VIII wanted Catherine to give birth to a son, but all their children, except Mary, died during or immediately after the birth, which ultimately destroyed their marriage.

Heinrich divorced in the most decisive and thorough way - he became a Protestant, and at the same time brought England out of the influence of Rome, founding the Church of England and becoming its head. After that, he got married and divorced several more times. From the second marriage, his daughter Elizabeth was born, and from the third - son Edward. Unlike Mary, who remained Catholic, they grew up as Protestants.

Edward inherited the throne in 1547, at the age of nine, but died before he came of age. Mary managed to become the queen after him, despite the fact that she was declared illegitimate. She ascended the throne in 1553.

She had not talked with her father for many years and saw her mission in abolishing the abuse he committed against the True Faith, England and her mother, and returning the country to the fold of the Catholic Church. She ruthlessly persecuted the Protestants, publicly executing several hundred people, for which she received the nickname Bloody Mary.

She shared the concerns of Catholics regarding typography. The ability of people to quickly and massively disseminate information threatened its intentions to restore Catholicism, mainly because of the ability of Protestants to print heretical books (at that time religious books were of great political importance). Seeing the attempts to ban book printing in France to no avail, despite the threat of the death penalty, she came up with a solution that would be beneficial not only to the authorities, but also to the owners of the printing houses.

She introduced a monopoly. The London Guild of Printers was granted the exclusive right to any printing work in England. In return, the printers had to coordinate with the authorities all the materials before they were printed. Such a monopoly was very beneficial to both parties - the printing houses made good money, and, to the delight of the censors, they vigilantly monitored any attempts to circumvent the restrictions. This symbiosis of the state and corporate sectors has proven to be a very effective tool for suppressing freedom of speech and religious dissent.

This monopoly was granted to the London Booksellers company on May 4, 1557. She received the name "copyright."

Collaboration with the book industry worked far better than the total prohibition of book printing by order. The booksellers began to play the role of a private censorship oversight body - they burned banned books, confiscated or destroyed equipment of violators of the monopoly, effectively preventing the publication of material unfavorable to the authorities. They quickly learned to independently determine which material could be printed and which not, and the authorities had to intervene only occasionally.

Reader demand was high, and London booksellers were shoveling money. If there was nothing seditious in the books, why not allow people to read them? It was beneficial to the queen and the publishers.

Mary I Tudor died the following year, November 17, 1558. The throne passed to her Protestant sister Elizabeth, whose reign became one of the most glorious periods in the history of England. Maria’s attempts to restore Catholicism failed. But the copyright she invented is still alive.

Third part: Monopoly dies ... and is reborn .


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