How to read a news sheet from 1621

Seven scenes, German captions and a curtain: a short guide to the news of the seventeenth century.

In 1621 there were no newspapers in the modern sense. News of a battle, a coronation or an execution travelled as single printed sheets, sold in the street by the printers of German and Dutch cities.

Start with the title

The title is usually the largest text on the sheet, here in a cartouche held up by curtains. It tells you what the printer wanted you to believe: Wahre Abcontrafactur, a true picture.

Then read the scenes like a book

Left to right, top to bottom. Each scene has its caption under it. Names are often written straight into the picture, next to the person they belong to.

Ask who made it, and when

A printer in Frankfurt or Augsburg had not seen Prague. Some details come from letters and reports, some from imagination. Compare two prints of the same event and the differences tell you as much as the likenesses.