What were medieval times journalist-types called?

[Whimsical]

My cleric of Denier introduced the printing press to the Forgotten Realms. What has your cleric done to advance their god's goals lately? My cleric doesn't know it, but several hundred years from now she will be regarded as one of the top five most influential people of the millenia in Forgotten Realms.

 

[GreatLemur]

While it is true that "The press" in the real world requires a moveable type press to work - that is not so in a magical world.

Absolutely. I believe the Spell Compendium included a 0-level spell called amanuensis that can produce quick copy of a nonmagical text. A 3rd-level equivalent of the same spell might make one Wizard into a human printing press, to say nothing of the possibilities for magical items. There's no reason a D&D setting should be limited to what was available in medieval Europe, unless that setting is medieval Europe.

 

[Arkham]

I do believe a good term would be 'Rumormonger'.
One who sells rumors.

 

[Nyeshet]

There was an article on msnbc today regarding the worlds oldest - continuous - newspaper finally going digital. It was started in 1645 in Sweden as regular (weekly? monthly?) pamphlets tacked to billboards in the major cities of the kingdom. I'll see if I can find the article . . .


. . . here it is:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16993434/

I guess this could be considered an example of a late middle ages newspaper?

Queen Kristina used the publication to keep her subjects informed of the affairs of state, Holm said, and the first editions, which were more like pamphlets, were carried by courier and posted on note boards in cities and towns throughout the kingdom.

Today, Post-och Inrikes Tidningar, which means mail and domestic tidings, runs legal announcements by corporations, courts and certain government agencies — about 1,500 a day according to Olov Vikstrom, the current editor.

 

[Celebrim]

It was started in 1645 in Sweden as regular (weekly? monthly?) pamphlets tacked to billboards in the major cities of the kingdom...I guess this could be considered an example of a late middle ages newspaper?

While there is a good deal of disagreement over when exactly the Middle Ages ended, its generally accepted by just about everyone that by ~1400 the middle ages were over (a few hold out for Martin Luther), and many historians would claim that they most certainly would have been over a hundred years or more before that had Europe not had to deal with the Black Death.

I'm afraid 1645 is right out. You are verging on the Enlightenment by that time, or at least the Age of Reason (depending again on where you mark things). Europe has developed powerful centralized nation states fielding professional mercenary armies (mercenary here in the best sense of the word), is in commerse with pretty much the whole world, is printing thousands of pamplets, broadsheets, books, and other publications every year, is on the verge of discoverying scientific methodology, industrialization is just beginning in weaving and paper manufacturing, and England is on the verge of becoming something like a democracy (battle of Nasby will occur this year).

Now granted, most D&D worlds look alot more like that than they do like 11th century feudal states, but still 1645 is most certainly not the late middle ages. More like early modern.

 

[Cam Banks]

I think the word you want is "herald."

Cheers,
Cam

 

[ruleslawyer]

Now granted, most D&D worlds look alot more like that than they do like 11th century feudal states, but still 1645 is most certainly not the late middle ages. More like early modern.

True, although Sweden would not have been the best example of an advanced 17th-century state (one has to look to England, Flanders, or certain Italian cities for that).

That said, D&D doesn't necessarily have all that much resemblance to historical medieval Europe... at least for the major WotC campaign settings. Certainly, the Realms is more Renaissance-era (down to some of the gunpowder and nautical technology, the artistic sophistication, mercantilism, and general political sensibilities) than medieval, and magic would easily cover the difference probably right up to the Enlightenment period.

I use broadsheets in my Waterdeep campaign, although I do assume that most people just get their news from the wandering food-sellers who service the laborers, shopkeepers, artisans, and tradesmen of the city. In the official city setting, broadsheets are a bit on the new side, and largely restricted to detailed chroniclings of political and trade transactions (with lots of "advertising" in the form of paid placements of stories by noble families, the Lords of the city, and various mercantile factions) and flat-out gossip. There *are* also professional rumormongers, who are paid to plant rumors, counter them, or suss out the true from the false. I use all of these IMC, and they've had a pretty big impact.

 

[ruleslawyer]

I think the word you want is "herald."

Cheers,
Cam

I would say that "herald" is really *not* the right term, as this as often could mean a king's messenger, student of lineage, standards, and noble/royal symbols and insignia, or even merely a functionary detailed to announce dignitaries at formal occasions like tourneys, festivals, holidays of state and the like.

The closest to modern journalist is almost certainly scribe or scrivener. Of course, the modern "journalist" also covers a variety of sins. Is Anderson Cooper (CNN) a journalist? Wolf Blitzer? Elizabeth Bumiller? William Safire? R.W. Apple? Hunter Thompson? Many people would probably say all of them, in which case you're dealing with people who do very, very different kinds of things with information. The one reasonable commonality is that (one hopes, in the case of the TV people) that these folk research and document current events, then present them in some kind of written or oral format. But for the research and the presentation to be combined in one person (or, as tends to happen in modern media, for the researcher to be invisible and the presenter to be a celebrity) is something unique to the "modern" condition. (Famous editorials have of course existed for at least 200 years.)

 

[Solarious]

Personally, don't worry about historical accuracy. You're playing in FR, the Gods walk the earth and send their servants around to do their bidding and spread the word. You can roast people from hundreds of feet away with a few mumbled words and a bit of bat poo. Dragons are real, faith is very real, and the shadows in the corner do hold bogeymen. Real history has little, if any place in this discussion. Plus, you're in Waterdeep, one of the more civilized and peaceful cities in all of the FR, with the Lords and a Wizard's Guild and everything.

In fact, let her invent the concept of journalism and call it such. Salvatore lets Cadderly get his hands on explosive darts (grenade launchers) and spinning adamantine disks (lethal yo-yos that probably break half the laws of physics), the least you can do is let your wife unleash the power of education upon FR.

I also think Fochlucan Lyricist is an incredibly appropiate fit for the character concept.

 

[Nyaricus]

My cleric of Denier introduced the printing press to the Forgotten Realms. What has your cleric done to advance their god's goals lately? My cleric doesn't know it, but several hundred years from now she will be regarded as one of the top five most influential people of the millenia in Forgotten Realms.

More info, please I run Faerun, and would love to include this in my games somehow

cheers,
--N