News from the epicentre

A new monograph has been added to the publications resulting from DisComPoSE research. It is Gennaro Varriale‘s volume News from the Epicentre. The Flow of Information about Earthquakes in the Hispanic Monarchy (XVI–XVII Centuries), which investigates the dissemination of news about earthquakes in the early modern period within the dominions of the Habsburg dynasty: a vast range of territories prone to seismic activity, spanning from Manila to Lima.
The catastrophic events under examination not only destroyed buildings and infrastructure, but also disrupted the social norms of the time. The urgency of these events shortened the distance between interlocutors, to some extent blurring the boundaries of self-censorship. Earthquakes, therefore, offer a valuable opportunity to study the political and military crises of the Hispanic monarchy, the global empire of the time.
The analysis of communications is not an end in itself, but serves as the basis for reflection on the changes in social and political dynamics triggered by earthquakes.
The crises following the earthquakes reveal the underlying contradictions at the court in Madrid, which sought to address them as effectively and swiftly as possible.
For decades, historians have argued that earthquakes, which struck the early modern societies, hindered the flow of news by destroying their infrastructure. More recent research, however, has proposed a new perspective on political communication, suggesting that each crisis acted as a catalyst for news. This interpretation is expanded in Varriale’s book through a comparative analysis of various earthquakes that occurred in the European, Asian, and American territories of the Hispanic monarchy.

Download the index of contents of the volume