A Study On Censorship Of The Books Of The King James Ⅰ In England

In ancient society,all kinds of censorship on book publishing were paid attention by autocratic rulers.Since modern times,with the appearance of Gutenberg printing in western Europe in 1450,and the improvement of the transmission carrier of printing media,book publishing began to be facilitated,and western European countries in early modern times began to strengthen censorship on book publishing.Due to the differences in the intensity and forms of examination in western European countries,the effects of examination in different countries are also different.Among them,Britain,the birthplace of the modern industrial revolution,has its own characteristics in the form and content of censorship compared with other countries.It established a set of relatively perfect censorship system,which continued and developed the form of censorship in a certain period of time,and made censorship last for a long time until the license law was abolished in 1695.Among them,the censorship of the early Stuart dynasty represented by James I was more characteristic than that of the previous dynasties.During this period,although the dynasty seemed to continue the censorship system of the previous Tudor dynasty on the whole,the royal family had some conflicts with the court,parliament,church and other aspects on the policies that should be adopted for censorship,which made the censorship in this period continue in form,but changed in essence.When King James was king of Scotland,due to ethnic and regional contradictions,he focused on reviewing books from England.When James came to England,because his rule was not stable,James I focused on reviewing books that damaged the king’s authority,represented the interests of parliament,criticized the king’s policies in social circulation,and religious books from continental Europe.Because of the great deterrent effect of technological innovation on the royal power,the complicated relationship between various classes and forces in Britain during the historical transformation period(mainly mutual conflicts and struggles)and the need of the king to strengthen his power,James I must implement the censorship of book publishing to safeguard its own rule and consolidate the political stability.In Britain at that time,the book publishing review carried out by James I was out of step with the new trend of democracy,freedom and progress in the period of social transformation at that time.Although a series of book publishing reviews carried out by the king did strengthen the royal power in a short period of time,and restricted the publication and circulation of books in large quantities,it also caused public opinion to oppose the policy.Parliament,courts and other authorities also took the opportunity to gain benefits for themselves in the struggle against each other,which made the situation of British society increasingly complicated.In the end,James I couldn’t understand the development trend and direction of English society well,and still banned books and printed materials vigorously.In the early modern society transition period,the book publishing censorship in Britain naturally lost the support of its public opinion environment.Not only did the people oppose this behavior and system,but also censors and censors indulged smuggling and the circulation of pirated books in the censorship process because of the temptation and drive of economic interests,which greatly reduced the effectiveness of censorship.James I’s book publishing censorship in England was not only the king’s policy adjustment for the period of social evolution,but also a relatively backward measure against social modernization.For the sake of his own interests,the king did not follow the trend in the period of social transformation,but went his own way to ban books,curb ideas,supervise public opinion and crack down on dissidents.Therefore,it is inevitable that its censorship behavior is unsatisfactory.For a long time,James I’s book publishing censorship also made people see the drawbacks of the censorship system of personal domination to a certain extent,which laid the foundation for the complete bankruptcy of the book publishing censorship system.