My name is Nick Poyntz: this is me, giving a nod to a Holbein portrait of a distant ancestor and namesake. I began this blog when I started a part-time MA in early modern history at Birkbeck in 2007. The MA is now done but the blog remains as an outlet for my interest in the early modern period.

The original Mercurius Politicus was edited by Marchamont Nedham, and was one of the officially-licensed newsbooks of the English Commonwealth. I’ve appropriated its title to blog about my research on seventeenth-century England. As you might guess from the title, my pet obsession is print and print culture, although I’m also interested in how print interacted with other cultural and political forms of expression. My MA thesis looked at newsbooks, power and communication in England in the late 1640s and early 1650s. I’m also interested in what other disciplines like bibliography, sociology and art history can bring to the study of this period.

What you’ll tend to find here is posts on what I’m working on, whether that’s sources I’m looking at, secondary works I’m reading, or just something interesting I’ve found on Early English Books Online. I’m always interested to hear from people who come across this blog, so if you want to get in touch leave a message on this page or e-mail me at:

mercuriuspoliticusATgooglemailDOTcom

This blog’s theme is a slightly edited version of Tarski.