About me

Who am I?

My name is Nick Poyntz and I am currently studying part-time for an MA in history at Birkbeck College.

My interests are focused on Europe, particularly Britain, during the seventeenth century and the wider early modern period. I am especially interested in power and authority, whether “high” or “low”, and how it is expressed and constructed. Specific interests include everything from court ritual and ceremony through to print culture and popular protest. My MA thesis will look at newsbooks, power and communication in England in the 1650s.

I also have an interest in historiography and how subsequent generations have viewed the early modern period. I’m interested, too, in what other disciplines like literary criticism, anthropology and sociology can bring to the study of history.

Why do I blog?

For two reasons:

• As an attempt to help me structure my thoughts as I go through my MA. Lots of my posts are about specific sources and secondary works I’m studying. Others are about research for my dissertation.
• As an attempt to engage in the growing community of historians who blog about their work. The early modern blogosphere is still relatively small, so this is my contribution to expanding it.

Disclaimer: I do not post about my day job, or about the specifics of my course such as lectures and seminars. The other rule I try to apply when blogging is “be nice”.

Where does the title of your blog come from?

The original Mercurius Politicus was edited by Marchamont Nedham, and was one of the officially-licensed newsbooks of the English Commonwealth.

How to get in touch

If you’d like to contact me, leave a message on this page or e-mail me at:

mercuriuspoliticusATgooglemailDOTcom