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→Medieval Propaganda and Early Modern
==Medieval Propaganda and Early Modern==
Medieval European propaganda can be divided into chronicles, hagiography, which was a type of reporting of what was happening around a narrator, and a type of monograph or book. Visual arts were also used as in previous periods. This time, most visual arts about leaders or governments focused on demonstrating them as having divine benefaction and that their governing was part of an ordained process. Writings also were widely used as part of propaganda. Chronicles provided a more dry, descriptive accounting of events in a type of linear process that describes events from year to year. A good example of this are the Chronicles of Alfred the Great. These, although often useful historically, were propaganda at their core because they often focused on events that could be shaped to help the ruler or show support that the ruler receives from God. Hagiography was a type of first person perspective given about events occurring around a narrator. These often intersect divine intervention or interpreted events in a divine manner that could help the ruler. Descriptive monographs often were portrayed as works for a more sophisticated audience and were often quite long. The <i>Antapodosis</i> is a good example of such a work that also demonstrates that these works often attempted to guide their audience by telling them how to interpret and understand events. These works were a type of historical analysis as well as guide to audiences in understanding events from the point of view of, more often, the governing bodies.<ref>For more on early Medieval propaganda, see: Geary, P.J., 2013. <i>Language & power in the early Middle ages</i>. The Menahem Stern Jerusalem lectures. Brandeis University Press, Waltham, Mass. </ref>
With the printing press becoming widely available after the 16th century, propaganda began to take a different dimension in the early Modern period. Now, we begin to find newspapers being used for the first time to help sway the masses in government positioning or about current affairs such as the debate between Protestants and Catholics. The Habsburg Dynasty began to use newspapers to publish daily or near daily war accounts, all of which favoured the crown. With the printing press, posters and newspapers became more common and factions within governments or rivals to power also equally used these media to promote their messages. During the Napoleonic wars, Napoleon moved away from religious symbolism and propaganda to a more secular approach. Heroism and success in the battlefield was given as reason enough to promote success and his portrayal as a great leader. Sweeping paintings that show heroic conquests and portrayal created a personality cult around the leader. Napoleon famously used paintings from well known artists to portray himself as the secular saviour of France, although interestingly sometimes this utilised religious symbolism or symbolism from the Roman period.
