Maybe a weird/stupid question. Today we have mass media, and any new law/political scandal that happens reaches almost everyone instantly. Previously, radio broadcasts. Before telecommunications, information could go around presumably by letters, word of mouth, etc. Before even any of that, how would entire populations in, for example, the 11th century find out about new laws that were passed in their country, or if their country was going to war, and was it ever possible to communicate this fairly quickly (that is, within a week or two?)
In: 1822
Simple, they didn’t and they didn’t need to. You might be used to a strong central government, but medieval rulers weren’t like that.
You had regional nobility, who handled local affairs. Local lords were responsible for collecting taxes and enforcing laws. They were highly independent for the most parts.
It took months to gather vassals and their retinues for war.
It’s not that information couldn’t travel fast. Dude on a horse could travel pretty fast.
But the number of things directly controlled by the central government was pretty small in that period.
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