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
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And for the most part, people didn’t need to know. They would just get on with their lives. Most of what impacted them happened in their own village.
Medieval rule was essentially a family business. Quite often getting a key appointment was based just on being someone known to the king, and usually related to them in some way as well.
Without elections, political scandals didn’t matter as much – the king didn’t have to answer to “the people.”
They did have political relations with the other lords out there and with powerful towns or guild leaders. So the circle of people who “actually mattered” would be more like 200 to 1,500 key people.
The Court itself was often the center of social life; the people who mattered would visit court frequently or have some trusted relative go on their behalf to keep them updated on events.
Medieval logistics were not great, so raising an army was slow and cumbersome; rulers who could build, maintain, and field a large army for more than just a campaign season were rare and usually fairly powerful.
Words would go down the food chain all the way down to local lords. There might be heralds in bigger cities. Word of mouth also contributed a lot: travellers, merchants, minstrels all played an essential part in getting news around.
They communicated with the people who were important: the local lords. The peasants are illiterate and the local lords problem.
Kings normally held court with the lords. Here are some comments on the orocess by way of reviewing part of the game CKIII
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Long ago, when there were kings and queens living in big castles, they needed to talk to all the people who lived in their lands. But back then, there wasn’t just one big boss making all the rules. Instead, each part of the land had its own leader. So, these rulers had to find ways to tell everyone about the rules and important things.
Imagine you have a lot of friends who live far away, and you can’t just call them on the phone. So, you write letters or draw pictures to tell them what’s happening. Medieval rulers did something similar. They didn’t have phones or computers, so they sent special messengers or used big signs to let everyone know what they wanted.
Even though it sounds tricky, they found ways to share information without one big leader. Just like when you want to tell your friends something fun or important, medieval rulers had to use creative ways to talk to all the people in their lands.
News and gossip was spread through the church. The church was the village meeting. It’s also one of several reason why there was virtually no separation of church and kingdom back then.
So…a couple of things: 1) “Kingdoms” were a **lot** smaller in the 1100s. 2) a great many of the laws weren’t codified, everyone just “knew” 3) Town criers have been a thing since Ancient Egypt (different forms from time to time, but the same function) 4) war meant rallying troops (“commoners”), so warriors would go to towns and recruit people. That kind of thing happened fairly quickly and finally, 5 – the funny one) women have an intelligence network that surpasses the CIA. Whisper a secret in one’s ear, and before you can blink, they know about it a continent away, even (and especially) in the 1100s…
Another thing I was always fascinated by is how the Spanish, English, and other European empires would command armies across the ocean. It would take months for the King to get updates on something as insanely huge as the US revolutionary war and whatnot. Not to mention that they succeeded in many cases with this level of delay, though not in the case of the revolutionary war obviously.
Heralds. One thing to remember is that literacy rates were very low back then and most people couldn’t read or write. But spoken language was still understood by all (assuming you spoke the same language). So, heralds would be sent to local townships, the townspeople would be assembled, and the herald would verbally read off the ruler’s edicts.
One important aspect of this was decentralized leadership. Due to the limited nature of available communication channels, it simply wasn’t possible for a ruler to micromanage every aspect of their kingdom. Instead leadership was heirarchial, each leader in the heirarchy had their own domain and sphere of control, with a great deal of autonomy to act independantly of the ruler. These people would have their own heralds to pass on edicts recieved by pigeon or messenger from the ruler.
All other information would travel by rumor and word of mouth. Typically it would be travelling merchants, hunters, and returning soldiers that would bring news from the outside world. However, since most townships were small and fairly isolated, news from outside was seen as interesting, but largely unimportant.
There were other ways to communicate over long distances, but these were limited in what they could do, and usually served a more specific purpose, rather than as a means of general communication. These would be things like smoke signals, flag signaling, drums, bagpipes, horns, or signal beacons. Most of which were used to relay orders to large formations of troops, communication between ships at sea, or to signal important events. Believe it or not, some of these methods are still used today as a backup for electronic communication systems.
Another thing that people take for granted and don’t think of as “communication” is signs & symbols. Even if people can’t read, they can still recognize and interpret commonly used symbols. One thing that helps provide effective communication is a standardization of such symbols. For example, an established standard could be that all heralds must wear blue striped pants, and a purple sache with a golden broach stamped with the king’s coat of arms. This way anyone in any village of the kingdom would be able to easily recognize the king’s herald, and know that they speak with the authority of the king.
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