Deadly Letters: Plague, Banditry, and Heresy in Early Modern Mail

The Center for Italian Studies is pleased to host a lecture by Professor Rachel Midura of Virginia Tech University titled “Deadly Letters: Plague, Banditry, and Heresy in Early Modern Mail.”

By the mid sixteenth-century, continental Europe depended upon mail for the ordinary pulse of governance and commerce. Communications networks remained as vulnerable as the humans who carried the letters. As a contemporary proverb put it, “he who rides by post, plays with death.” Midura will use state archives from across Italy to explore how protecting postal couriers from brigandage, plague, and political or religious rebellion shaped international relations. The expansion of state-sponsored postal systems into carrying private mail relied upon surveilling and intervening into a contentious public sphere. This event was recorded on Thursday, November 10, 2022.

Speakers:
Rachel Midura is an assistant professor of early modern European and digital history at Virginia Tech University.

For more information visit the event website.