William Stansby - Controversy

Controversy

The records of the Stationers Company show that Stansby was repeatedly fined, throughout his career, for small infractions of the guild's rules — for printing copy to which he did not own the rights; for violating rules governing apprentices; even for speaking harsh words to colleagues. This sort of record was not atypical of stationers of the time; printing was a rough-and-tumble trade.

In one instance, Stansby got himself into much more serious trouble. Probably in 1620, Stansby printed a topical pamphlet for Nathaniel Butter: titled A Plain Demonstration of the Unlawful Succession of Ferdinand II, Because of the Incestuous Marriage of His Parents, the work criticized the 1619 accession of the new Holy Roman Emperor. This was one of a series of pamphlets Stansby printed on the controversy that sparked the opening of the Thirty Years' War. The title page of the pamphlet on Ferdinand II bore the false claim that it was printed "at the Hague" — but the Stuart authorities were not fooled; first Butter, and then Stansby, were arrested for violating the regime's strict censorship policy, and Stansby's presses were damaged. Petitions for mercy from both Butter and Stansby survive in the extant records; in his, Stansby places all the blame for the affair on Butter. Both men spent some months in prison over the matter, but were eventually released.

While a prison sentence is a more substantive matter than mere fines for breaking guild rules, Butter and Stansby were far from the only stationers who were incarcerated for their professional activities. Other prominent stationers of the era, like John and Edward Allde, Nicholas Okes, and Thomas Archer, shared similar fates.