Early Modern Marginalia and #earlymoderntwitter

‘A most learned Dutch author hath maintained that birds doe speake and converse one with another.’ ¹ Throughout the early modern period, it was widely known that birds have voices, and The Parliament of Fowls, Chaucer’s great creation, reconvened at irregular intervals. ² The cacophony of tweets could lead to true Twitter-storms, and violent battles of birds were regularly reported, ³ even sung about. ⁴ Different birds were known to comment on affairs in ways characteristic to their own species, ⁵ and while many concerned themselves primarily with erotic subjects ⁶ —some voyeuristically commenting on the frolicking of young couples in London ⁷ —others even addressed the practicalities of government in their tweets. ⁸