The Heavie Hand of Heaven : Providence and News in Early Modern Ballads

This article overturns the assumption that early modern ballads include too much godly, moralising content to be considered part of news culture. It uses a wide range of sixteenth and seventeenth century English ballads in print and manuscript to demonstrate that not only did the news ballad exist as a distinct genre of song, one of its most significant features was the inclusion of Providence – the ongoing supernatural workings of God in the material world. By placing these songs in the context of other genres cheap print and drawing on research into the role of religion in everyday life, the article shows that rather than undermining the ballad’s role in news culture, providence in fact defined it. Moreover, the distinction made in early modern England between Universal Providence (God’s overall plan for the world) and Particular Providence (specific examples of his intervention in earthly affairs) helps to subdivide the news ballad genre. First, there are those which use Universal Providence as an editorial line to shape responses to the news. Second, there are ballads in which Particular Providence itself provides the story. This second type of song contains few details of the event but expounds the moral implications of the story. They have traditionally been seen as godly rather than newsy. Understanding Particular Providence helps us to see that even those ballads which have been dismissed as more moralistic than topical in fact told people the most important news they could possibly hear.