Editing Satire (section)

====1599 book ban====
In 1599, the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] [[John Whitgift]] and the [[Bishop of London]] [[Richard Bancroft]], whose offices had the function of licensing books for publication in England, issued a decree banning verse satire. The decree, now known as the [[Bishops' Ban of 1599]], ordered the burning of certain volumes of satire by [[John Marston (playwright)|John Marston]], [[Thomas Middleton]], [[Joseph Hall (bishop)|Joseph Hall]], and others; it also required histories and plays to be specially approved by a member of the Queen's [[Privy Council]], and it prohibited the future printing of satire in verse.<ref>{{Citation | title = A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London, 1554–1640 | volume = III | editor-first = Edward | editor-last = Arber | location = London | year = 1875–94 | page = 677 }}</ref>

The motives for the ban are obscure, particularly since some of the books banned had been licensed by the same authorities less than a year earlier. Various scholars have argued that the target was obscenity, libel, or sedition. It seems likely that lingering anxiety about the [[Martin Marprelate]] controversy, in which the bishops themselves had employed satirists, played a role; both [[Thomas Nashe]] and [[Gabriel Harvey]], two of the key figures in that controversy, suffered a complete ban on all their works. In the event, though, the ban was little enforced, even by the licensing authority itself.