Carla Roth is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Basle. She studied history at the University of Zurich and at Balliol College, University of Oxford, completing her DPhil in 2016. Her research focuses on the cultural and social history of early modern Switzerland.

• Introduction 1: Taking note of a 'wondrous time' 2: Informants and networks 3: Obscene humour and sociability 4: Gossip and the value of social knowledge 5: Rumour, news, and trust 6: Tales of the past Conclusion

Internet social-media algorithms deluge today's users with unreliable and sometimes contradictory information. This small but dense book offers some unusual perspectives about similarly unreliable and contradictory oral information five centuries ago in the small, prosperous, and autonomous Swiss city of St. Gallen, home of one of Latin Christendom's most famous abbeys.

Carla Roth is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Basle. She studied history at the University of Zurich and at Balliol College, University of Oxford, completing her DPhil in 2016. Her research focuses on the cultural and social history of early modern Switzerland.

• Introduction 1: Taking note of a 'wondrous time' 2: Informants and networks 3: Obscene humour and sociability 4: Gossip and the value of social knowledge 5: Rumour, news, and trust 6: Tales of the past Conclusion

Internet social-media algorithms deluge today's users with unreliable and sometimes contradictory information. This small but dense book offers some unusual perspectives about similarly unreliable and contradictory oral information five centuries ago in the small, prosperous, and autonomous Swiss city of St. Gallen, home of one of Latin Christendom's most famous abbeys.

Carla Roth is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Basle. She studied history at the University of Zurich and at Balliol College, University of Oxford, completing her DPhil in 2016. Her research focuses on the cultural and social history of early modern Switzerland.

• Introduction 1: Taking note of a 'wondrous time' 2: Informants and networks 3: Obscene humour and sociability 4: Gossip and the value of social knowledge 5: Rumour, news, and trust 6: Tales of the past Conclusion

Internet social-media algorithms deluge today's users with unreliable and sometimes contradictory information. This small but dense book offers some unusual perspectives about similarly unreliable and contradictory oral information five centuries ago in the small, prosperous, and autonomous Swiss city of St. Gallen, home of one of Latin Christendom's most famous abbeys.