But to prove that Flaming and FlameWars are nothing new, here's the 17th century's equivalent of a Blog entry. A Pamphlet, written during that <sarcasm>delightful</sarcasm> period of European History called the "Thirty Years War".
The pamphlet below is entirely typical of the standard of theological and political debate of the time. One difference : in those days theology and politics were intertwined, and both were blood sports. Within 10 years of the pamphlet being written, a Civil War tore the country, a King was beheaded, a series of Talibaneque Republican regimes were installed, then were replaced by a less extreme Military Dictatorship.
While in Europe, things were really bad.
Hat Tip to Goldsmith, in a comment over at Tim Blair's place.
More Pamphlets of the period are available online and in dead tree editions.
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