in France, adding to the quality of life. (French news online)

A Town Crier’s opening shout of “Oyez” derives from the Anglo-Norman word for listen (modern French, oyez, infinitive, ouïr, but largely replaced by the verb écouter).

European Town Criers are organized as "Orde Van de Belleman" or "Guild Of Town Criers European Continent."

The importance of Town Criers to Germany is perhaps best evidenced by a prominent statue of four town criers in Bremen, Germany.

In Goslar, Germany, a crier was employed to remind the local populace not to urinate

or defecate in the river the day before water was drawn for brewing beer.

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England

In Medieval England, Town Criers were the chief means of news communication with the towns-people, since many were illiterate in a period before the printing press was invented (1440's)and newspapers were introduced (1600's).

Royal proclamations, local bylaws, market days, advertisements, even selling loaves of sugar were all proclaimed by a bellman or crier throughout the centuries. The job of Town Crier in Britain can be traced back as far as 1066, with the news of Britain’s invasion by King William I after the Battle of Hastings.

Proclaiming the news was not however their only role: indeed, their original role was to patrol the streets after dark, acting as peace keepers, arresting miscreants and taking them to the stocks for punishment and posting their crimes to show why they were there. It was also his job to make sure fires were damped down for the night after the curfew bell.

Most often, traditional Town Criers had official status of the