Western Civilization I

Outline #24

The Print Revolution

I. The Renaissance as turning point.

Medieval Europe—one civilization among many

Renaissance paves the way for European world domination

II. The “Invention” of Printing.

Johann Gutenburg (1395-1468)

First printed books appear c. 1450

The “Gutenburg Bible,” 1455

III. Prerequisites for Printing

a) The Idea of Printing

Chinese wood block prints, playing cards

New ideas: multiple reproduction, movable type

b) Paper

Parchment (sheepskin), Vellum (calfskin)

Chinese papermaking

c. 1400 papermaking spreads throughout Europe

c) Moveable Typeface

Metal used as type

d) Oil-based ink

Jan van Eyck (1380-1441)

Pioneers use of oil paints, later adopted for printing.

e) Printing Press

Used in paper manufacturing

IV The Impact of Printing

1) Audience

The Church

Urban Public: Businessmen, Administrators, Lawyer, Teachers, Scholars

2) Expansion of Literature

1500: six million books printed, 40,000 titles

3) Education

Availability of books eliminates need for memorization.

Focus on critical skills, intellect, discernment.

4) Cultural Unification.

Common world of knowledge created, “imagined communities.”

Rise of Portraiture

Increasing sense of national identity

5) Scholarship

Print stop deterioration of texts through copying

New tools of textual criticism

Scholars work together on common project using standard texts

Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)

“On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres” (1543)

6) Spread of ideas.

Emerges of the “news”

Dangers of the spread of “harmful” ideas

Pope Alexander VI c. 1500 “Church should control printers.”

Martin Luther’s 96 Theses