Gutenberg's Role in the Reformation
Gutenberg is one of the most celebrated personalities in the entire world. He invented the chef d’ouvre, which was a printing press (McGugan, Anni and Blaine 29). The invention allowed the spread of literature articles to different places for the first time in the history of Europe which helped in making the information age (Renaissance) become a reality. This paper discusses the role of Johannes Gutenberg in the Reformation.
The Invention of the Printing Press
Most people know Gutenberg as the inventor of printing. However, the Chinese scientists came up with a new printing technique where they used wooden blocks that contained words that can be printed on paper (McGugan, Anni and Blaine 29). In 1455, Gutenberg built his first printing press that could print documents in large scale. Although Gutenberg got into a legal battle and lost most of his savings making him die poor, he developed a printing system that could be used later for commercial. For instance, more than 400,000 books were distributed at the start of the 16th century (McGugan, Anni and Blaine 31). These books included the Columbus’ description of his navigation journey of the world and the classical Greek literature. With time, the cost of books started going down in most parts of Europe as literacy levels also increased because of the increased number of literature pieces.
Gutenberg's Contribution to the Renaissance
In conclusion, Gutenberg contributed immensely to the Renaissance as many people became literate in most parts of Europe. His printing press was developed to produce multiple of literature material and the large scale technique would be used in commercial production of books and other related material. Therefore, many people remember Gutenberg for his great contribution to Reformation.
Works Cited
McGugan, Camilla, Anni Hummel, and Blaine Warren. “World History before the 15th Century: An exploration of artifacts and images.” (2017).
