The Printing Press in 1450-1600

The Printing Press in 1450-1600

Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press, is said to be the man of the millennium. This is because the printing press was such a valuable tool in that time and it helped shape the world's future for the better. The printing press was invented in 1450 during the Renaissance. It changed many aspects of the time, from what they used to be. During the 1450s to the 1600s the printing press altered the culture and the religion of Europe in that time.

Before Gutenberg's printing press, reading books were a privilege for the church and some of the nobility, literacy was practically non-existent in the lower class, books were extremely expensive, and scientists never shared their work with other scientist. After the printing press was invented, books became considerably cheaper to afford, thus, making it easier for lower class citizens, as well as, libraries to afford books and circulate them throughout Europe. With the increase in books and the availability of them, came the increase in literacy among the lower classes. The process of reading was also changed because of the availability of books. Reading was now done silently instead of orally, which increased literacy and overall education. Also, since it was easier to print work scientist started sharing their works with each other. This was an amazing improvement in science, because now scientist could critic each other's work, improve upon it, and eventually come up with correct conclusions. It is suggested that the scientists that shared their worked helped start the scientific revolution. The culture of the 1450 to 1600 was changed because of the printing press.

The church officials, before the printing press was invented, were the only ones to read the Bible and they, then taught their interpretations to the congregation. When the printing presses started printing Bibles, they became available to more of the congregations. Now with the new individuals reading the Bible came new interpretations of what the scriptures meant. People by the masses learned that in the Bible Jesus was not rich, but actually a simple man. This revelation started to cause the collapse of the feudal system. A new merchant class emerged, and they were literate, financially stable, and educated. The new interpretations of the Bible also caused the collapse of the Roman Catholic monopoly, because the merchant