ThE ReNaIsSaNcE Impact of the printing press


The explosion of printing in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had huge consequences: 1. Printed books became much cheaper to produce than hand-written manuscripts. This meant more people could buy books.


2. Because more people had access to books, more learned to read and write. 3. As more people read books, they were introduced to new ideas. So if someone wanted to spread a new idea it was possible to do so very quickly using printed pamphlets and leaflets.


4. Up until the fifteenth century it was usually the Church that wrote and owned most of the manuscripts. This meant they could control what was read. Books now allowed ideas to spread that were sometimes against the teachings of the Church.


5. During the Middle Ages most books were written in Latin. Only educated people could speak and read Latin. This changed during the Renaissance. Writers such as Petrarch in Italy, Cervantes in Spain and Shakespeare in England began to write in the vernacular (the everyday language of the local people). Their writings became very popular as so many people could read and understand them, not just people who understood Latin.


Sheets drying


Metal letters being put into frames


Ink being spread onto page


5 ✣ By the way


The first book in Irish was printed in Dublin in 1550. It was a Book of Common Prayer.


Letters being arranged to form the words of the book


The letters being pressed onto the page


Sheets being bound into books


Fig 5.20 This image shows the various activities that took place in a printing room.


RECALL


1. Explain the process of printing a book using a moveable-type printing press.


2. What was the first book that Gutenberg printed? 3. Name two important printers in Europe apart from Gutenberg.


4. What happened in places such as Venice and England to allow the number of books printed to increase to over 6,000 between 1450 and 1500?


133 CHANGE AND CONTINUITY


5. How did the invention of the printing press help to increase literacy? What effects do you think increasing literacy had on society?


6. What does the term ‘vernacular’ mean?


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