AP European History
AP European History
Though the Chinese invented printing, they did not capitalize on their success. Johann Gutenberg and his colleagues perfected the skill of movable type in the 1450s, publishing their famous Gutenberg Bible, of which several dozen still exist. Books continued to be expensive luxury items for the upper classes, but the die had been cast. No longer could church or state exercise a monopoly on education or Intellectual life. The printing press assisted in spreading the Renaissance and helped to establish standardized texts, as well as promote vernacular literature (“in the language of the people,” i.e., not Latin). Perhaps printing’s most important impact was to secure the success of the Protestant Reformation. Few would deny that the invention of the printing press stands as one of the most, if not the most, significant technological developments of the past millennium.