Figure 1.--Language and writing are the hallm marks of humanity. This nmakes the accumuklation of knowledge possible and passing it on to sucessive generations. Printing was a huge step in this priocess. Moveable type was invented in Chibna, but China mjade little use if this technoklogy which Gutteberh invented severak centuries later and Euroopeans made great ise of it , a major step in inventing modernirt. America is a new natiion and did not yet exuist when all of gthis was in progress. America's cointribution was first to play a amjor role inn opublic education and then to invent the public library in the 19th and to bring books not only in libraries, but to people unable to get to libraries with the book-mobile. Here we see rural children able to access library books. Finally Anerica invented the internet at the end of the 20th century.

Important technological advances occurred in the 15th century. They included advances in scatology, fire arms, metallurgy, navigation, optics, painting (perspective), printing, shipbuilding, and much mores. Printing was especially important because it helped to spread the technological advances. Just as the Renaissance sets mens' minds on radical new intellectual quests, a German Johann Gutenberg invented movable metal type making, This made possible a huge reduction in the cost of producing books. Printing brought books into the reach of vastly more people in Europe. Printing and books were not invented by Gutenberg. In fact a long list of related steps laid the foundation for Gutenberg and moveable metal type, a process that began in Sumeria, at about the same time that writing was invented (3,000 BC). The advances mostly occurred in the East, primarily in China and nations in the Chinese orbit. But it is the Christian West that the ideas and technology finally came together. It is not all together why this was, but a major factor was that in Europe, any book could be printed in European languages with only about about 26 characters. Chinese characters are logograms, words are essentially distinct and not made up of a few charters/letters. This hugely complicated printing. Arabic was different than European languages. They are joined together unlike European languages where they letters are separate, perfect for moveable type printing. In both Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle wast, the holy books played an important role in early printing. Printing could mimic the work of scribe copying books. It could not mimic Arabic perfectly enough to be found acceptable to Islamic scholars. That retarded the development of printing in Muslim countries fir several centuries, by which time in Europe, printing had long since advanced beyond religious tomes. The Bible was the first book to be printed in quantity. One of the most important secular books of the century is Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. Western printing was a major factor in advancing the technology by which the west was able to dominate much of the world.

Writing

You of course need writing before you can have printing. The first known witing systen was cuneiform which was invented in Sumeria (about 3100 BC). It was fundamentally different than Egyptian hieroglyphics whuch used logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, like Egyotian hieroglyphs. It used reeds to make a blunt stylus to impress wedge-shaped marks into soft clay tablets. The modern alophabet traces its origins to the conwriting system developed with Semitic languages in the Levant (2nd millennium BC.P. Nearly all modern alphabetic scripts thus trace their roots tp the Semitic proto-alphabet. 【Sampson, p. 77.】 Writing was a huge step in human development. But what was unaviavle fior mellenia was unable to print diocuments for mass destribution. Rather objects like stele and monuments were used to convey laws and other information to the public like Hammurabi's Code in Babylon (c. 1755–1750 BC). Of course anotherr factor was limited literacy.

Paper

Paper was another Chinese invention. Of course printing required an inexopensive writing material for the printer. The Egyptians made the first paper-like materioal was from the papyrus plant (about (30th century BC). Th Egyptians did not print, but used the pasoyrus for drawing and wrtiting. The Chinese came up with lamp-black to create ink. Mesoamericans create amate, a beaten paper-like matrial created from the pulp of the fig and mulberry trees (6th century BC). Most of the resultuing material was burned by the Spanish friars as the work of the devil. The few survivig example are known as codexes today. Anotyher writing masterial was parchment. This was made from processed animal skins (3rd century BC). It was first used in Pergamon (Asia Minor). But as it was made from aninakl skins, it was exprnsive. It would be the orimry writing surface in meduevl Europe. The mgbiicent illuminared Bibes were done on parchment. The Book of Kells was done on vellum (calf skin). Paper was invented by a Ts'ai Lun [Cai Lun] a palace advisor in the Han court (6th century AD). Papermaking spread west on the Silk Road. Paper It became an importnt industry in Samarkand and was introduced to the Islamic Calipghate. (The great libraries of the Caliphare in Bagdad wiud be droyed by the Mongols.) The Moors invaded Spain (8th century), introducing papermaking to the West. The first papermill was opened in Xàtiva, Spain (1151). Italians intriduced watermrks (1282).

Printing

It was here the first printed piecr (a scroll) was produced (868), but the different sheets were carved frim a wood block--a coopy of the Dimond Sutra. The Chinese adapt Wood-block printing for the to mass-produce of Chinese classics. It was the Chinese that invented movable type, using baked clay (1041). It would be the Koreans (Goryeo Dynasty) that printed the first book printed with moveable metal type -- 'The Song of Enlightenment'. Marco Polo mentions seeing paper money being oprinted in China (1298). The first paper was wsed in England (1309). There were other developments in the chinese irbuit, but one has to ask why did printing not take off in China. Why did was modernity nit developed in China as it would be in Europe. Printing was expanding in Europe. we see a tange of sevelopments. The Guild of Stationers was founded in London (1403). This involved booksellers, scribes, illustrators and bookbinders, but the books involvd including both imports as well as domestically printed material. The major step which sent printing skyrocketing was the intriducryion of moveable type. Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany devdloped adjustable type mold (1438-44). The first substatuated document attrivuted to Gutenberg is a papal indulgence (1454). This was important because their was not ionly Church tolerance, but support for thec devlopment. This contrasts sharply to opposition from Islamic clerics. It would be cenuturies before we see Islamic acceotabce of printing and printed copies of the Koran. The big ticket development was Gutenberg's Bible, He ran unto finabcial trouble, but it was completed by his creditor Johann Fust and his workman Peter Schoeffer (1455). It is notable thatv the early products were religioous like the . first printed colophon in the Psalter by Fust and Schoeffer (1457). Very quickly we begin to secular books being printed. It was an explosion of learning akin to the internet at the turn of the 21st century. Fust and Schoeffer introduced the printer's mark (1462). rnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweinheim began printing in Subiaco, Italy. They were the first to use a Roman printing type (1464). A German developed drypoint engraving (1465). Early printed books were not cheap, but a printed book cost ionly a small fraction of the cost of a book created by a cooy scribe. This impact on the spread of information is incaluable. We see the printing of music. The 'Constance Gradual' was the earliest imprtant printed music (1473). Printing illustrations were still a problem. We see Intaglio used for book illustration. Thus was a printmaking techniques which recersed the image into a surface which allowed sunken lines asnd areas to collect ink (1476). It was a beginning. England was not at the forefront of these developments, but William Caxton printed the first book in English, Recuyell of the Historyes of Troy, but across thde Channel in Bruges. He was working with Colard Mansion, a Flemish printer. There was considerable English coinnections with the Low Countriesat the time. It was English wool that provided the raw material for the Flemish weaving industry that was powerung the European ecoonomy. It is not asccident that capitalism would be invented in the Low countries and appropriatred by the Engish. Claxton quickly set up his own printshop in England (1476). Erhard Ratdolt in Venice created the first real title page in 'Regiomontanus's Kalendario' (1476). We see printing taking off at Oxford University (1478). While still minor st the time, these Engklish developmnts are notavle give how England and the English language would become. Literacy was growing in Europe. something not happening in Asia or the Midfle East. The major impediment to expaning printing and knowlege was literacy, especislly literacy in the vernacular. . This final piece of the puzzle fell into lace when martin Luther nailed his '95 Thesis' to the Wittenberg church door (1517). A central core of Protestasnt Revolution was Bible reading. And this of course not only required literacy, but also a Bible in the home. The result was an explosion of literace and publishing. While this began with a religious movement, it also meant secular material. It also meant an explosion of knowkledge that would play a major role in the rise of Europe. And gthis was fithered by Enlightenment. Leading to the secularization of sociegty and the increasing reliance on reason rather vthan faith. The literary salons, of France and Italy were very inflential and ivreased thec femnd for books being published. Norably all the major movements forming modern Asia were not experienced in Asia and the Middle East: the Renaissance, the Prostestant Reformation, and the Enligtenment.

Public Schools

Libraries

Libraries or collections of written materials are almost as old a written language itself. Written language appears to have developed out of the need to create records. And of course once records were made, there needed to be a location to archive them for future use. There were thus libraries throughout the ancient world. The war like Asyrians massed a huge library of clay tablets--the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal. It was destoyed, but because it was not combustablee books, many tablets have been recovered. The loss of the Great Library of Alexandria was of incalcuable loss to humanity (48 BC). The Caliphate collected books and manuscripts and not just religious material. It was perhaps the greatest collection of knowledge in history up to that time. None of the manuscripts were recovered. The Mongols sacked Baghdad (1258). The Eurprates ran black with all the ink from the destroyed manuscripts. Precious libraries were destoyed with the fall of Rome. There were libraries located throughout the Roman Empire, but these disappeared with the fall of the Empire and the onset of the Dark Ages. Some manuscripts were saved in monastaries, but this was only a fraction of the learning of the clasical world. Here Irish monastaries played a critical role. The Arab Caslophate saved many precious Classical manuscripts. Other important classical manuscripts were archived in Byzantine libraries. These were lost with the fall of Byzantium (1453). The Ottomons were not as interested in manuscrips and learning as the Arab Caliphate had been. New libraries appeared in the developing universities of medival Europe. Another sad library destruction was the German destruction of the Louvain Library in Belgium (1914). Historic libraries as important as they are often did not reach the common man. Printing hugely brought down the cost of books. Even today, however, books are not cheap. Individuals can not bgein to purchase all the books he wants to read. Lending libraries began to appear in the 18th century. They were often not free or willing to loan out their books.These were not free public libraries. They did not appear until the late-19th century. It was America that invented the public library. Here Andrew Carnege in America played an important role. Until this time, libraries were institutions for adults. With the appearance of public libraries, programs for children begasn to appear.

Sources

Sampson, Geoffrey. Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction. (Stanford University Press: 1985).

Navigate the CIH chronological pages:
[Return to the Main medieval century pages]
[Return to the Main chronology page]
[Return to theMain Medieval page]
[Return to theThe medieval era]
[The 6th century] [The 7th century] [The 8th century] [The 9th century] [The 10th century] [The 11th Century] [The 12th century] [The 13th century] [The 14th century] [The 15th century] [The 16th Century]

Created: 5:56 AM 4/5/2023
Last updated: 5:57 AM 4/5/2023