Print Caused the European Renaissance - Essay Example

Print caused the European renaissance Name: Institution: Date: Print caused the European renaissance Introduction Renaissance is French term that means rebirth. This is a time of change that occurred in Europe from the 14th century to the 16th century. The renaissance took place in Europe and was accompanied with changes in society in terms of literacy, culture, industry as well as technology. The revolution altered the manner in which countries perceived themselves and their respective future while a silent battle for supremacy was imminent among the power houses during the renaissance period. It is widely believed, and rightly so, that the invention of print was the power behind renaissance. The technological innovation of the Renaissance period commenced with the discovery of the printing press. The printing press was initially discovered in China but it was re-invented by a German goldsmith who turned a printer, Johann Gutenberg, in the 1450s. Before the invention made by Gutenberg, every piece of metal type meant for printing presses had to be carved individually using hands. Gutenberg came up with molds that permitted the mass production of individual pieces of type of metal (Duchesne, 2006). Before the discovery of printing press, books in Europe were copied essentially in monasteries, or commercial scriptoria, whereby scribes wrote them out manually. Books were scarcely reachable. In the medieval period there was very little awareness of time, which was even more difficult to understand. Medieval men were not even aware in what century they were living in. There was no such thing like a clock, a watch, save for an Easter tables’ copy which was found in their nearest monastery or church, anything that was closer to a calendar. The Dark ages or the so called Medieval World suffered adversely from communication poverty. Both landed and religious aristocracies kept their power using strict control of communication means and private armies (Childress, 2008).  The medieval era was characterized by control and dominance by tiny, aristocratic or monkish elite over the small range of skills and communication devices. Latin was written and spoken language of the elite. Books were rare and laborious copied by scribes who spent a year or more copying a single book. Information and thus enlightenment was confined to a few people in the society prior to the invention of printing (Buringh & van Zanden, 2009). With the invention of Gutenberg press, it was easy to make several hundred copies of a book or the Bible in a year. Propaganda was highly witnessed in the Western medieval societies. It was a stage lived through by the medieval people. The collapse of Constantinople (Turkey), War of Roses in England, and the Plague in the 15th century marked an end or an era for the medieval society. The old battles between the Serfs and Lords were severely stretched to breaking point: modernity was being ushered in. The prevailing enclosures were lethally and ruthlessly resulting into tides of urbanization, where the communication and reasons behind communication of the village were not going to come about. The most significant socio-economic changes of the fifteenth century entailed ‘the plague’, ‘the enclosure’, consequent urbanization, and the growth of a new institution that is currently known as ‘the nation state’. The onset of renaissance was characterized by decline of belief in the religious explanation of existence as well as the upsurge in the faith in the human reason and the steady rise of the middle classes (bourgeoisie) as they attempted to overthrow the massive power of the nobility and the church. When Gutenberg of Mainz successfully published a magnificent Bible of 1282 pages from 1450-55 using paper, movable and printing type, all that came from Asia. It stirred a sensation at the Frankfurt Trade Fair in the year 1455 (Eisenstein, 2005).  Following the fall of Constantinople in the year 1453, a huge number of Eastern and Greek scholars moved to Venice from Levant, making Levant the emerging centre of learning. It is in Venice where Aldus Manutius published printed editions of works of Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Virgil, and Thucydides (in Greek). The books printed remain to be the most beautiful in the printing history. By the year 1501, pocket-size books had been introduced making them cheaper and easy to print. Through this development, the book became a means of learning as opposed to a symbol of status and wealth. For the first time in history readers from various places were able to read the same text or look at the same illustrations, diagrams, and maps. This can be viewed as an early example of mass consumption and mass production (Lucas, 2005). The coming up of printed work was not immediately popular. Although it took almost a hundred years to gain momentum, printing quickly came under attack due to its ability to bring about change. The Church was critical of printing owing to its ability of spreading subversive ideas. By the year 1502, the papacy has decreed the burning of books which in one way of another questioned the authority of the papacy. Moreover, the papal court thought about making printing presses to be an industry that needed a license from the Catholic Church. Even some nobles rejected the idea of having printed books in their libraries as they thought that the idea will demean their valuable manuscripts that were hand copied. Such resistance was also witnessed in the Islamic world whereby calligraphy was extremely important as well as in the Far East. The establishment and discovery of the printing of books having movable type was a paradigm shift in the manner in which information was transmitted in Europe (Buringh & van Zanden, 2009). The consequence of printing can be compared to the impact of invention of the alphabet or development of language and its effects on society. Printing brought about scientific revolution because scientists, who were secluded, could now communicate and share as well as compare their discoveries. In the 1516, two years following the deliverance of the heretical notion by Copernicus that the Earth orbited the Sun, the Church issued a decree that was against the printing of new volumes without its permission. This was too late. By 1477, William Caxton had already printed Canterbury Tales by Chaucer with its shameless tales of debauchery in priesthood. This was expediently popular. Printing became unstoppable. Printing presses spread fast across the Continent despite 90% of women and 60% of men being illiterate (Duchesne, 2006). Whereas the elites still operated in Latin, the biggest change was the wide spread of vernacular printing. This led to decline of the Latin language. Many people were able to read able to read plentiful periodicals, newspapers, and books. This was the mark of the rebirth: Renaissance. Print was widely popular like televisions and wireless in the current world. It is accurate to say that print was responsible for the European rebirth: Renaissance. Literacy, religious, scientific, philosophical, and political treaties came together to subvert the acceptance of the social order that was prevailing at the time. Political dissident and religious skepticism developed as well as technological and scientific inquiry. The Renaissance era was not static any longer. It both valorized and recognized the prospect of change (Childress, 2008). It changed to be a world of action. The use of technical Latin language declined while European vernacular language was widespread. An era of mass communication was witnessed. Conclusion The renaissance is a period in the European history characterized by increase in commerce, urge to seek for information, rising literacy levels, and generally rise in awareness. The ruling powers of the elite and Christian autocracies were questioned. The evil that were taking part in the priesthood came to be known. The invention of print can be credited for the emergence of the renaissance period as it enables many books, newspapers and periodicals to be products in masses and circulated to many people. Transfer of information was encouraged as people became skeptical about religion and questioned the rule of the nobility and papacy. The discovery of the print made the imminence of renaissance unstoppable. People were hungry for knowledge, information, and skills. The translation of books into European vernacular and widespread of printing presses escalating the presence of the renaissance era in the European Continent. Exploration outside the boundaries of Europe became a necessary task and a passion for many reasons. The print played a key role in enlightening common people and making books available even to the poor. Books stopped being a mark or a symbol of status and wealth. References Buringh, E. & van Zanden, J. L. (2009). Charting the "Rise of the West": Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries, The Journal of Economic History, 69 (2): 409–445. Eisenstein, E.L. (2005). The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe (2nd, rev. ed.), Cambridge University Press. Childress, D. (2008). Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press, Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books. Duchesne, R. (2006). Asia First? The Journal of the Historical Society, 6 (1): 69–91 Lucas, A. R. (2005). Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe, Technology and Culture 46 (1): 1–30 Read More