How Invention Begins ch. 10
Lienhard divides the history of an
invention into:
Even if the cradle period for the printing press extends until
1501 (Lienhard suggests 1476), the big impacts of the printing press
were still in the future. What were its early impacts?
Background:
Consider William
Caxton:
- gestation--playing with the pieces before the invention
first appears in practical form
- cradle--trying to figure out what this new invention will be
and make it work effectively (often inventions turn into something
rather different from what the inventor first had in mind). This
is sometimes called development, as in research and development.
- maturation--figuring out which of many competing designs works best and figuring out how the technology will be used, its initial effect on society
- People at first saw only that knowledge would be more available
- many small innovations were needed for the printing press to work well, for example positioning the paper accurately
- at first printing was used to make the same kind of books that had been mass-produced by hand copying
- for a wider reading public books began to be published in the local language, not just in Latin
- what was the impact of this?
- the form of German that is standard today was defined by Luther's
translation of the Bible into Latin
- indexes and tables of contents (normally not practical with
a hand-copied book because each page doesn't necessarily have the same
words)
- another example is accurately reproduced scientific illustrations and maps, to be discussed later
Galileo's illustration of
the Moon
- When Rome became the center of Christianity (roughly in the 4th century AD), Latin became the official language of the church
- Latin served as a common language for people from different regions who spoke different languages or dialects
- it was partly displaced in the 1500s but not completely
displaced until the 20th century--until the mid 19th century most
university students even in the United States learned Latin
- in medieval times learning Latin was the working language of
the church and also the first step in
education
- scholars who wrote books did so in Latin
- the church provided much local government and much of the legal system, so all those documents were in Latin
- church services were in Latin (something the current Pope wants to go back to)
- a scholar who got tired of people asking him for copies of the translation he did, which he then had to copy out by hand
- notice he was already translating from Latin to English
instead of expecting everyone to learn Latin--there was beginning to be
an educated upper class who wasn't committed to Latin the way the
church was
- he went to German to learn printing and then set up the first press in England
- he designed letters to be easier to read, instead of to look
like a fancy hand-copied book--see example
- he printed practical books and books people would read for pleasure, not just Bibles and prayer books
- books were available to many more people if you didn't have to learn Latin first
- how did it change society if books were available to many more people?
- before the printing press only churches and monasteries and a few very rich people owned Bibles
- the vast majority of people were dependent on the clergy
(and the painting in churches) to
tell them what the Bible said
- after the printing press people read the Bible
for themselves, leading to the reformation
- the dubious practice of selling
indulgences (forgiveness for sins) became more visible when
indulgences were printed in large numbers
- Martin
Luther:
- Luther takes his stand in 1517 with the 95 Theses posted on the cathedral door (an invitation to a debate
- He argues that we are saved by God's grace not by good works
- everyone has the right to interpret the Bible for themselves
- the Bible will become our standard--if it
isn't in the Bible don't do it
- the Catholic church refused
to accept
that--it seemed too dangerous to say people could interpret the Bible
for themselves, instead of having
the church tell them how to interpret it
- Luther's ideas were printed as pamphlets and that helped the ideas spread faster than the church could suppress them
- printing press made possible large numbers of
pamphlets
- his ideas appealed to people in Germany for political reasons--the German princes wanted to get out of the control of the emperor who was supported by the church
- now there are two churches in Western
Europe--Catholic and Lutheran--but kings still want all their subjects
to share their religion
- in 1531 Henry VIII breaks England away from the
Catholic church, mostly for his own convenience
- so then there are four churches (Orthodox, Catholic,
Lutheran, and Church of England) and quickly more split off as people
disagree about how much needs to be reformed.