History Notes General History III: 1400–1650 (Renaissance, Recovery and Reform) Notes
These notes provide comprehensive cover of the General III Preliminary paper. They were the sole resource that I used for my preliminary examination revision, in which I achieved a mark of 69%. They include a wealth of specific and detailed examples spanning across the whole of Europe, as well as discussion of a broad range of historiography, making them a complete resource for studying for the prelim in General III. They are often structured around key questions, meaning that they also come in u...
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GIII Revision Notes.
Printing.
Brief background:
Printing had existed prior to Gutenberg, through wooden blocks.
‘Putting-out’ system used to produce some books pre-print: not as clear-cut a revolution (diff scribes worked on diff sections of texts – ‘pecia’ system).
His innovation was to create movable metal type, and develop ink and improve the screw press (more flexible, legible).
Began Mainz 1439, spread to Cologne 1464, Basel 1466, Rome 1467, Venice 1469, Paris, Nuremberg, Utrecht 1470.
Then spread to uni towns.
Period saw huge growth of printing:
>110 towns had presses 1480. 236 1500.
Spain 1472-89: 300 editions prod. 1307 1501-20.
20 mill books prod in Europe pre-1500. 150-200,000 1500-1600.
Geog variation: Western Eu = leader. Muscovy v ltd - <30 titles prod. by 1612.
Spain: 31 permanent presses before 1510.
49 Italian towns had presses 1501-1520.
1480: 50 German towns had.
France: grouped in Paris – 75 printers 1644.
Russia’s in Moscow, Kiev, St Petersburg.
1. What was the impact of print on religion?
Martin Luther spoke of printing as ‘God’s highest act of grace’.
Clearly helped to spread relig ideas. Used in education of children.
E.g. 1480, Alcalá, Spain, priests ordered to possess parchment cartilla, with articles of faith, Ten Commandments and list of sacraments, vices and virtues written on them. Posted in prom place.
E.g. catechisms – Dominican Villanova set up catechism schools, Milan, 1536.
E.g. through picture books, e.g. Comenius’ picture book.
E.g. broadsheets printed with Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Credo in Latin and Italian distrib.
Boosted Protestantism: fit well with methods.
“more compatible with Protestant bibliolatry and pamphleteering” (Eisenstein).
2. What was the impact of print on education and ideas?
“Revolutionised all forms of learning” (Eisenstein).
Anthropologists argued that dawn of lit = dawn of logical thought – enabled abstract thinking.
Opened up study for gifted students.
“Gifted undergraduates… [could] reach beyond their teachers’ grasp” (Eisenstein).
Centrality of images v useful for science.
Labelled a “saviour for Western science” (hist George Sarton).
E.g. Commonwealth of Learning ^ acceptance of Chinese maxim about pic being worth a thousand words.
Encouraged more calculated way of doing things.
E.g. fams used ‘ricordanze’ (Florence) or memoranda to record private fam affairs. Usually patricians e.g. Guicciardini.
Standardisation of lit meant that ideas could spread more easily.
R A Houston credits with encouraging Scientific Revolution of late 1600s.
COUNTER-POINT: could also spread old ideas/retard progress.
Publishers simply giving audiences what they wanted to read led to trad texts e.g. Aesop’s Fables (126 editions before 1500) and Imitation of Christ.
E.g. 500 private libs in France in C18th show only one copy of Rousseau’s Social Contract.
3. What was the impact of printing on society and culture?
Books more widely available and accessible.
Cheaper and quicker.
E.g. Ripoli press charged 3 florin per quinterno for duplicating, scribe charged 1. Press prod 1025 copies, scribe 1.
Could be carried in hand.
Printers became more aware of ease for the reader.
E.g. ^ use of footnotes, contents pages.
E Eisenstein highlights.
^ private world of reading.
E.g. Pope Eugenius IV talked of how he liked to read in bed.
Was “lodged in people’s deepest self” (R Chartier).
Helped to standardise language – v important for creating culture.
E.g. first spec Eng grammar pub’d 1586.
Also ^ importance of imagery.
“Emblems belonged fully (though not exclusively) to print culture” (Chartier).
There was no sudden shift from an oral to a literary culture: in fact, the two intertwined.
“Oral and literate cultures not only co-existed but interacted” (P Burke and R Porter).
Contemporaries seemed to acknowledge the power of the written word.
E.g. Legend of Santa Margherita read aloud to C16th women in childbirth in Italy.
Generally “had wide-ranging psychological ramifications” (Eisenstein).
E.g. ^ parenting anxiety.
Not reserve of social elite:
Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our General History III: 1400–1650 (Renaissance, Recovery and Reform) Notes.
These notes provide comprehensive cover of the General III Preliminary paper. They were the sole resource that I used for my preliminary examination revision, in which I achieved a mark of 69%. They include a wealth of specific and detailed examples spanning across the whole of Europe, as well as discussion of a broad range of historiography, making them a complete resource for studying for the prelim in General III. They are often structured around key questions, meaning that they also come in u...
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