Printing Advances the Protestant Reformation Before the 14th century, books were too expensive for ordinary people. Churches had their Bibles and scholars had their precious copies of books. Books were rare. There were often people who did not agree with the Church, or perhaps believed slightly differently than Roman Catholics. These shifts in beliefs and criticism of the Church culminated in what is now called the Protestant Reformation, which is often remembered as having begun with Martin Luther. But some historians may trace it back to John Wycliffe, John Huss and the invention of the printing press. Because the printing press helped spread the ideas of the Reformation quickly, without it religious reforms would not have spread so quickly and so far. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Even before the invention of the printing press reached Europe, there were people pushing for reform in the Roman Catholic Church. John Wycliffe advocated the poverty of the clergy and believed that “personal merit… was the sole basis of religious theory.” His followers, called Lollards, used the vernacular Bible and advocated the poverty of the clergy. This group was concentrated in England (Kagan 306-307). In Bohemia a similar movement occurred around the same time. John Huss supported Wycliffe's teachings. He and the Czech reformers “supported vernacular translations of the Bible and were critical of traditional ceremonies and supposedly superstitious practices,” particularly that of the sacrament of the Eucharist. The Hussites wondered how valid a sacrament was if performed by a priest “in mortal sin” (Kagan 307). Although these two groups pushed for reforms and had contact with each other, the reforms did not spread to other countries. One reason may be that there were not enough copies of their writings and that it was a long and difficult process to make copies in the late 1300s and early 1400s. It is “one of the reasons why the Lollards had not succeeded consolidated broad support, as their evangelical successors did so a century and a half later” (MacCulloch 72). How were books written and copies made at that time? People used handwritten copies or a process called block printing. Both processes were long and expensive. For a scholar to have access to a text they needed, they had to spend much of their life copying the original or another copy by hand before they could even use the text (MacCulloch 73). It would have been painful work and many of the educated people would have had to devote time to this activity. Also, the error rate would be high because with all the copying his hands would cramp up, which means it's easy to make mistakes. Block printing originated in China. “The characters or images were carved into a block of wood, inked and then transferred to paper” (Kreis). Sometimes clay was used instead of the usual wooden blocks (Martin 457). Reproduction was expensive because each image or phrase was written on a different pad. “For each new impression a new block had to be sculpted” (Kreis). Furthermore, the woodcuts were not enough. After repeated use, they may crack in the print. Once a block was deemed unusable due to splitting or the need to use a slightly altered impression, it was discarded (Kreis). Although block printing was still time consuming, “it was much faster than handwriting” (Martin 457). However, the press could and would be even morefast. Many people have heard of Gutenberg's press or learned about it in European history class. But in learning about printing, people often forget to learn about the man who invented it. Johannes Gutenberg was born in the German city of Mainz, “a center of goldsmiths and jewelers” (Hobar 2: 486) and would also be “the center of printing for all Western Europe” (Kagan338). He was born into an aristocratic family, meaning that his family was wealthy and he most likely received a good education. His “uncle was a coin maker” (Hobar 2: 486). He gained work experience as a stonemason and goldsmith (Kreis). He began his famous biblical project in 1452 (Kreis), which means he probably began work on devising a movable type press in the mid-1440s. “Gutenberg devised an alloy of lead, tin, and antinomy that melted at low temperatures, cast well in the mold, and was durable in printing” (Kreis). These pieces of metal were then shaped into the shape of a letter of the alphabet, which was simple because when you compare European alphabets to the Chinese alphabet there are far fewer letters to worry about (Martin 457). He based his printing press frame on that of a cheese press. Mirror letters of the alphabet were imprinted on each small block. Blank spaces have been inserted where necessary to separate words. One day he would arrange all the letters needed to form words and sentences for a page, and the next day he would begin printing. The layout was dabbed with ink, a piece of paper laid out over the layout and then the press, which was a heavy block, was screwed onto the sheet. Soon he could “print 200 to 300 copies of a book page in one day” (Hobar 2:487). This new Gutenberg printing press could reproduce books at a much faster pace. Diarmaid MacCulloch writes: “Movable type text on paper was radically cheaper to produce than manuscript, and once the rather laborious process of setting the pages had been completed, it was incredibly easy to reproduce large print runs” (72). The simplicity of Gutenberg's new printing press made the printing of the famous Gutenberg Bible possible. Although Gutenberg tried to hide his new technique, it quickly spread throughout Europe. Before 1500 around 2500 European cities equipped themselves with their own presses (Kreis). Millions of printed books existed as early as 1500. Although the “German masters maintained early leadership… the Italians soon challenged their pre-eminence” (Kreis). Printers of the 16th century were seen as scholars and that industry as a “learned profession” (Hulme 532). The rapid proliferation of the press quickly and with great influence spread the new ideas of humanism and religious reform (Kreis). Martin Luther is one of the best-known religious reformers of the 16th century, although Ulrich Zwingli also played an important role. Martin Luther was born in 1483 in what is now called Germany. His father was “a successful miner from Thuringia”. His family made sure he received a good education; He learned from the Brothers of the Common Life in Mandsfeld, Magdeburg. He later attended the University of Erfurt, where he graduated in 1505 (Kagan 357). Hobar writes, in the third volume of The Mystery of History, that he "planned to become a lawyer" (89). He never entered law school because a storm caught him during a trip. He asked Saint Anna for help, promising to become a monk if his life was spared (Kagan 387). Since pupils today learn about him in history lessons, we can conclude that he lived. After the experience of.