AP European History AMSCO Guided Notes
1.4: Printing
AMSCO Guided Notes
AP European History Guided Notes
AMSCO 1.4 - Printing
Essential Questions
- What influence did the printing press have on cultural and intellectual developments in modern European history?
I. The Printing Press Revolution
1. How did the availability of books change from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance?
A. Invention of the Printing Press
1. What was movable type and how did it improve upon earlier printing methods?
2. What innovations did Johannes Gutenberg develop and why was the Gutenberg Bible significant?
3. How rapidly did printing technology spread throughout Europe after 1450?
4. What role did printers' marks play in helping book buyers identify quality works?
B. Vernacular Literature and National Cultures
1. What is vernacular literature and how did the printing press increase its availability?
2. How did the availability of books in local languages affect literacy and the development of national cultures?
II. The Printing Press and Religious Reform
1. Why did religious reform ideas spread slowly before 1500 despite the work of northern humanists?
A. Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation
1. What were Martin Luther's main beliefs about the Bible and religious authority?
2. How did the printing press enable Luther's ideas to spread rapidly and trigger the Protestant Reformation?
3. Why did the availability of Bibles in vernacular languages become essential for Protestant religious services?
Key Terms
movable type
Johannes Gutenberg
printing press
Gutenberg Bible
vernacular literature
Martin Luther