Johannes Gutenberg: A Brief Biography

“Give me twenty-six soldiers of lead and I will conquer the world.” Johannes Gutenberg was born on June 24, 1400 in Mainz, Germany. In his life, Gutenberg, invented the printer, made the first printing press, and printed many books. Gutenberg is important to history because without him we might have still not been able to print books, newspapers, and many more things we still use today. Gutenberg was born on June 24, 1400, and died on February 3, 1468. He was the youngest son of the upper-class merchant Friele Gensfleisch, and his second wife, Else Wyrich, who was the daughter of a shopkeeper. He was baptized in the area close to his birthplace of St. Christoph. Gutenberg studied at the University of Erfurt in 1418. In 1419 his father

In 1448, back in Mainz, Germany, he took out a loan from his brother-in-law, Arnold Gelthus, that he would use for his printing press. By 1450 the press was in operation and a German poem had been printed, this German poem was the first item that had been printed there. Gutenberg's workshop was set up at Hof Humbrecht, which was land that he obtained from a family member. Gutenberg was able to convince money loaner Johann Fust for a loan of 800 guilders. Peter Schöffer, Fust's son-in-law, also joined the enterprise. Schöffer had worked as a scribe in the printing press and was the designer of some of the first typefaces, which is a set of one or more fonts. Gutenberg actually made two printing presses, one for Latin and one for German. One of the ways the printing press made money was by printing thousands of indulgences, which reduces the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sin for the church, documented from 1454 to 1455. In 1455 Gutenberg made his 42-line Bible, known as the Gutenberg Bible. About 180 copies were printed, although today only 22 copies are known to exist. Gutenberg’s printing press operated through the 1450s and maybe into the 1460s. Hans Dünne, a goldsmith, had sold to Gutenberg 100 guilders’ worth of printing materials. Some time in 1456, there was an argument between Gutenberg and Fust, and Fust demanded his money back, accusing Gutenberg of misusing the funds for the many guilders that Fust gave Gutenberg.

Fust’s and Gutenberg’s printing businesses were destroyed. However Gutenberg remained in Mainz but once again fell into poverty. The Archbishop granted him the title of Hofmann in 1465, which provided him with a salary for his services. Gutenberg continued his printing activities for several more years but there is not much evidence of what he printed because he stopped putting his name on the things he printed. Gutenberg continued to live in Mainz for the the rest of his life. Gutenberg went blind in the last couple of months in his life. Gutenberg died on February 3, 1468, and was buried in the church of the Franciscan convent in the town of Eltville, Germany. Although Gutenberg was financially unsuccessful in his lifetime his printing technologies spread quickly and his books began to travel across Europe faster than they ever had before. His inventions helped the Renaissance grow, and since it greatly helped make scientific publishing possible, it was a major beginning for the scientific revolution. The capital of printing in Europe shifted to Venice, where printers like Aldus Manutius made the widespread availability of the major Greek and Latin