Late Middle Ages · Europe · Technology

1450

Gutenberg Prints First Trial Pages

1450

In a rented house in Mainz, bankrolled by the lawyer Johann Fust, Johannes Gutenberg printed his first small books, probably Latin grammars and a papal indulgence. The process was excruciating, the yield tiny, the secrecy absolute. A forty-two-line Bible was already in planning. Europe's oral memory was about to become obsolete.

More from 1450 Late Middle Ages

In context

Also in 1450 (4 other events on record)

Battle of Formigny · Europe · War
Francesco Sforza Takes Milan · Europe · Politics
Cade's Rebellion in Kent · Europe · Politics
Aztec Great Famine · North America · Disaster

Before and after in Europe

Before: 1449: French Recover Rouen
After: October 30, 1451: Christopher Columbus Born in Genoa

Before and after in Technology

Before: 1448: Aztec Flood and Dike Reconstruction
After: 1454: Gutenberg Bible Nearing Completion

Era

Late Middle Ages (1301–1500), one of 874 events from that era on Saeculum.