Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, was born Johannes Genfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg and is widely considered as one of the most influential people in history.
After introducing printing to Europe with his mechanical movable-type printing machine, the German goldsmith, inventor, printer, and publisher Gutenberg is credited with launching the Printing Revolution in Europe.
He was not the first person in the world to utilize adjustable type, but he was the first European to do so. His innovation influenced the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, and Scientific Revolution.
His innovation is also recognized with establishing the groundwork for the current knowledge-based economy and the widespread adoption of education. Several books printed at his studio are documented.
The father of the printing press died at his birthplace on February 3, 1468, at the age of about 68.
Where is Johannes Gutenberg From?
Around the year 1400, Johannes Gutenberg was born. Although his actual birthday is unknown, the city of Mainz chose June 24, 1400 as Gutenberg’s official birthday. Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg was his birth name. He was born in the German city of Mainz, in the Electorate of Mainz, in the Holy Roman Empire. He was a German citizen. Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden was his father, and Else Wyrich was his mother. He was the youngest of three children.
The Gensfleischs belonged to the town’s royal family. The Gutenbergs are said to have relocated to Eltville am Rhein after a patrician movement in Mainz in 1411. (Alta Villa). They are said to have moved for political reasons.
There is a student called Johannes de Altavilla in the record of a student’s attendance at the University of Erfurt. It’s supposed that he went to school there.
Johannes Gutenberg Story
Gutenberg learned goldsmithing from his father, who worked as a goldsmith for the pope of Mainz. There’s no way of knowing where he learnt to polish jewels.
He was residing in Strasbourg in 1434, according to a letter, and identified as a goldsmith engaged in the Strasbourg militias.
Around 1439, he got himself into a financial mess by selling polished metal mirrors to pilgrims. The holy light from religious relics was supposed to be captured by the mirrors.
Based on his suspiciously named Aventur und Kunst investigation, he is supposed to have mastered and revealed the secret of printing (enterprise and art).
He is said to have tested moveable printing presses about this period.
In 1448, he returned to Mainz and borrowed money from his brother-in-law Arnold Gelthus to set up a printing factory.
By 1450, his press was up and running. The first thing to be printed there is said to be a German poem. He took out debts and began work on the Bible and other printing projects. In 1455, he created the Gutenberg Bible, a 42-line Bible.
Gutenberg lost his legal struggle with moneylender Johann Fust, and he lost ownership of the Bible printing firm.
The Mainz Psalter of August 1457, published by the Fust-Schoffer shop, was the first book in Europe to have the printer’s name and date. Gutenberg was not mentioned.
After going bankrupt, he opened a modest printing firm. His studio is said to have produced the huge Catholicon dictionary, which had 300 copies and 754 pages.
During the catastrophic Mainz Diocesan Feud in 1462, Archbishop Adolph von Nassau destroyed Mainz. In 1465, Archbishop von Nassau praised Gutenberg’s work. Gutenberg was awarded the title Hofmann (gentleman of the court), which came with a salary, a yearly court costume, and tax-free grain and wine quantities of 2,180 liters and 2,000 liters.
In 1468, Gutenberg died at the age of 68. He was most likely buried as a tertiary in Mainz’s Franciscan church. The church and cemetery were ,in the end, destroyed.
Johannes Gutenberg Wife and Children
Johannes Gutenberg, the father of the printing press, is said to have never married. He is also said to have never given birth to any children.
However, court papers from 1436 and 1437 show that he broke a promise to marry Ennelin, a lady from Strasbourg. There is no further official or unofficial information about Gutenberg’s private life.
Did You Know?
His father was a businessman of royalty.
His mechanical movable-type printing press is considered a second-millennium achievement.
In Germany, there are several statues of Gutenberg, notably the renowned one by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1837) at Gutenbergplatz in Mainz, which houses the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and the
Gutenberg Museum on the history of early printing.
The earliest digital library, Project Gutenberg, is named after Gutenberg.
The method by which Gutenberg created moveable type is unknown.
The United States Postal Service remembered Johannes Gutenberg’s creation of the movable-type printing press with a 500th anniversary stamp in 1952.
Gutenberg was named “People of the Millennium” by A&E Network in 1999.
In 1997, Time-Life magazine named Gutenberg’s innovation the most significant of the second millennium.
Gutenberg’s grave has been lost due to the destruction of the church and cemetery where he was buried.
The earliest picture of Gutenberg appears in Heinrich Pantaleon’s history of notable Germans in 1567, almost definitely an imaginative reconstruction.
The asteroid 777 Gutemberga bears his name in space.
In honor of him, WordPress called its new editing system Gutenberg in 2018.
Gutenberg was honored with a Google Doodle on April 14, 2021.