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Life of peasants greatly improved in Western Europe after the 14th century due to plague killing half of the population, leaving to survivors more land and food
by ivanhoe 5y ago
Life of peasants greatly improved in Western Europe after the 14th century due to plague killing half of the population, leaving to survivors more land and food and scarcity of work force. And then later in 15th century with the invention of printing the literacy and education became available to common people which again significantly influenced and improved their lives.
- southerntofu 5y agoJust nitpicking here, but I don't think "literacy and education became available to common people" in the 15th century. In fact, for quite some time after Gutenberg's printing press was invented (or reinvented, depending from what cultural angle you look at history) it was common practice for States and catholic Church to legally prevent people from printing stuff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_patent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_patent
- ivanhoe 5y agoDepends on the country I guess, the Venetian Republic seems to had more than 150 presses by 1500, the most famous of publishers Aldus Manutius printing 30 thousands of inexpensive “pocket editions” books in just 5 years ("six titles a year for the next five years", at 1000 copies per edition) according to Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/The-medieval-book https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/The-medieval-boo...
- southerntofu 5y agoInteresting! Thanks for sharing. I still would not say 30K books is "available to common people" (most of whom could not read), but i was definitely not aware Venice had such a policy so early in history.