Editing Johannes Gutenberg (section)

==Life and career==
===Early life===
[[File:Gensfleisch family coat of arms.png|thumb|upright=.8|[[Coat of arms]] of the Gensfleisch family, from the ''Register of Fiefs of Frederick I'' (1461){{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/35/mode/2up 35]}}]]

Johannes Gutenberg was born in [[Electorate of Mainz|Mainz]] (in modern-day Germany), a wealthy city along the [[Rhine]], between the 14th and 15th centuries.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|p=58}}{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/25/mode/2up 25]}} His exact year of birth is unknown; on the basis of a later document indicating that he came of age by 1420, scholarly estimates have ranged from 1393 to 1406.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/29/mode/2up 29]}}{{efn|Due to minimal extant documentation, identifying Gutenberg's exact year of birth is impossible.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|p=83}} Most modern scholars give a range of slightly differing dates for Gutenberg's birth year, including 1394–1406,{{sfn|Ing|1988|p=27}} 1394–1404,{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/25/mode/2up 25]}} 1394–1406,{{sfn|Wagner|2000|p=83}} and 1393–1403.{{sfn|Füssel|2019|pp=10–11}}}} The year 1400 is commonly assigned to Gutenberg, "for the sake of convenience".{{sfn|Ing|1988|p=27}} Tradition also holds his birthdate to be on the [[Nativity of Saint John the Baptist|feast day of Saint John the Baptist]], 24 June, since children of the time were often named after their birthday's [[patron saint]].{{sfn|Füssel|2019|p=11}} There is no verification for this assumption, since the name "Johannes"—and variants such as "Johann", "Henne", "Hengin" and "Henchen"—was widely popular at the time.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/29/mode/2up 29]}} In full, Johannes Gutenberg's name was 'Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg', with "Laden" and "Gutenberg" being adopted from the family's residences in Mainz.{{sfn|Ing|1988|p=27}} The latter refers to the ''Hof zum Gutenberg'', a large and now destroyed [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]]-style residence inherited by Gutenberg's father.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/32/mode/2up 32]}} Gutenberg probably spent his earliest years at the manor, which existed beside [[St. Christoph's Church, Mainz|St. Christoph's]].{{sfn|Wagner|2000|p=58}}{{efn|Local tradition holds that Gutenberg's baptism took place at [[St. Christoph's Church, Mainz|St. Christoph's]], albeit without documentary evidence.{{sfn|Man|2002|p=29}}}}

His father Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden was a [[Patrician (post-Roman Europe)#German cities of the Holy Roman Empire|patrician]] and merchant, likely in the [[Cloth merchant|cloth trade]].{{sfn|Füssel|2019|p=11}} Friele later served among the "master of the accounts" for the city and was a {{lang|de|[[Münzmeister|Münzerhausgenossenschaft]]}} ({{lit.|minting house cooperative}}), a part of the [[Mint (facility)|mint]]'s companionship.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/30/mode/2up 30]}}{{efn|The extent of Friele's actual involvement in the city's finances and trade of [[precious metal]] is unknown; the roles may have been largely ceremonial.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/30/mode/2up 30]}}}} In 1386 Friele married his second wife, Else Wyrich, the daughter of a shopkeeper; Johannes was probably the youngest of the couple's three children, after his brother Friele ({{abbr|b.|born}} {{circa|1387}}) and sister Else ({{abbr|b.|born}} {{circa|1390–1397}}).{{sfn|Kapr|1996|pp=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/29/mode/2up 29–30]}}{{efn|Gutenberg had a half sister, Patze, from his father's earlier marriage to an otherwise unknown woman.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/30/mode/2up 30]}}}} Scholars commonly assume that the marriage of Friele to Else, who was not of patrician lineage, complicated Gutenberg's future.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|p=60}} Because of his mother's commoner status, Gutenberg would never be able to succeed his father at the mint;{{sfn|Kapr|1996|pp=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/30/mode/2up 30–31]}} according to the historian {{ill|Ferdinand Geldner|de}} this disconnect may have disillusioned him from high society and encouraged his unusual career as an inventor.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|pp=60, 84}}{{efn|The historian Sabina Wagner notes that Geldner's theory is "the opinion of many Gutenberg biographers", though not all.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|p=60}} The biographer {{ill|Andreas Venzke|de}} has instead suggested that the disconnect inaugurated a life-long sense of determination.{{sfn|Venzke|1993|p=37}} Wagner herself consider's the fact that Gutenberg was the youngest son as more impactful than his social standing.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|p=60}}}}

The patrician ({{lang|de|Patrizier}}) class of Mainz—the Gutenbergs included—held a privileged socioeconomic status, and their efforts to preserve this put them into frequent conflict with the younger generations of [[guild]] ({{lang|de|Zünfte}}) craftsmen.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/38/mode/2up 38]}}{{sfn|Wagner|2000|pp=50–61}} A particularly violent conflict arose in February 1411 amid an election dispute, and at least 117 patricians fled the conflict in August.{{sfn|Füssel|2019|p=11}}{{sfn|Kapr|1996|pp=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/38/mode/2up 38–39]}} Friele left, presumably with the Gutenberg family, and probably stayed in the nearby [[Eltville]] since Else had inherited a house on the town walls there.{{sfn|Füssel|2019|p=11–12}}{{sfn|Kapr|1996|pp=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/38/mode/2up 38–39]}} The [[archbishop]] mediated a peace between the rival parties, allowing the family to return to Mainz later that Autumn.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/39/mode/2up 39]}} The situation remained unstable and the rise of hunger riots forced the Gutenberg family to leave in January 1413 for Eltville.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/39/mode/2up 39]}}

===Education===
No documents survive concerning Gutenberg's childhood or youth.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|p=60}} The biographer {{ill|Albert Kapr|de}} remarked that "most books on Gutenberg pass over this period with the remark that not a single fact is known".{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/36/mode/2up 36]}} As the son of a patrician, education in reading and arithmetic would have been expected.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/37/mode/2up 37]}} A knowledge of [[Latin]]—a prerequisite for universities—is also probable, though it is unknown whether he attended a Mainz parish school, was educated in [[Eltville]] or had a private tutor.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|pp=60–61}} Gutenberg may have initially pursued a religious career, as was common with the youngest sons of patricians, since the proximity of many churches and monasteries made it a safe prospect.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/johanngutenbergm0000kapr/page/37/mode/2up 37]}} It has been speculated that he attended the {{ill|Stift St. Viktor vor Mainz|de|lt=St. Victor's}} south of Mainz (near {{ill|Mainz-Weisenau|de|lt=Weisenau}}), as he would later join their brotherhood.{{sfn|Füssel|2019|p=11}} It was the site of a well-regarded school and his family had connections there, though his actual attendance remains speculative.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|p=61}}

He is assumed to have studied at the [[University of Erfurt]], where there is a record of the enrollment of a student called Johannes de Altavilla in 1418—Altavilla is the Latin form of Eltville am Rhein.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|pp=61–62}}

Nothing is now known of Gutenberg's life for the next fifteen years, but in March 1434, a letter by him indicates that he was living in Strasbourg, where he had some relatives on his mother's side. He also appears to have been a goldsmith member enrolled in the Strasbourg [[militia]]. In 1437, there is evidence that he was instructing a wealthy tradesman on polishing gems, but where he had acquired this knowledge is unknown. In 1436/37 his name also comes up in court in connection with a broken promise of marriage to a woman from Strasbourg, Ennelin.<ref name=museum>{{cite web|title=Gutenberg und seine Zeit in Daten (Gutenberg and his times; Timeline)|url=http://www.mainz.de/gutenberg/zeitgutb.htm|publisher=[[Gutenberg Museum]]|access-date=24 November 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222075141/http://www.mainz.de/gutenberg/zeitgutb.htm|archive-date=22 December 2006}}</ref> Whether the marriage actually took place is not recorded. Following his father's death in 1419, he is mentioned in the inheritance proceedings.

===Printing press===
{{further|Global spread of the printing press}}
{{quote box
| width   = 220px
| align   = right
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| quote   = "What was written to me about that marvelous man [Gutenberg] seen at Frankfurt {{sic}} entirely true. I have not seen complete bibles but only a number of [[Paper quire|quires]] of various books [of the Bible]. The script is extremely neat and legible, not at all difficult to follow [You] would be able to read it without effort, and indeed without glasses"
|source   = Future pope [[Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini|Pius II]] in a letter to Cardinal [[Juan Carvajal (cardinal)|Carvajal]], March 1455{{sfn|Raven|Proot|2020|p=137}}
}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
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| width = 150
| image1 = Berlin 1840 Celebration Medal 400th Anniversary Johannes Gutenberg's Printing Press Invention, obverse.jpg
| caption1 = Celebration medal by [[:de:Friedrich Anton König|Friedrich Anton König]] in 1840, the 400th anniversary of Johannes Gutenberg's printing press invention, [[Obverse and reverse|obverse]]
| image2 = Berlin 1840 Celebration Medal 400th Anniversary Johannes Gutenberg's Printing Press Invention, reverse.jpg
| caption2 = The [[Obverse and reverse|reverse]] of the medal: Johannes Gutenberg in his workshop, sitting in front of his printing press
}}
Around 1439, Gutenberg was involved in a financial misadventure making polished metal mirrors (which were believed to capture holy light from religious relics) for sale to pilgrims to [[Aachen]]: in 1439 the city was planning to exhibit its collection of relics from [[Charlemagne|Emperor Charlemagne]] but the event was delayed by one year due to a severe flood and the capital already spent could not be repaid. <!-- When the question of satisfying the investors came up, Gutenberg is said to have promised to share a "secret". It has been widely speculated that this secret was the idea of printing with [[movable type]]. Also around 1439–40, the [[Dutch people|Dutch]] [[Laurens Janszoon Coster]] came up with the idea of printing.<ref>{{cite book|last=Burke|first=James|author-link=James Burke (science historian)|title=Connections|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]]|year=1978|location=London|page=101|isbn=0-333-24827-9}}</ref> Legend has it that the idea came to him "like a ray of light".<ref name=universe>{{cite book|author=Burke, James|title=The Day the Universe Changed|publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]]|year=1985|location=[[Boston]], Toronto|isbn=0-316-11695-5|url=https://archive.org/details/dayuniversechang00burk}}</ref> [SEE TALK PAGE FOR REASON THIS WAS COMMENTED OUT ~Dapperedavid -->

Until at least 1444 Gutenberg lived in [[Strasbourg]], most likely in the [[Saint Arbogast|St. Arbogast]] parish. It was in Strasbourg in 1440 that he is said to have perfected and unveiled the secret of printing based on his research, mysteriously entitled ''Aventur und Kunst'' (enterprise and art). It is not clear what work he was engaged in, or whether some early trials with printing from movable type were conducted there. After this, there is a gap of four years in the record. In 1448, he was back in Mainz, where he took out a loan from his brother-in-law Arnold Gelthus, possibly for a printing press or related paraphernalia. By this date, Gutenberg may have been familiar with [[Intaglio (printmaking)|intaglio]] printing; it is claimed that he had worked on copper [[engraving]]s with an artist known as the [[Master of Playing Cards]].{{sfn|Wagner|2000|pp=65–66}}

By 1450, the press was in operation, and a German poem had been printed, possibly the first item to be printed there.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|p=74}} Gutenberg was able to convince the wealthy moneylender [[Johann Fust]] for a loan of 800 [[guilder]]s. [[Peter Schöffer]], who became Fust's son-in-law, also joined the enterprise. Schöffer had worked as a [[scribe]] in Paris and is believed to have designed some of the first [[typeface]]s.

Gutenberg's workshop was set up at [[Humbrechthof]], a property belonging to a distant relative. It is not clear when Gutenberg conceived the Bible project, but for this, he borrowed another 800 guilders from Fust, and work commenced in 1452. At the same time, the press was also printing other, more lucrative texts (possibly [[Latin]] grammars). There is also some speculation that there were two presses: one for the pedestrian texts and one for the Bible. One of the profit-making enterprises of the new press was the printing of thousands of [[indulgence]]s for the church, documented from 1454 to 1455.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kelley|first1=Peter|title=Documents that Changed the World: Gutenberg indulgence, 1454|url=http://www.washington.edu/news/2012/11/16/documents-that-changed-the-world-gutenberg-indulgence-1454/|website=UW Today|publisher=University of Washington|access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref>

In 1455, Gutenberg completed his ''42-line Bible'', known as the [[Gutenberg Bible]]. About 180 copies were printed, three quarters on paper, and the rest on [[vellum]].{{sfn|''The Oxford Companion to German Literature''|2005|loc=§ para. 2}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Rare Books and Manuscripts Section |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/732957497 |title=Early printed books as material objects |date=2010 |publisher=De Gruyter |others=Bettina Wagner, Marcia Reed, IFLA Rare Books and Manuscripts section |isbn=978-3-11-025530-0 |location=Berlin |oclc=732957497}}</ref>

=== Court case ===
[[File:Johannes Gutenberg.jpg|thumb|A 16th-century copper engraving depiction of Gutenberg]]
Some time in 1456, there was a dispute between Gutenberg and Fust, in which Fust demanded his money back, and accused Gutenberg of misusing the funds. Gutenberg's two rounds of financing from Fust, totaling 1,600 guilders at 6% interest, now amounted to 2,026 guilders.{{sfn|Hessels|1911}} Fust sued at the archbishop's court. A legal document, from November 1455, records that there was a partnership for a "project of the books," the funds for which Gutenberg had used for other purposes, according to Fust. The court decided in favor of Fust, giving him control over the Bible printing workshop.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jLnPi5aYoJUC&dq=-%22gave%20him%20possession%22%20court%20Fust%20Bible%20printing%20workshop%20-wikipedia&pg=PA88 Information Revolutions in the History of the West, Leonard Dudley 2008, p.88]</ref>

Thus, Gutenberg was effectively bankrupt, but it appears he retained, or restarted, a printing shop and participated in the printing of a Bible in the town of [[Bamberg]] around 1459, for which he seems at least to have supplied the type. But since his printed books never carry his name or a date, it is difficult to be certain. It is possible the large [[Catholicon (1286)|''Catholicon'' dictionary]], printed in Mainz in 1460 or later, was executed in his workshop, but there has been considerable scholarly debate.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=CMZKDwAAQBAJ&dq=Catholicon%201460%20mainz&pg=PA155 Incunabula in Transit, People and Trade, by Lotte Hellinga, 2018, p.155]</ref>

Meanwhile, the Fust–Schöffer shop was the first in Europe to bring out a book with the printer's name and date, the ''[[Mainz Psalter]]'' of August 1457, and while proclaiming the mechanical process by which it had been produced, it made no mention of Gutenberg.

=== Later life ===
In 1462, during the devastating [[Mainz Diocesan Feud]], Mainz was sacked by [[Archbishop]] [[Adolph II of Nassau|Adolph von Nassau]]. On 18 January 1465, Gutenberg's achievements were recognized by Archbishop von Nassau.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|pp=259–260}} He was given the title ''Hofmann'' (gentleman of the court). This honor included a [[stipend]] and an annual court outfit, as well as 2,180 litres of grain and 2,000 litres of wine tax-free.{{sfn|Sumner|2009|p=}}

Gutenberg died in 1468 and was buried likely as a [[Third order|tertiary]] in the [[Franciscans|Franciscan]] church at Mainz.{{sfn|Wagner|2000|pp=82–83}} This church and the cemetery were later destroyed, and Gutenberg's grave is now lost.{{sfn|Sumner|2009|p=}}

In 1504, he was mentioned as the inventor of [[typography]] in a book by Professor Ivo Wittig. It was not until 1567 that the first portrait of Gutenberg, almost certainly an imaginary reconstruction, appeared in Heinrich Pantaleon's biography of famous Germans.{{sfn|Sumner|2009|p=}}