Editing Johannes Gutenberg (section)

===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]}}