Editing History of Germany (section)

===Culture and literacy===
[[Image:Lutherbibel.jpg|thumb|right|[[Modern High German]] translation of the [[Christian Bible]] by the Protestant reformer [[Martin Luther]] (1534).<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann">{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.382 |chapter=Martin Luther, Bible Translation, and the German Language |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |date=2017 |last1=Lobenstein-Reichmann |first1=Anja |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 }}</ref> The widespread popularity of the [[Luther Bible|Bible translated into High German by Luther]] helped establish modern Standard High German.<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/>]]

The population of Germany reached about twenty million people by the mid-16th century, the great majority of whom were peasant farmers.{{Sfn|Holborn|1959|p=37}}

The Protestant [[Reformation]] was a triumph for [[literacy]] and the new [[printing press]].<ref name="Cameron">{{Cite book |first=Euan |last=Cameron |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6a3kgsbkBIC |title=The European Reformation |date=1 March 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-1995-4785-2}}{{Page needed|date=March 2015}}</ref>{{Efn|In the end, while the Reformation emphasis on Protestants reading the Scriptures was one factor in the development of literacy, the impact of printing itself, the wider availability of printed works at a cheaper price, and the increasing focus on education and learning as key factors in obtaining a lucrative post, were also significant contributory factors.<ref name="Pettegree543">Pettegree ''Reformation World'' p.&nbsp;543</ref>}}<ref name="Rubin270">Rubin, "Printing and Protestants" Review of Economics and Statistics pp. 270–286</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Media, Markets and Institutional Change: Evidence from the Protestant Reformation |url=http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1367.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1367.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09}}</ref> [[Luther Bible|Luther's translation of the Bible into High German]] (the [[New Testament]] was published in 1522; the [[Old Testament]] was published in parts and completed in 1534) was a decisive impulse for the increase of literacy in [[Germany in the early modern period|early modern Germany]],<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/> and stimulated printing and distribution of religious books and pamphlets. From 1517 onward religious pamphlets flooded Germany and much of Europe. The Reformation instigated a media revolution as by 1530 over 10,000 individual works are published with a total of ten million copies. Luther strengthened his attacks on Rome by depicting a "good" against "bad" church. It soon became clear that print could be used for propaganda in the Reformation for particular agendas. Reform writers used pre-Reformation styles, clichés, and stereotypes and changed items as needed for their own purposes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edwards |first=Mark U. Jr. |title=Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther |date=1994}}</ref> Especially effective were Luther's ''Small Catechism'', for use of parents teaching their children, and ''Larger Catechism,'' for pastors.<ref>See texts at [http://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/wittenberg-luther.html#sw-hymn Project Wittenberg: "Selected Hymns of Martin Luther"]</ref> Using the German vernacular they expressed the Apostles' Creed in simpler, more personal, Trinitarian language. Illustrations in the newly translated Bible and in many tracts popularized Luther's ideas. [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]], the painter patronized by the electors of Wittenberg, was a close friend of Luther, and illustrated Luther's theology for a popular audience. He dramatized Luther's views on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, while remaining mindful of Luther's careful distinctions about proper and improper uses of visual imagery.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weimer |first=Christoph |date=2004 |title=Luther and Cranach on Justification in Word and Image |journal=[[Lutheran Quarterly]] |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=387–405}}</ref>

[[Luther Bible|Luther's translation of the Bible into High German]] was also decisive for the [[German language]] and its evolution from [[Early New High German]] to Modern Standard German.<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/> The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in [[Germany in the early modern period|early modern Germany]],<ref name="Lobenstein-Reichmann"/> and promoted the development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Birgit |last1=Stolt |title=Luther's Translation of the Bible |journal=Lutheran Quarterly |volume=28 |issue=4 |date=2014 |pages=373–400 }}</ref>