Impact of the printing press

Question 1

when was the first printing press produced i Englnad

Answer 1

• 1476 by WIlliam Caxton

Question 2

Printing press in this period

Answer 2

• from 1520-29 aprox 800 books were published

- by ELizabeth;s reign the number had risen to 1,800 books per decade

Question 3

How did the tudor government respond to the rise of the priting press

Answer 3

• through censorship laws
• in 1529, the first list of censored books was created
• in 1538 censorship laws were extended to include secular and religious works
• in 1557 a new London company, the Stattioners, was founded by the government to monitor and prevent unlicensed printing

Question 4

WHy was censorship not enough

Answer 4

• European printing presses also produced large numbers of books, and some were imported to England
• In 1521 books with Lutheran ideas began to be discovered and burnt in London
• DUring mary’s reign English prot exiles used foreign printing presses to publish 98 books of propaganda includinig radicsl works by John Knox

Question 5

Punishment for having illegal works

Answer 5

• punishable by death, but Mary’s goverment found it impossible to surpess these works completely

Question 6

Radical works in elizabtehs reign

Answer 6

• puritans published their own propaganda, like ‘Martin Marprelate Tracts
• Also criticized Elizabeth’s policies.
• In 1579 Puritan John Stubbs published ‘THe Discovery of a Gaping Gulf’ which attacked her planned marriage to French DUke of Anjou
• His punshiment was to have his right hand cut off (shows Elizabeth’s concern)

Question 7

How was the power of the prinitng press harnessed by Tudor governments

Answer 7

• to spread their own propaganda
• Cromwell used it from 1534 to justify the break wirh Rome and spread reformist ideas
• the publication of the English bible (1539) was made possible because of the printing press. 3k copies printed in london and paris in 1539 and another 3k in 1540

Question 8

How did protestants under Ed and LIz use the printing press

Answer 8

• used printed tracts to spread their ideas
• However, these efforts could backfire
• though the new testament in the Geneva Bible was published in 1557, these notes encouraged a Calvinist theology that was too radcial for Elizabeth
• though Archbishop Parker published a rival ‘Bishops’ bible, the Geneva remianed pop until the 17thc and wenr through 130 editions (shows how hard it was to control)

Question 9

WHat was the printing press used for (besides religion)

Answer 9

• books could be printed far more cheaper and quicker (no longer had to be copied out by monastic scribes)
• this meant books were avalible to a greater range of people, even those further down on the social scale
• also allowed to print all kinds of reading material - i.e. ballads, plays ans almanacs