Printing Press
The ability to mass-produce the written word would revolutionize the spread of information and, in many ways, society as a whole. Pioneered by talented individuals, such as Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, this new art helped fuel the Renaissance by making the translated classics more widely available. Later, the Reformation benefitted greatly from the ability to spread critical publications and translations of the Holy Scriptures.
Now that printing has matured as a technique and spread throughout Europe, hundreds of thousands of copies of everything from religious and political pamphlets, to scientific treatises, to etiquette guides are circulating the continent. With print shops growing ever more commonplace, rulers have found it hard to contain the new technique, as the comparatively easy means of production means censorship can be sidestepped by moving one's business across a border — or even just changing the name on a title page.
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