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Mainz

Type Object Region Germany Time 1441–1450

Mid-15th-century Mainz was an archiepiscopal seat and trade node on the upper Rhine;…

Timeline

  1. 1441–1443Mainz · Rhineland-PalatinateAs capital of the Archbishopric of Mainz, the city combined ecclesiastical administration with Rhine shipping and distribution functions. Traditions of fairs, minting, and metalworking provided the technical and commercial foundation for later printing experiments, while imperial princely politics gave the city a complex autonomous space between archbishop and emperor.
  2. 1443–1447Mainz · Rhineland-PalatinateAround 1440 Johannes Gutenberg began secretly developing movable metal type and a printing press in Mainz. Working with his investor Johann Fust in a workshop in the St. Jacob suburb, he experimented with ink formulas and type-matrix casting, laying the foundation for the printing of the 42-line Bible in the 1450s.
  3. 1447–1450Mainz · Rhineland-PalatinateBy the late 1440s Gutenberg had perfected the screw press and uniform ink techniques in Mainz and printed early works such as Latin textbooks. Around 1450 the 42-line Bible was about to be published, and Mainz was about to transform from a medieval manuscript center into the birthplace of the modern printing revolution.

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