Printing Press

What if a Chinese movable printing device and someone with the knowledge to use (probably passed to each person that bought the machine, instead of one person's long journey, but that could happen too) ended up in the Middle East during the time of the First Crusade, and the printing device was taken from the "heathens" and taken back to Europe for study. Could perhaps the printing press be invented 250 years ahead of schedule?
 

Valdemar II

Banned
What if a Chinese movable printing device and someone with the knowledge to use (probably passed to each person that bought the machine, instead of one person's long journey, but that could happen too) ended up in the Middle East during the time of the First Crusade, and the printing device was taken from the "heathens" and taken back to Europe for study. Could perhaps the printing press be invented 250 years ahead of schedule?

Faster spread of use of paper would be the first effect.
Greater literacy.
We may see a earlier reformation.

But the biggest effect aren't in Europe but in India and the Muslim world which have to adopt the printing press for it to spread to Europe
 
The real invention was movable type, since block printing had been around in China for a while. It would be an easy invention to introduce earlier, since its components combine technologies present in ancient times. You wouldn't even need paper, since type can be pressed into wax tablets, too.
 
The real invention was movable type, since block printing had been around in China for a while. It would be an easy invention to introduce earlier, since its components combine technologies present in ancient times. You wouldn't even need paper, since type can be pressed into wax tablets, too.
^Exactly what I think.
 
I'd see the Church making Latin the starting language for using the printing presses, and making lots of bibles/publications. The monks and nuns who had been copyists before could now be moved to other jobs that needed doing.

With lots of books and publications being written in Latin, you could have Latin becoming the overall Language of Europe.
 
Latin was only the language of educated elites and church.Already the language of Europe till french took it place for elites.
Not the common peoples who where happy to have the Bible translated to them in own language remember how the german bible come out.

A second outgrowth of this popularization of knowledge was the decline of Latin as the language of most published works, to be replaced by the vernacular language of each area, increasing the variety of published works. The printed word also helped to unify and standardize the spelling and syntax of these vernaculars, in effect 'decreasing' their variability. This rise in importance of national languages as opposed to pan-European Latin is cited as one of the causes of the rise of nationalism in Europe.
age of nationalism might come too early ?

I can only imagine 1400 Boemia with Hus printing lots of greek authors and spreading the old science in Europe to atack the Pope version of the God word :)
 
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what would u print without national languages?

You got that the wrong way around. Print and public education make national languages. As to what you would print, you would probably start with the materials most in demand: primers, introductory texts on the trivial subjects, Roman and Canon law, scripture and commentary in Latin, local law and administrative forms in the regional chancery dialects. Then you branch out into the high-end market (mostly Latin, possibly Greek and prestige dialects like Middle High German, Occitan, or Middle French where they existed) and the cheapass stuff (a mashup of local dialects developed by printing workshops as per OTL).
 
Earlier mass printing of Latin could have interesting butterflies for the arguments about use of the vulgate in Bibles. If Latin texts are cheap and easy to find for religious texts amongst others, perhaps the literate classes (as they develop) will have less need to make an issue over this point. Or not!
 
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