Geoffrey Chaucer may have been murdered in 1400 by a paramilitary death squad. The possible motive would have been to stop him from publishing literature in the vernacular. When books were written in Latin, the Catholic Church could rest easy that most of the population couldn't read them, and thus rely upon the Church for interpretation. Books in the vernacular encouraged literacy. See Terry Jones, et al., Who Murdered Chaucer?
More generally, China had the necessary technology to print books for 1,000 years, but didn't do that because the Chinese leadership saw no benefit to widespread literacy. Muslim societies picked up the same technology from the Chinese, and likewise didn't print books for the same reason, ironically given their emphasis on the Quran. Why did Europe develop printing as soon as they picked up the technology? Due to the Atlantic current, Europe gets heavy rainfall, leading to increased grain production, leading to increased populations. So the Black Death had a bigger impact in Europe than elsewhere. Europeans were scrambling to find ways to replace the suddenly missing labor, and widespread literacy was part of their solutions.
I've never before heard this theory that Chaucer' was killed in 1400 because he published in a common language. Whether or not literature should be translated into vulgate languages was indeed hotly debated in the decades following the Black Death. The political power of the Vatican rested upon their monopoly over The Bible.
I love the old Will & Ariel Durant quote about this from their book "The Reformation":
"The circulation of the New Testament in print was a blow to political as well as to religious orthodoxy. It exposed the compromises that the secular clergy had made with the nature of man and the ways of the world; it revealed the communism of the Apostles, the sympathy of Christ for the poor and oppressed; in these respects the New Testament was for the radicals of this age a veritable Communist Manifesto."
It's fascinating to me just how inseparable religion and economics turn out to be.
Geoffrey Chaucer may have been murdered in 1400 by a paramilitary death squad. The possible motive would have been to stop him from publishing literature in the vernacular. When books were written in Latin, the Catholic Church could rest easy that most of the population couldn't read them, and thus rely upon the Church for interpretation. Books in the vernacular encouraged literacy. See Terry Jones, et al., Who Murdered Chaucer?
More generally, China had the necessary technology to print books for 1,000 years, but didn't do that because the Chinese leadership saw no benefit to widespread literacy. Muslim societies picked up the same technology from the Chinese, and likewise didn't print books for the same reason, ironically given their emphasis on the Quran. Why did Europe develop printing as soon as they picked up the technology? Due to the Atlantic current, Europe gets heavy rainfall, leading to increased grain production, leading to increased populations. So the Black Death had a bigger impact in Europe than elsewhere. Europeans were scrambling to find ways to replace the suddenly missing labor, and widespread literacy was part of their solutions.
Bravo, Chris; another great comment from you!
I've never before heard this theory that Chaucer' was killed in 1400 because he published in a common language. Whether or not literature should be translated into vulgate languages was indeed hotly debated in the decades following the Black Death. The political power of the Vatican rested upon their monopoly over The Bible.
I love the old Will & Ariel Durant quote about this from their book "The Reformation":
"The circulation of the New Testament in print was a blow to political as well as to religious orthodoxy. It exposed the compromises that the secular clergy had made with the nature of man and the ways of the world; it revealed the communism of the Apostles, the sympathy of Christ for the poor and oppressed; in these respects the New Testament was for the radicals of this age a veritable Communist Manifesto."
It's fascinating to me just how inseparable religion and economics turn out to be.