In the Low Countries, northern Germany, and the Rhineland, the devotio
moderna (the “new devotion”) movement found, to the contrary, purgation and
renewal in individual reading and contemplation rather than in public action. Founded
c.1380 by Gerhard Groote (1340–1384), the Brethren of the Common Life lived in
male or female communities that focused on education, the copying of manuscripts,
material simplicity, and individual faith. The Brethren were not quite humanists and
not quite mystics, but they drew from both for a religious program that depended
very little on the hierarchy or ceremonies of the church. Their style of piety would
later be associated with Protestant groups.
INVENTIONS
The enormous demand for books—whether by ordinary lay people, adherents of the
devotio moderna, or humanists eager for the classics—made printed books a
welcome addition to the repertory of available texts, though manuscripts were neither
quickly nor easily displaced. The printing press, however obvious in thought, marked
a great practical breakthrough: it depended on a new technique to mold metal type.
This was first achieved by Johann Gutenberg at Mainz (in Germany) around 1450.
The next step was getting the raw materials that were needed to ensure ongoing
production. Paper required water mills and a steady supply of rag (pulp made of
cloth); the metal for the type had to be mined and shaped; ink had to be found that
would adhere to metal letters as well as spread evenly on paper.
By 1500 many European cities had publishing houses, with access to the
materials that they needed and sufficient clientele to earn a profit. Highly competitive,
the presses advertised their wares. They turned out not only religious and classical
books but whatever the public demanded. Martin Luther (1483–1546) may not in
fact have nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg in 1517, but
he certainly allowed them to be printed and distributed in both Latin and German.
Challenging prevailing church teachings and practice, the Theses ushered in the
Protestant Reformation. The printing press was a powerful instrument of mass
communication.
More specialized, yet no less decisive for the future, were new developments in
navigation. Portolan maps charted the shape of the Mediterranean coastline through
accurate measurements from point to point.^16 Compasses, long known in China but
newly adopted in the West, provided readings that were noted down in nautical
charts; sailors used them alongside maps and written information about such matters
