dents in Latin so they could enter the priesthood. The Renaissance, however,
with its celebration of the human as well as the divine, gave rise to a sense of in-
dividualism that had been absent in Medieval society. Perhaps more important
for societies and civilization was the significant increase in commerce, which
grew almost without interruption after the early 1400s. By creating a middle
class, which had not existed since the fall of the Roman Empire, commerce al-
tered the very structure of Medieval society. For example, the law of primogen-
iture required transfer of property from parents to their firstborn sons. As a
result, large numbers of young men who were not firstborn had for centuries
turned to the Church and priestly orders for their livelihood. Commerce offered
opportunities where none had previously existed: These second sons could
look forward to a future in business. Thus, the middle class recognized that lit-
eracy had value that extended beyond commerce, and private secular schools,
often sponsored by wealthy burghers, were opened throughout Europe and
North America to meet the needs of family and enterprise.
Another important factor in educational change was the Protestant Refor-
mation, led by Martin Luther and John Calvin. For 1,500 years, the Church
had insisted that priests were spiritual mediators who alone could explain the
Bible. Most people were illiterate and knew no Latin, so this role went un-
challenged. Martin Luther (1483–1546) and John Calvin (1509–1564)
preached that spiritual mediation was unnecessary and that faith and biblical
knowledge should be in the hands of the individual believer, not the priest-
hood or the religious hierarchy. Such a personal relationship with God was
not possible, however, as long as the Bible existed only in Latin, so Luther
translated the Bible into German to give the common people access to all
priestly authority: the Word of God. The invention of the printing press in
1440 ensured this access. Prior to Gutenberg’s invention, books were so ex-
tremely rare and expensive that only the Church and members of the nobility
could afford them. The printing press altered this situation completely.
Eisenstein (1980) reported that by 1500 there were 1,000 printing shops in
Europe, an estimated 35,000 titles, and 20 million books in print. The first
English grammar book, explaining Latin grammar, was published in 1586.^4
In this context, the 18thcentury—the Age of Enlightenment—saw a surge
in the number of schools throughout Europe, both private and public. Ger-
many took the lead, establishing compulsory education in 1717. John Locke
10 CHAPTER 1
(^4) Illiteracy was still a problem, however. St. Ansgar had produced theBiblia Pauperum,orPoor
Man’s Bible,in the 9thcentury, a picture book of biblical scenes for the illiterate that was widely used for
hundreds of years. When Niccolò Malermi published the first Italian translation of the Bible in 1490,
Biblia vulgare istoriata,he was careful to include numerous illustrations to aid the illiterate and
semiliterate. TheBiblia vulgareproved so popular that it went into six editions in 15 years, no doubt in
part because the pictures helped people learn how to read through matching words and pictures.