Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/13

 AT THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES

INTRODUCTION

the middle of the fifteenth century the intellectual life of the German people, as indeed that of all Christendom, entered upon a new period of development through Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing-press and the use of movable type.

This invention, the mightiest and most important in the history of civilisation, gave, as it were, 'wings to the human mind,' and supplied the best means of preserving, multiplying, and disseminating every product of the intellect. It sharpened and stimulated thought by facilitating its interchange; it encouraged and extended literary traffic in a hitherto undreamt-of manner, and made science and art accessible to all classes of society. In the words of a contemporary of Gutenberg's, 'it furnished a mighty, double-edged sword for the freedom of mankind; one, however, which could strike alike for good or for evil—for truth and virtue, for sin and error.'