Print-capitalism enabled the Reformation to outspeed Rome’s communications

Evidence

Second was the impact of the Reformation, which, at the same time, owed much of its success to print-capitalism. Before the age of print, Rome easily won every war against heresy in Western Europe because it always had better internal lines of communication than its challengers. But when in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his theses to the chapel-door in Wittenberg, they were printed up in German translation, and ‘within 15 days [had been] seen in every part of the country.’ In the two decades 1520–1540 three times as many books were published in German as in the period 1500–1520, an astonishing transformation to which Luther was absolutely central. His works represented no less than one third of all German-language books sold between 1518 and 1525. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 177

Categorization

• XREF: Rome’s superior internal communication lines being defeated by print mirrors how modern states’ control is bypassed by new media — parallels the logic of biopolitical control vs. capital flows. — connects to: Protestantism outflanked the Counter-Reformation by exploiting vernacular print markets — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 178; Capitalism’s search for monoglot mass markets drove print vernacularization — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 175; Print-capitalism made the nation imaginable through production, technology, and linguistic diversity — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 184 (+5 more)

Related

• Protestantism outflanked the Counter-Reformation by exploiting vernacular print markets (similarity 0.91)
• Luther exploited the printing press with short vernacular pamphlets (similarity 0.83)
• Latin lost its printing hegemony within a century of 1500 (similarity 0.82)
• Capitalism’s search for monoglot mass markets drove print vernacularization (similarity 0.81)
• Printing emphasized vernacular languages and divided the European intellectual mind (similarity 0.80)
• Print alone is not revolutionary; capitalism is the decisive factor. (similarity 0.79)
• Print-capitalism made Luther the first best-selling author by name (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Protestantism outflanked the Counter-Reformation by exploiting vernacular print markets #expands (0.95) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 178
• Luther exploited the printing press with short vernacular pamphlets #exemplifies (0.92) — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 230
• Print-capitalism made the nation imaginable through production, technology, and linguistic diversity #expands (0.90) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 184
• Capitalism’s search for monoglot mass markets drove print vernacularization #expands (0.88) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 175
• Print-capitalism emerged to re-link fraternity, power and time after cosmology split from history #expands (0.85) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 114
• Printing emphasized vernacular languages and divided the European intellectual mind #expands (0.80) — Harold Innis, The Bias of Communication, 804
• The Reformation and Counter-Reformation represented the less civilized nations rebelling against Italian intellectual domination. #expands (0.75) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1929
• Catholic political candidates were cast as Rome’s agents of foreign tyranny #exemplifies (0.75)