1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 8 Gutenberg

Isaac quickly summoned the military commanders to make arrangements for what would happen after his departure.

"Mikhail, I won't take the flag team with me. You can continue to train the troops. You can make a tentative attack to the north and bring back some things."

"Kerman, you should lead the Northumbria to patrol near the coast of Epirus and prepare to pick up Ibrahim."

"Fidel, Novich, you and the rest of the fleet follow me."

All four of them accepted the order and said yes.

The next day, a fleet consisting of two warships and a dozen transport ships set out towards Rome.

In addition to the flagship San Nicolas and the galley Manuel, Isaac's private fleet also added two cogs.

This was a ship "borrowed" from the Grand Duchy of Athens, a transport ship widely used in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The Athenians modified it slightly and stuffed six guns into it, giving it barely the ability to protect itself.

The fleet stopped and went on the Mediterranean Sea, and after two weeks, they finally arrived at the thousand-year-old capital - Rome.

Rome is located in the central part of the Apennine Peninsula. It was once the capital of the ancient Roman Empire and is now the seat of Pope Gregory IV.

The Catholic and Orthodox priests moved into the residences prepared by the Pope, while Isaac moved into a small estate of Constantinople in Rome.

Let them talk nonsense; this has nothing to do with Isaac.

"Isaac, let me show you around!"

Bishop Foggard’s kind invitation.

Along the way, the two got along pretty well.

Isaac readily agreed.

Fogar acted as a tour guide and introduced Isaac to several ancient sites in Rome.

The Colosseum, the Arena, the Great Baths, the ancient city walls…

Finally we arrived at the Vatican City.

The whole building is dominated by holy white, which is indeed beautiful and makes people feel pure in soul.

The two parted here, Fojar returned to the Vatican to report, and Isaac had other things to do.

After returning to the residence, Butler Andre came to report.

"People have been brought."

Isaac was delighted and walked quickly towards the guest room.

"Hello, Mr. Gutenberg!"

Isaac greeted in Latin.

The other person was a middle-aged man with a half-bald head, obviously of German descent, dressed simply, looked haggard, and had anxious eyes.

"Hello, dear prince. I heard that you want to support my career?"

Johann Gutenberg asked impatiently when he saw Isaac coming.

This was the first person Isaac had been looking for.

"Please take a seat, sir. I would like to see your great invention before I make a decision."

"Oh, Your Highness, you will be surprised... You will definitely be surprised, this will be the greatest invention of this century..."

When Gutenberg talked about his invention, his eyes immediately lit up, he kept muttering, rubbing his hands, and uncovering a piece of cloth.

It was a strangely shaped machine. Before Isaac could take a closer look, Gutenberg began to introduce it.

"Your Highness, I call this invention a printing press. You see, this is the roller that prints the ink on the parchment..."

"I have also invented a new set of printing tools that can get rid of the complicated process of stereotype printing..."

Isaac smiled at him.

Gutenberg was the inventor of movable type printing and the printing press in the West. Later, the Gutenberg Bible printed using his invention became a classic.

Compared with the clay movable type invented in the ancient East, the metal movable type invented by Gutenberg is more practical.

The maturity of paper craftsmanship, the invention of oil-based ink, and the widespread use of Gutenberg printing technology led to the flourishing of the European book manufacturing industry.

The Renaissance and the subsequent Enlightenment built on this basis led Europe to prosperity and strength.

Of course, these are all things for later.

At this time, Gutenberg was involved in a lawsuit with a local tycoon and was imprisoned.

Historically, after a period of time, the church would step in to protect Gutenberg and begin to use his inventions on a large scale.

But now, Isaac will get there first.

"Mr. Gutenberg, I am very interested in your invention. I wonder if you would be interested in cooperating with me to set up a printing factory?"

When talking about the factory, Gutenberg, a grown man, suddenly blushed.

"To be honest, Your Highness, I once ran a small factory in Strasbourg, but I had a falling out with my former sponsor, and now we are in court..."

What an honest person!
Aren’t you afraid of scaring away your second sponsor?

"I have confidence in your character, Mr. Guttenberg."

Isaac spoke kindly to comfort him.

"I can help you solve the original problem. Not only that, I will also fund you and support you to build another larger factory in Rome. You just need to solve the technical problems. What do you think?"

"Thank you so much, my dear sir, you are so..."

Gutenberg was so excited that he was incoherent and waved his big hands around, not knowing where to put them.

"How much money do you need?"

"Five thousand... no, three thousand ducats..."

Gutenberg watched Isaac's face carefully.

"I'll give you 10,000 yuan to make the product as soon as possible."

"Yes, my dear sir!"

After Isaac left, Gutenberg sat on the bed in a daze, holding Isaac's first batch of 1000 ducats.

Then he threw the purse into the air, caught it, threw it up into the sky, and caught it again.

Isaac gained another good comrade, but at the cost of almost emptying his wallet.

The 9,000 ducats "borrowed" from the Athenian peasants and the 2,000 ducats extorted from the church merchants were instantly reduced to less than a fraction.

But it's all worth it.

You know, the first thing printed on the Gutenberg printing press was indulgences.

As long as he could convince the Pope to hand over the indulgence business to him, he could make a fortune.

In addition, religious books from major churches, Renaissance books favored by the merchant class, ancient Greek works loved by the Byzantines, and even the Islamic Koran could all become business for printing houses.

Before, books were largely copied by priests, which was extremely inefficient.

The popularization of printing presses is a dimensionality reduction attack.

In the next few days, Isaac and Gutenberg were busy selecting a site for the factory in Rome and recruiting workers.

Gutenberg paid the penalty to the squire who had troubled him and shipped the remaining machines to Rome.

During this period, Bishop Fogarty helped Isaac a lot.

The reason why the factory was chosen in Rome was because of the developed papermaking industry and huge book market there.

With the help of Bishop Fogarty, Isaac bought a small papermaking workshop.

A printing house was built nearby.

A week later, the printing factory started operation smoothly.

The current manufacturing scale is still very small. Gutenberg is the general manager. There are five workers in the printing workshop and only two people in the papermaking workshop.

The first printed book was the Bible, in Latin, which Isaac gave to Bishop Fogarty.

The simple and elegant font, the exquisite and standard font shape, and the clear and attractive handwriting immediately attracted the bishop's attention.

"With this thing, I won't have to stay up late to copy scriptures anymore!"

Forgard was very optimistic about the prospects of the printing press.

Isaac asked him to explain the situation to the Pope and explain that the prince from Byzantium was willing to contribute to the spread of God's gospel.

In addition, Isaac had Gutenberg print some Renaissance works and ancient Greek miscellaneous books.

For example, Dante's "Divine Comedy", Petrarch's "Africa", and Giovanni's "The Decameron", these things were loved by the Italian business aristocracy and the middle class.

The works of Hippocrates of ancient Greece, the epics of the blind poet Homer, and the philosophical books of Plato and Aristotle were all loved by the Byzantine people.

Then, Isaac arranged for people to buy the best paper and ink, and selected the best Bible from dozens of printings to give to the Pope.

The next day, at the introduction of Bishop Fogarty, the Pope received Prince Isaac from the Eastern Roman Empire.

The bells ring long and the incense burns curl.

Isaac walked down the long corridors and stairs and entered the hall of religious leaders of the entire Catholic world.

The rows of white-robed priests nearby closed their eyes slightly, and two Swiss halberd soldiers in front of the temple confiscated Isaac's weapon.

Isaac walked slowly and solemnly down the corridor and stood still.

Then, make a fist with your right hand and place it on your left chest, put your left hand behind your back, and bow slightly.

A standard Catholic chivalric ceremony.

As I said, face is not important.

The Pope smiled with satisfaction.

"Get up, my child."

"I heard that you brought me a machine that would lighten the clergy's burdens. Is that right?"

Isaac nodded and took the exquisite Bible from the servant behind him.

Isaac put a lot of thought into this gift.

The paper and ink are of the best quality, and they give off a faint fragrance.

The overall style is simple and unpretentious, but it makes people feel very comfortable.

Enren IV flipped through the papers, and the crisp sound of them echoed in the hall.

"good."

"Your Majesty, we can produce three of these scriptures a day. If we increase production, we can produce more."

"Very good. I will notify all the major churches and I will contact you first if I have any needs in the future."

The Pope waved his hand.

Isaac gave thanks but stood still.

"Anything else?"

Before Isaac could speak, Fogarty stepped out and saluted.

"Your Majesty, I believe Prince Isaac's invention has many more uses."

"Oh?"

"Your Majesty, I heard that the King of Cyprus is asking the Vatican for assistance. We can use this machine to quickly print indulgences, which can help lost souls while also contributing to the holy war."

Isaac also spoke.

"Not only that, we can also print your and my emblems on indulgences and have the Vatican print them uniformly. This will prevent the churches in different places from issuing them randomly."

The Pope slowly sat up straight.

"My child, our priests are all servants of God. There will never be any random distribution of money."

"I apologize for my ignorance, Your Majesty."

Isaac bowed.

A few minutes later, Isaac walked out of Vatican City in high spirits holding the papal bull.

The Pope allowed Isaac's printing house to print religious books, including the Bible, and at the same time gave the indulgence business to Isaac.

According to the agreement, the funds obtained in the first year will be divided into a 3:7 ratio between the two parties to support Isaac in expanding production.

Isaac then received one-tenth of the net profits.

The Papal Palace was in an uproar.

"Your Majesty, why would you entrust such an important matter to a heretic!"

"Watch your words, Brother Winter. There is no distinction between the Eastern and Western Churches now. Isaac is our brother, not a heretic!"

Fogard snapped.

The Pope also looked at Winter.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty."

Enren IV turned his head.

"That's enough for today. You all go out, and Fojar stays."

The priests dispersed.

The Pope stood up and paced back and forth.

"Do you know why I was willing to give so much to that Isaac?"

Fogar thought for a moment.

"On the one hand, we won't lose anything this way. If we can unify the power to issue indulgences, we can make a lot of money."

Ford paused.

“On the other hand, we are not the only option.”

In fact, there were two popes in the Catholic world at that time.

One was this Enthroned IV, and the other was Felix V elected by the Avignon Residual Council.

The two sides do not recognize each other and are hostile to each other.

Many local churches in France and the Low Countries took this opportunity to refuse the bishops sent by the Roman Catholic Church and began to elect their own bishops, still nominally regarding Rome as the orthodox one.

The Vatican could only accept it with a wry smile.

Coupled with several consecutive major failures of the Crusades, the authority of the Roman Catholic Church dropped to freezing point.

It is also difficult to be the fourth generation of Enren.

"It's good to know."

The Pope stared into Fogard's eyes, and beads of sweat appeared on Fogard's face.

"You are responsible for coordinating with Isaac and trying to get the printing press technology."

"Yes……"

Fogar bowed and left.

The Pope called him.

"Finally, you tell him everything we talked about."

Fojar was stunned.

"If he dares to cooperate with the Avignon pseudo-church or other local churches, I will excommunicate him!"