The Tree of Europe · Person

Johannes Gutenberg

A printer from Mainz who developed a system of printing with movable metal type in fifteenth-century Europe. His forty-two-line Bible, produced with Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, transformed book production.

c. 1400 – 1468Printer

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Biography

Life of Johannes Gutenberg

A system for printing books

Johannes Gutenberg was born in Mainz around 1400 and also worked in Strasbourg. His contribution brought together the casting of reproducible metal type, suitable inks and a press in a process that allowed pages to be composed and multiplied. The system facilitated book production in workshops that spread through European cities.

References: Bibliothèque nationale de France · La Bible de Gutenberg · Library of Congress · The Gutenberg Bible

The Bible and the workshop

In Mainz he worked with financing from Johann Fust and the collaboration of Peter Schöffer. The forty-two-line Bible was printed in the mid-1450s; the Library of Congress dates its completion probably to 1455. Litigation with Fust changed control of the workshop. Gutenberg died in 1468. Surviving copies allow the study of the type, paper, parchment and hand illumination.

References: Bibliothèque nationale de France · La Bible de Gutenberg · Library of Congress · The Gutenberg Bible

This complete profile is available in English. Bibliographic titles retain their original language. Links marked ES open the Spanish edition.

Historical profile

Key details

Birth: 1400 Approximate

Death: 1468 Pending review

Role: Printer

Other recorded names: Juan Gutenberg · Johann Gutenberg · Johannes Gensfleisch

Territories: Germany (ES)

Family network

Recorded relationships

No direct relationships are recorded for this person.

Documentation

Sources for this profile

Biographical and contextual references in their original language. Sources and methodology.

Evidence for this profile

2 recorded claims · 2 without a claim-specific source. Context references do not by themselves verify every fact.

Dates (0/2 with a precise source)

BirthApproximate
1400
A precise source has not yet been added.
No individual review recorded ·
DeathPending review
1468
A precise source has not yet been added.
No individual review recorded ·

Biographical and contextual references (2)

Editorial history

2026-10-12 · Claim registry added; existing historical data kept. Specific sourcing remains to be reviewed.
2026-10-08 · Claim registry added; existing historical data kept. Specific sourcing remains to be reviewed.
2026-10-04 · Claim registry added; existing historical data kept. Specific sourcing remains to be reviewed.
2026-10-04 · Claim registry added; existing historical data kept. Specific sourcing remains to be reviewed.
2026-10-03 · Claim registry added; existing historical data kept. Specific sourcing remains to be reviewed.
2026-09-30 · The duchy is limited to Dijon and Autun; each other fief now enters the map only under its dated ruler. John III of Namur and the Nevers/Rethel branch were added. The previous shape combined later counties and unrelated lands as if all belonged to the duchy from 1363.
2026-09-28 · Claim registry added; existing historical data kept. Specific sourcing remains to be reviewed.