Paper in Europe
Papel en Europa (Játiva)
- Date
- 1056 · confidence medium
- Place
- Játiva (Xàtiva), al-Andalus
- Credited to
- Andalusi craftsmen (transmission from Samarkand via Baghdad and Cairo)
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
The manufacture of linen-rag paper in al-Andalus, the first centre in Europe, following the transmission of the Chinese secret to Samarkand (751) and Baghdad (794). A cheap medium that replaced parchment.
The earliest European document on paper is the Mozarabic Missal of Silos (11th century). Fabriano (Italy) followed around 1268–1276.
What it led to
- paper-based bureaucracy and accounting in Castile, Aragon and Italy
- the falling cost of books and the growth of secular written culture
- the Gutenberg printing press, unviable on parchment
Built on
- Rag paper in Samarkand and Baghdad794-795
- Chinese paper (Cai Lun, 105)
- Samarkand paper (751)
Made possible
- Paper money1024
- Water-powered paper mill1276
- Timbuktu madrasas and manuscript tradec. 1330
- European woodcutc. 1400
- Movable-type printing pressc. 1450
- Water-powered paper mill
- Gutenberg printing press
- Paper money