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Why did the invention of the printing press help spread millennial prophecies in Europe?

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millennialism Vision of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, from the Bamberg Apocalypse, c. 1000–20; in the Bamberg State Library, Germany (MS. 140).

The invention of the printing press in the 1450s significantly transformed millennialism by making it easier to disseminate apocalyptic ideas and harder for authorities to suppress them. Before this innovation, the spread of such prophecies was limited by the labor-intensive process of hand-copying texts.12

The press allowed for the mass production of pamphlets, which became a primary vehicle for circulating polemical and propagandist works. During the Protestant Reformation, these short, affordable booklets were used to inflame popular opinion and spread radical millennial fervor, such as that associated with Thomas Müntzer and the Anabaptists. By enabling the rapid, widespread distribution of apocalyptic rhetoric and prophecy, the printing press helped ensure that millennial movements could reach a broader audience, fueling a more vigorous and enduring quality in European millennial discourse.314