l agency in forwarding
this advance. It was said of this art that it would "give the deathblow
to the superstition of the Middle Ages." It multiplied readers a
hundredfold; it stimulated authorship; it revolutionized literature,
because it made the preservation and dissemination of thought easy; it
was a mighty influence in bringing about universal education, a
principle for which the Reformation stood.

Another event of great importance was the discovery of America, which
stimulated various European enterprises. Thus, at the beginning of the
sixteenth century, the world awakened from its long sleep, and
educational enterprise was born anew.

The German Reformation had been preceded by similar movements in other
lands. Huss and Jerome of Prague, in Bohemia, Wyclif in England, Zwingli
in Switzerland, the Waldenses in Italy, and the Albigenses in France,
had raised their voices in solemn protest against clerical abuses,[52]
and many of the reformers had paid for their temerity by martyrdom. But
the German Reformation, under the leadership of Martin Luther, was
destined to exert a mighty influence throughout northern Europe, and to
set in motion impulses which were to shape all later history.

The chief rulers of Europe were Frederick the Wise of Saxony, known as
Luther's friend, Henry the Eighth of England, Francis the First of
France, and Charles the Fifth, king of Spain, Naples, Sicily, and
Austria, and afterward emperor of Germany. Leo the Tenth was Pope, and
he had great influence in temporal affairs. Emperor Charles the Fifth
was the most powerful ruler of this period. Though a foreigner in
manners, customs, and sympathy, and unacquainted with the German tongue,
he became emperor of Germany by bribing the electors who had a voice in
selecting the ruler of that nation. It is said that he paid $1,500,000
to these corrupt electors, besides making many promises of future
favors. He was treacherous, and never hesitated to break the most solemn
pledges when his interests so demanded. Bayard Taylor says of him, "His
election was a crime, from the effects of which Germany did not recover
for three hundred years."

=Intellectual Conditions=.--These, then, were the external conditions
which existed at the beginning of the sixteenth century. We have seen
that the need of reformation was acknowledged on all sides. There were
but few good teachers to be found, even in the Church which had so long
been the mother of schools. E