Around 1473 to 1474, in Bruges in Flanders, the English merchant William Caxton, who had learned printing in Cologne, printed The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, a translation from French that he had made himself, the first book printed in the English language. In 1476 he returned to England and set up the first printing press in the country at Westminster, near the Abbey. Caxton printed about 100 titles, among them Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and Aesop's Fables, and chose the London dialect for his books, which helped to fix a standard written English. He died in 1491.
Before and after
- from 10 July 1470 to 5 August 1470Siege of Negroponte
- 21 May 1471Birth of Albrecht Dürer
- 1472Founding of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
- 1473Construction of Sistine Chapel
- c. 1473William Caxton prints the first book in English
- 19 February 1473Birth of Nicolaus Copernicus
- from c. 1470s to 1620sThe Ming dynasty rebuilds the Great Wall in brick and stone
- from 1475 to 1479War of the Castilian Succession
- 1475Construction of Dormition Cathedral
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The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 15th century.