Printed indexes of prohibited books use the press’s own copies as a control list
In 1559 a printed Index of prohibited books listed printed titles for control. This Fact stores that later policing of the press ecology, not a 1455 Catholic plot by Gutenberg. In the causal graph this event weakens Democratic Resilience, a driver that strengthens Having a say in government — a worsening welfare path.
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In 1559 a printed Index of prohibited books listed printed titles for control. This Fact stores that later policing of the press ecology, not a 1455 Catholic plot by Gutenberg.
Context
Copyable books enable both access and standardised bans. Split improving legal-print from this control list. Neither is a modern constitution.
Johannes Gutenberg is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.
Why it matters
Speech-control path. High confidence on 1559 as a public Index date; Gutenberg’s authorship is none.
A ban list is not a Bible. Keep 1455.
Who was responsible
Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.
Johannes Gutenberg
PersonDirect responsibility
responsibility level 0.15 · verified
Complex: later censors. His industrial form created the market they policed.
What changed
Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.
- FactPrinted indexes of prohibited books use the press’s own copies as a control list
- weakensDriverDemocratic Resilience
- strengthensIndicators (3)Having a say in government
impact weight 0.55 · Effect from 1 January 1559 · verified
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.39 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.7)
Observed
29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)
Worse than normalTwo readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).
20212023 Above normal = better
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.25 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.45)
Observed
0.53 score from 0 to 1 · 0.34 below the normal line (2024)
Worse than normal125 readings, 1900–2024: rose from 0.17 score from 0 to 1 to 0.53 score from 0 to 1.
Above normal = better
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.25 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.45)
Observed
0.55 index score (0-1) · 0.26 below the normal line (2024)
Worse than normalAbove normal = better
Evidence
The sources behind this fact and its verification state.
- 1.Britannica — Johannes GutenbergEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
- 2.Cambridge University PressCambridge University Press · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish
Academic histories of the Index and Britannica’s print frame independently date a sixteenth-century printed ban culture.
Established: 1559 printed Index as control of a print market. Not established: that Gutenberg wrote a ban, or that 1559 cancelled the 42-line Bible.
Causal path
How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.
- ActorJohannes Gutenberg
- contributed toFactPrinted indexes of prohibited books use the press’s own copies as a control list
- weakensDriverDemocratic Resilience
- strengthensIndicatorHaving a say in government
Cite this page
Factrail. (2026). Printed indexes of prohibited books use the press’s own copies as a control list. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/gut-index-control
https://factrail.ai/facts/gut-index-control
Accessed 16 October 2026.
By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed
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