Seeing Hamelin's surprised look, William smiled and said, "Hamelin, is the Bible in your hand much lighter than other Bibles?" Look at the handwriting on it again, is it exactly the same? ”

"Indeed, as you have said, Your Majesty, although I do not know what material these three Bibles are made of, they are much lighter and thinner than those of other Bibles, and can be held with one hand.

The handwriting on it is so consistent that I can't imagine how this was achieved, as if the words had been copied by mysterious alchemy! Hamelin exclaimed, stroking the three Bibles.

"Hamelin, have you ever seen this material in Spain? It is paper, a lighter and cheaper writing medium than the expensive and thick papyrus and the heavy and expensive parchment.

I've had this paper developed for years, sealed for years after successful research, and only now have I brought it back to light! A smile tugged at the corner of William's mouth and explained.

The original writing medium used by people on the European continent was a paper called "papyrus", but it was actually similar to the "bamboo slip" of a different kind of paper, which was made from the stems of papyrus that was abundant in the Nile Delta at the time.

Papyrus appeared in 3000 BC, and the earliest ancient Egyptians began to use papyrus and exported this specialty to ancient Mediterranean civilizations such as ancient Greece, and even as far inland Europe and Western Asia.

Papyrus was used until about the 8th century, when bamboo slips were withdrawn from the stage of history, and in many places in Europe, parchment and kraft paper have been used instead of papyrus, because they are cheaper than papyrus, and are more durable in humid environments, and can be produced anywhere, regardless of origin and raw materials.

Of course, papyrus was still used for official documents of the church and the kingdom until the 11th century, and even more so in the Byzantine Empire until the 12th century.

As for paper, it is cheaper than parchment and kraft paper, and it uses tree bark, broken fishing nets, rags, hemp heads, and even reed straw fibers as raw materials, and its raw material value is very different from that of precious sheepskin and cowhide.

In the far east, Cai Lun invented papermaking in 105 AD during the Eastern Han Dynasty, but it was not until 1150 that the first papermaking workshop was built in Europe, a difference of 1045 years.

In 751 AD, the Battle of Talas broke out between Gao Xianzhi and Da Shiguo of the Tang Dynasty, and the defeated Tang Dynasty soldiers captured craftsmen who knew how to make paper, and papermaking was introduced to the West.

The first paper-making workshop first appeared in Samarkand in the Middle East, followed by the construction of a second paper-making workshop in Baghdad in 794, and the art of papermaking began to spread to the European continent.

However, for hundreds of years, papermaking was still firmly in the hands of the Saracens, and it was not until later that papermaking was gradually introduced to Spain by the Umayyad dynasty in Spain.

William's invention of papermaking was not always smooth sailing, the process was extremely slow due to the lack of previous experience, and William had a lot of military and political affairs to deal with, so it was not until he participated in the Zaragoza Crusade launched by Ferdinand I of Castile that captured Zaragoza and captured a group of papermakers.

However, after William ordered the craftsman to invent papermaking, he did not disclose it, but kept it strictly secret, because he knew that at this time, a civilization-level nuclear bomb played an extremely important role in breaking the authority of the church and developing culture and natural science, and if the timing was not right, it was likely to cause a fierce backlash from the church.

William's strict secrecy was also the printing press, a technique that allowed the copying and rubbing of pre-carved wooden boards of text in combination with papermaking, which was enough to break the monopoly of the Church on religious and cultural knowledge.

The earliest occurrence of printing in human history was the invention of engraving printing in the Tang Dynasty, and movable type printing was not invented by Bi Sheng in 1041 AD by Bi Sheng, a commoner from the Song Dynasty.

Compared with the invention of printing in China, the movable type printing in Europe appeared much later, it was first invented by Johannes Gutenberg in Strasbourg, Germany in 1455.

William ordered his royal workshops to study printing, and naturally chose the more durable and advanced lead movable type printing.

When making lead movable type, the craftsmen first have to make a mold for casting the lead movable type, and at the same time carve letters and patterns on the hard copper or steel plate, and then press the carved pattern on the metal block in a molten state, because lead and tin are softer than other metals, easy to cut and form, and have the advantages of not being fragile and wear-resistant, so when selecting movable type materials, craftsmen chose lead as the material of movable type after repeated trials.

After the lead type is cast, the lead type is selected according to the need and placed on two L-shaped steel clamps to tighten it, and then put it into a wooden frame and fix it with screws, so that it can be printed repeatedly.

Of course, after the invention of the movable type print, William did not make it public, but sealed it up and kept it secret, and ordered the craftsmen of the royal workshop to make further improvements to it, including the invention and improvement of movable type casting molds, metal fixed angles, and compression mold casting.

"Wonderful, my majesty, the art of papermaking and movable type printing is miraculous, as if God had given it to you!

With these two technologies, we can print and publish the Bible in large quantities at a fraction of the cost and with greater efficiency! After listening to William's explanation, Hamelin cheered loudly, regardless of his own image.

"Hamelin, whether it is interpreting the Bible as we think about it, translating the Bible into Latin, or into French, German, and other languages, I need your help and support!" William clasped Hamelin's hands and pleased.

"Your Majesty, I will do everything in my power to help you translate and popularize the Bible, and please make the most of what I have!" Hamelin nodded solemnly.

"Thank you!"

With the support of Pope John X, and with the support of the Holy See, it would have been much easier to promote the Bible than the Reformation initiated by Martin Luther.