What prompts the shift from Gothic into Roman in less than a hundred years?

 

Jensen's roman

The transition from Gothic to Roman occurred gradually from the late 15th century through the early 16th century. There are cultural, technological, and aesthetic factors. 

1. Humanist Influence in Italy

Gothic typeface (also known as Blackletter or Textura) was the dominant script style in Northern Europe during the Middle Ages, influenced by medieval manuscript traditions. In Italy, scholars of the Renaissance, particularly in Florence and Venice, admired the classical Roman inscriptions and the more legible handwriting of Carolingian minuscule. This led to the development of Humanist scripts based on these classical ideals. 

2. The Role of Venetian Printers

Nicolas Jenson, a French printer working in Venice, played a crucial role in the 1470s by creating the first Roman typefaces. His designs were based on the humanist scripts but adapted for print, featuring more open, rounded, and proportional letterforms than the dense Gothic type. The success of Venetian printing houses, such as those of Aldus Manutius, helped spread this new style across Europe. 

3. Printing Technology and Readability 

The adoption of Roman typefaces was partly driven by practical reasons: they were easier to read, required less ink, and allowed for more efficient typesetting compared to the complex, angular forms of Gothic type. As literacy expanded and printed books became more common, the need for clearer, more legible typefaces grew. 

4. Geographical Variations 

While Italy and later France quickly adopted Roman typefaces, Gothic type persisted in Germany and other parts of Northern Europe well into the 16th and 17th centuries. In Germany, Fraktur, a variation of Gothic script, remained the dominant typeface for books and official documents until the early 20th century. 

5. Standardization of Roman Type

By the early 16th century, Roman type had primarily become the standard for Latin-based languages, while Italic type (introduced by Aldus Manutius) was used for emphasis and compact printing. The influence of Jenson’s and Manutius’ type designs laid the foundation for later developments in typography, leading to classic typefaces such as Garamond in the 16th century. In summary, the shift from Gothic to Roman was driven by Renaissance humanism, Venetian printing innovations, and the growing need for more readable and efficient typefaces.