Propaganda during the Reformation

In this woodblock from 1568, the printer at left is removing a page from the press while the one at right inks the text-blocks
Propaganda during the Reformation, helped by the spread of the printing press throughout Europe, and in particular within Germany, caused new ideas, thoughts, and doctrine to be made available to the public in ways that had never been seen before the sixteenth century. The printing press was invented in approximately 1450 and quickly spread to other major cities around Europe; by the time the Reformation was underway in 1517 there were printing centers in over 200 of the major European cities.[1] These centers became the primary producers of Reformation works by the Protestants, and in some cases anti-Reformation works put forth by the Roman Catholics.
Printed texts and pamphlets
There were a number of different methods of propaganda used during the Reformation including pamphlets/leaflets, texts, letters and translations of the Bible/New Testament. Pamphlets or leaflets were one of the most common forms of propaganda during the reformation period. Pamphlets usually consisted of approximately eight to sixteen pages and were relatively small and easy to conceal from the authorities, thus making them very useful to reformers whose ideas were not accepted by the Roman Catholic authorities. The majority of these pamphlets promoted the Reformation and the Protestant ideas; however pamphlets were also used by Roman Catholic propagandists, but not to the same effect.[2]
Protestant and Roman Catholic propaganda during the Reformation attempted to sway the public into adopting or continuing religious practices. Propagandists from both groups attempted to publish documents about church doctrine, to either retain their believers or influence new believers. Occasionally these printed texts also acted as manuals