Starting in the early Renaissance and going through to the early 19th century, an intellectual community developed in Europe and later in the Americas.

This community wasn't in any particular geographic place, but rather was a network of intellectuals who shared their ideas

about philosophy, science, and politics. This network was informally known as

the Republic of Letters. Learn more about the Republic of Letters and the Network of Enlightenment Thinkers on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The Republic of Letters has no definitive start time, nor does it have any particular

end time, and despite its name, it wasn't even limited to letters.

The rise of intellectual culture in Europe at the time of the Renaissance is often attributed to the spread of the printing press.

There's a lot of truth to that and I don't want to diminish the role that the printing press played.

However, the printing press was really a broadcast technology. You could print a book or more likely a pamphlet and have it widely dispersed so a large number of people could hear whatever idea was published.

It served a very important purpose. However, the vast majority of what most literate people consumed and even read was not necessarily in the form of printed material.

Very early on, books were still rare and expensive, so someone who owned even a few books could say that they had an extensive library.

Most of the reading and writing which people engaged in was in the form of letters. Letters were the way of closing the loop with

published material. If you published a book, another person who read that book, oftentimes

in a different country, could write back to you to start a dialogue about that or another subject.

Letter writing began well before the Renaissance and the prominence of the printing press.

The first use of the term Republic of Letters actually came from a letter written by Francesco Barborough sent to Padua

Bracolini in 1417. Both of these men were early Italian Renaissance scholars

and humanists. The Res Publica Literaria, as it was known in Latin, was simply all the scholars in their

circle of letter writing with whom they would have had contact with.

At this point in time, most of the people they would have been in touch with would have been in Italy, but this

circle soon spread. The citizens of the Republic of Letters were known as

Men of Letters. Being a Man of Letters was not just an indication that you were

literate, but also that you had a curious mind and

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