Sovoral developments during the Renaissances prompted a range of social changes that would begin to gave the way for a gonuine literature
For children. Porhaps the most significant development was the invention of the movable type printing press that made it possible to print books in quantities, increasing literacy and dissemination of knowledge. The crusades of the eleventh and twelfth centurles opened trade routes and introduced new texts into Europe which in turn furthered knowledge and literacy. In addition, the development of the "New World" created wealth and opportunity that spawned a new middle class of merchants who now had the time and the means to pursue education. As children in particular became more literate, more was printed for them-though nearly all were school books or books of morals or morals or manners, such as the Book of Martyrs, an anti-Catholic work with bloody scenes of violent deaths.