 Literacy went from the prized possession of the select few to a much broader section of the population (though by no means universal).As a result, much about literature in Europe was radically altered in the two centuries following Gutenberg's unveiling of the printing press in 1455.William Caxton was the first English printer and published English language texts including "Le Morte d'Arthur" (a collection of oral tales of the Arthurian Knights which is a forerunner of the novel) and Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales".