Schweipolt Fiol

Schweipolt Fiol was a native of Neustadt who became famous as the pioneer of printing in Eastern Europe, founder of the Slavic Cyrillic script typography. He was granted citizenship of Cracow in 1479, the capital of the Polish Kingdom at the time, famous for its university. Schweipolt was admitted to the guild of goldsmiths, where he embroidered fabrics with gold and silver threads and adorned them with precious stones. In 1489 King Casimir IV granted him a privilege for the mine water-pumping machine that he invented, and a little later Fiol became interested in printing. In the early 1490s Fiol founded a printing office, which produced the first four books printed in Cyrillic script: Horologion, Octoechos, and the two Triodi. Fiol’s books were written in Old Church Slavonic, and the prologues even feature the contemporary Ukrainian language.

Fiol printed for only a brief period of time, as he was arrested in November 1491 and his books were banned. He was charged with heresy but was acquitted by the court. After this time Fiol was very cautious and decided to publish Orthodox liturgical books anonymously and circulate them in Muscovy, not in Poland or Lithuania.