Schweipolt Fiol

Schweipolt Fiol (also Sebald Vehl or Veyl; born approximately in 1460? - died 1525 or 1526) was a German-born 15th century pioneer of printing in Eastern Europe, founder of the Slavic Cyrillic script typography. The exact date of his birth and death are unknown.

Fiol spent a considerable part of his life in Poland, particularly Kraków, the capital of the Polish Kingdom at the time. The city was famous for its university. The burgeoning of the arts and sciences contributed to the early emergence of book printing here: as early as 1473-1477 there was a print shop in Kraków, which published numerous theological works.

Fiol was a multifaceted and gifted man: he worked as a mining engineer and jeweler, and then took over a print shop. It is this print shop, owned by Fiol, which first published in Cyrillic such Eastern Slavic religious books as Horologion, Octoechos, and the two Triodi.

The very first book printed in Cyrillic script, Oktoikh (Octoechos), was published by Fiol in 1491 in Kraków.

The exact date of his birth is unknown. He was born in Neustadt an der Aisch in Franconia. Then he moved to Kraków in 1479 and was soon enrolled in a department of Goldsmiths. He worked as a gold embroiderer (German: perlenhaftir).

On March 9, 1489, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir issued Fiol the privilege to the invention of a machine for pumping water from mines. The invention has been under interest of a wealthy merchant and banker John Thurzo (1437-1508), who owned a number of mines, including the lead mines in Olkusz. Subsequently, Thurzo, with the Kraków patrician Jan Teshnarom had sponsored Fiol's printing house. To start printing it was necessary to cut out the appropriate Cyrillic script.

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