As a cleric Peter Schoeffer worked as a manuscript copyist in Paris before becoming apprentice to Johann Gutenberg in Mainz. He was entrusted with all the printing equipment by Johann Fust when the inventor could not repay his debts. Fust also entrusted Schoeffer with his own daughter, in marriage. The business carried on under Schoeffer, but did not match the progress that was evident in northern Italy. When he died in 1503 the business was continued by his son Johann. The second son, Peter the Younger, was a capable punchcutter and printer himself.