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The Northern Renaissance

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

CULTURAL INTERACTION In the Renaissance ideas such as the • utopia

1400s, the ideas of the Italian importance of the individual are • William Shakespeare
Renaissance began to spread a strong part of modern thought. • Johann Gutenberg
to Northern Europe.

SETTING THE STAGE The work of such artists as Leonardo da Vinci,

Michelangelo, and Raphael showed the Renaissance spirit. All three artists
demonstrated an interest in classical culture, a curiosity about the world, and a
belief in human potential. Humanist writers expanded ideas about individuality.
These ideas impressed scholars, students, and merchants who visited Italy. By
the late 1400s, Renaissance ideas had spread to Northern Europe—especially
England, France, Germany, and Flanders (now part of France and the Netherlands).

TAKING NOTES The Northern Renaissance Begins

Following
Chronological Order
By 1450 the population of northern Europe, which had declined due to bubonic
On a time line, note plague, was beginning to grow again. When the destructive Hundred Years’ War
important events of the between France and England ended in 1453, many cities grew rapidly. Urban mer-
Northern Renaissance. chants became wealthy enough to sponsor artists. This happened first in Flanders,
which was rich from long-distance trade and the cloth industry. Then, as wealth
increased in other parts of Northern Europe, patronage of artists increased as well.
As Section 1 explained, Italy was divided into city-states. In contrast, England
and France were unified under strong monarchs. These rulers often sponsored
1400 1600
the arts by purchasing paintings and by supporting artists and writers. For exam-
ple, Francis I of France invited Leonardo da Vinci to retire in France, and hired
Italian artists and architects to rebuild and decorate his castle at Fontainebleau
(FAHN•tihn•BLOH). The castle became a showcase for Renaissance art.
As Renaissance ideas spread out of Italy, they mingled with northern tradi-
tions. As a result, the northern Renaissance developed its own character. For
example, the artists were especially interested in realism. The Renaissance ideal
of human dignity inspired some northern humanists to develop plans for social
reform based on Judeo-Christian values.

Artistic Ideas Spread

In 1494, a French king claimed the throne of Naples in southern Italy and launched
an invasion through northern Italy. As the war dragged on, many Italian artists and
writers left for a safer life in Northern Europe. They brought with them the styles
and techniques of the Italian Renaissance. In addition, Northern European artists
who studied in Italy carried Renaissance ideas back to their homelands.
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German Painters Perhaps the most famous person to do this was the German
artist Albrecht Dürer (DYUR•uhr). He traveled to Italy to study in 1494. After
returning to Germany, Dürer produced woodcuts and engravings. Many of his
prints portray religious subjects. Others portray classical myths or realistic land-
scapes. The popularity of Dürer’s work helped to spread Renaissance styles.
Dürer’s emphasis upon realism influenced the work of another German artist,
Hans Holbein (HOHL•byn) the Younger. Holbein specialized in painting portraits
that are almost photographic in detail. He emigrated to England where he painted
portraits of King Henry VIII and other members of the English royal family.
Flemish Painters The support of wealthy merchant families in Flanders helped to
make Flanders the artistic center of northern Europe. The first great Flemish
Renaissance painter was Jan van Eyck (yahn van YK). Van Eyck used recently
developed oil-based paints to develop techniques that painters still use. By apply-
ing layer upon layer of paint, van Eyck was able to create a variety of subtle colors
in clothing and jewels. Oil painting became popular and spread to Italy.
In addition to new techniques, van Eyck’s paintings display unusually realistic
details and reveal the personality of their subjects. His work influenced later artists
in Northern Europe.
Flemish painting reached its peak after 1550 with the work of Pieter Bruegel
(BROY•guhl) the Elder. Bruegel was also interested in realistic details and indi-
Summarizing vidual people. He was very skillful in portraying large numbers of people. He cap-
What techniques
tured scenes from everyday peasant life such as weddings, dances, and harvests.
does Bruegel use
to give life to his Bruegel’s rich colors, vivid details, and balanced use of space give a sense of life
paintings? and feeling.

Peasant Life
The Flemish painter Pieter
Bruegel’s paintings provide
information about peasant life
in the 1500s. Peasant Wedding
(1568) portrays a wedding
feast.
• The Bride The bride sits
under the paper crown
hanging on the green cloth.
• The Servers Men who may
be her brothers are passing
out plates.
• The Guests Several children
have come to the party.
• The Musicians They are
carrying bagpipes. One
glances hungrily at the food.

SKILLBUILDER:
Interpreting Visual Sources
Forming Generalizations
In what ways does this
painting present a snapshot
of peasant life?

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Northern Writers Try to Reform Society

Italian humanists were very interested in reviving classical languages and classical
texts. When the Italian humanist ideas reached the north, people used them to
examine the traditional teachings of the Church. The northern humanists were crit-
ical of the failure of the Christian Church to inspire people to live a Christian life.
This criticism produced a new movement known as Christian humanism. The focus
of Christian humanism was the reform of society. Of particular importance to
humanists was education. The humanists promoted the education of women and
founded schools attended by both boys and girls.
Christian Humanists The best known of the Christian humanists were Desiderius
Erasmus (DEHZ•ih•DEER•ee•uhs ih•RAZ•muhs) of Holland and Thomas More of
England. The two were close friends.
In 1509, Erasmus wrote his most famous work, The Praise of Folly. This book
poked fun at greedy merchants, heartsick lovers, quarrelsome scholars, and
pompous priests. Erasmus believed in a Christianity of the heart, not one of cere-
monies or rules. He thought that in order to improve society, all people should
study the Bible.
Thomas More tried to show a better model of society. In 1516, he wrote the
book Utopia. In Greek, utopia means “no place.” In English it has come to mean ▼ Christian
an ideal place as depicted in More’s book. The book is about an imaginary land humanist
where greed, corruption, and war have been weeded out. In Utopia, because there Thomas More
was little greed, Utopians had little use for money:

PRIMARY SOURCE
Gold and silver, of which money is made, are so treated . . . that no one
values them more highly than their true nature deserves. Who does not see
that they are far inferior to iron in usefulness since without iron mortals
cannot live any more than without fire and water?
THOMAS MORE, Utopia

More wrote in Latin. As his work became popular, More’s works were
translated into a variety of languages including French, German, English,
Spanish, and Italian.
Women’s Reforms During this period the vast majority of Europeans were unable
to read or write. Those families who could afford formal schooling usually sent
only their sons. One woman spoke out against this practice. Christine de Pizan was
highly educated for the time and was one of the first women to earn a living as a
▼ Christine de writer. Writing in French, she produced many books, including short stories,
Pizan is best known biographies, novels, and manuals on military techniques. She frequently wrote
for her works about the objections men had to educating women. In one book, The Book of The
defending women.
City of Ladies, she wrote:

PRIMARY SOURCE
I am amazed by the opinion of some men who claim that they do not want their Analyzing
daughters, wives, or kinswomen to be educated because their mores [morals] Primary Sources
would be ruined as a result. . . . Here you can clearly see that not all opinions of What does de
men are based on reason and that these men are wrong. Pizan argue for in
CHRISTINE DE PIZAN, The Book of The City of Ladies this passage?

Christine de Pizan was one of the first European writers to question

different treatment of boys and girls. However, her goal of formal education
for children of both sexes would not be achieved for several centuries.

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The Elizabethan Age

The Renaissance spread to England in the mid-1500s. The period was known as the
Elizabethan Age, after Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth reigned from 1558 to 1603.
She was well educated and spoke French, Italian, Latin, and Greek. She also wrote
poetry and music. As queen she did much to support the development of English
art and literature.
William Shakespeare The most famous writer of the Elizabethan Age
was William Shakespeare. Many people regard him as the greatest playwright of
all time. Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small town about
90 miles northwest of London. By 1592 he was living in London and writing
poems and plays, and soon he would be performing at the Globe Theater.
Like many Renaissance writers, Shakespeare revered the classics and drew on
them for inspiration and plots. His works display a masterful command of the
English language and a deep understanding of human beings. He revealed the souls
of men and women through scenes of dramatic conflict. Many of these plays exam-
ine human flaws. However, Shakespeare also had one of his characters deliver a
speech that expresses the Renaissance’s high view of human nature:

PRIMARY SOURCE
What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in
faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable; in action how like an angel,
in apprehension [understanding] how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon
Summarizing of animals.
What are two
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2)
ways in which
Shakespeare’s
work showed
Shakespeare’s most famous plays include the tragedies Macbeth, Hamlet,
Renaissance Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear, and the comedies A Midsummer Night’s
influences? Dream and The Taming of the Shrew.

Shakespeare’s Popularity
Even though he has been dead for
about 400 years, Shakespeare is
one of the favorite writers of
filmmakers. His works are produced
both in period costumes and in
modern attire. The themes or Image not available for use
dialogue have been adapted for on this CD-ROM. Please
many films, including some in
refer to the image in the
foreign languages. The posters
at the right illustrate Othello (done textbook.
in period costume); 10 Things I
Hate About You, an adaptation of
The Taming of the Shrew; a
Japanese film, Ran, an adaptation of
King Lear; and Romeo and Juliet in
a modern setting.

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Printing Spreads Renaissance Ideas

The Chinese invented block printing, in which a printer carved words or letters on
a wooden block, inked the block, and then used it to print on paper. Around 1045,
Bi Sheng invented movable type, or a separate piece of type for each character in
the language. The Chinese writing system contains thousands of different charac-
ters, so most Chinese printers found movable type impractical. However, the
method would prove practical for Europeans because their languages have a very
small number of letters in their alphabets.
Gutenberg Improves the Printing Process During the 13th century, block-
printed items reached Europe from China. European printers began to use block
printing to create whole pages to bind into books. However, this process was too
slow to satisfy the Renaissance demand for knowledge, information, and books.
Around 1440 Johann Gutenberg, a craftsman from Mainz, Germany, devel-
oped a printing press that incorporated a number of technologies in a new way. The
process made it possible to produce books quickly and cheaply. Using this Recognizing
improved process, Gutenberg printed a complete Bible, the Gutenberg Bible, in Effects
about 1455. It was the first full-sized book printed with movable type. What were the
The printing press enabled a printer to produce hundreds of copies of a single major effects of the
invention of the
work. For the first time, books were cheap enough that many people could buy
printing press?
them. At first printers produced mainly religious works. Soon they began to pro-
vide books on other subjects such as travel guides and medical manuals.

The Printing Press A copyist took five months to

Many inventions are creative produce a single book.
combinations of known technologies.
In 1452, Johann Gutenberg combined
known technologies from Europe and
Asia with his idea for molding movable
type to create a printing press that 5 months
changed the world. 1 book

One man and a printing press could

produce 500 books in the same
amount of time.
5 months
Screw-type Press
An adaptation of
Asian olive-oil
presses made
a workable Paper Using paper mass-
printing press. produced by Chinese
techniques, rather than vellum 500 books
(calf or lambskin), made
printing books possible. SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting Graphics
Movable Type
Ink Oil-based 1. Drawing Conclusions About how many
Letters that could
be put together in inks from 10th- books could a printing press produce in
any fashion and century Europe a month?
reused was a worked better 2. Making Inferences Which areas of the
Chinese idea. on type than world contributed technologies to
tempera ink. Gutenberg’s printing press?

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The Legacy of the Renaissance

The European Renaissance was a period of great artistic and social change. It
marked a break with the medieval-period ideals focused around the Church. The
Renaissance belief in the dignity of the individual played a key role in the gradual
rise of democratic ideas. Furthermore, the impact of the movable-type printing
press was tremendous. Some historians have suggested that its effects were even
more dramatic than the arrival of personal computers in the 20th century. Below is
a summary of the changes that resulted from the Renaissance.
Changes in the Arts
• Art drew on techniques and styles of classical Greece and Rome.
• Paintings and sculptures portrayed individuals and nature in more realistic
and lifelike ways.
• Artists created works that were secular as well as those that were religious.
• Writers began to use vernacular languages to express their ideas.
• The arts praised individual achievement.
Changes in Society
• Printing changed society by making more information available and
inexpensive enough for society at large.
• A greater availability of books prompted an increased desire for learning and
a rise in literacy throughout Europe.
• Published accounts of new discoveries, maps, and charts led to further
discoveries in a variety of fields.
• Published legal proceedings made the laws clear so that people were more
likely to understand their rights.
• Christian humanists’ attempts to reform society changed views about how
life should be lived.
• People began to question political structures and religious practices.
Renaissance ideas continued to influence European thought—including
religious thought—as you will see in Section 3.

SECTION 2 ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
• utopia • William Shakespeare • Johann Gutenberg

USING YOUR NOTES MAIN IDEAS CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING

2. Which of the events listed 3. How did Albrecht Dürer’s work 6. COMPARING How were the works of German
do you think was most reflect the influence of the painters different from those of the Flemish painters?
important? Explain. Italian Renaissance? Give examples.
4. What was one way the 7. ANALYZING MOTIVES What reasons did humanists give
Renaissance changed society? for wanting to reform society? Explain.
5. Why was the invention of the 8. RECOGNIZING EFFECTS How did the availability of cheap
printing press so important? books spread learning?
1400 1600 9. WRITING ACTIVITY CULTURAL INTERACTION Reread the
primary source quotation from Christine de Pizan on
page 482. Write a one paragraph opinion piece about
the ideas expressed there.

INTERNET ACTIVITY
Use the Internet to find information on the number of books published INTERNET KEYWORD
in print and those published electronically last year. Create a pie graph book publishing statistics
showing the results of your research.
European Renaissance and Reformation 485