Chapter 1 section 2: The Northern Renaissance
In this section we wanted about how the ideas of the Italian Renaissance spread to
Northern Europe.
What make the time right for the Northern Renaissance to begin?
 By 1450 the bubonic plague had ended in Northern Europe.
 The plague had decimated the population of northern Europe.
 With less people taking up resources, there are more resources to spread
between the survivors.
 The hundred years war between France and England was also coming to an
end.
 These factors allowed the ideas of Italy to spread up into northern Europe.
 As in Italy rulers bankers and merchants use their money to be patrons of the
humanities.
 The Northern Renaissance was different from the Italian Renaissance in that
it combined classical learning with religious ideas.
Artistic Ideas Spread
What ideas about art developed in Northern Europe?
 The new ideas of Italian are spread north and were adopted by artists such
as Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt
 Durer painted religious subjects and realistic landscapes.
 Hans Holbein, Jan Van Eyke and Pieter Bruegel, painted lifelike portraits, and
scenes of peasant’s lives.
 This was a large shift from the Italians. Italian painters worked almost
exclusively for the rich and powerful, therefore the subject of their paintings
were also of the rich and powerful.
 The idea of creating art with peasants and the poor as subject matter was
greatly new idea, that was unique to the Northern Renaissance.
 One technical development of northern thinking was the use of oil on canvas.
 In Italy fresco was the most used technique and painting along with use of a
egg tempera painting.
 Egg Tempera painting combined pigments with water and egg yolk.
 Oil was a huge improvement for artists because it allowed A much greater
working time.
Northern writers attempt to reform society.
The beginning of the Elizabethan age.
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Writers of the Renaissance combined humanism with deeply religious faith.
They urged reforms in the church. And try to make people more devoted to
God.
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They also want to society to be more fair.
In England Thomas Moore wrote Utopia. Utopia was an imaginary ideal
society where greed war and conflict no longer existed.
William Shakespeare is often called the greatest playwright of all-time.
Shakespeare’s plays showed a deep understanding of how people interact
with one another and displayed a command of English language.
Printing Spreads Renaissance Ideas.
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Before the invention of the printing press books were extremely rare.
The creation books happened mostly monasteries where monks copied
ancient texts and illuminated books by hand.
Because these books were all handmade and intricate pieces of artwork
as well as literature only the very rich ccould afford them.
The knowledge found in books was therefore available only to the clergy
and the very wealthy.
The invention of the printing press changed everything. With books
being mass-produced knowledge became easily available to anyone with
good fortune of being able to read.
Furthermore books written in the vernacular or the common tongue
made the spread of ideas infinitely more possible than ever before.
The printing press used something called movable type, which meant that
blocks with letters were able to be moved and rearranged on plates
which were used to stamp Ink onto paper.
Movable print was first invented in China.
In 1440, Johan Gutenberg became the first European to use the printing
press to create a book. He decided to create the Bible.
The use of the printing press spread rapidly. By the year 1500 presses in
Europe and made nearly 10,000,000 books.
Books are printed in nearly every European language. Copies of books
were able to spread all over Europe.
This availability of literature helped to make literacy more important to
the average person.
Many people of the time who were devoutly religious began reading the
Bible.
Having only heard religious teachings from the clergy before this time,
these people were actually able to read and interpret the Bible
themselves. They soon began coming up with new ideas concerning
religion.
It became evident during this time that when a small group of people
control and dispense knowledge, that the picture of the truth can be
obscured, to benefit those in power.
The printing press made it possible for knowledge to be shared and
scrutinized by all people.