1440s-early 1600s
End of the Italian Renaissance
 Two causes: Printing & gunpowder
 Printing:
 Allowed ideas and artistic movements to be transmitted en masse
 people stopped having to go to Italy to exchange ideas
 Other people started attracting Italian artists to court
 Art, philosophy and academia move away from Italy
 Gunpowder:
 Encouraged campaigning over long distances—more people were
able to conquer places further from home (printing also allowed
them to govern from afar)
 Caused larger states like France and HRE to grow in strength
 Causes them to attack into small Italian city-states and force
concessions out of them = loss of political influence
Thesis
 A combination of the increased trade and a newfound
emphasis on education (to combat superstition) led to
a blossoming of Renaissance ideas in Northern
Europe. However because it occurred much later and
compounded with a series of political and religious
tensions the Renaissance took more spiritual, ethical,
introspective form in the North—one that would
eventually go against the traditional Catholic Church.
This, coupled with the rise of printing and subsequent
flow over information led to unrest which would
eventually lead to a series of violent upheavals known
as the Reformation.
Northern Renaissance Beginnings
 started as a result of trade—
Flemish, Dutch, and English
merchants made money and
began to patronize artists (see
artist lecture notes)
 Church had more of an
interest up north—caused
Christian Humanism which
is an attempt to boil down
Christianity to help society
 Big Christian humanists:
Erasmus of Holland and
Thomas More of England.
More wrote Utopia; Erasmus
wrote Praise of Folly
Life in the North
 Politically Northern Europe had moved somewhat past
the Middle Ages (into a weird sort of limbo); from a
cultural standpoint it was a society in decline:
 Fake chivalry, bravery, and tournaments were still the
norm (Blind King John of Bohemia)

Also led to excess, fake courtly love
 Increased interest in the macabre—danse macabre
style—and fascination with occult communication and
resurrection
 Devils, witches, and increased superstition—Malleus
Maleficarum
 New fascination with relics and idolatry
Trade
 The growth of cities and merchants had monumental
impact on the economy
 Commercial Revolution: Money, guilds appear
 Cog was invented in 1200s, equated to modern
invention of Jumbo Jet
 Northern coastal cities set up Hanseatic League of
trade along the Baltic Sea centered at Lübeck
 Entrepreneurship developed, economy now based on
money
 Salt, wool, amber, ale, etc. made up the trade market
Riga
Riga
Tallinn
Tallinn
The Hanseatic League
 Powerful trading network
 First commodity exchange—even created own trade
Parliament – Economics explanation
 Went for economic enterprise to political juggernaut
(whoever has the gold makes the rules)
 Centered at Lübeck in modern day Germany
 Trade was based around Salt
 One of the first and only examples of complete
capitalism and democracy within trade
Politics
 Series of wars in the Late Middle Ages (Hundred Years’ War is
the biggest) lead to knew sense of unity
 Groups of people begin to think of themselves as a unit
 Most of Europe though is still smaller states…
 But, as Machiavellian ideas spread north various leaders begin
consolidation through violence and politics
 French monarchy consolidates old vassalages and grows in power
with help of Estates-General
 Spain unifies in Reconquista
 Hapsburgs consolidate power over central Europe and HREdo
most of this through dynastic marriage

Also marry into Spain and Low Countries
 In the East the real power is Lithuania, but Russia is emerging
 One exception is England, which is reeling from losing
Hundred Years’ War (more on this in a couple weeks)
Religion after Avignon
 Needless to say this weakens the church,
 But first they need money, so they sell indulgences to get it back, no
problem
 But then they want to be cool, so the church turns to the influence of
Medicis and patronizes of the arts
 Church embraces Renaissance (Raphael, Michelangelo, etc.) build St.
Peters, Sistine Chapel, etc. = Costs a lot of money
 And Medici’s get elected Pope (Leo X, Clement VII) and run through
treasury (and are nepotists)
 Again uses indulgences to raise cash but this time it upsets people since it
is more for material gain
 First person to complain about this is Jan Hus—excommunicated and
burned
 Then English scholar John Wycliffe mentions the church may be out
of touch and maybe they should reform (More & Erasmus like this)
 But compatriot William Tyndale takes this too far—he wants the Bible
published in English and plans to mass produce it on the new printing
press—ohh the heresy!!!!
 END RESULT, CHRUCH IN NORTH IS BORDERLINE MESS
Academia & Philosophy
 Thomas Aquinas’s 13th century Scholasticism: Summa
Theologica human reason can embrace all truth and
reconcile differences—but all this is a gift from God
 Led to nominalists, who focused on the way the world
was described, and what could be seen. The universe
should be interpreted through direct experience.
 Leader was William of Ockham: Ockham’s razor—
between two explanations, the simpler is always
preferred
 Eventually led to appeal to (spiritual) logic and reason
known loosely as Neoplatonism
 Oxford and Paris Universities took the lead
Erasmus and More
 Erasmus is Dutch  considered greatest thinker of his
age; educated by monks
 Tried to use ideas of knowledge and religion to take people
past the middle ages
 This does NOT mean he liked the church, he saw it as
uneducated, corrupt, and broken

Used satire to criticize corruption and vice Praise of Folly
 Emphasized inner piety tried to go back to scriptures to
find God
 More was English, received classical education at Oxford
 Good close personal friend of Henry VIII (and Erasmus)
 Rose to the position of Lord Chancellor
 Wanted to reform the church to created idealistic life—
theme of Utopia
 Hardcore Catholic to the end—would lose his head for this
Printing
 Arguably the single most important development in the
history of Europe
 Developed: Movable type by Johannes Gutenberg in late 1440s
in Mainz, Germany, imported from China (kinda). Gutenberg
Bible printed 1455.
 The spread to rest of HRE, Italy, Low Countries and Britain
 Works by having blocks of letter that you put in order and
then reprint
 First printed advertisements seen in 1466
 Allowed the masses to be educated, read, and form
opinions—greatly hurts priests and helps class mobility—
people begin to question wisdom and education of the church
 Led directly to social upheaval in a massive, massive way,
most notably the Reformation