LANDMARKS
IN HUMANITIES
Chapter 8
Reform: The Northern Renaissance
and the Reformation
ca. 1400–1650
Renaissance and Reformation
2

Renaissance and Reformation
 Religion
focus of Northern Renaissance
 Renewal
 Reform
 Anticlericalism
 Lay
piety
 Devotio
moderna
 Thomas

à Kempis
Imitatio Christi (Imitation of Christ)
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Renaissance and Reformation
3

Christian Humanism
 Northern
humanists more concerned with study
and translation of early Christian manuscripts
than Classical world
 Revival
of Church life and doctrine from early
Christian literature
 Desiderius
Erasmus, “the Prince of Humanists”
 Neoclassicist;
devout Christian
 New Testament translation
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Renaissance and Reformation
4

Luther and the Protestant Reformation
 Martin
Luther
 Took
issue with view that path to salvation was
mediated by the Church and priesthood
 Believed in salvation through unearned gift of God’s
grace; Christian conscience, not episcopal authority

Thought indulgences, pilgrimages, veneration of relics,
and intercession useless
 Ninety-Five
Theses: assailed sale of indulgences;
cited propositions for theological dispute
 Critical of institution of Church and Church doctrine

Denied pope’s authority; excommunicated by Leo X
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Renaissance and Reformation
5

The Spread of Protestantism
 Printing
press essential to success of
Reformation
 Luther’s
 “Peasant
German Bible
Revolts”
 Luther
denounced
 Civil wars broke out
 Peace of Augsburg, 1555

Each German prince allowed to choose the religion of
their realm
 Religious wars resumed in late sixteenth century
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Renaissance and Reformation
6

Calvin and Calvinism
 Omnipotent
 “Work
ethic”; wealth was sign of God’s favor
 Institutes

God; predestination
of the Christian Religion
Anabaptism
 Rejected
all seven sacraments
 Total emphasis on voluntary acceptance of Jesus
 Abolition of Mass; separation of Church and state
 Many Anabaptists killed by local governments
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Renaissance and Reformation
7

The Anglican Church
 Formed
 Broke

in England by Henry VIII
with Catholic Church over desire to get divorced
Religious Persecution and Witch-Hunts
 Fueled
by belief that devil actively involved in
human affairs
 Malleus Maleficarum (Witches’ Hammer)
 Women were primary victims of witch hunts
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Renaissance and Reformation
8
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Sixteenth-Century Literature
9

Erasmus
 The
Praise of Folly
 Satire

attacking human weakness
More
 Utopia
 Political

satire on European statecraft and society
Cervantes
 Don
Quixote
 One
of earliest Western examples of prose fiction
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Sixteenth-Century Literature
10

Montaigne
 Leading
 Good
 Father
proponent of Classical learning in France
judgment paramount
of the personal essay
 Essays

Shakespeare
 Literary
giant of Elizabethan England
 Wrote 37 plays, 154 sonnets
 Lord
Chamberlain’s Company; Globe Playhouse
 “English sonnet”
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Sixteenth-Century Literature
11

The Shakespearean Stage
 Secular
drama born in Elizabethan England
 “Strolling
players” performed in public or for patrons
 Playhouses built along the River Thames
 The
Globe
 Access
to all levels of society
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Sixteenth-Century Literature
12

Shakespeare’s Plays
 Drew
on Classical history, medieval chronicles,
and contemporary romances for plots
 Plays written in blank verse
 Expressive;
 History
 Henry
eloquent
plays explored human nature
V; Richard III
 Comedies
 Much
Ado About Nothing; All’s Well That Ends Well;
The Taming of the Shrew
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Sixteenth-Century Literature
13
 Tragedies
probed psychological forces that
motivate human action
 Hamlet;
Macbeth; Othello; King Lear
 Hamlet
 Revenge
tragedy
 Internal conflict: fate may assign us role inconsistent
with our basic character

Soliloquy
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Northern Art
14

Northern Art
 Moved
in direction of detailed realism
 Unlike

Italians, unfamiliar with Greco-Roman culture
Jan van Eyck
 Pioneer
of early Netherlandish art; perfected the
art of oil painting
 Naturalistic
effects of light
 Realistic details
 “Arnolfini
Marriage”
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Northern Art
15

Bosch
 Detailed
the fallibility of humankind; its moral
struggle; apocalyptic destiny
 The Garden of Earthly Delights
 Triptych
of traditional Christian themes mixed with
unconventional images

Grünewald
 Naturalistic
detail, distortion
 Isenheim Altarpiece
 Dramatic
exaggeration; precise detail
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Northern Art
16

The Protestant Reformation and Printmaking
 Protestant
Reformation cast shadow on
religious art
 Rejected
relics and sacred images as idolatry
 Embraced
 Biblical

devotional imagery
subjects for private use
Printmaking used in production of images
 Woodcut
 Engraving
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Northern Art
17
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Northern Art
18
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Northern Art
19

Dürer
 Leader
of Renaissance printmaking
 Student of Italian Renaissance art
 Un-idealized portraits
 Engraving
of Erasmus
 Self-Portrait
 Desired
to embody spiritual message of Scripture
in art
 The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
 Developed
panoramic landscape as legitimate
genre
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Northern Art
20

Cranach and Holbein
 Lucas
Cranach the Elder
 Court
painter at Wittenberg
 Portrait of Martin Luther
 Use of expressive line
 Hans
Holbein
 German
portraitist
 Dance of Death woodcut series
 Favored by Henry VIII
 Lifelike portraits; minimal use of line
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Northern Art
21

Brueghel
 Interested
in activities of rustic life
 Genre
paintings
 Hunters in the Snow
 Concern
 The
with human folly
Blind Leading the Blind
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Northern Music
22

Music and the Reformation
 Luther
a student of music
 Emphasized
music as source of religious instruction
 Favored the chorale; major influence on religious
music


Ideal medium for communal expression of Protestant piety
“Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott” (“A Mighty Fortress is Our
God”)
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Northern Music
23

Elizabethan Music
 Golden
Age of music-making under Elizabeth I
 Madrigal was the rage
 Thomas

Morley
Madrigals, the Triumphes of Oriana
 Thomas
Weelkes
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Beyond the West:
Japanese Theater
24

Japanese Theater
 New
merchant class of sixteenth century
demanded new forms of entertainment
 Kabuki



Dance, mime, song staged by male actors in elaborate
costumes and make-up
Elegant backdrops and scenic effects
Day-long entertainment
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Beyond the West:
Japanese Theater
25
 Comparison
of kabuki and Shakespearean
theater
 Similarities:




Urban audiences
Took place in pleasure quarters
Subject to governmental restriction
All-male casts acted out various play types
 Differences:

Kabuki more stylized; half-spoken, half-sung
 Movements choreographed like dances
 Used stock figures; did not explore psychological
development of characters
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