Download Renaissance and Reformation Chapter 15 Section 2

Renaissance and Reformation
Chapter 15 Section 2
Key Terms and People
Johannes Gutenberg __________________________________________________________
Desiderius Erasmus __________________________________________________________
Sir Thomas More _____________________________________________________________
William Shakespeare _________________________________________________________
Christine de Pisan ___________________________________________________________
Albrecht Durer ______________________________________________________________
Jan van Eyck _______________________________________________________________
THE RENAISSANCE SPREADS NORTH
In the 1200s and 1300s, most of Europe’s cities were in Italy. By the 1500s, however,
large cities had also grown in northern Europe. These cities included London, Paris,
Amsterdam, and others. Trade, the exchange of artists and scholars, and the development of
printing helped spread Renaissance ideas to the newer cities.
Trade in northern Europe was dominated by the Hanseatic League, a merchant
organization that operated from the 1200s to the 1400s. The league worked to protect members
from pirates, and made shipping safer by building lighthouses and training ship captains. This
group helped spread ideas as well as goods. Ideas were also spread by Italian artists who fled
the fighting taking place in Italian cities, as well as by scholars from the north who went to Italy
for education and then returned with humanist ideas.
In the mid-1400s, a German named Johannes Gutenberg developed movable type, made
of metal letter plates locked into a wooden press. This made it possible to quickly print text on
both sides of a sheet of paper. Until this time, the only way to produce a book was by hand. Now
books and other printed material could be produced much more quickly and cheaply. Soon,
printers appeared in many other cities. Scholars had access to ideas more rapidly. Also, more
people were inspired to learn to read, which further spread the ideas of the Renaissance.
Why do you think the Renaissance took longer to get to northern Europe?
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Underline the ways that movable type contributed to the spread of ideas.
PHILOSOPHERS AND WRITERS
Northern philosophers such as Desiderius Erasmus combined humanism with Christian
ideas to create Christian humanism. Erasmus encouraged a pure and simple Christian life,
stripped of politics and ritual. He also stressed the important of educating children. His writings
added to the growing discontent with the Catholic Church.
Humanism was also introduced in England. One English humanist was Sir Thomas More.
He wrote the famous book Utopia, which described a perfect but nonexistent society based on
reason. His book also criticized the real society and government of the time. We still call an ideal
society a utopia.
The greatest English writer of the Renaissance was the playwright and poet William
Shakespeare. Shakespeare was inspired by ancient Greek and Roman writers as well as more
recent authors. Shakespeare’s works displayed complex human emotions and a deep
understanding of language. His use of language and choice of themes, however, made his plays
appeal even to uneducated people. Through his plays, Shakespeare helped spread the ideas of
the Renaissance to a mass audience. His dramatic plays were a shift from the religious morality
plays that had become popular during the Middle Ages. By the time of his death in 1616,
London was the scene of a thriving theater district.
Christine de Pisan, an Italian-born woman who grew up in France, focused her writings
on the role of women in society. A poet, biographer, and moralist, she encouraged education
and equality for women, and was greatly admired even in her own time.
How was Shakespeare’s writing different from that of the writers who influenced him?
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ARTISTS
German artist Albrecht Dürer (DOOR-uhr) visited Italy in the late 1400s. There, he
learned the techniques of realism and perspective. After returning to Germany, he influenced
many German Renaissance painters with this new style. His work also had some features that
were unique to the northern Renaissance. For example, like many northern European painters
he used oil paints. This allowed a great deal of detail to be added to paintings, such as the
texture of fabric, or the tiny image of objects reflected in a mirror.
In the area of the Netherlands known as Flanders, painters developed a unique style
known as the Flemish School. This style was perfected by painter Jan van Eyck. His work often
showed landscapes or everyday domestic scenes. Van Eyck paintings contained symbolism
such as a ray of light to stand for God’s presence.
In the 1500s Flemish artist Pieter Brughel (BROYguhl) the Elder used Italian techniques.
But he also painted scenes of everyday life, very different from the mythological scenes of
Italian paintings.
How was northern European painting similar to that of the Italian Renaissance? How was
it different?
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