Download Renaissance in the North

Renaissance in the North
“North” = Northern Europe
• Ideas spread north from Italy
• Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Britain
• Printing press invented in 15th century by
Guttenberg, a German.
• Copies of the bible printed 1455
Flanders, on the North Sea, was one
of the main centers of the
Renaissance in Northern Europe.
Florence, center of the Renaissance in Italy.
What does this quote reveal?
• “All the world is full of knowing men, of
most learned schoolmasters, and vast
libraries; and it appears to me as a truth,
that neither in Plato’s time or
Cicero’s…there was ever such a
convenience for studying, as we see at
this day there is” – Francois Rabelais 1532
Questions to consider:
• Why was the Bible the first book that
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Guttenberg printed?
How did the printing press encourage the spread
of ideas?
How would life be different if the printing press
had never been created?
Would information be harder to get? Would the
levels of education and literacy among people be
different?
Before the
invention of the
printing press,
books were copied
by hand.
Half a century after
the printing press,
some 20 million +
books printed.
Key people
• Desiderius Erasmus – Dutch scholar, priest. Promoted
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humanist ideas – called for bible to be printed in local
languages.
Thomas More – English scholar & humanist. Wrote
Utopia – about an ideal society.
Francois Rabelais – French writer and humorist. Created
satirical cartoons.
William Shakespeare – English playwright.
Jan Van Eyck – Dutch painter – highly realistic scenes of
village life.
Albrecht Durer – German painter who developed
engraving as an art form.
Durer self-portrait
• “In Italy, I am a
gentleman, at
home I am a
parasite.”
Thomas More quote
• “[how can anyone] be silly enough to
think himself better than other people,
because his clothes are made of finer
woolen thread than theirs. After all, those
fine clothes were once worn by a sheep,
and they never turned it into anything
better than a sheep.”
― Thomas More, Utopia
Eramus quote
• “A constant element of enjoyment must
be mingled with our studies, so that we
think of learning as a game rather than a
form of drudgery, for no activity can be
continued for long if it does not to some
extent afford pleasure to the participant.”
• Why did humanists like Erasmus call for
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translating the Bible into the vernacular?
How did Moore’s visions of a utopian society fit
in with the ideas of Erasmus?
What would your Utopian society be like?
– With the people around you decided on three things
that you must have in your Utopian Society.
– What are three rules of your Society.
– Pick a climate/location for your Society.
– Your group must reach a consensus.
• What contributed to the popularity of
entertainment?
Rabelais Comic Masterpiece
• In Gargantua and Pantagruel we hear the
adventures of two gentle giants.
– On the surface
• Comic tale of travel and war
– In the deep
• Commentary on religion, education and other
serious subjects of his time…
• Following are some pictures
Prologue
• Images and stories you can access
through project Gutenberg.
• http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8166/816
6-h/8166-h.htm#image-0007