The Northern Renaissance
How is the Northern Renaissance Different from the Italian Renaissance?• Began after the Italian
Renaissance when big cities appeared in the North
• Focused more on the spread of literature and ideas
• People were more centered on humanism in the North
Important People
• Gutenberg – invented the printing press
• Erasmus – humanist; tried to blend Christianity with Renaissance ideas, but unintentionally convinced people to rebel against the Catholic Church
• Thomas More – wrote book called Utopia about the ideal society
• William Shakespeare – very famous poet and playwright, created realistic characters with complex lives
Where and Why did it Begin?• Began in Germany because it
was the center of trade in Northern Europe
• Italian traders spread art and ideas throughout major German trading cities
• Northern Renaissance spread because of the printing press
The Printing Press
• Letters were carved into wooden blocks, then the blocks were arranged to form words
• Ink was placed on the blocks and then pressed onto paper
• This made book production much easier and faster
• Before the printing press, people had to hand write books
• Books became cheap• More people learned to
read, especially the Bible
Thomas More and Utopia
• More wrote Utopia to compare life in Europe with that in an ideal society
• Wrote that European governments were corrupt
• Argued that owning land caused unneeded conflict between people
• In Utopia all male citizens were equal• Everyone worked to support the
society• Utopia now means an ideal place or
society
William Shakespeare
• Famous playwright, one of the most influential of his time
• Wrote Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and other such plays
• His plays were incredibly popular with both rich and poor
• Most modern writers can’t match his writing ability
Art in the Northern Renaissance
• People were portrayed more realistically than they were in Italy
• Subjects in art had flaws
• More engravings were used
• More portraits of everyday people were made
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