Changes

The Northern Renaissance was similar to the Italian Renaissance. It also was interested in the ancient past and believed that it was a guide to the present day. The Northern Renaissance was also very much concerned with humanism and its values.<ref>Giustiniani,Vito. "Homo, Humanus, and the Meanings of Humanism", <i>Journal of the History of Ideas 46</i> (vol. 2, April – June 1985): 167 – 95</ref> This was the idea that humans with the use of their reason could improve their circumstances and their society. It was more concerned with the individual. The movement believed in the possibility of human freedom and in the perfectibility of man. However, the Northern Europe Renaissance was much more religious in its nature than the Italian Renaissance. Many Northern scholars such as Erasmus were very much interested in the reform of the Church and denounced superstitions and clerical abuses and corruption, in the name of the true faith.<ref>Giustiniani, p. 187</ref> The great scholar Erasmus, who was born in modern-day Netherlands, was religious and also very interested in the classical world.

[[File: NR 3.jpg|thumbnail|left|275px|Bruegal’s The Fall of Icarus]]

Suddenly books which were once a rarity became widely available, especially to affluent traders and professionals in urban centres. Soon all the major European countries had printing presses and they were producing bibles, devotional works and also, significantly works by the classical authors such as Virgil <ref>Burke, Peter. <i>The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy</i> (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999), 6</ref>. The new books on classical authors exposed more people to the ideas of the past and especially the classical period. The intellectual life of Northern Europe was greatly stimulated by these works and they did much to inspire intellectuals to revive the wisdom and knowledge of the ancient past. The printing press also did much to spread the ideas of key Northern Renaissance thinkers such as Thomas More.

Northern Europe was undergoing a period of great cultural change. The old feudal nobility was under pressure and their influence on the culture of the time was in decline. The era’s rising prosperity saw a new class of urban merchants, who had little regard for the old feudal nobility and its values. The old culture that was based on feudalism, promoted ideas of chivalry and deference was in decline and people were more open to new ideas.<ref> Burke, p. 115</ref> The humanists’ ideas were received enthusiastically by the new urban elite of merchants and lawyers. They were drawn to the values of the Italian humanists, which stressed reason and denied the primacy of received wisdom in the society. They also formed the audience for the books produced by the Northern Humanists such as Erasmus. Another factor in the changing culture of the time was the rise of national monarchies in France and England.<ref> Burke, 134</ref>

In many northern kingdoms, the monarchies were centralising power and the feudal nobility was being weakened and they were being reduced from the status of semi-independent rulers to dependents of the monarch. The rise of the national monarchies meant that increasingly that cultural life was focused on the court. The monarchs of England and France, in particular, were very receptive to the ideas of the Renaissance. They arguably used the ideas of the Renaissance to justify and legitimize their increasing role in society and their growing powers.<ref>Janson, H.W.; Anthony F. Janson. <i>History of Art</i> (5th, rev. ed.). New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1997), p. 113</ref> They exploited the cultural productions of the Renaissance in order to publicize their special position in society. For example, Francis II was a lavish patron of the arts in order to symbolically demonstrate his privileged status in French society, especially with regard to the nobility. Typically, the nobles imitated the king and this led to a growing interest in the new styles of art that were being produced during the Northern Renaissance. This did much to spread the values of the Renaissance throughout France, England and beyond.

The Northern Renaissance was deeply influenced by the Italian Renaissance, but it was not merely an imitation of it. The Renaissance north of the Alps was much more religious than the largely secular and pagan Renaissance in the south and it arguably laid the intellectual foundations of the Reformation. The Northern Renaissance was inspired by the ideas that flourished in the city-states such as Florence and Venice.<ref>Huinzinga,.56</ref> The Northern Renaissance could not have developed without the growing peace and prosperity of the region especially after the difficult 14th century. This allowed members of the elite to become the patrons of writers and artists. Then there was the invention of the printing press, that made the works of the writers from the past known to many more people and this did much to propagate the values and beliefs of the Northern Renaissance. Changes in society, such as the decline in feudalism meant that there was a growing willingness to accept new ideas and beliefs. The rising urban elites and national monarchies in England and France were very willing to adopt the ideals of the Renaissance.

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