Northern Renaissance

							   Northern
  Renaissance
        Philosophy
            and
Social and Cultural Aspects
    Characteristics of the
    Northern Renaissance
• Describes the Renaissance in northern Europe
   – (anywhere outside Italy)

• Before 1500 the Italian Renaissance had almost no influence
  outside Italy.

• After 1500 Renaissance spread around Europe. It adapted and
  modified as it moved.
   – Nationalism – Patriotic Pride – becomes important

• The Renaissance was more than just advances in science, art,
  and philosophy
   – It was an intellectual reaction to the intellectual domination
     of the church empire

• Humanism remains a central theme.
    Northern Humanism
• Humanism north of the Alps was influenced by Italian
  Humanism

• Difference: Greater emphasis on using knowledge and
  techniques to create social reform.

• The reform program of northern humanism:
   – Regenerate moral and spiritual life
   – Reform political and ecclesiastical institutions
      • Corruption in the Church
   – Reform education.
      • Education would be based on both the classics of
        Greece and Rome and of early Christianity
      • Goal: Make better Christians and more productive
        members of society.
 Erasmus 1466-1536
• Erasmus was a Roman Catholic
  throughout his lifetime
   – Criticized excesses of the Church
   – Turned down a Cardinalship

• Independent scholar. Avoided limits
  on freedom of intellect and literary
  expression.

• Scholarly works:
   – Latin and Greek editions of the
     New Testament.
   – The Praise of Folly
         French
        Humanism
• Developed during Papacy in Avignon
   – Avignon = great European capital
   – Popes built a library with works by classical authors, as
     well as Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio
   – Avignon had commercial importance (trade routes to
     northern Italy)
   – Thriving colony of Italians
     in Avignon (craftsmen)

• University of Paris,
   – Classical literature, studied
     for its usefulness
           French Humanism
• 15th century = period of transition
   – France was involved in foreign
      and civil war
   – The French church was in
      serious need of reform
   – University of Paris
       • Kings, popes limited
          privileges
       • Shortage of funds
       • Internal conflicts among
          faculty
       • Students declined
       • Instruction broke down
       • But . . . things soon turn
          around
 The Renaissance in France
• “Imported” after
  French invasion of
  Italy (1494)

• “Italian Wars” were
  attempt to claim
  the Kingdom of
  Naples.
   – France lost
   – But, invasion
     brought back
     Italian
     Humanist ideas
 France
 Under
Francis I
The Renaissance Comes to France
Francis I (1494-1547)
   – “Father of the French Renaissance”
   – Peer of Henry VIII and Charles V (the Holy
     Roman Emperor)
   – Francis I had Humanist education
   – Patron of the arts
      • Brought DaVinci to live in France
      • Purchased major art by Italian artists
         – La Louvre
          Francis and the French
               Renaissance
• Supported writers. Read
  books (rare feat).

• Mentioned in Book of the
  Courtier. Wants to bring
  culture to the war-obsessed
  French nation.

• At death, France near
  bankruptcy. Too much focus
  on the arts. Military
  conquests generally failed.

• Persecuted the growing
  Protestant minority. Led to
  civil war within France
Writers of the French Renaissance
• François Rabelais (1494- 1453)
   – Franciscan Monk, doctor
   – Humorous pamphlets
      • Critical of established authority
      • Stressed individual liberty

   – Gargantua
      • Condemned by the Church for mockery of religious
        practices
      • Despite ban, was supported by Francis I
      • Adventures of two giants with descriptions of
        Humanist ideals
     An excerpt from Gargantua
• Humor and the concept of utopian society.

   – “All their life was spent not in laws,
      statutes, or rules, but according to
      their own free will and pleasure. They
      rose out of their beds when they
      thought good; they did eat, drink,
      labor, sleep, when they had a mind to
      it and were disposed for it. In all their
      rule and strictest tie of their order
      there was but this one clause to be
      observed: Do What Thou Wilt”

   – “It is agreeable with the nature of man
      to long after things forbidden and to
      desire what is denied us.”
Rabelais and Language
       • Rabelais introduced Greek,
         Latin and Italian words into
         French. He invented new words.

       • His works are known for jokes
         and bawdy songs
Montaigne                1533-1592
• Humanist

• One of the most influential
  writers of the French
  Renaissance.

• Invented the essay, a well-
  planned presentation of facts
  and anecdotes
        Montaigne’s “Essays”
• Short treatments of various topics.

• Described man with honesty

• He uses human nature and his own
  experiences.

• Disgust with the religious conflicts of his time.

• Apology for Raymond Sebond contains his
  famous motto: "What do I know?"
                The Renaissance
    The Rest of Northern Europe
• From France, ideas spread by the late 16th century to:
   – Low Countries (mostly modern-day Belgium, Netherlands)
   – Germany
   – England
   – Scandinavia
   – Central Europe

• Humanism linked to religious turmoil (Protestant
  Reformation)

• Art and writing of the German Renaissance reflected this
  dispute.
   Renaissance in England
• In England, the Elizabethan era marked the
  beginning of the English Renaissance.

• This is the age of:
  – Thomas More
  – William Shakespeare
  – John Milton
  – Inigo Jones
          English Humanism
• England = outskirts of civilization.

• Humanism established in England at end of
  the 15th c.
   – Scholars traveled to Italy
   – Leadership occurs at universities first
   – Erasmus and Sir Thomas More
   – Henry VIII
Thomas More     1478 - 1535
              • English lawyer, author,
                statesman, and a Catholic
                martyr

              • Humanist scholar at Oxford

              • Occupied many public
                offices, including Lord
                Chancellor.

              • Author of “Utopia”

              • As secretary and personal
                advisor to King Henry VIII,
                influential in the
                government, drafting official
                documents
Thomas More and the Church
           • Refused Henry VIII's claim to
             be the supreme head of the
             Church of England

           • Ended his political career and
             led to his execution as a traitor
             (1535)

           • In 1935, four hundred years
             after his death, More was
             canonized in the Catholic
             Church by Pope Pius XI
              – He was later declared the
                patron saint of statesmen
                and lawyers.
                 More’s Utopia
• In 1515: Utopia
• Contrasts the chaotic life of European states with the
  orderly and reasonable social arrangements of Utopia
   – No private property
   – Almost complete religious toleration
      • But, no tolerance for atheists. Why?
      • If a man did not believe in God or an afterlife of
        any kind he could never be trusted as he would not
        be logically driven to acknowledge any authority or
        principles outside himself.
     Shakespeare
• Humanist
  – Hamlet: “What a piece of work is
     a man, how noble in reason, how
     infinite . . .”

• Idolized classical heroism

• Like Petrarch, Boccaccio,
  Castiglione, and Montaigne he
  liked presenting issues rather than
  in supporting systems

• Unprecedented use of language
  supports humanistic idea that
  language was the heart of culture

• History gives us good role models
     John Milton                 1608 - 1674
• Author of Paradise Lost, an epic
  poem about Adam and Eve’s fall
  from grace. In it, Milton:
   – Justifies the ways of God to men
   – Depicts origin of sin, death, and
     evil
   – Discusses political ideas of
     tyranny, liberty and justice
   – Defends predestination, free will,
     and salvation
   – Depicts man as the center of the
     universe
Excerpts: Paradise Lost
       • On God’s order: Confusion heard
         his voice, and wild uproar Stood
         ruled, stood vast infinitude
         confined; Till at his second bidding
         darkness fled. Light shone, and
         order from disorder sprung.

       • On wisdom: This is servitude, to
         serve the unwise

       • More wisdom: To know That which
         before us lies in daily life Is the
         prime wisdom.
          Architecture: Inigo Jones

• Studied in Italy,
  influenced by
  Andrea Palladio

• Order, symmetry,
  classical revival
     Renaissance in Germany
• Focus: German history and
  geography.

• Copernicus: 1473-1543
   – Sun-centered theory of the
     solar system
   – Skeptical attitude toward
     established dogma.

• Fugger Family:
   – well-known, loaned money
     to Europe’s rulers
   – Provided mercenary armies
     with resources so they
     could wage war against one
     another.
German Humanism
• German humanism had a
  strongly nationalistic
  character. Literature =
  strong devotion to the
  Fatherland.

• Germans were insulted by
  the Italian perception of
  them as "barbarians"

• Patriotism was a great
  stimulus to historical
  study. This creates a
  mythic German figure .
 German
Mythology
  1914
Gutenberg and Printing
• Movable type invented 1447

• In 1455, Gutenberg sold 2 copies of a
  two-volume Bible for 300 florins each.
   – Three years' wages
   – Handwritten Bible: one monk 20
     years

• The Gutenberg Bible = no word
  spacing, indentations, and paragraph
  breaks.

• Results
   – Increased publishing, led to
     Scientific Revolution.
   – Increased books in circulation
   – Increased literacy
   Spain and the Renaissance
• Political:
   – Late 15th century: many
     independent states, with
     own languages,
     monarchs, armies.
   – “Spain” began when
     Aragon and Castile were
     united in the late 1400s.
   – “Most Catholic
     Monarchs”
   – 1492: Reconquista
      • Religious unity
      • Forced conversions
      • 200,000 Jews left
Spanish Humanism: School of
        Salamanca
               “Renaissance of thought”
                 by Spanish theologians

               Not Secular
                 • Traditional idea of
                   man and of his
                   relation to God
                 • Practical problems
                   (morality,
                   economics,
                   jurisprudence)
         El Greco                1541-1615
• Born in Greece

• Redefined the essential or
  universal meaning of the
  subject

• Abandoned the Renaissance
  emphasis on the observation
  and selection of natural
  phenomena.                          Self-portrait, 1609



• Influenced by Mannerism
  (images are conceived in the
Holy Trinity

El Greco
1577-79
El Greco’s Pieta
       Cervantes
      1547 - 1616
• Poet and playwright.

• Don Quixote de la Mancha
   – Modern novels
   – Written in a modern European language

• “Quixotic” = "idealistic and impractical
   – "tilting at windmills" comes from this
     story
 Art of the Northern Renaissance

• First, northern Renaissance artists
  focused on religious drawings.
   – Albrecht Dürer

• Gradual shift toward secular art
   – Pieter Bruegel = scenes of daily
     life more than religious or
     classical themes

• Hubert and Jan van Eyck
  perfected the oil painting
  technique
   – Strong colors and a hard
     surface that could survive for
     centuries.
         Christian Humanism
• Christian Humanism
   – Human freedom and individualism compatible with
     Christianity.
   – Philosophical union of Christian and Humanist
     principles.

• Christian Humanism in the Renaissance
   – Increased faith in the capabilities of Man
   – Devotion to Christianity
   – Earthly existence = something worthy in itself
      • Earthly values are worthy, as long as they are
        combined with the Christian faith.
Christian Humanism vs. Civic Humanism
 • Italy = Civic humanism
    – Europe leaned toward developing firmer Christian
      principles

 • Italian universities stressed Classical mythology and
   writings as a source of knowledge, but . . .

 • Universities in Northern Europe were deeply
   Christian and taught Church dogma

 • In Northern Europe, Christian humanism = overall
   scholarship and study of the New Testament.
    – Reformation proposed by Erasmus
    – Translation of the Scriptures into German done by
      Martin Luther (an Augustinian priest)
        Relationship with God
• 1350 onward, Catholic Church in crisis.
   – Many wanted more personal relationship with God
   – Limit Church authority

• Indulgences sold to rich people -- "guaranteed" place
  in heaven.

• John Calvin and Martin Luther = main reformers.
   – Calvin: all people damned or blessed from the
     beginning of life
   – Calvinism = prevailing form of Protestantism.
   – Luther: Church was "most lawless den of robbers,
     the most shameless of all brothels, the very
     kingdom of sin, death, and hell."
        The Renaissance Popes
• Popes of the early 16th century were chiefly concerned
  with
   – Politics
   – “Worldly” lifestyle – based on the here and now
   – Promotion of families
   – Patronage of the arts

• As a result:
   – Popes further weakened the ability of the church to
     influence society
   – Local and national forces challenged papal control
     over the Church
   – Clerical discipline and morale deteriorated
   – Heresy (challenges to church doctrine) flourished
   – Critics of the Church became more numerous and
     outspoken
       Alexander VI
        1431 - 1503
• Rodrigio Borgia

• Most controversial of the secular
  popes of the Renaissance

• Immoral . .
   – Suspected of murder at age of
     12
   – Obsessed with self and family
     enrichment through money
     and titles
   – Had several mistresses and at
     least 10 children
   – Said to have purchased the
     Papacy
        The Pope Raises
•
                 Money to carry out his
    Alexander VI needed funds
    various schemes
    – began confiscations of property

• Simple process:
   – any cardinal, nobleman or official who
     was known to be rich would be accused of
     some offence; imprisonment and perhaps
     murder followed at once, and then
     confiscation of his property.
   – Any opposition to the Borgia family was
     punished with death.

• Girolamo Savonarola confronted papal
  abuses
    – Excommunicated
    – Tortured, executed
      Alexander’s
         Death
• Alexander VI was
  unpopular
   – Priests of St. Peter's
     refused to accept the
     body for burial until
     forced to do so by papal
     staff.
• Four clergymen attended
  Requiem Mass
• Alexander's successor
  forbade the saying of a
  Mass for Alexander VI's
  soul, saying:
   – "It is blasphemous to
     pray for the damned"
Martin Luther
     • German monk, priest,
       professor, theologian, and
       church reformer.

     • Teachings inspired the
       Reformation

     • Translation of the Bible
       into German

     • Printing press made
       writings widely read
        Luther’s Theology
• Salvation by Faith Alone
• Distinction between Gospel and Law