World History / Unit 6: Renaissance, Reformation and the Age of Exploration
6.2 The Northern Renaissance and the Printing Press
Notes
Renaissance ideas spread north to France, Germany, England and the Netherlands.
- About 1450, Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany, developed a printing press with movable metal type. The Gutenberg Bible was printed about 1455.
- Effects of printing: books became cheaper and more common, literacy increased, and new ideas (including religious criticism) spread quickly.
- Erasmus was a Christian humanist who criticized Church corruption in The Praise of Folly.
- Thomas More wrote Utopia (1516), describing an ideal society.
- William Shakespeare (1564 to 1616) wrote plays exploring human nature, such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.
- Northern artists like Albrecht Dürer and Jan van Eyck painted realistic everyday scenes and detailed portraits.
Practice
Which was the most important effect of Gutenberg's printing press?
Cheap printed books increased literacy and the spread of new ideas.
How did Northern Renaissance humanists like Erasmus often differ from Italian humanists?
Christian humanists used learning to call for religious reform.
Which pair is correctly matched?
Gutenberg's press transformed communication in Europe.
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