Northern Vs Northern Renaissance Essay

The Renaissance was a great period of time that involved many changes to the art, religion and technology in Europe. It occurred right after the catastrophic events of the Black Death during the 1300’s that wiped out roughly half of Europe's population. Wars and political instabilities such as the Hundred Years’ War and city revolts also added more destruction to the what was already devastated Europe. The Renaissance served as an essential piece in creating Europe into one of the most advanced and successful areas during the 1400’s to the 1600’s. During that time, the entire continent of Europe was going through changes from the Renaissance, however there were two predominant renaissances known as the Italian Renaissance and the Northern

The Italians focused on the individual being capable of great accomplishments. This belief oriented the mentality of people to reach their full potential. Individualism was expressed in many ways such as artists signing their paintings and sculptures to show individualistic pride. Also the Italian renaissance thinker Pico della Mirandola wrote in his excerpt from the Oration of Dignity of Man states that mankind was the center of the world and that they have free will and unlimited potential. On the other hand, the North focused on social reform. During that time, the Catholic Churches were corrupted in many ways. This affected many people instead of an individual person. Humanists then began to develop social reforms based on Christian values. They began to read early Christian writings to improve and reform society and the Church. Thinkers such as Martin Luther wrote the Ninety-Five Theses, which criticized the church for being corrupted. It was printed into vernacular for everyone to read and it heavily influenced others and created a lot of followers for Martin