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The Renaissance was originally centered in Italy, but in time spread throughout all of Europe. In France King Francis II imported Italian art and artists, including Leonardo da Vinci. At great expense he built ornate palaces. Writers such as Rabelais also borrowed from the spirit of the Italian Renaissance. From France the spirit of the age spread to the Low Countries and Germany, and finally to England by the late sixteenth century. There the Elizabethan era saw writers such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe as well as great artists, composers, and architects.

The Northern Renaissance, unlike that of Italy, was marked by the centralization of political power as potent nation states emerged throughout Western EuropeWestern Europe is distinguished from Central Europe and Eastern Europe by differences of history and culture rather than by geography. However, these boundaries of Europe are subject to considerable overlap and fluctuation, which makes differentiation dif. The Northern Renaissance was also closely linked to the Protestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and An and the long series of internal and external conflicts that resulted.

1 Origins

Perhaps even more important than the initial outbreak of Renaissance in Northern Italy, was its spreading throughout Europe. Many of the same causes that helped cause change in Northern Italy also affected the rest of Europe. The Black Death was just as devastating in Northern Europe, with many of the same after-effects.

In addition, Western Europe was far more uniformly under the embrace of feudalismThis page relates to medieval Europe. Compare feudal Japan at the entry Tokugawa shogunate''. Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum itself borrowed from a Germanic root fehu a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held. This economic system had dominated Western Europe for a thousand years, but was on the decline at the beginning on the Renaissance. The reasons for this decline include the post-plague environment, the increasing use of moneyGeneral definition of money Money is an agreement, between a community, to use something as a medium of exchange, which acts as an intermediary market good. It can be traded and exchanged for other goods. The agreement can either be explicit or implicit, rather than land as a medium of exchangeA medium of exchange is an intermediary used in trade to avoid the inconveniences of a pure barter system. In such a system, there must be a coincidence of wants before two people can trade they must want exactly what the other has to offer, when and wher, the growing number of serfs living as freedmen, the formation of nation-states with monarchiesFor related meanings see also Monarch (disambiguation A monarchy (from the Greek monos archein , meaning "one ruler") is a form of government that has a monarch as Head of State. The distinguishing characteristic of monarchies is that the Head of State ho interested in reducing the power of feudal lords, the increasing uselessness of feudal armies in the face of new military technology (such as gunpowderGunpowder is a substance which burns very rapidly and is used as a propellant in firearms. There are two types: Black powder, which was discovered in the 9th Century and as the only known practical explosive was widely used until the 20th Century. However) and a general increase in agricultural productivity due to improving farming technology and methods. As in the Italy, the decline of feudalism opened the way for the cultral, social, and economic changes assosiated with the Renaissance in Western Europe.

Finally, the Renaissance in Western Europe would also be kindled by a weakening of the Catholic Church . The seeming inability of the Church to help with the devastating Black Plague, and the Western Schism contributed to a heavy loss of prestige across Europe. The slow demise of feudalism also weakened a long-established policy in which Church officials helped keep the population of the manor under control in return for tribute. Consequently, the early 15th century saw the rise of many secular institutions and beliefs. Among the most significant of these, humanism, would lay the philosophical grounds for much of Renaissance art, music, and science. Forms of artistic expression which a century ago would have been banned by the Church were now tolerated or even encouraged.

Reproduction of Johann Gutenberg-era Press on display at the Printing History Museum in Lyon, France. The development of printing press had great impact on North European Renaissance. It would be inaccurate to describe the Renaissance as an un-religious time; the Christian faith was still a predominant influence across all of Europe and played an important role in the lives of commoners and nobility like. It would be more accurate to describe the Renaissance as a time of increased secularism, wherein people retained their religion but increasing participated in affairs outside of the church.

The speed of transmission of the Renaissance throughout Europe can largely be ascribed to the invention of printing press. The Gutenberg press arrived well after the Renaissance was under way in Italy, but its power to mass produce printed material dramatically affected the course of the Renaissance in Northern Europe. The ability to widely disseminate knowledge caused by this invention enhanced scientific research and helped spread the Renaissance from Italy to other parts of Europe. The creation of the press also lead to the introduction of public propaganda, which was used by rulers to strengthen nation states. Finally, the creation of the printing press also encouraged authors to write in the local vernacular, widening the reading audience and further promoting the spread of Renaissance ideas.