Humanism: Origins
• A movement of ideas which called for change and
reform in many different areas, for example
religion, politics and education
• Humanism is sometimes described as the New
Learning
• It originated in Italy in the 1400s. By the late
1400s humanism had spread to northern Europe.
It was a Europe-wide movement.
• Humanists were interested in the non-theological
areas of the university curriculum (humanae
litterae)
• A scholar interested in these subjects was known
as a humanista
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Humanism: Key Ideas
• Admiration of the civilisations of Greece and Rome. The
period between the fall of the Roman empire and the
fifteenth century was dismissed as a middle age. Cyriac of
Ancona: ‘I go back to wake the dead.’
• Renewal of interest in the language of ancient Greek
• Love of books
• Back to the sources (ad fontes): studying the books which
were the basis of western civilisation including the Bible.
At one level a humanist was a reader and editor of old
texts.
• Humanism was an aspect of the renaissance. The term
renaissance is applied broadly to European history 1450
to 1650 and describes a period of great change and new
inventions. Renaissance literally means ‘rebirth’ and
began as a movement to rediscover and recreate the
classical world.
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Humanism and the Two Ps
• Paper-making and printing had
both originated in China. By the
renaissance both these inventions
had arrived in Europe. From 1275
paper-making centres grew up in
Italy. Paper was cheaper and
easier to produce than parchment
(made from animal hide).
Johannes Gutenberg is credited
with the invention of movable
type printing in Mainz in the
1450s.
• By the 1540s a skilled craftsman
could produce 1,300 copies of a
single sheet in a day.
• MacCulloch: ‘ Movable type text on
paper was radically cheaper than
a manuscript to produce and once
the rather laborious process of
setting up the pages was
completed, it was exhilaratingly
easy to reproduce large print-
runs.’
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Humanism and the Two Ps
• Because of printing renaissance
Europe experienced its own
information revolution.
[Link] scholars had spent a lot
of time copying manuscripts;
renaissance humanists had more
time to read and interpret texts and
adopted a more critical and
inquiring approach – a more
modern approach – to their sources.
2. The printing press allowed new
ideas to spread more quickly.
3. Emergence of a print culture.
Educated laymen now read the
Bible . Bible-reading among this
group became an important part of
religious life. Laymen could now
interpret the Bible for themselves
and were less dependent on
standard official readings of the
Bible.
• By 1500 six million books had been
printed in Europe.
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Erasmus and Christian
Humanism
• Humanists who wanted to
reform the church were
known as Christian
humanists. The leading
Christian humanist was
Erasmus of Rotterdam
(1466 -1536).
• Erasmus was hugely
influential. In his Handbook of
the Christian Soldier (1516)
he endorsed a stripped-down
version of Christianity. Ritual,
external actions and the
intervention of the organised
church were not central to
the Christian life. Instead
what mattered was Bible-
reading and imitatio Christi
(imitation of Christ) – living as
Christ lived in the Gospels.
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Erasmus and Christian
Humanism
• He supported the publication of vernacular Bibles
(Bibles in national languages) – a radical idea at a
time when the Church used a Latin translation of the
Bible from the third century CE, the Vulgate
(common version).
I wish that every woman might read the Gospel and
the Epistles of St. Paul. Would that these were
translated into every language and understood not
only by Scots and Irishmen but by Turks and Saracens
His campaign had an effect. Between 1466 and 1522
22 German Bibles were printed.
• Erasmus also satirised the clergy in his Praise of Folly.
Churchmen were ridiculed for their wealth, their
worldly ambition, their violation of celibacy and their
low standard of education.
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New Words into New Ideas
• As a humanist Erasmus
studied the texts on which
Christianity was based. He
went back to the sources (ad
fontes), the most important
of which was the Bible.
• His most important
contribution to Biblical
scholarship was his 1516
edition of the New
Testament. This was a three-
part project: the preparation
of a fresh Greek text of the
New Testament, a new Latin
translation of the Greek
original (intended to supplant
the Vulgate) and a series of
notes interpreting the Latin
translation, the Annotations.
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New Words into New Ideas
• The greater knowledge of Latin and Greek which had
grown during the Renaissance allowed Erasmus to
prepare a more accurate Greek text and a more accurate
Latin translation than Jerome had provided a thousand
years earlier.
Example: Matthew 3.2 - the Greek word metanoiete
Jerome had translated as poenitentiam agite or do
penance Erasmus translated as resipiscite or come to
your senses or repent. Jerome’s translation had been the
basis of the medieval sacrament of penance (confession
followed by carrying out a task) and the actions of prayer
and pilgrimage; Erasmus’s implied a more contemplative
and internal process of repentance.
Key Point: Erasmus’s scholarship contributed to a new
understanding of the Bible
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Humanism in England
• Humanist ideas spread to
the outpost of England.
They were carried by
Erasmus himself who spent
four years at Cambridge
University between 1511
and 1515.
• Two English humanists
were John Colet, Dean of St.
Paul’s Cathedral in London
and Thomas More. Colet’s
ability as a Greek scholar
encouraged Erasmus to
learn the language.
Erasmus also had patrons
in England and was paid a
stipend by William
Warham, Archbishop of
Canterbury.
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Humanist Criticisms of the
English Church
• In a sermon preached before
Convocation in 1511 Colet delivered
a typical humanist critique of the
church.
How much greediness is nowadays in
men of the church … they seem not
to be put in the humble bishopric of
Christ but rather in the high lordship
and power of the world ….
The second secular evil is carnal
concupiscence. Hath not this vice
grown and waxen in the Church as a
flood of their lust
Covetousness is the third secular evil
The fourth secular evil that spotteth
the face of the Church is the
continual secular occupation wherein
priests and bishops nowadays doth
busy themselves, the servants rather
of men than of God; the warriors
rather of this world than of Christ
……
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