The concept of a 'Renaissance' in the arts, in thought, and in more
general culture North of the Alps often evokes the idea of a cultural
transplant which was not indigenous to, or rooted in, the society from
which it emerged. Classic definitions of the European 'Renaissance'
during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries have seen it as what was in
effect an Italian import into the Gothic North.
Yet there were certainly differences, divergences and dichotomies
between North and South which have to be addressed. Here, Malcolm Vale
argues for a Northern Renaissance which, while cognisant of Italian
developments, displayed strong continuities with the indigenous cultures
of northern Europe. But it also contributed novelties and innovations
which often tended to stem from, and build upon, those continuities. A
Short History of the Renaissance in Northern Europe - while in no way
ignoring or diminishing the importance of the Hellenic and Roman
legacy - seeks other sources, and different uses of classical antiquity,
for a rather different kind of 'Renaissance', if such it was, in the
North.