The Continental Origins of English Humanism

Abstract

ENGLISH HUMANISM and English Protestantism originally owed much to continental movements of a similar nature, but they also drew upon currents of thought and feeling which were of native origin. It would be a difficult task to separate the English from the continental sources. Nevertheless, there may be seen at work a number of distinct factors, some of which set English humanism apart from that ip Italy, Germany, France, and the Netherlands; while others clearly revealed foreign influences. In recent years a group of well-known European and American scholars have come to the conclusion that Jacob Burckhardt, J. A. Symonds, and Ph. Monnier, together with their many followers, drew too sharp a distinction between the Renaissance in Italy, on the one hand, and English, German, or Dutch humanism, on the other hand. These recent authorities also have pointed out that in their opinion the amount of paganism in the Italian Renaissance used to be greatly magnified, and that the revival of learning in Italy during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was much more dependent upon French influences than was formerly realized. The purpose of the present article is to reconsider these supposedly conflicting views in the light of the latest researches. Obviously, no satisfactory picture of English humanism can be drawn without proper evaluation of the Renaissance in Italy. Thomas More, John Colet, Erasmus, Grocyn, and Linacre (to name the most interesting and influential figures in the development of