Beginner’s guide: Northern Europe in the 15th century

Much changed in northern Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

1400 - 1500

Some of the most important changes in northern Europe include the invention of the printing press, the formation of a merchant class of art patrons that purchased works in oil on panel, the Protestant Reformation and the translation of the Bible from the original languages into the vernacular or common languages such as German and French, and international trade in urban centers.