m. Italian humanists didn’t have support from everyone. Many writers and scholars throughout Europe were not interested in the humanistic movement. “It is important not to forget the existence of opposition, which was as much an obstacle to the dissemination of their ideas as the physical difficulties of communication”, comments Overfield (p 120-23). The communication obstacle is an obvious one. There weren’t any telephones to talk over long distances or computers to write down their ideas and until the invention of the printing press, no way to copy work and get it to large audiences. Without the invention of the printing press the spread of Renaissance and Reformation culture probably wouldn’t have spread to such a large audience. Communication was a major obstacle but Italian humanists also faced very strong opposition from scholars and teachers from other European Universities such as the University of Vienna, the University of Cologne, and the University of Paris. They didn’t like the scholarship that humanists taught especially the rhetoric and poetry which Overfield comments they thought they were “studies in vanity”(123). This academic opposition seemed to accompany the Protestant Reformation, which was especially hostile toward Italy since it held Rome, where the headquarters for the Roman Catholic Church is located. Given this information it’s not hard to see why Italian humanists had such a hard time getting their ideas heard during this period. Although the Reformation and the academic opposition from abroad did hamper the spread of Italian humanism it didn’t stop the movement. As a matter of fact, Martin Luther, who inspired and led the revolt against the Catholic Church and led the Protestant Reformation, actually encouraged efforts to establish a humanist curriculum at the University of Wittenburg. Luther was never a full-fledged humanist but he beli...
