In addition, Shona is a variant form of the English Jane in the Irish and Scottish languages. Shona is also a variant form of the English Joan in the Irish language.
The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps. Before 1497, Italian Renaissance humanism had little influence outside Italy. From the late 15th century, its ideas spread around Europe.
Renaissance thinkers decried medieval life as primitive and backwards, and looked further back in history, to the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, for inspiration. One of the earliest and most prominent humanist writers was Francesco Petrarch, often known as the founder of humanism.