But the character and effects of the Renaissance and humanism in the North differed greatly from those in the country of their origin. The peoples of the North, especially those of Germanic stock, were by nature more religious than the brilliant and mercurial Italians. With them the Renaissance led less to a desire for personal development, self-realization, and individual achievement, and took on more of a social and moral color. The prime purpose of humanism became the improvement of society, morally and religiously, and the classical revival pointed the way to obtaining a new and more exalted meaning from the Scriptures. Through the revival of Greek, Northern scholars, especially the German and English, sought to get away from the ecclesiastical doctrines and traditions, and turn back to the essence of Christianity by studying the New Testament in the original. This suggested a similar insight into the Old Testament, and an interest in Hebrew was thereby aroused. In consequence, to most people in the North a renewed study of the Bible became as important a feature of humanism as an appreciation of the classics. [Sidenote: Expeditions of French kings into Italy.] [Sidenote: Francis I,] =The Development of Humanism in France.=--In France humanism appeared early. In 1458 a professorship of Greek was established at the University of Paris, but the humanistic movement did not amount to much in France until it was stimulated by the expeditions of Charles VIII (1494) and Louis XII (1498) into Italy. These undertakings of the monarchs did not attain the military and political objects intended, but through them France came into direct contact with humanism at its sources, and a definite impression was made upon French art, literature, and education. Even then, owing to the conservatism of the university, the new learning met at first with formidable opposition. Happily, it found an influential patron in the youthful Francis I (_r._ 1515-1547). [Sidenote: and Budæus.] [Sidenote: Corderius, and Ramus.] [Sidenote: College of Guyenne.]