In the 15th century, when blackletter dominated Northern Europe, Italian humanists viewed it as a relic of the medieval era and sought a new typeface modeled after ancient Rome. Around 1470, Nicolas Jenson of Venice developed a typeface that combined the proportions of Roman inscriptions with the flow of humanist handwriting. Compared to blackletter, it featured more pronounced contrast in stroke weight and wider interior letter spacing, resulting in greater legibility.