The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, then, mark a
period of transition from the Middle Ages to modern times. They saw a
sharp struggle being waged between two ideals in politics, in
education, in literature, in religion, and in morality. In this great
upheaval that was characterised by a demand for unrestricted liberty
of investigation, a return to the study of nature and of the natural
sciences, the rise and development of national literatures, and the
appearance of a new school of art, the Humanist movement or the
revival of the study of the classics, the /literae humaniores/, played
the fundamental part. In more senses than one it may be called the Age
of the Renaissance.

Nor was it a matter of chance that this revival of interest in
classical studies should have made itself felt first in Italy, where
the downfall of the Empire, and the subsequent development of petty
states seem to have exercised a magical influence upon the
intellectual development of the people. The Italians were the direct
heirs to the glory of ancient Rome. Even in the days of their
degradation, when the capital deserted by the Popes was fast going to
ruin, and when foreigners and native tyrants were struggling for the
possession of their fairest territories, the memory of the imperial
authority of their country, and the crumbling monuments that bore
witness to it still standing in their midst, served to turn their
patriotic ardour towards the great literary treasures bequeathed to
them by Pagan Rome. Greek literature, too, was not forgotten, though
in the thirteenth century few western scholars possessed any
acquaintance with the language. Many causes, however, combined to
prepare the way for a revival of Greek. The commercial cities of Italy
were in close touch with the Eastern Empire, especially since the
Crusades; ambassadors, sent by the Emperors to seek the assistance of