It’s hard to overstate how important the Renaissance was.  It’s kind of one of the highest high points of all of human history.  I mean, there are Renaissance faires all over the US, including one in Texas that starts next week.  Fortuitous timing, that.  But there’s not really faires for other stuff - there’s no ‘Reformation faire,’ nor an ‘Enlightenment Faire.’  There’s definitely not any ‘Dark Ages Faires.’   It’s because the Renaissance was a good time.  It was a time when Europe began to rediscover some of the good things that had been lost since the Roman Empire.