The Renaissance was a period of 'rebirth" after the Middle Ages.  Revolutionary changes in art and literature as well as politics would occur as society changed it's focus to that of the individual potential of all men.  "Humanism", or the belief in the potential of all men gave rise to the "renaissance man". Machiavelli would write of politics as many wrote in the vernacular.  These ideas would further weaken the church and also lead to the Reformation period.