"Renaissance" literally means "rebirth". XIV- XVII century .

age of new discoveries:
geographical: exploration of the New World
intellectual:
Copernicus (1473-1543)
Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Renaissance thinkers strongly associated themselves with the values of classical antiquity, particularly as expressed in the newly rediscovered classics of literature, history, and moral philosophy. Conversely, they tended to dissociate themselves from works written in the Middle Ages, a historical period they looked upon rather negatively.

The Great Chain of Being:
Its major premise was that every existing thing in the universe had its "place" in a divinely planned hierarchical order, which was pictured as a chain vertically extended.

Political Implications of the Chain of Being:
The need for strong political rule was in fact very significant, for the Renaissance had brought an end for the most part to feudalism, the medieval form of political organization.

Humanism
A common oversimplification of Humanism suggests that it gave renewed emphasis to life in this world instead of to the otherworldly, spiritual life associated with the Middle Ages.
In the terms used in the Renaissance itself, Humanism represented a shift from the "contemplative life" to the "active life
In the Renaissance, the highest cultural values were usually associated with active involvement in public life, in moral, political, and military action, and in service to the state.

"Imitation"
Another concept derived from the classical past, was the literary doctrine of "imitation. In contrast to our own emphasis on "originality," the goal was not to create something entirely new.

The Protestant Reformation
Finally, as it developed during the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation was a movement that had profound implications for literary history. The Reformation seemed to reject the medieval form of Christianity. In the early sixteenth century, the German monk Martin Luther reacted against Church corruption, the sort depicted, for example, by Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales.
Among the most important tenets of Protestantism was the rejection of the Pope as spiritual leader.

Literary Ramifications
Among the literary ramifications of the Reformation, two stand out. First, the Protestant rejection of the authority of Church representatives resulted in placing that authority entirely on the Bible, at least in theory. Consequently, Protestants stressed the need for all believers to read the Bible for themselves. At the same time, Protestants also stressed the need to understand the Bible in its original languages (Hebrew and Greek) so that it could be properly translated. In their interest in such learning, particularly of ancient languages, Protestants were similar to Humanists.