Humanism's Growth from Renaissance to Reformation

From about 400 AD to 1400 AD, much of the European population lived in parochial and prejudiced societies. Hereditary monarchs ruled with little regard for their subjects, affluent church leaders made life—and death—altering decisions for all of “civilized” humanity, and the vast majority of the populace scraped out a living in support of the more fortunate nobility.[1] Then, in the Renaissance, that began to change. New ideas based on ancient ones crept into society, introducing the new concept of humanism, the idea that people and their decisions mattered. Although at first humanism was severely limited in its scope, this philosophy gradually spread and became foundational to later continent-shifting events.

Renaissance humanism did little to change the feudal social structure, but it paved the way for later changes.