Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century,

beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Agesand later spreading to the rest of Europe.

People contributed in the growth of renaissance:

Humanists Francesco Petrarch an Italian scholar and poet, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism". Petrarch's sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry. He is also known for being the first to develop the concept of the "Dark Ages" One of Petrarchs sonnet is Life and Death of Laura where it is dedicated to Laura , the love of Petrarch's life Laure de Noves. Born 6 years after Petrarch in 1310 in Avignon she was the daughter of Audibert de Noves (a Knight) and wife to Hugues II de Sade (and possibly the ancestor of the infamous Marquis de Sade). She married at the age of 15 (January 16th, 1325) and Petrarch saw her for the first time two years later on April 6th (Good Friday) in 1327 at Easter mass in the church of Sainte-Claire d'Avignon. Falling in love at first sight, Petrarch would be haunted by her beauty for the rest of his life. Already being married she would turn down all advanced he made toward her. She died at the age of 38 in the year 1348, on April 6th, Good Friday, exactly 21 years to the very hour that Petrarch first saw her (as Petrarch noted in his copy of a work by Virgil). There is no record to the cause of her death, but it was either due to the Black plague.

Giovanni Boccaccio an Italian writer and poet, was working mostly in Naples and Florence before the Black Death arrived in Italy. Historians are certain he was not living in Florence, however, when "the pestilence" (as he often referred to the plague) arrived. As "the Death" took its toll on people in Florence, Boccaccio worked on his greatest achievement - The Decameron. It took him ten years to complete. Baldassare Catiglione Italian humanist, diplomat and courtier, famous for his Il Libro del Cortegiano (1528, The Book of the Courtier), which was translated into many languages and made Castiglione the arbiter of aristocratic manners during the Renaissance. Castiglione demanded, that one should preserve one's composure and self-control under all circumstances and behave in company with an unaffected nonchalance and effortless dignity. Castiglione wrote also Italian and Latin poems, and many letters illustrating political and literary history.

Desiderius Erasmus a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian. Erasmus was a classical scholar who wrote in a pure Latin style. He was an early proponent of religious toleration, and enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists"; he has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists". Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament. These raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He also wrote The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, Julius Exclusus, and many other works.

Philip Melanchthon Most famous humanist in Germany. He taught Greek at the University of Wittenberg and also delighted in the study of law, theology, and medicine. He was also was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems. He stands next to Luther and Calvin as a reformer, theologian, and molder of Protestantism. Along with Luther, he is the primary founder of Lutheranism. They both denounced what they believed was the exaggerated cult of the saints, justification by works, and the coercion of the conscience in the sacrament of penance by the Catholic Church, that they believed could not offer certainty of salvation. Melanchthon made the distinction between law and gospel the central formula for Lutheran evangelical insight. By the "law", he meant God's requirements both in Old and New Testament; the "gospel" meant the free gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Thomas Moore
known to Catholics as Saint Thomas More since 1935, was an English lawyer,social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and was Lord Chancellor from October 1529 to 16 May 1532. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935 as one of the early martyrs of the schism that separated the English Church from Catholicism in XVI century. In 2000 Pope John Paul II declared him Patron of Catholic Statesmen and Politicians.