And by the fourteenth century a new dawn had been ushered in. The period that followed was marked by a general intellectual and cultural progress that began to free men from their bondage to ecclesiasticism and to induce them to look at the world about them. The adherence to an ‘otherworldly’ ideal, the restriction of learning, the reception of the teachings of the Church without investigation, and the conformity of the individual were by this time rapidly disappearing. Such tendencies were clearly being replaced by a genuine joy in the life of this world, a broader field of knowledge and thought, a desire to reason and deal with all ideas more critically, and enlarged ideals of individualism. The days of mere absorption and assimilation had passed. [Sidenote: While the Renaissance was caused by internal factors, it was promoted by the Revival of Learning.] [Sidenote: Humanists and humanistic education.] =The Renaissance and the Revival of Learning.=--This tremendous widening of horizon has been generally known as the _Renaissance_ or ‘new birth.’ The term is used to indicate that the spirit of the Græco-Roman development had returned, and that opportunity for expression was granted to the individual once more. But this period is also appropriately known as the ‘Revival of Learning.’ For, while the awakening preceded and was caused by internal factors, rather than by the recovery of classical literature and learning, intellectual freedom was very greatly heightened and forwarded after a restoration of the classics once began. The only food at hand that could satisfy the awakened intelligence of the times was the literature and culture of the classical peoples. The discovery that the writings of the ancient world were filled with a genuine vitality and virility, and that the old authors had dealt with world problems in a profound and masterly fashion, and with far more vision than had ever been possible for the mediævalists, gave rise to an eager desire and enthusiasm for the classics that went beyond all bounds. A knowledge of classical literature had never altogether disappeared, and various works had been preserved by the monks and others. To search out the manuscripts of the Latin and Greek writers, the monasteries, cathedrals, and castles were now ransacked from end to end. The manuscripts found were rapidly multiplied, and the greatest pains taken to secure the correct form of every passage. The devotees of the new movement were generally called ‘humanists,’ and the training embodying the classics has since been termed ‘humanistic education.’ [Sidenote: Political storm center.] [Sidenote: Commercial activity.] [Sidenote: Home of the classics.]