ABSTRACT
THE 16TH CENTURY IS generally seen as an era of upheaval and renewal, notably in the intellectual realm. Philosophical, theological, and scholastic traditions were rejected as the result of intensive reading and consideration of texts and ideas from antiquity. This movement produced a new image of humanity and the world. In the social realm, too, the 16th century represented a clear break with the past: the Reformation shattered the notion of the unity of the Christian West that had previously dominated. The premodern state established new political structures and new ways of exercising power.
