Francesco Petrarch is known as the Father of Humanism for his role in reviving classical Greek and Roman texts.

Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, triggering the Protestant Reformation.

Niccolò Machiavelli wrote 'The Prince', a foundational text of modern political philosophy.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1440, revolutionizing the dissemination of knowledge.

Henry VIII broke away from the authority of the Pope in Rome to form the Church of England through the Act of Supremacy.

Michelangelo Buonarroti painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican between 1508 and 1512.

The Council of Trent was the formal Roman Catholic reply to the doctrinal challenges of the Protestant Reformation.

Nicolaus Copernicus published 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium', proposing the heliocentric model of the universe.

John Calvin wrote 'Institutes of the Christian Religion', which became a seminal work for Calvinist theology.

Baldassare Castiglione wrote The Book of the Courtier in 1528, defining the ideal qualities of a Renaissance gentleman.

The Peace of Augsburg allowed German princes to choose either Lutheranism or Catholicism as the official religion of their territories.

Desiderius Erasmus was a central figure in Northern Humanism and criticized clerical corruption in his satire, In Praise of Folly.

The Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, played a crucial role in the Catholic Counter-Reformation through education and missionary work.

The Edict of Nantes, issued by Henry IV, granted religious toleration and rights to French Protestants, the Huguenots.

Raphael painted The School of Athens in the Vatican, showcasing his mastery of perspective and classical themes.

The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a list of prohibited books established to prevent the spread of heretical ideas.

Sir Thomas More wrote Utopia, which presented a vision of a perfect socio-political system based on reason and communal living.

Anabaptists believed that baptism should be reserved for adult believers and that the church should be separated from secular government.

The Medici family of Florence were wealthy bankers who patronized many of the greatest artists and thinkers of the Italian Renaissance.