[34] See page 346.

[35] The great Passion Play at Ober Ammergau in Germany is the modern survival and representative of this medieval religious drama.

[36] Everyman, one of the best of the morality plays, has recently been revived before large audiences.

[37] See the illustration, page 408.

[38] Tacitus, Germania, 22.

CHAPTER XXV

THE RENAISSANCE [1]

209. MEANING OF THE RENAISSANCE

LATER PERIOD OF THE MIDDLE AGES

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, covering the later period of the Middle Ages, are commonly known as those of the Renaissance. This French word means Rebirth or Revival. It is a convenient term for all the changes in society, law, and government, in science, philosophy, and religion, in literature and art which gradually transformed medieval civilization into that of modern times.