European kingdoms and movements Main article:Early Modern Europe In the early modern period, theHoly Roman Empirewas

a union of territories in Central Europe under aHoly Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire wasOtto I. The last wasFrancis II, whoabdicatedand dissolved the Empire in 1806 during theNapoleonic Wars. Despite its name, for much of its history the Empire did not include Rome within its borders. TheRenaissance[2]was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in theLate Middle Agesand later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historicera, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the term. As a cultural movement, it encompassed a rebellion of learning based onclassicalsources, the development of linear perspectivein painting, and gradual but widespreadeducationalreform.

Renaissance and 'Early modern' Click to edit Master subtitle style The expression "early modern" is sometimes incorrectly used as a substitute for the termRenaissance. However, "Renaissance" is properly used in relation to a diverse series of cultural developments that occurred over several hundred years in many different parts of Europe especially central and northernItaly and it spans the transition from latemedievalcivilization to the opening of the early modern period. In the visual arts and architecture, the term 'early modern' is not a common designation as the Renaissance period is clearly distinct from 4/29/12what came later. Only in the study of literature is the early