A time of dynasties and Empires the rise of the Valois and Hapsburg and the less significant Tudors. Effectively the end of what we know as medieval it is a knew dawn of revolutionary ideas in art, literature and religion. The rise of protestantism, the New World, reform of the military and the Italian Wars giving way to the greatest battles of all time, Ravenna and Pavia. Such characters as Luther, Christopher Columbus, Henry VIII, Mary Ist, Michelangelo, Erasmus, Robert Aske, Perkin Warbeck, Charles V belong here.