If you read for instance Montaigne, they were debating the merits of the ancients and the moderns. Up to the 16th century there was a pervading sense of inferio

If you read for instance Montaigne, they were debating the merits of the ancients and the moderns. Up to the 16th century there was a pervading sense of inferiority from a previous classical golden age. The very idea of historical progress is a modern construct.