In spite of its tenaciousness, the humanist nomenclature of various epochs (antiquity, Middle Ages, modern era) has been outdated for a long time. The aim of this volume is to understand the transition period between the Middle Ages and the modern era (the 16th to the 18th century) as a distinct period – and not merely as a gap between two epochs –and in doing so to reflect on its concurrent conceptualizations as »ancient Europe» and the »Early Modern Age.»