what separated the period of Middle English from that of Modern English was not European military invasion, but European renaissance movement, a period of humanistic revival of classical art, literature and learning whose influence reached England in the late fifteenth century. 真正成为现代英语和中古英语分界点的并不是欧洲的军事侵略，而是欧洲的文艺复兴运动。这种对古典艺术、文学和知识的人文主义复兴于15世纪末影响到了英格兰。