Historians today generally use the term Renaissance to refer to: a. a period of intellectual rebirth after the Dark Ages, when learning had been extinguished. b. a period in intellectual and cultural history, marked by a new interest in the study of classical learning. c. a period in economic history when trade was reborn. d. a period in European history when the northern countries dominated the culture of the Continent. e. a period in European history between 1300 and 1550, during which all aspects of European life were united by a common spirit of the age.