Valarie Langford, age 16, of Portland, Ore., for her question:

HOW LONG DID THE RENAISSANCE LAST?

Renaissance is the name we give to that period of history between the Middle Ages and modern times. It started in Italy about 1300 and lasted for about 300 years. From Italy, the Renaissance spread across Europe during the 1400s and the 1500s.

Prior to 1300, Europe was cut up into huge feudal estates that were owned by wealthy noblemen. Most of the people were serfs or farmers bound in slave like conditions to the feudal lords in small states.

Then things started to change. Learning was revived and commerce, art, music, literature and science flourished. There were many inventions. It was the age of exploration, discovery and knowledge. There was actually a change in the way people lived.

Prior to the Renaissance most of the people lived in little communities on the grounds of the great estates. But then with the growth of commerce, industry and trade, towns and cities started to spring up. The nobleman's manor no longer was the center of all social life.

Some of the noblemen, becoming wealthy as merchants and manufacturers, won more power and took over smaller states. Then, instead of a lot of small states, larger government units grew and became nations.

People started to coin money. Taxes were collected. Cities and nations grew. Officials managed new government offices. Armies were organized to uphold new laws that were being written.

Some scholars consider the year 1453 as the date when the Renaissance actually started. That was the year Constantinople was taken over by the Turks. Other scholars say the date should be 1440, when printing was invented.

Of course the Renaissance didn't start suddenly. There was a gradual development as advances came along in the sciences of mathematics, astronomy and medicine and giant steps were taken in the field of education.

Architecture reached a high point during the Renaissance as beautiful Gothic cathedrals were built.

The period was also enriched by great scholars including St. Thomas Aquinas and Roger bacon. Bacon, called the father of modern science, is given credit for the introduction of gunpowder, the single greatest item used in breaking down the walls feudalism used to protect itself.

An Italian named Dante Alighieri wrote his "Divine Comedy," one of the greatest of all epic poems, while an Englishman named Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his "Canterbury Tales."

During the Renaissance art in Italy reached a new high with a brilliant man named Leonardo da Vinci who was a painter, sculptor, engineer, inventor, student of anatomy, philosopher and author. And there were other great Italian artists, too: Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian and Botticelli.

The Renaissance is thought to have come to an end soon after queen Elizabeth of England died in 1603.