Dante was an Italian writer and poet who lived in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. His most famous works The Divine Comedy and The Inferno, were written in vernacular Italian rather than Latin. To write in vernacular Italian was innovative for the time period, and helped to lay the foundations for the modern Italian language.

The printing press had already been invented in China some centuries earlier by the time Gutenberg began to popularize it in the fifteenth century. His addition of movable type allowed books to be produced far more efficiently. Gutenberg's innovations caused a literary revolution in European society. Books began to be published in vernacular languages, and many more people suddenly had access to information and education. Ideas could be spread around the continent more quickly than ever, which would contribute to the success of the Protestant Reformation.

The scientific revolution began in the sixteenth century and really took off in the seventeenth century. Across Western and Central Europe, the age of religion was coming to an end, and the age of rationalism and skepticism was on the rise. The French Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London were both established in the seventeenth century in order to promote scientific research, inquiry, and understanding.

Johannes Müller, usually referred to by his Latin name Regiomontanus, was a mathematician and astronomer in the fifteenth century. His work trying to situate the positions of various “heavenly bodies” relative to Earth was instrumental in the greater understanding of mathematics and astronomy that would emerge during and after the Copernican Revolution.  

All of these men (particularly Chaucer, who lived in the fourteenth century) could lay claim to having dramatically influenced the direction of the modern English language; however, only one option from this list lived in the sixteenth century, and that was William Shakespeare. Shakespeare is widely considered the greatest writer in the history of the English language and often called the greatest writer of any language (although this is of course wildly subjective). He lived in the Elizabethan era and wrote plays, poems, and sonnets in vernacular English. Of particular note was his massive contribution of original words and phrases to vernacular English.

The Jesuit Order (also known as the Society of Jesus) was founded in the 1540s in the early years of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Among other things, they were tasked with establishing schools throughout Catholic Europe to give religious educations to young people, partly in order to convince them that salvation depended on them remaining in the Catholic fold. The Jesuit Order was (and remains) known for their emphasis on rigorous, intellectual religious training.

Sir Thomas More was an advisor to Henry VIII and a contemporary of Erasmus. The two shared ideas about Christian humanism and a dedication to the Catholic faith. More’s most famous work is called Utopia, and it provides an outline of an ideal (some might even say utopian) society. 

The second half of the sixteenth century was dominated by the battle between the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. In an attempt to control the rapid spread of Protestantism, the Catholic Church released an Index of Prohibited Books in the 1540s. The release of such an index was an attempt to censor reading material and prevent the people from accessing the writings of religious reformers.

As the Roman Empire was falling apart and being invaded by Germanic tribes, learned monks realized the value of knowledge and the preservation of their Roman ancestry. Since Christianity was the only universally untouchable institution at the time, monks were able to freely transcribe and translate Greek and Roman philosophical texts for posterity.

One of the most widely read books of all time, Don Quixote took Cervantes ten years to complete. It is considered a seminal work of satirical narrative. All of the other options are books by Cervantes, but none are as prominent as Don Quixote, and none took as long to complete. Viaje del Parnaso was published in 1614. Novelas ejemplares was published in 1613. Los Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda was published in 1617.