Most of us think we know the general outline of the historical phenomenon we call the Renaissance. But, as this Cracked article points out, most of us don’t know jack. For example, you probably think that the Renaissance was caused by the rediscovery of classical texts, like those of Plato. Incorrect! In fact, those texts hadn’t really disappeared, and those texts had inspired two earlier ‘mini’ renaissances. So if that wasn’t the cause of the Renaissance proper, what was?