Renaissance Article
"Renaissance historians rejected the medieval tripartite division of history that began with the creation, followed by the incarnation and the anticipated last judgment. The Renaissance vision of history was also tripartite: It began with antiquity, followed by the Middle Ages and then the golden age of rebirth that had just begun. Whereas medieval scholars looked askance at the pagan Greek and Roman world, believing that they were living in the final age before the last judgment, their Renaissance counterparts adored the ancients, condemned the Middle Ages as ignorant and barbaric, and proclaimed their own age one of light and the rebirth of the classical heritage; this view was expressed by many humanists."
http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=220511