By David Yorkshire: Spring is the time of rebirth, of renaissance. Around five hundred  years ago, a European-wide Renaissance took shape – a Renaissance  in the arts, philosophy, religion and science that sought to renew the  High Roman ideal. During this period, great names emerged in the arts  – Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Palladio, Wren, Cervantes, Milton – and  in science: Copernicus, Galileo, Newton. For around four hundred years,  the elitist cultural values behind this renaissance…