Nicolaus Copernicus surviving primary documents on the early years of Copernicus's childhood and education. Copernicus biographers assume that Watzenrode first sent young Copernicus to St. John's School, at Toruń, where he himself had been a master. Later, according to Armitage, the boy attended the Cathedral School at Włocławek, up the Vistula River from Toruń, which prepared pupils for entrance to the University of Kraków, Watzenrode's alma mater in Poland's capital. In the winter semester of 1491–92 Copernicus, as "Nicolaus Nicolai de Thuronia", matriculated together with his brother Andrew at the University of Kraków (now Jagiellonian University). Copernicus began his studies in the
Renaissance Renaissance The Renaissance (, ) is a period in European history, covering the span between the 14th and 17th centuries and marking the transition from the middle ages to modernity. Some historians focus more on the medieval aspects of the Renaissance and argue that it was an extension of the medieval period; others focus more on its modern aspects and argue that it was a break with the past. The intellectual basis of the Renaissance was its own invented version of humanism, derived from the concept of Roman Humanitas and the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy, such as that of