The cultural field linking the Middle Ages and the early modern period in France during the 16th century. The term "Renaissance" was first used during the 18th century to describe a movement representing a clean break with the medieval past and inaugurating the forms and values of modern European secular and progressive nation-states. The turn to antiquity was already visible in France in the 12th century, with echoes of Classical literature and Latinizing style present from the mid-15th century.