Renaissance society experienced a complete rupture with the perspective of bodily values, which it now saw in a different light. Physical education was rethought from disciplines such as medicine, which were much more precise, leading to a pedagogical renewal in this field.

 

Three names stand out above the rest as drivers of this new trend: Vergerio (1349-1420), who was a precursor of Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446), and above all, Hyeronimus Mercurialis (1530-1606), with whom the Renaissance pedagogical movement reached its culmination.

 

Mercurialis's fundamental contribution consisted in the recovery of the fundamental elements of Galen's thought related to body care. However, for Mercurialis, gymnastics was related to medicine but did not depend on it and was considered more of an art than a proper science.

 

The new pedagogical orientations that emerged in the Renaissance continued during the 17th century, commonly known as the Baroque period, where interest in physical education was maintained.

 

It is worth noting the great English thinker and philosopher John Locke (1632-1704), who emphasized the formation of the physique as one of the characteristics of the Gentleman.