Petrarch, whose real name was Francesco Petrarca, was a 14th-century scholar and poet who formed part of the Humanist movement during the early years of the Italian Renaissance. His poetry would come to be perceived as immensely significant in world literature. It was directly influential on the Italian language, but that would soon filter out of the country and make its way throughout the world, and English literature owes an immeasurable debt to the work of Petrarch.