ABSTRACT
The great schism produced as one of its direct results a thorough-going discussion of the constitution of the Medieval Church, such as Western Europe had never known before. All Western Christendom from Naples to Scotland, and from Portugal to Poland, participated in it. Cardinals, bishops, abbots, civil and canon lawyers, universities, synods and councils, scholars, and princes all took a hand in the burning question of the day. Even the common people were profoundly stirred by the explanations, disputes, comments, suggestions, and demands that filled the air. The literature to which the period gave rise was voluminous, mostly in Latin of course, but some of it in the vernacular—a significant fact for it suggested the inclusion of the people in the problem. It appeared in the form of tracts, letters, sermons, dialogues, songs and poetry; and it was historical, legal, argumentative, sarcastic, invective, and full of much coarse wit. The age was not blessed with the printing press, but by means of copies and oral communication a wide circulation was secured. Broadly speaking the literature fell into three classes:—
