ABSTRACT
From the perspective of the Middle Ages the innovations of the late fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries can be better described as progressive accelerations than as radical breaks. This is even true of the invention of printing. From the thirteenth century, government, trade, the Church, education and literature made increasing use of the written word. Throughout the ages, the Church has been an exceptionally influential institution. It was the most important medium for the transfer of classical culture, to which it added specifically Christian values that in many cases were diametrically opposed to those of Antiquity. During the Middle Ages feudalism gradually took shape as a system of feudo-vassalic relations aimed at warranting military power and some sort of public government through a controlled redistribution of land and lordship. The Middle Ages saw the creation of the universities, centres which reproduced and commented on the knowledge from the ancient authorities.
