ABSTRACT
There were various long-term causes: the appalling strain and misery of the Hundred Years’ War, the disintegration of the Empire, and the ecclesiastical schisms that deprived the Papacy of its power and reputation. Within the universities themselves a celebrated controversy arose, that between the ‘Ancients’ and the ‘Moderns’. The Ancients clung to Aristotle as the final authority upon most branches of knowledge; the Moderns, seeking to divest themselves of traditional theories, studied ‘facts’ alone. The rise of experiment and scepticism did not necessarily bring about a weakening of religious faith among the common people. While philosophy and theology, as today, were matters for the schools and universities, traditional beliefs and likewise superstitions maintained a firm hold upon the laity. But even traditional faith was stirring with new impulses, largely under the influence of the monks and friars.
