THE TRANSITION BETWEEN THE MIDDLE AGES AND RENAISSANCE

During the Middle Ages the Religion was very important. In those days the soul and life after death were more important than body and life on earth. Everything that man was on Earth needed to go to Heaven. The Church, therefore, dominated men both spiritually with the Pope (the religious leader of Catholicism) , both politically (the Papal States). Power was divided into a feudal system, where the King entrusted territories to his knights or nobles. Later, these vassals could give a portion of land to their vassals. The society was pyramidal
1 . The Pope was at the top of the pyramid;

2 . Then came the Emperor ( In England, the King William the Conqueror) ;
3 . The nobility and the knights;
4 . The merchants and artisans;
5 . Finally there were the peasants and serfs (The servants worked the land of the Master and when the owner sold the land they too were sold).
In the Middle Ages there was a great battle between the temporal power (the Emperor) and the spiritual power (the Pope) . In England this clash was between the Pope and the King. A famous victim of this war was Thomas Beckett, who was killed by some knights and buried in the Cathedral of Canterbury.
With the growing power of the king, earthly life was considered more important, and businesses recovered. Then the men began to look for earthly pleasures, such as the culture and research. Humanism is developed in this period, and sees the rediscovery of classical Greek inherent in the human being and the meaning of life.