ECCLESIASTIC FEUDALISM 



centuries. But whatever may have been discov- 

 ered by inductive methods in the secrecy of the 

 investigator's cell, the outside world never heard 

 about it. Excommunication, the stake, the dun- 

 geon, poison and dagger, were always held in 

 readiness by the rulers, and their spiritual ad- 

 visers, for any daring thinker who might have 

 ventured forth with any startling discovery in 

 natural science. The horrors of bloodshed on 

 every hand were intensified by the burning of 

 " heretics," and to make the terror complete, the 

 " Black Plague " swept across Europe about the 

 middle of the I4th century. 



But evolution, though denied official recogni- 

 tion, went its fateful way. Very soon, the church 

 itself felt the giant hand of social progress 

 clutching at its heart. 



The church, instead of building its foundation 

 on the Rock of Ages, had built on a far less 

 " eternal " ground, viz., on the exploitation of 

 feudal serfs. Now this foundation had been grad- 

 ually undermined since the I3th century. More 

 than once, the feudal serfs had stirred restlessly 

 under the heavy yoke of the feudal church. In 

 Great Britain, they had rallied around John Ball 

 and Wat Tyler, about the last quarter of the I4th 

 century, and threatened the rule of the church. 



41 



