ECCLESIASTIC FEUDALISM 



its share. Although these discoveries were the 

 entering wedge which split open the entire dog- 

 matic world-conception, the church did not think 

 of condemning the daring navigators as heretics. 

 Their heresy paid well. Besides, these explora- 

 tions offered a great field for the expenditure of 

 more religious fanaticism in a new direction. 

 There were new nations to convert by fire and 

 sword, and they were not so hard to " convince " 

 as the Turks, because they could only argue with 

 primitive weapons against the improved arms of 

 the Europeans, who, thanks to Berthold Schwarz, 

 could now lend emphasis to their religious propa- 

 ganda by the help of gunpowder. 



In 1513, Balboa saw the Pacific Ocean from 

 the Isthmus of Panama. In 1520, Magellan 

 sailed through the straits between Tierra del 

 Fuego and Patagonia which henceforth bore his 

 name; in 1521 he reached the Ladrones, and 

 Cortes conquered Mexico. And in 1531-33, Pi- 

 zarro looted Peru. At the same time, the Turks 

 pushed westward and threatened Vienna. 



Every one of these historical events was a nail 

 in the coffin of ecclesiastical feudalism, and the 

 church, being the greatest feudal lord, helped to 

 drive those nails by making itself a party to these 



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