The spiritual attitude that dominated the Romanesque age was not as strong and sure during the Gothic period. In the Romanesque age, people believed that the world was a God-inspired mystery that could be
             expressed in simple, direct art. In the Renaissance that followed the Middle Ages, people believed, as did the Greeks, in cultivating rationalism and humanism. This change to a more secular age came about through the subtle influences of a variety of trends and events.
             When the year 1000 passed into history without the predicted end of the world, people began to think in terms of a more pleasurable life. Salvation through the remission of sins was still paramount in their
             thinking, but they reduced it to a formula. Scholasticism was the product of the medieval university, which had evolved from the earlier monastic schools. The medieval curriculum was divided into the so-called quadrivium and trivium. The quadrivium included arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music all under the heading of "Mathematics." While scholastic philosophy systematized salvation, it did not bring forth the deep and abiding faith that many believed it would. Worship tended toward an empty formalism, with the letter of the doctrine superseding the spirit of Christianity. Men like Dante were conscious of the inconsistency that existed between the Christian ideal and Christian practice. This decline of spiritual values gave rise to skepticism regarding spiritual authority and law.
             It cannot be said that the Church lost its hold, but certainly, the faithful were less concerned with the self-denial of earlier years and more interested in their own happiness and well-being. The arts, in turn, responded with a more humanistic expression. Another factor that weakened the focus on the afterlife was the Crusades. These pilgrimages to the Holy Land from the Moslems were unsuccessful in their main objective, but they did open up new vistas in...