ere unsuccessful in their main
             objective, but they did open up new vistas in social and cultural
             thought. Material wealth through trade, love of a full life, and a sense
             of high adventure were but a few of the results. Moreover, those
             returning from pilgrimages showed signs of becoming more
             intellectually and economically independent. Their new experiences,
             as well as scholasticism, made them skeptical of the religious doctrine
             that threatened the punishment of hell for every pleasurable impulse.
             The spiritual and temporal power of the Church, its
             ...