Yet, even so, communication was difficult and irregular.

By sea the distances were great and the vessels slow.

Overland the natural obstacles to transportation were so numerous and the methods of conveyance so cumbersome and expensive that the people of one province were practically strangers to their neighbors.
Matters of the mind and of the soul were under the guardianship of the Church.

More than merely a spiritual mentor, it controlled education and determined in large measure the course of intellectual life.

Possessed of vast wealth in lands and revenues, its monasteries and priories, its hospitals and asylums, its residences of ecclesiastics, were the finest buildings in every community, adorned with the masterpieces of sculptors and painters.