No Weddings and a Lot of Funerals

The three most important changes to society during the early Renaissance of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was the development of towns and commerce, the Great Schism in the church, and of course the plague(dun- dun- dun).

With the growth of towns one sees a rising middle class of merchants and traders. The manorial dependence of land became inconsequential to the new monetary exchange that was developing. The new urban lifestyle welcomed trade and goods from foreign and mysterious lands. People became obsessed with the new exotic places and materials that were being introduced into society through the trade routes. One of the most important elements of the new merchant class was guilds. Guilds not only controlled commerce and trade, but also the town itself. Every guild had at least one or two seats a piece on the city council. Their seats on the city council assured that when the laws were made they would surely benefit the guilds and its master rather than the entire town as a whole. With the use of confraternities the guild masters networked and guaranteed further support and patronage.

The new merchant class also changed the way the church interacted with the public especially when the exchange of money was concerned. The church's aversion toward usury due to their belief that money and the exchange of money for goods and services was "contrary to natural law, " caused the merchants and especially the bankers of Italy to become more cunning in their transactions and especially contracts. Through commendas a loaner and borrower were both at the same risk for losing money so were therefore under the church's opinion not participating in a soul damning exchange.

Another change the church brought about in the thirteenth century was The Great Schism. The Great Schism was caused when the Pope remained in Avignon, France instead of returning to Rome for his coronation, even though he lived another seven years after moving the entire Papal curia to Avignon.

Between 1307 and 1314 the French Pope appoints all French Cardinals, which produces even more French Popes after his death. The Pope is outright abandoning the Papal States and those who dwell in them, and especially those in Rome were not at all happy with this prospect. The Papal States were also the ones who brought in the most money for the papacy, and with the construction of the new papal palace in Avignon that money is going to be sorely