The new world also meant a new passion for ancient texts.  Printing made those texts available to untold new numbers of readers.  For many, this meant a new consideration of the works of classical Greek and Roman times.  Others also turned to the original Hebrew and Greek writings we now call the Bible.

These new ideas created a rift that in a few decades grew into civil strife.  As Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in France changed the religious landscape of Europe, the enemies of the protestant reformers felt ever more threatened.