#taborites

There is no doubt that the Middle Ages provided no less reason than other periods of history for dissatisfaction with life and for protest against its darker aspects. …the heresies that we have discussed did not call for the reform of the Church or an improvement in worldly life….Instead, the doctrine of these sects called for the complete destruction of the Catholic Church, for the destruction of society as it was known, and, until this end could be accomplished, for withdrawal from the world.

It was against the fundamental ideas of the Middle Ages…that all the heresies were cast.

After the Reformation and Renaissance did their work, the nation-state found solid footing; the state was sovereign – it had no competition.  Society was centralized in a manner not known in Europe for 1000 years (more or less, and differing based on region).  Destroying this common culture and tradition did not, in the end, bring man more freedom; it turned him into a slave.