“In what ways did religion and economics influence the development of medieval Europe and Japan?”

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There are many things that influence the development of a time period, the two most powerful are religion and economics. Throughout history religion and economics have been used to shape entire eras, which is the case in both medieval Europe and Japan. Though the time period between the fifth and 15th century was once referred to as the Dark Ages, we now know more about this time period and the importance of it. In this essay we will delve into how religion and economics influenced both medieval Europe and Japan and their development.
Religion is known to be one of the most common influences of any civilization. This can be seen in medieval Europe where the religion, Christianity, sets the stage for many things to develop, from rights of all people, to a National Identity. Religion heavily influenced the Magna Carta, which helped shape modern democracy. It prevented King John from having unlimited power and gave the people a chance to gain rights. This is the mold in which democracy was crafted. The Magna Carta said it was, “at the prompting of God and for the health of our soul and the souls of our ancestors and successors, for the glory of holy Church and the improvement of our realm, freely and out of our good will have given and granted to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons and all of our realm these liberties written below to hold in our realm of England in perpetuity.” Since medieval Europe was such a religious time, anything tying to religion was treated seriously. There was little King John could do to avoid his power being limited since not giving these rights would go against God, which was sin.
Religion didn't just influence Europe however, it also played a large role in medieval Japan.
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...n Japan. The peasants, who were nothing more than slaves in Europe, has higher social standing in Japan. Them and the artisans were in the same social class. Last were the merchants, while peasants were treated bad in Europe, it was the merchants who were treated poor in Japan. The merchants were not seen very highly, this could be due to the long periods of isolation Japan went through, meaning merchants often could only trade things from one community to another.
In the end, in medieval Japan and Europe there were many ways both religion and economics influenced the development of this era. While both places were very different there was still some similarities, such as feudalism. The medieval times have even influenced things of today, such as democracy. This period, which has left its mark on time is one of importance and should not be over looked or ignored.

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