After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th Century AD, christianity became the dominant religion in Europe and played a major role in the beliefs of both nobles and peasants and it sanctioned the existing rigid Medieval society where everyone knew their place. The monasteries began to offer higher education to people in studying philosophy, Latin and Christianity and some missionaries from the monasteries lived among the people like the Visigoths to proselytize them. The practice of the monasteries led to cathedral universities where students could get a higher education and live in a protected atmosphere and these later became full universities in Western Europe. The Church also had its own lands, laws and taxes so wielded a lot of power in feudal society.
