The Middle Ages were characterized by a rigidly hierarchical society, justified by the idea that, like the branches of a tree, each level of society was preordained and important. While the nobility and clergy were at the top of the social hierarchy, Jews and those in dishonorable professions were labeled outsiders. The Church acted as guardian of culture, particularly within its monasteries and convents. They preserved the scholarship of antiquity, often through the mediation of Muslim scientists. In the 12th century, the first universities developed from monasteries and cathedral schools. Opposite the clergy were the lords and nobility who developed their own culture, centered on chivalry. According to this ideal, the knight's duty was to combine Christian virtues with courage and the spirit of battle, demonstrated in jousting. The lords attempted to regulate their lands and reduce the influence of the nobility and the Church. Their power, however, depended on their subjects in the economic system of feudalism, which defined power relations. A lord lent a fief to a vassal, thus creating a social relationship in that the vassal owed service and the lord owed protection. Kings delegated hereditary lands to nobles who administered them from their well-fortified castles, which at the same time separated them from the people they ruled. The majority of the population were farmers and were obliged to perform services for their rulers. Living conditions were poor, which contributed to high infant mortality rates. Epidemics spread by rodents broke out at irregular intervals from the mid-14th century and caused the deaths of millions of people... center of paper ......orists such as Montesquieu and Voltaire not only encouraged freedom of religion and science , but also a critical examination of the existing balance of power. Throughout the early modern period, absolutism prevailed in most European countries modeled after the French monarchy. Absolutism placed complete authority in the hands of ruling rulers rather than the people. Many of them, however, such as King Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia, were supporters of the Enlightenment. These so-called "enlightened absolutists" sought to manage the administration of their states with exclusive authority, limiting the influence of the Church and the aristocracy to a minimum. At the same time, these rulers supported the emerging middle class, humanist circles, progressive reformers, and Enlightenment scholars..