1. The contact with the East, started by the crusades, opened up a desire and a market for goods, also, the lower population due to the Black Death made it harder for people to farm.
2.This was a really long period of time, countries like Germany or Italy are less than 300 years old, the middle ages took place sixteen centuries ago. In a nutshell, Europe first went from a feudal state to a capitalist one, when the Reinassance happened the feudal system was gone, but instead of nations the continent was divided mostly into kingdoms, duchys, etc. Carta Magna, The Independence of the United States, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars were some of the main events that helped transform serveral kingdoms into countries.
3.The church wasn't kind towards those who disagreed with their teachings a practices. Specially in the middle ages, when they had a massive control over the european population. Questioning the church alone, back in those days, could get you accused of Heresy or Witchcraft, a sin that was punished by death.
