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The real target for displeasure became the monasteries and the cathedrals.

The Church was the only massive organisation prospering in Europe - investing in the arts - building up a wealthy court.

In central europe the church from the pope down was opulent and immoral. The church was widely seen as hypocrisy and suspect.

The princes and the clergy were almost one and the same.

The clergy were splitting from the lay people for several reasons:

disproportionate wealth

hypocrisy

its obedience to a foreign pope who was considered to be no more than just an italian prince

this is all on top of difficulties in central europe. Germany, France and others were involved in a long and costly war in Italy.

Natural resources were not enough, central power was failing, shti was hitting the fan.

Prosperity was not always guaranteed.

The Church was widening the gap between itself and the people. This accounts for the difficulty the Church faced on a popular level. This is on top of the difficulties faced by theologians, philosophers and scholars on an intellectual level.

So people sought to distance themselves from the Authority of the Church and tried to find answers in their own soul. This was labelled 'devotio moderna' Modern Devotion.

This belief had a wife appeal to all - it wasn't just for the rich bishops.

Things need to reach a political imperative so some sort of action can be taken.

By following the ideas of modern devotion

by intensely studying the new testament in particular and its new translations

and by criticizing the traditional eclessiastical scholastic authorities

and Erasmus achieved a fame which appeased the un-rest in the lower classes.