Chapter XVI
Reading edition
THE AGE OF PIETY
The Chapters between William I (1066) and the Tudors (Henry VIII, etc.) are always called the Middle Ages, on account of their coming at the beginning; this was also The Age of Piety, since Religious fervour was then at its height, people being (1) burnt alive with faggots (The Steak), (2) bricked up in the walls of Convents (Religious Foundations) and (3) tortured in dungeons (The Confessional).
All this was not only pious but a Good Thing, as many of the people who were burnt, bricked, tortured, etc., became quite otherworldly.
Nowadays people are not so pious, even sinners being denied the benefits of fervent Religion.