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When we think about medieval Europe, one of the first things that we remember is the Inquisition. The Inquisition was started in 1184 by the Pope in Rome to fight against heretics, people who didn't agree with the Church. The Inquisition had the power of life and death over any Catholic and people were afraid of it, but at the end of the fifteenth century things started to change. It was the century of great discoveries.
In 1492 Columbus discovered America. In 1497 Vasco da Gama opened up a sea route to India. In 1500 Brazil was discovered, and in 1522 Magellan's expedition went round the world for the first time.
These discoveries put the Church in a difficult position. For centuries it had been telling people: 'The world is flat." But the explorers showed that it wasn't true. It became clear to everybody that the Earth was round.
Worse than that, at the beginning of the 16th century a young Polish astronomer, Copernicus, came up with a new idea. "The Earth is not the centre of the universe. It revolves around the sun, together with some other planets."
The Catholic Church had to find a way to hide this knowledge from ordinary people. In 1559 it published the Index Liborum Prohibitorum ['indeks 'libnrom 'prnhibitDrum], a list of books that were banned for Catholics. People who read these books were punished by the Inquisition. Any books from the list were burned.
Nowadays the Index Liborum Prohibitorum is open to the public. Think of any famous scientist, writer or philosopher — you'll find his name and works on the list.