And failing then capitalism replacing it and succeeding. You might want to finish the story.
True enough. But even capitalism could not flourish until the combination of the Reformation, the Black Death and the Enlightenment had caused society to divorce itself from the superstition and iron rule of the Church, when men no longer sought sustenance from Lord or Bishop and instead became masters of their own domains.
Nothing like praying for salvation from the Plague, for example, (and not getting it) to cause one to lose faith in the Church, the Monarch and the systems they created, to get people's attention. Nothing like a landless peasant now demanding to be paid for his labor, since there was an acute shortage after the Black Death swept threough, with the assurance that he just might have his demands met! Self-help became the order of the day because there was no other help to be had.
Once the Church and Monarch had lost authority in such a way (reflexive superstition and unquestioned authority) it was only a matter of time before other Chrich teachings/conventional wisdom was tossed out on it's colective ear: the world was not flat, Jerusalem was not the center of the world, man could discern the fabric of nature, salvation did not require a priest, Aristotle was dead wrong, etc, etc.
Released (so to speak) from the bonds of superstition and Christian duty, to his fellow man and monarch, the first Capitalists went at it with a passion.