The feudal period existed prior to the Westphalian system; then, political authority was fragmented and decentralized among kings, princes, and nobles, all under the supreme authority of the Roman Catholic Pope. Starting in the sixteenth century, dominant European monarchies gradually consolidated their political authority over territories and subjects, even though the feudal power structures left by the Medieval Age still restrained their claims to sovereignty. The Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, as two significant developments, hastened the dissolution of the feudal system Having begun in Italy and spread across Europe, the Renaissance gave birth to the idea of stato _the core of the modern secular state_. Now European monarchs became keen to assert their sovereignty both internally and externally. As can be understood from the information given the correct answer is A. The Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, as two significant developments, hastened the dissolution of the feudal system.