The mob you refer to are the conservatives frightened of change. That why the church etc turned on Galileo and when some poor woman came up with a herbal remedy for some ailments, that actually worked, they burnt her at the stake as a witch. They were the conservative mob and today we would call them the conservative right wing because even back then they were the elite who had power and would manipulate and frighten the serfs.
The serfs had no power. It was vested in the church and aristocracies and they ruled with an iron fist. They did not want change because they felt it threatened their divine power to rule.
