The Medieval Church

1
The Medieval Church

• Chapter 8.3

2
Church and Medieval Life

• Converted people to Christianity
• Some women married pagan kings to convert them
• Clothilde persuaded husband Clovis of Franks
• Parish Priest only contact that people had with
  the Church
• Administered sacraments sacred rites of the
  Church
• Preached Gospels and teachings
• Guided on values and morality
• Assistance to sick and needy
• Married both peasants and nobles, baptized all
  children, buried all dead

3
Village Church

• Social center
• Gossiped and danced after church
• Schools
• Decorated
• Stone rather than wood
• Relics
• Churches required tithe tax equal to 1/10th of
  income
• Christian Calendar marked holy days, change of
  seasons, honoring saints

4
Women

• Equal before God
• Daughters of Eve
• Weak and easily led to sin
• Needed guidance of men
• View of ideal woman
• Modest and pure Mary mother of Jesus
• Churches dedicated to mother of God and queen
  of heaven
• Minimum age for marriage
• Men fined if they seriously injured wives
• Punished women more harshly

5
Monks and Nuns

• Men and women withdrew from public to become
  monks/nuns
• Devoted life to God
• Benedict
• 530 organized monastic life
• Benedictine Rule 3 vows
• Obedience to abbot or abbess
• Poverty
• Chastity/Purity
• Spiritual value of manual labor
• Work on physical tasks

6
Monks and Nuns

• Learning
• Monasteries and convents
• Preserved ancient writings
• Copied ancient works
• Kept learning alive
• Taught classics, wrote summaries
• Wrote history
• Introduced use of BC and AD
• Convents
• Strong-minded women could escape limits
• Write books, compose music
• Restrictions
• Could not preach Gospel
• Church frowned on learning

7
Power

• Controlled spiritual life
• Became most powerful secular (non-religious)
  force in Europe
• Pope claimed authority over all secular rulers
• Bishops and archbishops usually nobles
• Churchmen only educated people
• Feudal rulers appointed them to high positions
• Since Church administered sacraments, they had
  absolute power
• Canon law Applied to religious teachings,
  clergy, marriages, morals
• Excommunication If disobeyed Church law, could
  not receive sacraments or Christian burial- most
  feared penalty
• Powerful nobles could face interdict
• Order that excommunicates whole town, region or
  kingdom!
• Even strongest rulers would give in, rather than
  face interdict

8
Reform

• Church wealth and power grew/discipline weakened
• Wealth left to monasteries/conventsmonks and
  nuns forgot vow of poverty
• Clergy lived in luxury
• Priests could marry, but some didnt spend enough
  time in Church
• Treated priesthood as inheritance
• Cluniac Reforms Early 900s in W Europe
• French monastery revived Benedictine Rule
• Many monasteries followed lead
• Pope Gregory VII extended to entire Church
• Outlawed marriage for priests
• Prohibited simony-selling of church offices
• Church only could choose officials (not kings)

9
Preaching Orders

• More reform
• 1200s Francis of Assisi set up orders of friars
• Monks that did not live in monasteries
• Travelled around Europe preaching to poor
• Poverty, humility, love of God
• Franciscan and Dominican orders
• Combat heresy

10
Jews

• Preserved oral/written tradition
• Spain-Conquered by Muslims
• Tolerant of both Christianity and Judaism
• Sephardim- Hebrew for Spain
• Sephardic Jews served as officials in Muslim
  royal courts
• Late 1000s Persecution increased
• Church forbid Jews to own land or work
• Anti-Semitism prejudice against Jews
• Illness, famine, disasters blamed on Jews
• Economic woesmany Jews were moneylenders because
  they were barred from other jobs
• Migrated to E Europe to escape
• Welcomed knowledge and skills
• Thrived until modern times