Download Power of the Church in the Middle Ages

Notre Dame de Paris:
Construction began:1163
Completed :1345
Throughout the Middle Ages, the church
was one of the few sources of leadership
and stability that people could rely upon.
One historian has noted that
“The continuity and the authority of the Church
of Rome stood out in marked contrast
against the short-lived kingdoms which
rose and fell in the early Middle Ages.”
As a result, the Catholic church became one
of medieval Europe’s most powerful and
long-lasting institutions. The church filled the power
gap left after the collapse of the Western Roman
Empire
From 590 AD to 1517AD, the
Roman Church dominated
the western world.
The Roman Catholic Church
controlled religion,
philosophy, morals, politics,
art and education.
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Pope Innocent III declared the Act of Papal
Supremacy. He stated that the Pope was,
“lower than God but higher than man . . . Judges
all and is judged by no one. . . . Princes have
power on earth, priests over the soul. As much
as the soul is worthier than the body, so much
worthier is the priesthood than the monarchy . . .
NO king can reign rightly unless he devoutly
serve Christ’s vicar.”
What does this mean for the power of the kings of
Europe?
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The Medieval church had broad political power and
performed many government functions.
Emperor Henry IV
waited three days to
meet Pope Gregory
VII and the Countess
Matilda
By 1200s, the church was a leading landowner
and wealthiest institution in Europe
Monasticism - life in religious communities.
Monks lived in monasteries and nuns in convents
Monks and nuns served God through fasting,
prayer and self-denial.
A monk at work in a monastic scriptorium
Benedict established monastery in the 500s;
Benedictine Rule governed monks’ lives.
The monastery at Cluny in France
Clergy was organized in strict hierarchy of rank
–parish priest was at bottom
Saint John Marie-Baptiste Vianney is the
patron saint of parish priests
Priests directly served people in parish.
Bishops managed a diocese.
Kings or nobles selected bishops based on
family connections or political power
Archbishops managed a group of several
dioceses called an archdiocese
Cardinals most important and powerful clergy;
advised pope on legal and spiritual matters
Raphael, Portrait of a
Cardinal, 1510-12
Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de'
Medici and Luigi de' Rossi, Raphael 1518
Pope held supreme authority during his
Pontificate. He was the head of ecclesiastical courts
and had the power to excommunicate.
Galileo in front of the Inquisition, 12 April 1633
Jan Hus, a Bohemian preacher who called for Church
reforms, was declared a heretic by the Church. Hus was
summoned to the Council of Constance and burned at the
stake in 1415.
Church leaders were feudal lords and political
advisors; Popes held political and spiritual
power over monarchs.
The church had the power to tax; parish priests
collected a tithe - one-tenth of a person’s
income.
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Money was also gathered through the
collection of indulgences.
These were guarantees of reduced time in
purgatory for those who did good deeds or
gave money for religious purposes.
Purgatory was understood to be a place that
Christian people went after death to pay off
their remaining sins.
Heretics - people who denied the church’s
principles
Put yourselves in the shoes of a medieval
European. Who might you fear more, the church
or king? Why?
Always keep in mind that the powers of
excommunication and interdict often seemed
more mighty and frightening than the powers
of the monarch/king. True, a king might
imprison or even execute you, but if the
church excommunicated a person, he/she
would not only be shunned [socially,
politically
and
economically
banished/ostracized] in life, but also doomed
for eternity. With the church, one fears social
banishment in their lifetime and eternal
damnation in the next life, death (possibly in
hell).
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The Eastern section of the Roman Empire
continued in the Empire of the Byzantines.
There were a few major theological differences
between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the
Roman Catholics.
The most significant difference was that there
was an Emperor in Byzantium , unlike the
divided Europeans.
The Emperor appointed the religious leader:
The Patriarch.
This was called caesaropapism: Caesar over Pope
The Patriarch still had a lot of political power, but he
was not as powerful as the Pope.
1054 - Bishop of Constantinople rejected Pope
Leo IX’s authority; excommunication split church
into Roman Catholics and Orthodox
Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Bartholomew
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Adapted from:
trcshshw.wikispaces.com/.../Ch13.3+Lesson+
Plan+(Power+of+the+Churc...
Crash Course History Video The Fall of Rome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PszVW
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