Download ROLE OF THE CHURCH System of Organization

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*Christianity had become the main religion of the Roman
Empire
*Spread to other parts of Europe
*Christianity appealed to many during the medieval
times since many peoples lives were filled with suffering
and hardship and Christianity offered them the promise
of a happy afterlife
*Christendom = a Christian society that included most of
western Europe
*The Church developed a system of organization
*Priest was the head of a local community called a parish
*Bishop – in charge of a group of parishes, area of
authority called a bishopric or dioceses
*Archbishop – watches over a group of bishoprics
*The pope was the head of the entire Roman Catholic
Church – formerly the Bishop of Rome
*Monk – a man who separates himself from everyday life
to dedicate himself entirely to God, lives in a monastery
run by an abbot
*Spent lots of time in prayer and physical labor, took a
vow of poverty
*Women who dedicated themselves to God were called
nuns and lived in convents
*In response, Pope Leo excommunicated the
patriarch
*Excommunicate = to cast out of the Church
*This led to a split:
those who agreed with Pope Leo
were Roman Catholics and those who sided with the
patriarch were called Orthodox
*The issue of investiture also brought conflict
* Investiture = awarding a church office
* Lay investiture = the practice by which secular rulers appoint nominees to
church offices
*Pope against this, he feels that only the Church
should appoint clergy and run its own affairs
*Also believed that the pope’s authority extended
over all rulers
*If secular rulers did not accept this, then the pope
would remove them
* Investiture Controversy – conflict between Pope Gregory VII and Holy Roman
Emperor IV over who had the right to choose bishops
*Henry responded that the pope had no authority
over him
*Pope Gregory responded by excommunicating Henry
and calling on the nobles of Germany to replace him
*A later pope and emperor finally reached a
compromise – local clergy would choose bishops, but
their choices could be vetoed by secular rulers
*Pope Innocent III strengthened papal power and
believed that the pope was the supreme judge and ruler
of European affairs
* Used the interdict to exercise his powers
*An interdict forbids priests to give the sacraments
(Christian rites) to a particular group of people
* A pope used an interdict against a country whose ruler has disobeyed him
* People under interdiction lost the comforts and blessings of religion
* They exerted pressure on their ruler to follow the pope’s wishes
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*Heresy = denial of basic Church doctrines, or beliefs that
opposed the official teachings of the Church
* People who committed heresy were called heretics and were usually burned
at the stake
*The Inquisition was a court created by the Catholic
Church to find and try heretics
* Used torture and heretics who converted to Catholicism were freed, while
others were killed
* The Spanish Inquisition was the most brutal and was still operating in the
1800s
*The two groups it went after the most were Jews
and Muslims
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*Piety had greatly increased in Europe around 1000
*Piety = a person’s level of devotion to religion
*Sacraments of the Catholic Church were very important to
ordinary people
*Made people dependent on the clergy, who were the only
people who could give sacraments
*Venerating the saints was also important
*Would pray to them
*Worshipped and bought relics, because they thought relics
could produce miracles such as healing or help you get to
heaven
*Relics = are bones of saints or objects connected with saints
*Many Christians also believed that a pilgrimage to a holy
shrine produced a spiritual benefit
*King Philip engineered to have a Frenchman, Clement V,
elected pope
* This new pope established himself in the French city of Avignon, not Rome,
and the popes lived there from 1305 to 1377 (called the Babylonian
Captivity)
* This didn’t seem proper, so Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome
*When he died, the citizens of Rome told the cardinals to
elect an Italian pope or face the consequences – they
elected Urban VI
* However, a group of French cardinals declared the election invalid and chose
a Frenchman as pope and this pope went to Avignon
* There were now 2 popes
* This was called the Great Schism of the Church and lasted from 1378 to 1417,
dividing Europe religiously and damaging the Church
* Each pope denounced the other as the Antichrist and people’s faith in the
papacy was shaken
*Another pope was elected to help fix things, but that
didn’t work and now there were 3 popes
* Finally in 1417 a new pope was elected who was acceptable to everyone
*This led to a call for the end to the clergy’s corruption
and the papacy’s excessive power
* By the early 1400s the pope could no longer assert supremacy over the state
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*From the 11th to 13th centuries, European Christians
went on the Crusades
* The Crusades were a series of military campaigns to regain the Holy Land
from the Muslims who were known as infidels (non-believers)
* The goal of each Crusade was to take Jerusalem and the surrounding area
away from the Muslims
*Many Christians believed that Jesus would only
come again once Christians held Jerusalem
*The Muslims also considered Jerusalem holy
*The First Crusade started when Muslim Turks attacked
the Byzantine Empire
* The Byzantine Emperor asked for help and Pope Urban II responded by urging
Christians to take up arms in a holy war (1095)
*Slogan:
“God wills it!”
* Two groups set out for the Crusade
*Peasant Crusaders – slaughtered entire Jewish
communities on the way to Jerusalem
*Most died quickly when they did reach the Holy Land
*Trained knights – even they were still unprepared for
the hardship
* Three years after heading out, the Crusaders finally reached Jerusalem
*Captured Jerusalem and killed most of its
inhabitants
* Set up four Latin Crusader states that were surrounded by Muslims and were
intended to be strongholds against future Muslim aggression
*Second Crusade
* A few years later the Muslims began to recapture lands
* The Second Crusade is organized after one of the Latin Crusader states falls
to the Muslims
* The Crusade was launched in 1147 and included King Louis VII of France and
his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine
* It was a complete failure – took no lands from Muslims
*Third Crusade
* A new leader emerges among the Muslims – Salah ad-Din, whom the
Europeans call Saladin
*His goal was to recapture the Holy Land
*In 1187 he captured Jerusalem
* Due to this, the Third Crusade is launched and three strong leaders set out
together: King Richard of England, King Philip Augustus of France, and
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany
*Only Richard made it to and fought in the Holy Land
* Richard and Saladin fought fiercely against each other and although Richard
won several battles, he was not able to take Jerusalem
* Richard instead negotiates an agreement with Saladin for Christian pilgrims
to be allowed to go into Jerusalem and he returns home
* Fourth Crusade
* Started by Pope Innocent III after Saladin dies
*Crusaders set out again to recapture Jerusalem in
1201
* The Crusaders found that they could not afford to pay the Venetians, who
were supposed to take them to the Holy Land
*In place of payment, the Crusaders attacked a city
held by the Christian king of Hungary for the
Venetians
*The pope was furious and excommunicated them all
for attacking a Christian city
* The Crusaders continued on towards the Holy Land, but ended up attacking
Constantinople instead
* Children’s Crusade
* Nicholas of Cologne brings thousands of children to the pope, saying that
God has inspired him to lead the children to the Holy Land
*The pope sends them home
* At the same time, seven ships carrying 20,000 French children sails for the
Holy Land
*Two ships sink and the other five ships reach North
Africa, where the rest of the children were sold into
slavery
* Effects of the Crusades
* There were nine Crusades launched from 1096 to 1291 – the First Crusade
was the only successful one
* The Crusades increased trade and some Italian cities benefited economically
* Lots of money and manpower spent on the Crusades
* Led to the deaths of many knights and nobles
*Kings gained power as they took over unoccupied
lands
* Brought knowledge of Muslim culture to Europe
* Began to view all non-Christians as enemies
*Undertaking holy wars against Muslims while the
“murderers of Christ” ran free at home
*Massacres of Jews became a feature of medieval
European life, anti-Semitism increases
*Anti-Semitism = hostility towards Jews
* Breeds centuries of mistrust between Christians and Muslims
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