Download Church History 900-1500

Church History
900-1500
Lecture 3
Ann T. Orlando
20 January 2005
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Introduction
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Review 8th and 9th Centuries
Political Situation in Middle Ages
Spiritual Movements: Monasticism
Intellectual Movements: Scholasticism
Artistic Movements
Looking ahead to Reformation and Modernity
NB ‘Middle Ages’ is a Renaissance term for this period.
It has a pejorative connotation; between or in the middle
between the great ancient Roman period and ‘modern’
period; people of this time considered themselves part of
Christendom
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Review from Lecture 2
• Charlemagne
– United Western Europe
– Crowned by Pope Leo III in 800
• After Charlemagne
– Kingdom divided between his sons
– Infighting among them led to fracturing of political
unity in Europe
• Viking invasions
– Started during Charlemagne’s rule
– Terrorized Ireland, England, northern and Western
Europe, and Russia for 100 years
– Eventually abated with Christian missionary activities
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Political Situation 900 – 1500
Three Themes
• 1. Summarized throughout this period as: ‘Who’s
in charge, Pope or King?’
– Goes back to Charlemagne being crowned by Pope
– Example in Constantinople: Emperor, not Patriarch
firmly in charge
– Recognized primary of Pope (East and West) as
successor of Peter
• 2. Eastern and Western Christianity become
increasingly at odds with each other
• 3. Western Christendom attempts to recapture
Holy Land from the Muslims to guarantee safety
of Christian pilgrimages (Crusades)
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1. Milestones of Papal-Western
Imperial Confrontations
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Otto the Great, King of East Franks (Germans), King/Emperor 936-973
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Pontificate of Gregory VII (1073-1085)
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Made bishops civil officials within his kingdom
Emperor gives the bishop the civil and religious symbols of his office
Celibacy of bishops meant he did not have to worry about competing families to his own
Crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope, in return agreement that no Pope could be elected
without consent of Emperor
Beginning of ‘lay investiture’ controversy
Church reform; Gregory had been a monk at Cluny
Assertion of Papal primacy, Dictatus Papae; Emperor cannot invest bishops with symbols of
office, or participate in election of Pope
Opposed simony (sale of religious offices)
Excommunicated Emperor Henry IV; Henry repents at Canossa
Pontificate of Innocent III (1198-1216)
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Maintained that all kings were vassals of Pope
Challenged by King John in England; Innocent placed an interdict on England, saying that
people were not obliged to acknowledge John as King
John repents and acknowledges his position as vassal to Pope
John, in a now weakened position, is forced by his barons to sign the Magna Carta
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Milestones (cont.)
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Pontificate of Boniface VIII (1294-1303)
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French select next Pope, Clement V. This begins the ‘Avignon Papacy”; under
French control 1378
Starting in 1378 multiple claimants to papacy, primarily divided between Italian and
French interests; period usually referred to as the Great Western Schism
Attempts to reform papal-civil relations through a series of councils in 15th C
(Conciliar Movement)
Church reformers treated as enemies of both Church and State
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Philip the Fair of France refuses to acknowledge ultimate Papal authority
Boniface responds with ‘The two swords of religious and political power belong to Pope’
Unam Sanctam
Philip burns the encyclical
Boniface prepares to excommunicate Philip, when Philip’s supporters capture Boniface VIII;
parade him sitting backward on a horse
Boniface dies shortly thereafter
John Wycliffe in England
John Huss in Bohemia, burned at stake 1415
NB: 1347-1370 time of Great Plague in Europe, leading to extensive social disruption
and despair
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2. Political Relations between
Eastern and Western Christendom
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Back to Charlemagne (800)
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Throughout this period, East insists that there is only one Roman Emperor: the one in
Constantinople
Mutual excommunication of Pope and Patriarch in 1054 (lifted by Pope and Patriarch
in 1964)
Fourth Crusade, 1204, invades and sacks Constantinople; Venetians control
Constantinople until 1294
Eastern emperor seeks aid against Turks from West; promised at Council of Florence
in 1439 in return for East accepting Western doctrine, rituals, and primacy of Pope
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In East, an Empress, Irene, takes control of Constantinople
Pope Leo refuses to recognize her ascendancy to throne; strikes her name from prayers at
Mass; last Eastern Emperor to be included in liturgy
Charlemagne and Irene consider marrying, but falls through
Only ‘help’ actually delivered to Constantinople was some priests
In May 1453, with Turks about to capture Constantinople, Eastern Emperor and
Patriarch repudiate Council of Florence
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Constantinople captured May 29, 1453
End of Roman Empire
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3. The Crusades
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Initially driven by desire to secure places of pilgrimage
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Pilgrimage was important from time of Constantine
Undertaken as an act of penance
Popular places of pilgrimage: Santiago, Tours, Rome, Holy Land; anyplace where saints
were buried
First Crusade called by Urban II in 1095, Jerusalem captured in 1099
Second Crusade preached by Bernard of Clairvaux in 1146; military disaster for
Europeans; Jerusalem recaptured by Moslem armies
Third Crusade 1189-1192, inconclusive militarily
Fourth Crusade, 1204, proclaimed by Innocent III, stopped with sack of
Constantinople, never reached Palestine
Children’s Crusade of 1212; pre-teenage children went to Holy Land and were
slaughtered or taken as slaves; led by 10 year olds
Fifth Crusade, 1228-1229, led by Emperor Fredrick II; briefly retook Jerusalem
Sixth and last Crusade, 1248-1254, led by King Louis IX of France (later proclaimed
saint) who taken captive and eventually ransomed
NOT A CRUSADE, but nonetheless very important: final expulsion of Muslims from
Spain in 1492
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Spiritual Movements: Monasticism
• Charter for Foundation of Cluny, 910
– Return to Benedict’s Rule; especially reading of Divine Office
– Neglected physical work for prayer and study
– Established a series of daughter monasteries under the direction
fo the abbot of Cluny
– While monks were poor, monasteries became wealthy
– Encouraged development of visual arts in service of religion
• Reform of Cluny: Cistercians
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Founded by Robert Molesme at Citeaux 1099
Return to strict adherence to Benedict’s Rule
Each monastery independent
Bernard of Clairvaux most famous Cistercian (1090-1153)
Modern day Trappists; Spencer, MA.
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Spiritual Movements: Franciscans
• Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
– Total embrace of ‘Lady Poverty’, not ‘Lady Wisdom’
as way of life
– Francis’ Rule emphasizes walking in poverty in the
footsteps of Jesus; mendicants
– Order recognized by Innocent III
– Stigmata as a sign of Francis’ identification with Jesus
• After Francis
– Franciscans become more organized, intellectual,
wealthy
– Bonaventure (1221-1274) describes Franciscan way
of life in philosophical terms
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Intellectual Movements:
Scholasticism
• Locus for learning: Universities
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Grew out of Cathedral Schools
Most famous, Paris (Sorbonne)
Very international
Universities and the Church were very ‘democratic’;
any man with ability could rise very high
• Dominicans
– Founded by Dominic (1170-1221)
– Founded in response to Albingensian Heresy
– Order of Preachers, charged by Pope with combating
errors; led to Inquisition
• Most famous Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
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Thomas Aquinas
Angelic Doctor
• Developed systematic approach to theology using
Aristotelian methods (Aristotle as the Philosopher in the
Summa)
• Relied on newly available Greek works from Jewish and
Moslem sources; Moses Maimonides, Averrhoes
• Very different from theological approach since Augustine
• Needed to show that his theological conclusions were
consistent with Augustine
• Two great works: Summa Theologica (theological) or
Theologiae (theology); Summa Contra Gentiles
• But he also wrote beautiful songs, especially in praise of
Eucharist (one of which we sing at Benediction, and
another during Holy Thursday)
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Example: Transubstantiation
• Relies on Aristotle’s The Categories
– Philosophical idea of substance, accidents
• Substance: what things really are, their essence
• Accidents: how they appear to senses, properties that are
incidental, weight, color, taste
– Augustine has bad things to say about The Categories in
Confessions (IV.28-31)
• According to Aquinas (Catholic Church doctrine), Christ
becomes fully present in the Eucharist when
– the substance of bread and wine is transformed into His own
substance
– only the accidents (color, texture, taste) of the bread and wine
remain
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Adoro Te Devote
by Thomas Aquinas
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.
Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.
From CCC translated by Gerard Manley Hopkins
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Catholic Art Movements
• Romanesque: 10, 11th C
– Impact of Cluny
– Example: Vezelay (where Bernard preached 2nd Crusade)
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/vezelay.html
• Gothic: 12, 13, 14 th C
– Impact of Devotion to Mary
– Example: Chartres
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/chartres.html
• Renaissance 15, 16 th C
– Epicenter: Florence
– http://www.learner.org/exhibits/renaissance/florence_sub2.html
• Baroque 17 th C
– Epicenter: Renewed, reinvigorated Papal Rome
– http://www.christusrex.org/www1/citta/0-Citta.html
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Looking Ahead
• Reformation and Counter Reformation
• Missionary activities during age of
Discovery
• Enlightenment
• American and French Revolutions
• Vatican I and Vatican II
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