Lecture Two
C.T.L Module/2ndyear license
Course Objectives: The Domination of the Catholic Church in the Medieval
World
By the end of this unit, students will be able to:
-Analyze the Rise and Structure of the Medieval Church
-Assess the Church’s Political, Social, and Economic Power
- Evaluate the Church’s Role in Education, Culture, and Knowledge
-Investigate Opposition and Reform Movements
-Develop Critical Historical Skills
The domination of the Roman Catholic Church
After the fall of Rome, no single state or government united the people who lived on the
European continent. Instead, the Catholic Church became the most powerful institution of the
medieval period. Kings, queens and other leaders derived much of their power and protection
from their alliances with the Church. Like the system of feudalism, the Church had its own
organization. The officials that ran the Church were called clergy. The structure of the Clergy
was as follows:
1. Pope: – Head of the Catholic Church; is stationed in the Vatican in Rome, Italy
2. Bishops: – Leaders of all the churches within a specific area who supervise priests
3. Priests: – conducts religious services at the local church & runs that church
4. Monks: – a community of men who have taken a religious vow
5. Nuns: – a community of women who have taken a religious vow
The Role of the R.C.C
The church played a very important role in medieval society.
- It possessed religious and moral authority that promoted the idea of the divine origin of
royal power and encouraged people to be humble and submissive. Church parish was one of
the most important forms of organization of social interaction of people.
/One of the things they taught their parishioners (church members) was that the route to salvation
was through receiving the sacraments. The sacraments were seven sacred rituals, which were
given by the priests. They include baptism, penance, communion, confirmation, matrimony,
anointing of the sick, and holy orders. The most important sacrament was communion, which was
a wheat cracker blessed by a priest to commemorate Christ’s death. To receive this sacrament,
members had to attend church.
/ Moreover, ordinary people across Europe had to “tithe” 10 percent of their earnings each year to
the Church; at the same time, the Church was mostly free from taxation. These policies helped it
to amass a great deal of money and power.
- The Church subordinated politics, morality, science, education and art. All human
worldview of the middle ages was theological (from the Greek "theos" - God).
One of the main ideas that ensured the widespread of the new religion was the idea of equality
of people - equality of the sinfulness of being before the Almighty and all. As a religious
teaching, Christianity is based on three main ideas:
•Ideas of sinfulness of the entire human race, infected with the original sin of Adam and
eve.
•Ideas of salvation that must be earned by every person.
-•The idea of redeeming all men before God.
In primitive Christianity, there was very strong belief in the imminent second
coming of Jesus Christ, the last judgment and the end of the sinful world. However,
as time went on, nothing like this happened, and in place of this idea comes the idea
of consolation - the afterlife recompense for good or bad deeds, that is, hell and
Paradise
- The extensive system of regulation of public life was to maintain the unquestioning
authority of the Church, to preserve the purity of its dogmas, the emphasis is placed on the
development of not rational, but mainly emotional perception of reality and the
foundations of the doctrine.
Faith in visions, miraculous healings, visits of people by evil spirits were an integral part
of individual and social consciousness. In the heyday of the middle ages heresies were
directed against the institution of the Church, a large part of the clergy. Heretical
movements of the middle ages mainly reflected the interests of the poor classes. At the
same time they put forward ideas against certain dogmas of the Church.
The Law of the Church:
-The Church’s authority was both religious and political. It provided a unifying set of spiritual
beliefs and rituals. The Church also created a system of justice to guide people’s conduct. All
medieval Christians, kings and peasants alike, were subject to canon law, or Church law, in
matters such as marriage and religious practices. The Church also established courts to people
accused of violating canon law. Two of the harshest punishments that lawbreakers faced were
excommunication and interdict. Popes used the threat of excommunication, or banishment from
the Church, to exert power over political rulers.
EXAMPLES:
- A disobedient king’s quarrel with a pope might result in excommunication. This meant the king
would be denied salvation.
- Excommunication also freed all the king’s vassals from their duties to him.
- If an excommunicated king continued to disobey the pope, the pope, in turn, could use an even
more frightening weapon, the interdict.
-To combat heresy in the late TWELFTH century was a system of special Church tribunals –
the Inquisition (from the Latin. inqusitio-search). From the thirteenth century, it became an
independent institution under the supreme authority of the popes. The activity of the
Inquisition was directed not only against heretics, but against the various manifestations of
opposition, witchcraft, quackery, etc. In the process of secret torture, inquisitors forced people
to confess guilt.
Another instrument of the Church against the heretics were the monastic orders
Franciscans and Dominicans. Both orders were founded in the thirteenth century.
Representatives of the order of the "brothers preachers" – of the Dominicans, which
was called the dogs of the Lord, usually formed the courts of the Inquisition. The
Franciscan order was proclaimed a beggar: monks were ordered to live only by begging,
to dress in rough clothes, to walk barefoot, to be girded by a rope and not to have any
property. His goal was to distract the urban poor from heresies.
-Monasteries played a special role in spreading the influence of the Church. Monasteries in
Europe become large landowners, centers of diversified farms, fortified fortresses, and centers
of cultural life. Literacy is becoming a rarity. In place of the classic comes vulgar (folk) Latin.
Priests turn out to be the most educated people. Even people who ruled (kings, nobles,
leaders, etc.) were not often able to read or write. For example, Charlemagne - the creator
of a huge empire, a hero of tradition and legends - respected education, spoke Latin, Greek,
and understood literature. But ... he did not know how write.
“Religion and Cultural Transformation in Medieval Europe”
The Christian church became rich and powerful in England and Wales under the Normans. Many
churches and cathedrals were built, including those at Chichester and Durham. The headquarters
of the Church in England was at Canterbury in Kent. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a famous long
poem about the stories of people travelling to the town: this is known as The Canterbury Tales.
The Pope (based in Rome) was the leader of the Christian church in Europe. The lands around
Jerusalem were regarded as holy by Christians. This area was controlled by Arabs during the time
of the Dark Ages, but Christians were still allowed to go there to visit their holy places
(pilgrimage). However, in the early Middle Ages this area was invaded by Turks, and Christians in
Jerusalem were attacked. The Pope ordered Christians to go there to attack the Turks, and there
were a number of wars known as the Crusades.
The Crusades brought many disasters, they not only failed to achieve their direct goal, but
also brought death to hundreds of thousands of their participants and were accompanied by a
waste of enormous funds from European states. At the same time, they stimulated the
development of contacts with the East. The influence of the Islamic world (Egypt, Morocco,
Spain, Persia and even India), where the Crusaders visited, manifested itself in acquaintance
not only with the new religion - Islam, but also with the new culture. The crusades introduced
Western scholars to Arabic and Greek science (in particular, to the works of Aristotle). The
geographical knowledge of Europeans has significantly expanded, and mathematics,
astronomy, medicine, history have also made progress. In European art from the era of the
Crusades, the influence of Byzantine and Muslim art is noticed.
The Social & Educational Role of the Church
Although most people in medieval society led very difficult lives, they were able to relax and
attend church on Sundays and holy days. Although they knew they were at the bottom of the
social hierarchy, they believed that in the “eyes of God” everyone was equal. Therefore they
looked forward to eternal life after death. Since most peasants at the time were illiterate, the
Church played a crucial role in preserving knowledge from the past. Both monks and nuns
provided schools for young people, hospitals for the sick, food for the needy and guesthouses
for weary travellers. They also taught the peasants carpentry, weaving, and improved farming
methods.
Poverty and hardship characterized peasant life, and few lived beyond the age of 40. Famine and
disease were constant dangers. Invading knights destroyed crops and burned villages, causing
famine and loss of life. The life of a peasant was very hard. They worked from dusk to dawn.
Therefore, they looked forward to salvation or eternal life after death.
Universities began to appear—in Paris, Bologna, and Oxford. But what did they teach?
Mostly was theology. The dominant intellectual method was scholasticism, which tried to
reconcile faith with reason. The great theologian Thomas Aquinas combined Aristotle’s
philosophy with Christian doctrine.
And here’s something important: knowledge relied heavily on ancient authorities—Aristotle
for philosophy, Galen for medicine, Ptolemy for astronomy. Questioning these authorities
was dangerous. To challenge them often meant to challenge the Church itself. And heresy
could mean excommunication, imprisonment, or even death.
So, to summarize: the medieval world preserved knowledge. Authority ruled over reason.
Tradition was valued more than innovation.