Lesson 6: The Church in the Medieval Period (6th-14th c.

Introduction:
“What I am today is because of the choices I made yesterday; and what will I become someday will
be because of the choices I’ll make today.” This saying tell us that in any event that comes along
the way in our life, we are given the chance to choose what is right. Oftentimes in our life, we are
facing crossroads where we need to make decisions. Whatever we choose, whatever decision we
make contributes to shaping the person that we are at present. At some point in history this was
also experienced by the Church particularly in the medieval period where historians say the dark
ages of the Church took place. Various events took place that somehow shaped the Church
identity. These are the contents of this lesson. Somehow we will be led into looking at these
various encounters of the Church in the medieval period. Let us start with this activity.
FALL OF ROME AND GERMANIC INVASIONS

Invasions by the Germans caused the decline of the Roman Empire and the Church. The
glory of Rome fell and disappeared very fast. Different tribes pressed on and broke the boarders of
the Roman Empire. Collectively they are known as Barbarians. On the North closest to the empire
were the Vandals and the Goths (Visigoths and Ostrogoths). In the Northern part of what is
modern France were the Franks. Further North around the modern Denmark were the Angles and
Saxons. They were mainly agricultural people who moved about without having cities.
410 – Rome was sacked by the Visigoths under Alaric who settled in Southern Gaul and Spain.
430 – Vandals conquered North Africa
Huns invaded the West
After the invasion, a new era had begun. The empire continued to exist in the East but the latin
West had disintegrated into a multitude of Barbarian Kingdoms: Ostrogoths, Visigoths,
Burgundians, Vandals, and so on.

476 – The Fall of Rome

486 – Clovis, the king of the Franks was converted to Christianity.

496 – start of the conversion of the Franks to Catholicism as demanded by Clovis.
568 – Lombards attack Italy
590 – Gregory the Great became Pope

After the attack of the Lombards, Italy was controlled by 2 powers: Lombards and Emperor. The
Pope has a spiritual power under the Emperor.

In France, the descendants of Clovis had begun fighting among themselves, and Charles Martel
who was a great military leader became the king of Franks.

In 622 Mohammed spread Islam to the entire Mediterranean world. He began to proclaim
his religion as a worldwide one. They captured Jerusalem in 638, Carthage in 698. In 711, the Islam
converts began to conquer Spain. They get as far as the heart of the Kingdom of the Franks. The
expansion of Islam conquered Christian territories, including the Holy Land; brought converts to
the Islamic faith; spread Islamic influence culture; and established structures that were important
to the Islamic believers. In 732, Charles Martel stopped the Moslems.
In 751, Pepin, the son and successor of Charles Martel was anointed by the Pope as king of
the Franks. When the Lombards attack France, the Pope asked help from Pepin who helped him
throw the Lombards away and decided to give the Pope the means of protecting himself. Of the
lands he had captured from the Lombards, he gave a large amount to the Pope and set him up as a
real head of state, no longer relying on any other ruler. This was the beginning of the Papal States(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPOIZHCHLTU) which lasted until 1870.
When Pepin died, his son Charlemagne succeeded and continue to attack the Lombards
and eventually became as wel king of Franks and King of Lombards. In the year 800, he was
crowned by Pope Leo III as the new emperor of the new empire of the West. The empire became
known as the Holy Roman Empire. He died in 814. His death was followed by 200 years of decline.
FEUDALISM
In the 10th c. a social structure known as Feudalism dominated the people’s way of life,
even influenced the Church on its attitude towards the world and its people.
The land belonged to the warrior who defended it. He put himself under the protection of
a more powerful lord who would grant his vassal the possession and administration of fiefdom or
benefice.
The nobility held lands from the crown in exchange for military service. And vassals were in
turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (serfs) were obliged to live on their lord’s land and
give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection.
WHY DID FEUDALISM EXIST?
During the time of invasion, it resulted into a collapse of law and order, a decline in trade, and
collapse of local economies. To counter these threats, Frankish kings needed warriors. They
created a system of military and political relationship – Feudalism .

HOW DID IT AFFECT THE CHURCH?

The Church which owned large areas of land, was caught up in this system. Every holder of an
ecclesiastical office had the use of a piece of land or a benefice which provided him a living. The
bishop was a lord and vassal in the same way as the laity. He held jurisdiction over his land and
dispensed justice; he maintained an army. (the desire of holding an office grew). The old rules of
election by the clergy was forgotten. Bishoprics and abbeys were redistributed on the death of
those who held their titles. Lords, emperors , kings, dukes and so on disposed of them to whoever
earned their favour.
Ecclesiatical positions or ranks became targets of trades and business.

EVILS OF FEUDALISM

1. SIMONY – the act of buying and selling church offices and roles.
 Placed unnecessary powers in the hands of lay rulers
 Church leaders developed greed
 Secular leaders eventually dipped, demanding similar tributes to be paid to them.
2. NEPOTISM – patronage bestowed or favoritism shown on the basis of family relationship
as in business and politics.
 Favoritism shown to relatives, especially in appointment to high office.
 3. PLURALISM – The practice of Church officials holding several church offices
simultaneously.
 Clergymen were paid for multiple church offices but did not fulfill their jobs
 A problem for the late medieval church and a sign of disorder in the Church
 Eventually led to the idea of Absenteeism
4. ABSENTEEISM - is when church officeholders ignored their jobs and hired deputies who
sometimes lack proper qualifications.
 A factor in reformation and one of the church’s most immoral issues
 Led to complaints about the ignorance of parish priests
 Became widespread in the 15th c.
5. LAY INVESTITURE – was a conflict between the church and state in medieval Europe over
the ability to install high church officials through investiture
 Clash between King Henry IV and Pope Gregory the VII
 The most important conflict between secular and religious powers in medieval
Europe.
 By undercutting imperial power, the controversy led to nearly 50 years of civil war
in Germany.
ADVANTAGES OF FEUDALISM
 It helped protect communities from the violence and warfare that broke out after the Fall
of Rome
 It helped restore trade
 Lord, vassals and peasants benefited from one another.
 It did not allow one person or organization to become too powerful.
DISADVANTAGES OF FEUDALISM
 It provided some unity and security in local areas, but it often did not have the strength to
unite larger regions or countries.
 Because there was no strong central government to enforce laws fairly, it was easy to use
force, violence, and lies to get one’s way. This led to many wars among lords
 Lords or vassals often placed their personal interests over the interests of the areas they
ruled
 Feudalism did not treat people equally or let them move up in society.
 Most peasants were serfs. They were not allowed to leave their lord’s lands.
EFFECTS OF FEUDALISM TO THE CHURCH
 The church became the primary unifying element to the society, resolving disputes and
unites former adversaries.
 The Roman Catholic Church being the official religion during the feudalism age,
proliferated to every individual in the empire.
 The Carolingian empire, led by Charlemagne, started the Carolingian renaissance which
was inspired by the Christian Roman empire in the 4th c.
 Monasteries and nunneries spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, and monks
and nuns provided much of the education, healthcare and practical charity for the
population at large, as well as the preaching of the Christian Gospel.
FALL OF FEUDALISM
  The crusades were sanctioned by the Latin church, obliging every knight to fight in the
war. With knights leaving kingdoms, peace and order dwindle, causing chaos within
those kingdoms
 The Black death also plagued most of Europe, erasing roughly 1/3 of the whole
population, leaving kingdoms in further total discord.
THE GREAT SCHISM: SEPARATION OF THE EAST AND THE WEST (1054 A.D.)
SCHISM – a division of a church into factions because of differences in doctrine.

FACTORS/REASONS BEHIND THE DIVISION

 Disagreement on the understanding of the person and origin of the Holy Spirit.
 The pope imposed the Latin rite on eastern churches in Italy and the East imposed its rites
on Latin Churches in Constantinople.
 Michael Cerularius, the Patriarch of Constantinople refused to help Rome fight the
Normans
 He condemned the Latin practices of using unleavened bread, teaching “and from the
Son”, enforcing the celibacy on the clergy.
 The Eastern emperors had never forgiven Rome for the coronation of Charlemagne as an
emperor
The final rift took place in 1054. The pope sent a delegation to Constantinople to ease the
tensions started by Michael. He refused to meet the papal delegates because he was put off by
their discourtesy. The delegates left a bull of excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia
charging the Patriarch with many heresies. The patriarch in return proclaimed the West as
anathema for its heresy, burnt the Roman bull and declared that Rome and Constantinople
would now go on their separate ways. Since then, The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern
Orthodox Church lived in mutual exclusion. It was only on December 7, 1965 that such
indifference was dispelled through a “joint declaration made by Pope Paul VI and the Patriarch
Athenagoras by regretting the exchange of insults in 1054 and the excesses of the past. While
the two churches have remained distinct and independent, reconciliation and forgiveness
brought them again as brothers “working in the Lord’s vineyard.”

CRUSADES

With a series of foreign invasions threatening Christianity and taking its holy places,
Christianity became militant.
In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called for the first crusade. He asked the
knights of the West to go to the aid of the Christians in the East and win back the holy places.
The Church organized the holy war which is called crusade. The pope granted plenary
indulgence to those who took up the cross from the moment of their departure: they were
given a dispensation from all penances required for the pardon of their sins. It was taught by
the ecclesiastical authorities that if a crusader dies during the crusade, he is assured of his
salvation because he was already forgiven of his sins.
The crusades lasted for a few hundreds of years. According to history, there were as many as
14 crusades including a few children’s crusade wherein young lives were wasted, abused, sold
to slavery and others died along the journey either by sickness or accident.
1. 1095 A.D – Pope Urban II
 2. 1143 A.D. – Pope Eugenius III
3. 1174 A.D. – Pope Clement III
4. 1201 A.D. – Pope Innocent III
1212 A.D. – Children’s crusade
5. 1217 A.D. –
6. 1218 A.D. – Frederick II
1239 A.D. – Poet’s crusade
7. 1247 A.D. – Louis IX
8. 1270 A.D. – Louis IX

Conclusion:
With the Roman Empire gone and the many problems and controversies the church endured, the
Catholic Church had grown to greater maturity. The various events in history encountered by the
Church had somehow hampered the missionary activity of the Church. But true to her calling to be
the salt of the earth and the light of the world, the Church did not give up amidst these
adversities; instead, these made her more courageous and persistent . As quoted from Ad Gentes
#5 (Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church):
“The Church signifies the presence of Christ in the world, for to her, the task of continuing the
mission that the Father had given her. The mission of the Church of the Church is fulfilled by that
activity which makes her fully present to all peoples and nations. She undertakes this activity in
obedience to Christ’s command and in response to the grace and love of the Holy Spirit. In the
course of history, it unfolds the mission of Christ Himself, who was sent to preach the Gospel to
the poor. Hence prompted by the Holy Spirit, the Church must walk the same road which Christ
walked: a road of poverty, obedience, of service and self sacrifice.