RELIGION IN THE MEDIEVAL AGES

Many historians place the mark of the beginning of the medieval era at the 5th century fall of the Roman

Empire. Others place the mark in the year 800 when Charlemagne was installed as the first Holy Roman

Emperor by Pope Leo III (Ertit et al., n.d.).

The medieval church had a clear authoritarian structure: the Pope, functioning as the Church's head,

was at the top. The Cardinals, who were both his counselors and Church's administrators, were placed

beneath him. Bishops and Archbishops, who oversaw a cathedral or region, followed next. Priests who

presided over a parish, village, or town church were next, followed by Monastic Orders. These were

monks and nuns who lived in monasteries under the supervision of an abbot or abbess.

Through its seven sacraments, namely baptism, confirmation, penance, Eucharist, holy orders, marriage

and extreme unction, the medieval church constructed and defined the individual’s life, literally, from

birth to death. Not only that, the medieval church was said to retain control over a person's soul after

death through her teachings of purgatory and her prayers for the dead. From birth to death, whether

you were a labourer, a serf, a person of noble birth or even the King or Queen him/herself, your life was

dominated by the Church. Ultimately, religious institutions evolved into wealthy establishments. The

majority of the populace dedicated their lives to the Catholic Church and faith. The Church was believed

to be the manifestation of God’s will and presence on earth; and its dictates were not to be questioned.

The present separation between church and state was unknown at the time. Bishops and monarchs

served in different but complementary capacities with the greatest personal loyalty being demanded by

the church. Kings were answerable to the clergy in religious matters, just as were all laymen. Pope

Gregory VII (1073–85) made a theological case that the clergy, led by the pope, were superior to

monarchs and other lay rulers, whose job it was to carry out the clergy's orders (Lynch & Adamo, 2014).
The Medieval Church sustained its power over the populace by use of extreme forms of punishments for

perceived apostates. John Christian Laursen et al narrate that in the English diocese of Canterbury, fifty-

three men and women were charged of Lollardy, a popular kind of Wycliffite heresy, between April 28th

and June 5th of 1512. Five of these were burnt at the stake after being handed over to secular

authorities. Penances were imposed on forty-five others (John Christian Laursen et al., 2005).

With time, the Church became corrupt and oppressive, characterized by a love of worldly goods and

pleasures rather than spiritual pursuits. However, that being said, it should also be noted that the

Church is credited with establishing hospitals, colleges and universities, and social systems for the care

of the underprivileged. We owe not only the preservation of many important works but also some of the

most magnificent discoveries in history to the early monks. In his article, Ben House quotes art historian

and critic Kenneth Clark who describes how western Christianity survived for almost a century thanks to

early Irish Christians preserved in books the best of western achievements. This happened at a time

when "uneducated, pagan, barbarous hordes, ignorant of the Greco-Roman legacy, were reorganizing

Europe" (It Takes a Monk to Save a Civilization, n.d.).

References:

1. Ertit, V., Üyesi, Ö., Üniversitesi, A., Fakültesi, F., Bölümü, S., Dalı, K., & Tarihi, G. (n.d.). marife dini

araştırmalar dergisi Turkish Journal of Religious Studies Religion as one of the Leading Actors of

Medieval Europe (A Critique of Rodney Stark). Retrieved November 2, 2021, from

https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1184260

2. It Takes a Monk to Save a Civilization. (n.d.). Chalcedon. https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/it-

takes-a-monk-to-save-a-civilization

3. John Christian Laursen, Nederman, C. J., & Hunter, I. (2005). Heresy in transition: transforming ideas

of heresy in Medieval and early modern Europe. Ashgate.

4. Lynch, J. H., & Adamo, P. C. (2014). The medieval church: a brief history. Routledge/Taylor & Francis

Group.

5. The Medieval Church. (2019, July 7). Brewminate: We’re Never far from Where We Were.

https://brewminate.com/the-medieval-church/