RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 3_CHURCH: HISTORY, DOCTRINE AND STRUCTURE

Module 21: Christianity in the Middle Ages (5th to 13th

Century)
Introduction
By the end of the fourth century, civil and religious departments became
coterminous; bishops were turned into high officials; it was the emperor who convened
councils. However, the empire was sick. On the death of Emperor Theodosius, the empire
was divided into two parts, and during the fifth century it disintegrated under the
onslaughts of the Barbarians in the West. In the East, it kept going for another ten years.
The Church survived all these fluctuations and underwent a deep change.
The ten centuries which separated the age of antiquity from the Renaissance of the
sixteenth century have been called the Middle Ages. A great deal happened in a thousand
years. Middle Ages call to mind cathedrals, the crusades, and monasteries – in other
words, Christendom.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the module, the students are expected to:
1. know some of the events that happened in the Church during the Middle Ages
2. understand the meaning of the events in the history of the Church
3. apply the significance of the events in our life of faith
Learning Content
Lesson 1_The Barbarian Invasions
The Barbarians were north European populations. Around the year 400 A.D., they
began to migrate southward looking for new settlements, exercising an ever increasing
pressure on the Roman Empire, and eventually brought it to complete ruin. They were
called the Barbarians because of their rude behavior and uncivilized culture. Some of the
barbarians that broke in waves on the Roman Empire were the Visigoths, Vandals, Huns
and Longobards.
The Visigoths were the first Barbarians to defeat the Roman Army. After breaking
through the northern borders, they sacked Rome and left it in ruins (410 A.D.). However,
showing great respect for the Church, they spared
the lives of those who took refuge inside the
basilicas of St. Peter and Paul.
The Vandals made wars throughout France
and Spain, inflicting destruction and massacres.
Eventually they extended their cruel dominion over
northern Africa. St. Augustine died while the
Vandals were laying siege to the city of Hippo
(430 A.D.).
The Huns were the most terrible barbarians
who invaded and plunder the empire. Attila (The
Scourge of God) was at a point of attacking Rome, when Pope Leo the Great challenge
him with a cross and persuaded him to return to his country.
The Longobards made bloody raids throughout Italy, bringing along famine and
deadly pestilence (568 A.D.). During a penitential procession which he organized to beg
mercy from the Lord, the people saw on the top of Castel, St. Angelo a shining angel
sheating his sword, signifying that the pestilence was about to finish.
The Role of the Church
In this tragic, situation, the Church was the only organized institution. Many
bishops supplemented the work of the collapsing imperial administration. Saint Augustine
received refugees at Hippo and ordered priests and bishops to stay with their people. The

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Church devoted herself to protect the people and to evangelize the Barbarians. Eventually,
they were converted to Jesus Christ and purified their culture from brutality and cruelty.
The Conversion of the Franks
Some Barbarians had a great respect for the Roman world, and took the old imperial
officials into their service. Many of the Germanic barbarian tribes had adopted the Arian
Christianity. While Arian Vandals embarked on a cruel persecution of other Christians in
Africa. The Franks had remained pagans, but as Constantine had done before him, Clovis,
the king of Franks, attributed his victory over the Alamanni to the God of Clotilde, his
Christian wife. Clovis conversion to the Christian Church had far-reaching consequences.
The mainstream Christians looked Clovis as their new Constantine.
Lesson 2_The Birth of Islam and Arab invasions
The religion of Islam, whose members are called Muslims, was founded in Arabia
by Mohammed (622). Mohammed was a merchant of Mecca, he was married to a rich
widow, who bore him seven children. At the age of 40 he said he received from Allah,
through the medium of the Archangel Gabriel, the prophetic call, which he wrote down in
the book Koran. His preaching was met with indifference and opposition in his hometown.
So he migrated to Medina, where he succeeded to firmly establishing Islam (622 A.D.).
Mohammed based Islam on five pillars: 1.) Profession of faith in Allah and in
Mohammed as his prophet; 2.) Five daily prayers facing towards Mecca and public prayer
in the mosque on Fridays; 3.)
Fasting during the month of
Ramadan from daybreak to sunset;
4.) Almsgiving; 5.) Pilgrimage to
Mecca once in a lifetime to kiss
the black stone in the Kaaba. The
spiritual center of Islam is the
Great Mosque in Mecca. In its
court there is the Kaaba, the cubic
structure which contains the Black
Stone.
Mohammed started preaching
the necessity o the holy war (Jihad) against unbelievers. The people he met along the way
had but one choice: to become Muslims or to be exterminated. The Muslims conquered
Arabia, Middle East, North Africa, and Spain (712). They prepared a great attack on
Rome. In 846 more than seventy ships loaded with the ferocious Muslim Saracens. For
what they thought was the final blow to the Church. In that moment, the people joined the
Christian soldiers against the invaders, the Muslims were badly defeated and fled.
Lesson 3_Emperor Charlemagne
After the ruins of the Roman Empire (476 A.D.), the Church was hard pressed by
many invaders, specially the Longobards. Pope Stephen II appealed for help to Pepin III,
the king of Franks. Pepin III accepted this noble mission and came
to the rescue of Rome. At the conclusion of a successful campaign
against the Longobards, the king with the famous “Treaty of
Quierzy,” (754 A.D.) donated to the Pope a portion of Central Italy,
known as “The States of the Church.” This is the birth of the papal
states.
After the death of Pepin III, the Longobards tried again to
take possession of Rome. This time they had to face the new king of
Franks – Charlemagne. As a powerful warrior and skillful politician,
Charlemagne wiped away the Longobard Kingdom, halted the
Viking sea raids in Northern Europe and defeated the Muslims in

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Spain.
Charlemagne not only restored peace and independence to the Church, but also
promoted missions, arts, and schools. His first concern was to create an educated clergy
with the proper understanding of the Bible and of the Christian faith. Pope Leo III, on
Christmas Day of the year 800, crowned him in St. Peter’s Basilica as emperor of the
newly founded Holy Roman Empire.
Charlemagne cherished with great fervor and devotion the principles of the
Christian religion, which he had been instilled into him from infancy. He was aiding the
poor. When he discovered that there were Christians living in poverty in Syria, Egypt and
Carthage, he had compassion on their wants and used to send money to them.
Lesson 4_The Schism of 1054 A.D.
During the Middle Ages, the Church in the West became the center of dignity and
authority. Its clergy converted non-Christians to Christianity and preserved Western
civilizations in the monasteries. The Western Europeans looked up to the Christian
Churches as its head – the Pope in Rome as the highest authority and unifying influence
and as God’s representative on earth especially when the political leadership in the West
was weak and disorganized. The Pope became strong in both spiritual and temporal
matters. Pope had so much influence in politics that they could make or break kings.
As the papacy gained prestige and power in the West, the two branches of
Christianity in the East and the West split apart. The Christian Church in the West
reorganized the supreme authority of the Pope at Rome, while the Christian Church in the
East reorganized that of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The two Churches quarreled over
ceremonies, holy days and rights of the clergy and the controversy regarding the display of
images. The rift between the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church
grew worse as the time went on. The final break between Rome and Constantinople came
in 1054 A.D. The Papal Nuncio marched into the cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople
and place on the altar the bull of excommunication against the Patriarch Michael
Cerularius who, in return, excommunicated Pope
Leo XI.
The Christian Church was split into the
Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Eastern
(Greek) Orthodox Church in the East. The Orthodox
rejected the primacy of the Pope and allows their
priest to marry. They call themselves Orthodox,
which means right teaching, insisting on their
fidelity to the true faith of the first seven ecumenical
councils.
Lesson 5_Monks
The monks provided the Church missionaries for the conversion of Europe. They
preached the gospel, as well as they cleared the swamps, started schools, experimented
with farming techniques and built monasteries around which grew towns. The monks
played a decisive role in reform and in the life of the medieval Church. The monk
represented the Christian ideal.
The monks faced two major reforms in the
Middle Ages. The first reform came with the founding
of the abbey of Cluny in 910 A.D. The abbey of
Cluny restored the main principles of the Benedictine
Rule: the free election of the abbot, independence from
princes and bishops. Moreover, the abbey affirmed its
direct allegiance to the Pope. Cluny stressed liturgy
and continuous prayer. Cluny played a part in the
reform of the other monasteries and in general the
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reform of the Church. The second reform began with the founding of the abbey of Citeaux
in 1098 A.D. These new monks were called “Cistercians.” They sought to recapture the
Benedictine austerity which Cluny seemed to have been forgotten. There was a return to
poverty in clothing, food and buildings.
During the middle of the 12th century, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was the most
important person in the Church. Saint Bernard was a Cistercian and a member of Citeaux.
After his entrance, the monastery took on renewed life and vigor. At the suggestion of
Stephen Harding, Saint Bernard and 12 monks found a branch of Citeaux in Clairvaux.
Saint Bernard founded sixty-six abbeys. He worked for the reform of the clergy. He
encouraged bishops to practice poverty and to be concerned for the poor. Saint Bernard
censured the sumptuous living of the lords and proclaimed the sanctity of marriage. He
stressed union with God and taught that all religion should lead to the practice of charity.
Lesson 6_The Crusades
The Crusades were military expeditions organized by the Church for the liberation of
the Holy land from Islam. The Muslim invaders not only had destroyed the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, but also persecuting the Christians residing in Palestine and
those who went there on pilgrimage.
The name “crusade” came from the fact that the Christian soldiers wore big crosses
on their uniforms and shields.
The call to Crusade
Pope Urban II asked the knights of the West to go to the aid of the Christians in
the east and win back the Holy places at the Council of Clermont in 1095. He granted
plenary indulgence to those who took up the cross from the moment of their departure:
they were given a dispensation from all the penances required for the pardon of their sins.
In all, nine official Crusade expeditions occurred between 1096 and 1291 and there
were also the unofficial Peoples’ Crusade and the Children’s Crusade.
1. First Crusade (1096-99 A.D.)
The First Crusade (1096-1099 A.D.) called by Pope Urban II, was commanded by
Godfrey of Bouillon. While crossing Anatolia mountain, the army was attacked by the
Muslim Turks. After five-months siege, the fortress city of Antioch fell to the Crusaders
(1098). The Holy Land was divided into Crusader States. Castles were built along the
coast and the frontiers. New military orders, like the Knights of Malta, the Templars, and
the Teutonic Knights, were founded for the well-being of the Christians and the protection
of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.
2. Second Crusade (1144 A.D.)
In 1144, after the fall of Edessa, Pope Eugenius III called for the Second Crusade
and appointed Saint Bernard as official preacher. Unfortunately, the siege of Damascus
was disastrous, and the crusade ended in failure.
3. Third Crusade (1187 A.D.)
Shocked by the fall of Jerusalem into the hands of Saladin (11 87 A.D.), Pope
Gregory VIII called for the Third Crusade. Frederick I (Barbarossa) of Germany died on
the way to the Holy Land, while Philip II soon
departed for France due to conflicts with Richard I of
England. Richard I of England won several notable
battles but failed to recapture Jerusalem. Before
returning to Europe, however, the English king
managed to negotiate a free access to Jerusalem for
Christian pilgrims.
4. Fourth Crusade (1198 A.D.)
The Fourth Crusade, launched by Pope
Innocent III (1198 A.D.), was a complete disaster.
The Crusaders were first forced by the Venetians to help them capturing the city of Zara
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(1202), in lieu of the payment for the ships they had ordered from Venice. Then rather
than proceeding to liberate Jerusalem, they mingled in politics and captured
Constantinople (1204), arousing the hatred of the fellow Greek Christians and damaging
the Byzantine Empire beyond repair.
5. Final Crusades (1208 -1271 A.D.)
In the following years five crusades were organized to defend the Holy Land. Acre,
the last Christian outpost on Holy Land, fell in 1291. The Christian castles along the coast
were systematically destroyed. It marked the end of the military expeditions but not of the
spirit of the Crusades, which is that of voluntary commitment in the service of God and his
people.
6. Peoples’ Crusade (1096 A.D.)
Pope Urban’s speech at the Council of Clermont where he called for crusade had a
major impact on the European public. Although the Pope’s call was aimed at the Christian
knights, it also managed to mobilize ordinary people who set out to the Holy Land
themselves in 1096. People’s army, consisting mainly of unexperienced and poorly
equipped peasants that preceded the First Crusade, however, didn’t stand a chance against
the Muslim forces and was destroyed before the main army arrived to the Middle East.
7. Children’s Crusade (1212 A.D.)
Children’s Crusade is a popular religious movement in Europe during the summer
of 1212 in which thousands of young people took Crusading vows and set out to
recover Jerusalem from the Muslims. Lasting only from May to September, the Children’s
Crusade lacked official sanction and ended in failure; none of the participants reached the
Holy Land.
Despite its popular designation, the Children’s Crusade was not an official
Crusade. Crusades could come into existence only with papal approval, and Pope Innocent
III (1198–1216) never summoned it.
From Crusade to Mission
The failure of the crusades caused the mind of the people to change. Rather than
exterminating the Moslems, it would be better to persuade them. In the course of the fifth
crusade (1218 A.D.), Francis of Assisi met the Sultan of Egypt and they had a peaceful
encounter. Raymond Lull, a Spanish Franciscan t, thought that conversion was a work of
love rather than fight of arms. The preacher had to understand the language and doctrines
of the peoples he met. Raymond Lull called for the foundation of foreign-language
schools.
The First Church in China
Pope Innocent IV and Saint Louis sent missionaries, under the leadership of the
Franciscans John of Plancarpin and William Rubrouk, for expeditions to distant countries.
They were composed of Franciscan and Dominican religious men who took the name of
“Pilgrim Friars.” They travelled to Central Asia, to the Persian Gulf, to India and as far as
China.
Mongol Khan, who had become emperor of China, asked the pope for missionaries
through the mediation of the Polo brothers, the father and uncle of Marco Polo. The
Franciscan John of Monte Corvino arrived at Khanbalik (Pekin) around 1294 A.D. He
became the first Archbishop of Pekin.

Learning Resources

Comby, Jean. How to Read Church History, volume 1(From the beginnings to the fifteenth
century). Tottenham Road, London: SCM Press Ltd, 1985.

https://www.britannica.com/

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McBride, Alfred. The Story of the Church, peak moments from Pentecost to the Year 2000.
USA: Alfred McBride, 1983.

My First History of the Church. Parañaque, Metro Manila: Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate
Quality Catholic Publications, 1997.

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