I.

The Church and Medieval Life

A. The Parish Priest
1. The priest celebrated mass and
administered the sacraments (sacred rites of
Church)
2. They believed that faith in Christ and
participation in the sacraments would lead
them to salvation (everlasting life with God)
3. Priests also preached the Gospels
4. Offered assistance to the sick and needy
ë. The Village Church
1. The church was a social center
2. Prosperous communities built stone
churches rather than wooden ones
3. Local people made pilgrimages
(journeys) to pray before the relics
(remains of martyrs)
4. The Church required Christians to pay
a  
 (1/10 of their income)
5. Daily life revolved around holydays &
many were added to honor saints
C. Views of Women
1. The Church taught that men and women were equal
before God
2. On Earth, women were viewed as DzDaughters of
Eve,dz weak and easily led into sin
3. The Churchǯs ideal woman was as modest and pure
as Mary
4. The Church tried to protect women and set a
minimum age for marriage and fined men who injured
their wives
II. Monks and Nuns
A. The ëenedictine Rite
1. About 530, a monk named ëenedict
organized the monastery at Monte
Cassino in southern Italy
2. Under the ëenedictine Rule, monks
and nuns took three vows
a.) Obedience to the abbots or
abbess (head of monastery/convent)
b.) Poverty
c.) Chastity or purity
3. Each day was divided into periods for
worship, work, and study
ë. Life of Service
1. Monks and nuns looked after the poor and sick and
set up schools
2. Some became missionaries (i.e. St Patrick)
C. Centers for Learning
1. Monasteries and convents preserved the writings of
the ancient world
2. Educated monks and nuns kept learning alive
D. Convents
1. In convents, capable, strong-minded women could
escape the limits of society
2. In the later Middle Ages, the Church put more
restrictions on nuns
a.) It withdrew rights such as preaching the Gospel
and placed most independent convents under
Church rule
b.) It frowned on too much learning for women
III. The Power of the Church Grows
A. The Church and Feudal Society
1. During the Middle Ages, the
pope was the spiritual leader of
the R.C. Church
2. Popes claimed papal
supracy (authority) over all
secular (worldly) rulers
3. The pope held vast lands and
bishops and archbishops were
usually nobles with their own
territories
4. Church officials were closely
linked to secular rulers and were
often the only educated people
ë. Religious Authority
1. Christians believed that all people were sinners
and that many were doomed to eternal suffering
2. The only way to avoid hell was to believe in Christ
and participate in the sacraments
! Canon law Ȃ Churchǯs body of laws that applied
to religious teachings
4. Anyone who disobeyed Church law could be
coun ca
5. A powerful noble who opposed the Church could
face the nr c Ȃ an order excluding an entire
kingdom from the sacraments and burial
C. A Force for Peace
1. The Church tried to end feudal warfare
2. It declared temporary peace called Peace of God
and demanded that fighting stop between Friday
and Sunday and on religious holidays
IV. Reform Movements
A. Cluniac Reforms
1. Abbot ëerno of Cluny (monastery in e. France)
set out to end abuses
a.) He revived the ëenedictine Rule
b.) He declared that nobles could no longer
interfere in monastery affairs
2. In 1073, Pope Gregory VII extended the Cluniac
reforms to the entire Church
a.) he outlawed marriage for priests and
prohibited s ony (selling of Church offices)
b.) he insisted that the Church (not kings)
choose Church officials
ë. Preaching Orders
1. In early 1200s, Francis of Assisi and
Dominic set up orders of ›r ars, monks
who did not live in isolation but
traveled around Europeǯs towns
preaching to the poor
2. Francisǯ Franciscan order preached
poverty, humility, and love of God
3. Dominic set up the Dominican order
which combated heresy by reaching
official Roman Catholic ëeliefs
4. The ëeguines was a convent that
welcomed women without the wealth
to enter a regular convent
V. Jews in Europe
1. Jews preserved the oral and written laws
central to their faith
2. They flourished in Spain where they were
called Sephardim
3. The Muslims who conquered Spain in 711
were tolerant of both Jews and Christian
4. In the late 1000s, persecution of Jews
increased and the Church issued orders
forbidding Jews from owning lands and
practicing most occupations
5. In bad times, anti-Semitism (persecution of
Jews) worsened