Medieval Catholic Church Reforms

Catholic Church Reforms

• In the 11th century, the Catholic Church began to centralize its power, taking control of local religious foundations, such as churches, abbeys, and monasteries, and the ability to invest clerics with ecclesiastical office.
• This movement led to power struggles between Kings and religious leaders, including the Pope, and within the church structure itself.

The Great Schism

• In 1054, a split occurred between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches, known as the Great Schism, prompted by arguments over theological and practical decisions during the reform period.
• The Great Western Schism occurred in Western Christendom from 1378-1417, caused by the election of an Italian Pope, Pope Urban IV, and the establishment of the papal court in Rome, leading to a French Pope being elected in Avignon.

The Crusades

• In 1095, Pope Urban II called on the warriors of Europe to take the Holy Land from the Muslims, initiating the Crusades, a series of battles that lasted for centuries.
• The Crusades strengthened and united the Islamic world, weakened the Byzantine Empire, and ultimately ended feudal warfare, but had negative long-term consequences for the West, including the depletion of the European population and the loss of Catholic Church influence.

Feudalism

• Feudalism was a system of economic, political, and social relationships between lords and vassals that emerged in the 10th and 11th centuries in France.
• The term "feudalism" derives from the Latin feudum, or fief, the land given by a lord to a vassal in return for military service.
• Vassals provided various services to lords, including housing, jury duty, and gifts, in exchange for land and protection.

The Black Death

• The Black Death, a pandemic that occurred in the 14th century, had a profound impact on European society, leading to a decline in the power of the Catholic Church and a shift towards a more personal piety.
• The plague led to social, financial, and cultural upheavals, and helped bring about the end of the medieval world and the beginning of the modern one.

Medieval Society

• During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church taught that the route to salvation was through receiving the sacraments, which were seven sacred rituals performed by priests.
• The most important sacrament was communion, which was a wheat wafer blessed by a priest to commemorate Christ's death.
• The three-field system of crop rotation greatly enhanced crop yields, and medieval guilds emerged as organizations of merchants or artisans gathered to advance and protect their shared interests.

Crusades Vocabulary

• Indulgence: the remission of temporal punishment due to God for sin.
• Penance: a act of self-mortification or prayer to atone for sin.
• Jerusalem: a holy city for the three expansive monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
• Urban II: Pope Urban II, who reigned from 1088 to 1099, significantly contributed to the rise of the papal monarchy.

Plague Vocabulary

• Black Death: the most significant natural event in European history, killing up to a third of the population and changing economic and demographic conditions.

Feudalism and Vassalage

• A large entourage was a sign of a lord's wealth and power, adding to their military might and prestige.
• The contract between lord and vassal was cemented through the ceremony of homage, where the lord presented the vassal with a banner or soil, and the vassal swore fealty to the lord.
• Fealty involved a formal oath, taken publicly, in which a vassal promised to serve their lord and uphold their contract.
• The contract was mutual, and either party could break it in case of a breach of contract.
• A vassal could break their oath if their lord failed in their obligations, and a lord could reclaim their fief if the vassal failed to serve.

The Three Orders of Feudalism

• Medieval society was often divided into three orders or estates: those who fought (knights), those who prayed (clergy), and those who worked (peasants and serfs).
• The knights were responsible for protecting the other classes, the clergy prayed for the other classes, and the peasants and serfs worked to sustain the other two classes.

Serfs and Peasants

• Serfs were peasants bound to the land, and were common in the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, and ancient China.
• Serfs were not slaves, but instead were tenants on manors or large estates who owed the lord certain economic and customary duties.
• The status and relationship to the land were hereditary, and when a serf died, another family member would take over the payments to the lord and continue occupying the land.
• Serfs owed the lord other duties, such as a gift of their best livestock when they died, and could not legally own land, marry, or go to school without the lord's permission.

Changes in Manorialism

• The trade revival in Europe began to diminish the importance of manorialism around the 11th century.
• By the 16th century, serfdom was ending in England and France, with the growth of a money economy.

Medieval Society and the Church

• The Catholic Church was the organization that kept social order when a strong central government was absent.
• The Church taught that the route to salvation was through receiving the sacraments, which were seven sacred rituals given by priests.
• The most important sacrament was communion, which was a wheat wafer blessed by a priest to commemorate Christ's death.
• The structure of the Church consisted of the Pope, bishops, priests, monks, and nuns.
• Monks and nuns lived in monasteries and convents, taking a vow of chastity, obedience, and poverty, and dedicated their lives to God and their Catholic faith.

Feudalism and the Three Orders

• Feudal relationships were complex, with a decentralized state and multiple loyalties to different lords.
• In theory, everyone owed their primary allegiance to the king, but in practice, most people never met the king or served him personally.
• The Three Orders of Feudalism:
  • "Who fought" - The knights (miles) were fighters (bellatores), charged with protecting the other classes.
  • "Who prayed" - The clergy (clerus) were prayers (oratores), who prayed for the other classes.
  • "Who worked" - The peasants and serfs (cultori) were the workers (laborers), whose industry sustained the other two classes by providing them food and labor.

The Lord and Vassal Relationship

• The contract between lord and vassal was cemented through the ceremony of homage, where the lord presented the vassal with a banner or a handful of soil, and the vassal swore fealty to his lord.
• Fealty involved a formal oath, taken publicly, in which a vassal promised to serve his lord and uphold their contract.
• A vassal could break his oath if his lord failed in his obligations, and likewise, if the vassal failed to serve his lord, his fief was surrendered.
• The lord's major vassals, like dukes and counts, had vassals; their vassals had vassals; and so on down the line.

Serfs and Peasants

• Serfs were peasants bound to the land, common in the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, and ancient China.
• Serfs were not slaves, but instead were tenants on manors or large estates who owed the lord certain economic and customary duties.
• The status and relationship to the land were hereditary; when a serf died, another member of his family would take over the payments to the lord and continue occupying the land.
• Serfs owed the lord other duties such as a gift of his best livestock when he died, and up to five days of labor per week.
• Serfs were not allowed to leave the manor, marry, or go to school without the lord's permission.

Manorialism

• Manorialism was a system where peasants lived under the protection of a local strongman known as a lord.
• There was no centralized government, and the lord had absolute power over the peasants.
• Peasants owed the lord either rent, labor, or some combination of the two, depending on the specifics of the relationship between them.

The Catholic Church

• The Catholic Church was the organization that kept social order when a strong central government was absent.
• The structure of the Church was as follows:
  • Pope - Head of the Catholic Church
  • Bishops - Leaders of all the churches within a specific area
  • Priests - Conducts religious services at the local church
  • Monks - A community of men who have taken a religious vow
  • Nuns - A community of women who have taken a religious vow
• Monks and nuns lived in monasteries and convents, apart from society, and took a vow to live a life of chastity, obedience, and poverty.

Medieval Society

• Medieval society was a religious society, and clergy and monks held a special place because they served God.
• Class distinctions between peasants and the other estates were reinforced by a number of customs and pronouncements from the clergy and nobles.
• Even the daily bread of the Middle Ages was distributed along class lines, with white wheat bread reserved for the upper classes, and brown rye bread for the peasants.
• Regulations further divided peasants from the other estates, such as restrictions on clothing and the bearing of arms.