Transcript Middle Ages – The Roman Catholic Church

Middle Ages – The Roman Catholic
Church
Feudalism Quiz
1. Recreate the feudal chart.
2. Explain how feudalism
worked.
3. Why was feudalism
necessary?
 1. king
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Lord
Vassal
Knight
Nobles all above
Commoners all below
Peasants, serfs, merchants, craftsmen
 2. Kings gave land to powerful lords in exchange for loyalty.
Lords in turn provided land to lesser nobles, called vassals in
exchange for loyalty and services. Commoners worked the nobles
land in exchange for protections, food and shelter.
 3. Feudalism was necessary because it provided all Europeans
with food, shelter, order, structure, government, and economy.
Lesson
1. Read the information
regarding the Roman
Catholic Church.
2. After each topic, write
the main idea or a question
you have regarding the topic.
Daily Life
 Throughout Western Europe in Medieval times, each
community was centered around a church, playing a
powerful role in nearly everyone’s personal life.
 The church offered religious services, established orphanages,
and helped care for the poor, sick, and elderly.
 Most Europeans were baptized, married, and buried by the
Catholic Church.
 They also hosted feasts, festivals, and other celebrations. As
communities grew, their members often donated money and
labor to build new and larger churches.
Cathedral
Parish Church
 The parish church was the center of every town. It was generally the
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largest building in town often built in the shape of a cross.
Churches had stained glass windows and statues that told stories from
the Bible to the commoners and nobles who, for the most part, could
not read.
Every Sunday, every commoner and noble went to church to a service
spoken in Latin (which they didn't understand) and a sermon read
from a Bible written in Latin (which they did not understand).
The parish church was overseen by a parish priest, whose duties were
to teach the Christian gospel to his parishioners, and help them to live
their lives by God's laws.
Because most nobles were illiterate (they could not read or write),
the staff priests would write important letters and documents. They
would also give advice about wars, laws, and family quarrels, and the
education and marriage of noble sons and daughters.
Pilgrimages
• Pilgrimages were journeys made to places that held special
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religious significance. Usually, this was a shrine where a saint was
buried or a visit to the Holy Land itself.
Making a pilgrimage was long and often dangerous. Almost
everyone traveled on foot and bandits and pirates lay in wait for
the unarmed pilgrims.
However, people went on these journeys anyways because they
felt that prayers made at a saint's tomb were especially powerful.
If a loved one fell ill, a relative might promise to make a
pilgrimage if the person got better, or someone might go to
show that they were sorry for their sins.
Some went on pilgrimages as penance, or punishment by the
Church, for a sin they committed.
• Gambling, stealing, etc.
Monks & Nuns
 Monks were men who devoted their time to praying and
studying in communities called monasteries.
 They preserved Greek and Roman knowledge by hand-copying
illuminated manuscripts (colorful handwritten books).
 Later, the Church also founded the first universities in Europe,
teaching the ancient world and God.
 Nuns were women who prayed, sewed, taught young girls, cared
for the poor, and also copied and decorated books in convents.
Power of the Church
1.) If a commoner or nobleman refused to obey the commands of
the Church, the Pope might punish him/her with
excommunication, or being kicked out of the Church.
 All the churches on the Lord’s land would be closed, and
neither he, his family, nor anyone within his territory could be
baptized, married, or buried with the Church’s blessings =
going to Hell!
 One could find a quicker route to heaven by purchasing
indulgences = a get out of Hell card.
2.) The Pope insisted he had the supreme authority over all
Christian lands, causing arguments and even wars between kings
and the Pope.
• King John of England was excommunicated at one time for
angering the Pope.
3.) Crusades were military expeditions sent by Pope Urban II
to capture the Holy Land (Palestine/Israel) from the Muslim
Turks. Several Crusades between 1096 and 1272 failed to win
the Holy Land. However, outcomes occurred such as
increased trade, better ships and maps, and decrease of feudal
lords (many were killed in battle).
Indulgences – get out of hell card
Crusades
Inquisition
 People who committed acts against the authority of the church
were accused of heresy and called heretics.
 Jews, Muslims, witches, commoners, nobles, anyone you didn’t
like.
 An Inquisition was a court set up by the power of the Church to
find heretics.
 Accused were usually “found guilty”.
 Heretics would be put to death usually before enduring torture.
 Torture = wheel, rack, hot oil, impalement, drawn
 Death = torture, hanging, burned or buried alive.
The Great Schism
• In 1054 A.D., the Christian Church split.
• The Emperor of the Byzantine Empire and the Bishop of
Constantinople did not agree with the Pope’s “supremacy” on
earth.
• The Pope is the Bishop of Rome – the Emperor and Bishop of
Constantinople claimed all bishops were equal, and that
the Pope had no authority over leaders of countries.
• They also argued over certain interpretations of the Bible and
beliefs.
• The two divisions of the church became known as Catholics
in the West and Orthodox Christians in the East.
The Great Schism
Non-Christians
• Although Jews had been living in
Europe since the times of the Roman
Empire. Jewish communities lived
under discrimination and
persecution in Europe.
– They were forbidden to own land.
– They could only work in certain
professions.
– Christians often blamed Jews when
disease or natural disasters struck.
– Many Jews were kicked out of
countries and fled to Eastern
Europe. Others were tortured or
killed.
• However, Jewish communities
remained intact and preserved
their traditions. Jewish scholars
continued to make contributions to
learning for all Europeans.
 Muslim armies from North
Africa – called Moors –
conquered Spain and Portugal
in the 700’s AD, and ruled
800 years.
 Wars and violence occurred
between the Moors and
Christians (native inhabitants)
for the next 800 years.
 Despite fighting, Moors
brought new discoveries and
also helped preserve the
ancient Greek and Roman
ideals.
 Muslim communities in
Spain were eventually :
forced to convert
(become a Christian),
killed or driven out by
the Christian leaders in
the 1490’s.
Socratic Seminar
 1. Who was the more powerful? King or Pope?
 2. Did the Pros out way the Cons of the Roman Catholic
Church?
 3. Why was Latin used when the majority of Europeans did
not understand this ancient language?
 4. How useful would indulgences have been? For the people
buying them and the Church selling them?
 5. What was the purpose of the Inquisition?