Transcript The Religious Chaos of the Late Middle Ages

The Religious Chaos of
the Late Middle Ages
Guiding Questions
1. What factors contributed to the Great
Schism, Babylonian Captivity and the
Conciliar Movement?
 2. What were the major threats to church
power?
 3. What were the (BIG PICTURE)
reactions and results of the religious chaos
of this time period?

Overview
The Catholic Church Dominated the Social,
political and economic trends of the
Middle Ages.
 Popes continually gained more power and
acted like kings instead of religious
leaders.
 Constant battles for power between Popes
and Kings

The Division of the Catholic Church

A series of events within the Catholic
Church cause chaos and actually effect the
common worshipper in the Church.

Most battles between Popes and Kings
were mainly political and but often had
significant effects on common church
goers.
Pope Boniface VIII vs.
Philip IV the Fair [Fr.]
1302 “Unam Sanctum” this basically claimed that
“all are subject to the Pope”desperate act
 This was an attempt to reinforce Papal authority.
 This was to prevent Kings from France and England
from taking Church money by way of the state
taxing the Church. (The Church was the wealthiest
institution)
 King Philip states that the Kings protect the faith
and therefore taxing the Church is justified.

Power means Control
King Philip IV of France
came down and captured
Boniface…… Boniface
“conveniently” died soon
after being captured.
 Philip, with his whole
military in Rome,
influenced the Cardinals in
to appoint a French Pope.

The Babylonian Captivity
 1303
– 1377 the Pope moved
from Rome to Avignon,
France.
 This made the institution of
the Pope a nationalistic
object. POWER shifts to
STATES!
 Indulgences
and Purgatory
contributed to reputation of
corruption and materialism
The Great Schism
1378: Gregory XI dies  division within
the Church.
 French Cardinals vote for a French Pope
and non-French Cardinals vote for a Pope
that lived in Rome.
 This continues for several Papal
elections…
 The two Popes essentially competed
against each other.

Reactions to the Great Schism
People did not know which Pope to
follow??often chose based on politics.
 Which Pope spoke for God? How did they
know they were following the “right”
Pope?
 Men, such as John Wycliff [Lollards]and
John Hus [eventually burned at the stake],
claim that people only need to read the
Bible and the church is not needed.
 The Great Schism made the Church
questionable.

CONCILIAR MOVEMENT

Theologians speculate on who should run the
church if Pope incompetent…

Council of Bishops. Perhaps??

Wanted to convert church to kind of a
constitutional monarchy

Sought to limit power of the Popes
CONCILIAR MOVEMENT
The Council of Pisa, 1409
 Deposed 2 reigning Popes and elect third…
 However, first 2 Popes won’t step down so now
have 3 Popes!
 The Council of
Constance, 1414-18
 All Popes were forced to
resign.
 Pope Martin V was
selected and the Great
Schism was ended.

Religious Chaos
Because of the Chaos within the Catholic
Church, the Babylonian Captivity, Great
Schism and Conciliar Movement and set
the Stage for the Reformation.
 These events allow for the Church to be
criticized and that there is doubt in the
churches infallibility.
