Transcript The Religious Chaos of the Late Middle Ages

The Religious Chaos of
the Late Middle Ages
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 had minor
effects on the common churchgoers

Pope Boniface VIII
1302 “Unam Sanctium” this basically claimed that
“all are subject to the Pope”
 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.
 It looked like the French had
control of the institution of
the Pope. No non-French
popes were appointed
The Great Schism
There is a 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.
 Which Pope spoke for God? How did they
know they were following the “right”
Pope.
 Men, such as John Wycliff and John Hus,
claim that people only need to read the
Bible and the church is not needed.
 The Great Schism made the Church
questionable.

The Council of Constance, 1417
All Popes were forced to
resign, there were 3 at
the time. That was
because an earlier
Council had appointed
one and the other two
Popes did not listen to
him.
 Pope Martin V was
selected

Religious Chaos
Because of the Chaos within the Catholic
Church, the Babylonian Captivity and
Great Schism set the Stage for the
Reformation.
 These events allow for the Church to be
criticized and that there is doubt in the
churches infallibility.
