Transcript Problems facing the Church

The Medieval Church
HIS 101
Problems facing the Church
• 9th century raids devastated
many churches & monasteries
• Lay investiture & simony
turned abbots & bishops into
vassals of nobles
• Clerical marriage &
concubinage increasingly
common
Monastic Reform Movements
• Cluniac reform movement spread from abbey at
Cluny - emphasized work & communal worship
• Cistercians founded in 1098 by dissatisfied
monks who wanted return to strict discipline &
simple lifestyle
– rejected wealthy trappings, but success of farms worked
by lay brothers ironically made them wealthy
– St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) urged
emotional love for Jesus, but also promoted 2nd Crusade
Abbey of Cluny - Interior
More Monastic Reform
Movements
• Franciscans founded by St. Francis of Assisi
(1186-1226)
– disowned wealthy merchant father & tried to live
exactly like Jesus
– viewed all created things as equal before God
– attempted to convert Muslims & end Crusades
• Dominicans founded by St. Dominic de
Guzman (1170-1221)
– focused on combating heresy
– became inquisitors in Holy Office
Sainte Chapelle
Built by Louis IX, 1248
Investiture Controversy
• Gregory VII (1073-1085) claimed to be
“Christ’s Vicar on Earth”
– Investiture controversy with Holy Roman
Emperor Henry IV (1056-1106)
• excommunicated Henry IV (1056-1106) after
Henry tried to depose him
• Henry went to Canossa to reconcile (1077), but
deposed & exiled Pope in 1080
– Concordat of Worms (1122): bishops elected
by church, invested with secular authority by
king and spiritual authority by Pope
Reform Popes
• Urban II (1088-1099) reorganized bureaucracy
– organized papal curia (court) into specialized
divisions
– made cardinals (who elect popes) his advisors
– called for 1st crusade in 1095
• Innocent III (1198-1216) used interdiction
(withholding of sacraments) to force Philip II
Augustus to take back his wife & John to accept
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Babylonian Captivity of the
Church & the Great Schism
• King Philip IV of France (1285-1314) began
taxing French clergy
– tried to arrest Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303)
– arranged to have Pope Clement V (1305-1314) elected
& moved papacy to Avignon
– Pope Gregory XI (1370-78) moved back to Rome in
1377
• Great Schism (1378-1417) saw rival popes
compete for power
• Council of Constance (1417) resolved differences
& agreed upon single Pope – Martin V (1417-31)
Medieval Church Theology
• Sacraments = outward signs of inward grace,
but often viewed as magical
• Saints used as intercessors due to special
holiness, & their relics became tokens
• Virgin Mary seen as chief intercessor, in part
due to new emphasis on Jesus’ human side
• Purgatory = place to complete punishment for
sin before moving on to Heaven
• Indulgences (granted for good works or
pilgrimages) reduced time in Purgatory
The Church & Education
• 200 universities & cathedral schools by 1100
– universitas = corporation of teachers or students
– professors read lessons from scarce books (lectures)
– oral exams only for degree
• Scholasticism emphasized liberal arts
– A.B. (Artium Baccalarius) granted after 4 or 6 years
– A.M. (Artium Magister) for completed curriculum
– could seek doctorate in law, medicine or theology
• St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
– Summa Theologica addressed 600 topics
– used Aristotle to reconcile faith & reason
St. Thomas
Aquinas
Combating Heresy
• Inquisition est. to try those accused of heresy
– goal = save their souls or protect other souls from them
– used torture to get confessions; executed unrepentant
• Innocent III called crusade against Albigensians
– Albigensians believed in matter/spirit dualism, rejected
Rome’s authority & practiced strict asceticism
– thousands of heretics slaughtered in southern France
• Jews increasingly persecuted, too
– Crusaders killed them as well as Muslims
– 4th Lateran Council encouraged them to wear
distinguishing clothing & live in separate, walled
communities (ghettoes)
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Christian Reconquest of the
Spanish Kingdoms
• Iberian peninsula controlled
by Muslims since 700s
• Offensive by Christian
Kingdoms begun in eleventh
century:
–
–
–
–
Castile
Navarre
Aragón
Portugal
• Alfonso X (1252 – 1284)
encouraged toleration of
Muslims & Jews
The Crusades: Background
• Western Europe resurgent, and Middle
East in turmoil
• Seljuk Turks conquered Abbasid
caliphate (1055) & crushed Byzantine
army at Battle of Manzikert (1071)
• Emperor Alexius Comnenus (10811118) requested financial assistance
Emperor Alexius from Pope Urban II to recruit
mercenaries
Comnenus
• Instead, Pope called for 1st Crusade
at Council of Clermont (1095)
The First Crusade (1097-1099)
• 3 Crusader armies (12,000 - 15,000) arrived in
Constantinople in 1097 & acknowledged imperial
authority
• Captured Antioch in 1098
• Massacred inhabitants of Jerusalem in June 1099,
after 5-week siege
• Est. feudal Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, with
Principality of Antioch and Counties of Edessa &
Tripoli
©2003 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
Map: The Early Crusades
The 2nd & 3rd Crusades
• Second Crusade (1147-1149)
– Prompted by fall of Edessa in 1144
– Led by Louis III of France & H.R. Emperor Conrad III
– failure partly due to lack of cooperation from Latin
Kingdom
• Third Crusade (1189-1192)
– Saladin’s Sunni army conquered the Fatimid caliphate
(Egypt) in 1169 & captured Jerusalem in 1189
– Led by H.R. Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, English
King Richard the Lion-Hearted & French King Philip
II Augustus
– King Richard negotiated safe passage for pilgrims after
failing to retake Jerusalem
Interior of Sainte Madeleine – Vézelay
Site of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux’s
Sermon Preaching the Second Crusade
The Later Crusades
• Innocent III called for 4th Crusade (1202-1204),
but Venetians diverted them to Constantinople
– Crusaders sacked Constantinople in 1204 & made
Count Baldwin of Flanders emperor
– Michael Paleologus restored Greek control in 1259, but
Byzantium finished as a great power
• Children’s Crusade (1212) resulted in 20,000
kids dying at sea or being sold as slaves in Africa
• 6th Crusade (1228-1229) resulted in Holy Roman
Emperor Frederick II being crowned King of
Jerusalem without a fight
– Turks reestablished control soon after he left
Map: The Crusades of the Thirteenth Century
Krak-des-Chevaliers
Hospitallers, Syria, 1142