Transcript Church Reform and the Crusades

The Age of Faith

 Starting in 900s,
monasteries help bring
about a spiritual revival
 Monastery at Cluny
in France led the
spiritual revival and
establishes new
religious orders
Problems in the Church

1. Church officials begin
to marry
2. Simony—selling
religious offices
3. Kings use lay
investiture to appoint
bishops
4. Illiterate priests and
popes
 Cant really read the
bible if you cant
read…
Reform and the Church
Organization

 Pope Leo IX and Pope Gregory VII led the reforming popes
and in 1100s reorganized the Church as a kingdom
 Papal Curia (pope’s advisors) make Church laws
 Developed canon law and act as the court
 Decides cases on canon law (marriage, divorce, and
inheritance)
 Church collects tithes (10%) and uses money to care for sick,
poor
New Religious Orders
 Monks and Friars: both
vows of chastity, poverty
and obedience
 Unlike monks, friars
preached to the poor
and did NOT live in
monasteries
 Dominican and
Franciscan orders form
 Some new orders for
women are founded
St. Francis of Assisi
 Founded the Franciscans
 After being captured and
imprisoned during a
local war, he had a
serious spiritual
experience
 At 20, he gave up his
wealth
 Turns to preaching,
working, & begging for
food
 His simplicity, joyful
nature, and love of others
attract followers
 Stressed importance of
animals
Religious Order for
Women

 Participate in spiritual
revival
 Not allowed to travel as
preachers
 Took care of the sick and
helped poor
 Some joined the
Dominicans
 In 1212, the Franciscan
order, the Poor Clares, is
founded by Clare and St.
Francis
Hildegard of Bingen
 Entered convent at 8 (Began
experiencing prophetic visions
at age 3)
 Became abbess by 24
 Wrote 3 books about her
mystical visions concerning
Lucifer, the Creation, and the
Last Judgment
 Popes, emperors, kings,
bishops, abbots etc. sought her
advice as a mystic
 Composed musical plays
 Contributed to the body of
music called “Gregorian”
chant
 On the day she died, brilliant
crosses and circles were said
to be seen in the skies
Cathedrals-Cities of God

 Church’s wealth could be seen everywhere in the
Middle Ages
 Cathedrals
Early Cathedrals
 Between 800–1100,
churches are built in
Romanesque style
 Style includes thick
walls and pillars, small
windows, round arches
 Very little light
Romanesque Arch

Gothic Cathedrals

 Gothic style evolves
around 1100
 Style has large, tall
windows for more light;
pointed arches, tall spires,
high ceilings
 100s of sculptures and
stain glass windows that
illustrate stories
 About 500 Gothic
churches are built from
1170 to 1270
 Notre Dame (“Our
Lady”) in Paris
Architecture & Engineering of
the Cathedrals
1.
2.
Pointed, ribbed vaults that
supported the roofs weight &
framed huge stained-glass
windows
 Creates upward movement
 Allows for height
Flying-buttresses that support
walls from outside and act as
wind braces
 Distributes weight of
vaulted ceilings outward &
down
 Helped hold up the high
walls

Stained Glass
 Art form of Middle Ages
 Illustrate Biblical stories
for illiterate peasants
 Created by adding cobalt,
silver, iron, or copper
oxides to glass
 Details painted on and
then fired in a kiln
 Chartes Cathedral in
France has more than 150
 What does the
construction of Gothic
cathedrals tell us about
the people’s religious
beliefs?
 People worked long and
hard to build the
cathedrals with few tools
because their beliefs were
so strong.
The Crusades
 In 1093, Byzantine
emperor asks for help
fighting the Muslim
Turks
 Threatening to
conquer
Constantinople
Popes call for Crusade
 Pope Urban II issues a
call for a Crusade—a
“holy war”
“All who die… whether by
land or by sea, or in
battle against the pagans,
shall have immediate
remission (forgiveness) of
sins.”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Goals of the Crusades
Pope wants to reclaim 
Jerusalem and reunite
Christianity (for God—
religious zeal)
Kings use the Crusades to
send away knights who
cause trouble
Younger sons hope to earn
land or win glory by
fighting
Later, merchants join
Crusades to try to gain
wealth through trade
Adventure
The First Crusade
• 3 armies gather at
Constantinople in 1097
 Knights & all classes
 Mostly French, but
Germans, Englishmen,
Scots, Italians,
Spaniards
• Ill-prepared
• No strategy
• Nobles argue amongst
themselves
• No adequate supplies
Capture of Jerusalem
• Army of 12,000 besieges
Jerusalem
• On July 15, 1099, Crusaders
capture Jerusalem
Crusader States
 Crusaders acquire a
narrow strip of land from
Edessa to Jerusalem
 Captured lands along
coast divided into four
Crusader states
 Ruled by European
nobles
Second Crusade
Muslims take back
Edessa in 1144;
Second Crusade fails
to retake it
In 1187 Saladin—
Muslim leader and
warrior—retakes
Jerusalem
Third Crusade
 Third Crusade led by three
powerful rulers
 Richard the LionHearted—king of England
 Phillip II of France
abandons Crusade after
arguing with Richard
 Frederick I of Germany
drowns during the journey
 In 1192 Richard and Saladin
agreed to a truce after many
battles
 Terms: Saladin keeps
Jerusalem but allows
unarmed Christian pilgrims
to enter city
Crusades

Fourth Crusade - 1204

 Tried to recapture Jerusalem but failed.
 The knights did not even reach the Holy Land. They
looted Constantinople.
 A nephew of the city’s ruler at that time sought his
uncle’s throne. He asked for help in getting it,
promising one of the Crusade leaders to put the
Eastern Empire back under the control of Rome. He
also offered the riches of Constantinople.
 They landed in 1203 and after a long war, the nephew
seized the throne. The Crusaders waited outside for
their promised riches. When the nephew himself was
overthrown, the Crusaders entered the city, killing
citizens and seizing what they felt they were owed.
Children’s Crusade
 1212
 In France 30,000 children
led by a 12 year old
 Many died or were sold
into slavery
 In Germany, 20,000 left
for Rome. Pope told
them to return home.
Only about 2,000
survived the trip back to
Germany
Spanish Crusade
 Muslims in Spain called
Moors
 controlled most of Spain
until the 1100s.
 Reconquista – Spanish
Christians kicking the
Muslims out of Spain
 By 1492 the leaders of
Spain (Ferdinand and
Isabella) finally drove
the Muslims out of
Spain
Inquisition
 Court held by the Church 
to suppress heresy
 Many Jews and Muslims
converted to Christianity
 Still suspected these
converts of heresy
 Many were tortured
and some burned at the
stake
 In 1492, the monarchs
expelled all practicing
JEWS and MUSLIMS from
Spain
1.
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4.
5.
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7.
Effects of the Crusades

Byzantine Empire is weakened
Pope’s power declines
Power of feudal lord weakens
Kings become stronger
Many knights die
Religious intolerance grows.
Italian cities expand trade and
grow rich
8. Muslims increasingly distrust
Christians.
9. Trade grows between Europe and
the Middle East
10. European technology improves as
Crusaders learn from Muslims.
11. For Jews in Europe, the Crusades
were a time of increased
persecution