Religion and Society during the Middle Ages

1
Religion and Society during the Middle Ages

• Bell Work Examine the images shown, research in
  your textbook page 545-558 to find their
  historical significance?

2
The Church

• From 1050-1150 a strong wave of religious feeling
  swept across Western Europe.
• As a result more monasteries were built, new
  religious orders of priests, monks, and nuns were
  started.
• Many noble women entered convents. They included
  widows and women unable or unwilling to marry.
  Many women saw this as an ideal place for study
  and writing, therefore most educated women during
  the Middle Ages were nuns.

3
St. Francis of Assisi

• Founded the first order of friars known as
  Franciscans.
• Friar comes from the Latin word for brother.
• Friars went out to the world to preach and lived
  by begging. They could not own land or keep
  personal wealth.
• Assisis friars lived in towns and taught
  Christianity. They also helped the poor and
  served in monasteries.
• In 1980 Pope John Paul named him the patron saint
  of ecologists.

4
The Role of Religion

• Daily life centered on the church.
• Priests ran schools, hospitals, recorded births,
  performed weddings, and conducted burials.
• On Sundays citizens went to mass.
• This is a time when Christians would pray to the
  saints and try to connect with them through
  touching relics. Relics were bones or personal
  belongings of the saints.

• The Catholic Church was very powerful in medieval
  society, they believed that non-believers were a
  threat to that power.
• The Church tried to put an end to heresy, or
  going against the teachings of the church.
• They sent friars to preach Christianity to stop
  the spread of heresy.
• In 1233 the pope established a church court known
  as the Inquisition.

5
The Inquisition

• Heresy was considered a crime against god. This
  term goes back to the Roman Empire when
  Christianity was the official state religion.
  The original penalty was excommunication.
• The Inquisitions job was to try heretics or
  people suspected of heresy.
• People were urged to confess to heresy and ask
  for forgiveness. When this happened the church
  would punish them then allow them to return to
  the church.
• People who refused to confess would be tortured
  until they admitted to being a heretic.
• Those who refused to confess were considered
  guilty and executed by political leaders.
• Famous Inquisition in History- The Spanish
  Inquisition established in 1478 by King Ferdinand
  and Queen Isabella of Spain.

6
Rise of Anti-Semetism

• Many Europeans disliked Jewish people for not
  becoming Christian.
• Others disliked the Jewish people because they
  were moneylenders who charged interest. At that
  time Christians believed charging interest was a
  sin.
• Anti-Semitism, discrimination against or
  prejudice or hostility toward Jewish people, took
  many forms in the Middle Ages, at times involving
  killing or beating Jews
• In the 1100s European rulers began banning Jewish
  people from their countries.
• Many Jewish people moved to Eastern Europe where
  they established thriving communities based on
  their religion.

7
Architecture during the Middle Ages

• Romanesque Cathedrals
• Rectangular
• Long rounded roofs called barrel vaults
• Thick walls
• Windows were small and let in little light

• Gothic Cathedrals
• Ribbed vaults
• Pointed arches to allow the church to be taller
• Flying Buttresses allowed walls to be thinner and
  larger stained glass windows.

8
Architecture

• Romanesque Style

• Gothic Style

9
Stained Glass Windows

• Served as Picture Bibles for Christians who could
  not read.
• They often show scenes from Jesuss life and
  teachings.
• Their purpose was to let in sunlight, which
  symbolized the divine light of God.

10
Universities and Literature

• Universities were created to educate and train
  scholars.
• Students studied grammar, logic, geometry, music,
  and astronomy.
• Studied for 4-6 years and then students would
  take an oral exam, if they passed they were given
  a degree.
• People spoke and wrote in Latin.
• Each region had its own everyday language called
  vernacular. Early versions of Spanish, English,
  and German were all vernaculars.
• Popular literature was called troubadour poetry,
  about love.
• Heroic Epics were also popular because they were
  about knights fighting for their kings and lords.

11
St. Thomas Aquinas

• Famous friar and priest who used reason to answer
  questions about religion, or scholasticism.
• He is best known for combining the Church
  teachings with the ideas of Aristotle.
• Many Europeans were upset by Aristotles ideas
  because he used reason instead of faith to answer
  questions about the meaning of life.

12
St. Thomas Aquinas continued

• In the 1200s he wrote several books explaining
  that Aristotle would agree with many Christian
  teachings.
• Summa Theologica- this book by Aquinas asks hard
  questions such as, does God exist?
• He also wrote about natural law, the idea that
  some laws are a part of human nature and do not
  have to be made by the government.
• These are rights that should not be taken away
  such as the right to live, learn, and worship.

13
Spain and Portugal vs. The Muslims

• They wanted all of Spain to be Catholic, they
  persecuted against all Jews and established the
  Spanish Inquisition.
• This Inquisition tried and tortured thousands.
  In 1492, they told Jewish people they must
  convert or leave. Most left the country.
• Next the King and Queen went after the Muslims.
• Ten years later the Muslims were told to covert
  or leave, most left Spain for North Africa.

• During the Middle Ages the Muslims ruled Spain
  and Portugal.
• They built mosques and founded schools where
  Christians, Jews and Muslims could study
  together.
• Christians began a Reconquista to take back the
  land.
• In 1469 Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of
  Aragon married, they joined their lands into one
  country known as Spain.