Chapter 13 The Rise of the Middle Ages Section 3: The Church

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Chapter 13 - The Rise of the Middle AgesSection
3 The Church
Notre Dame de Paris Construction began1163
Completed 1345
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• The Story Continues
• Throughout the Middle Ages the church was one
• of the few sources of leadership and stability
  that people could rely upon.
• One historian has noted that The continuity and
• the authority of the Church of Rome stood out in
• marked contrast against the short-lived
• kingdoms which rose and fell in the early Middle
• Ages. As a result, the Catholic church became
• one of medieval Europes most powerful and
• enduring institutions.

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I. The Church Hierarchy

• The medieval church had broad political powers
• and performed many governmental functions

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I. The Church Hierarchy

• By the 1200s, the church was the wealthiest
• institution in Europe and a leading landowner

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
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I. The Church Hierarchy

• The clergy were organized in a strict hierarchy
  of
• rank the parish priest was at the bottom

Saint John Marie-Baptiste Vianney is the patron
saint of parish priests
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I. The Church Hierarchy

• The priest directly served the people in his
• parish and could administer five of the seven
• sacraments

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I. The Church Hierarchy

• The bishop managed a diocese and performed
• the sacraments of confirmation and holy orders

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I. The Church Hierarchy

• Kings or powerful nobles would select
• bishops on the basis of family connections or
• political power

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I. The Church Hierarchy

• An archbishop managed a group of several
• dioceses called an archdiocese

The chief diocese in a province. To help things
run smoothly, one bishop in each province has
seniority. He's an archbishop and his diocese is
an archdiocese.
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I. The Church Hierarchy

• The pope held supreme authority and was
• advised by the curia, counselors from the
• highest ranks of the clergy

Pope Innocent Confirms Rule of Francis, circa
1300
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I. The Church Hierarchy

• The curias most important and powerful members
• were cardinals, who advised the pope on legal and
• spiritual matters

Raphael, Portrait of a Cardinal, 1510-12
Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici and
Luigi de' Rossi, Raphael 1518
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II. Monasticism

• The church had two types of clergy
• secular - priests, bishops, and the pope
• regular - monks

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II. Monasticism

• Monks and nuns served God through fasting,
• prayer, and self-denial

A medieval depiction of a monk at work in a
monastic scriptorium
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II. Monasticism

• Monasticism refers to the way of life in
  religious
• communities - monks in monasteries and nuns
• in convents

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II. Monasticism

• Benedict established a monastery in the 500s
• the Benedictine Rule governs monks lives

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III. The Church and Medieval Life

• Church leaders were feudal lords and political
• advisors - popes held political and spiritual
• power over monarchs

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III. The Church and Medieval Life

• Church courts followed canon law and could
• excommunicate a person or issue an interdict
• against an entire region

Galileo in front of the Roman Inquisition, 12
April 1633 Painting by Cristiano Banti
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III. The Church and Medieval Life

• Heretics were people who denied the churchs
• principles or who preached beliefs not approved
• by the church

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III. The Church and Medieval Life

• The church had the power to tax parish priests
• collected a tithe - one-tenth of a persons
• income

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III. The Church and Medieval Life

• The clergy was involved with social work and
• caring for the poor and needy

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III. The Church and Medieval Life

• Major problems in the church were lay
• investiture and simony

Jan Hus, a Bohemian preacher who called for
Church reforms, was declared a heretic by the
Church. Hus was summoned to the Council of
Constance and burned at the stake in 1415.
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III. The Church and Medieval Life

• In the 1200s, two religious groups were
• dedicated to church reform - the Franciscans
• and the Dominicans

The pope approving the Franciscan order
St. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers,
commonly known as the Dominican Order
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III. The Church and Medieval Life

• Dominicans sought out heretics in what
• became known as the Inquisition