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Medieval Religion
Religion in the medieval period is frequently depicted as a "time of ignorance and superstition," defying reason and logic. While Christianity and its denominations made up the majority of medieval religion, Germanic paganism and Islam also existed.
956 Questions
The Christian Church was the single most powerful social organization in Europe from the Middle Ages to the end of the Victorian era.
Is spilling salt considered good luck?
No it is bad luck that is why you have to throw it over you left shoulder to hit the demon in the eyes.
What did Dominican Friars wear?
In the medieval period the Dominicans wore off-white habits and large black cloaks fitted with hoods, so black over white. The habits were off-white because they were made of natural undyed and unbleached sheep's wool.
Today some Dominicans continue this tradition, but some have moved away from the black-over-white idea and wear all white, or grey, or other colours.
See links below for images:
Is it worth your time reading?
Yes, reading is worth time. You can find some really good books to read. I used to read all the time, now I don't have as much time, but I wish I did.
To help you find a book, you could ask your friends. They probably know of lots.
Hope this helps :D
Why was the church so powerful in medieval times?
Since most people were illiterate, they did not have access to the works of the great thinkers, such as Greek philosophers and Roman historians. Since the ideas of most great thinkers are built on a foundation of the thoughts of other great thinkers, the common man had no means of either reading or writing great ideas that did not come from the church.
Before the invention of the movable type printing press by Gutenberg, books, scrolls, and other texts were carefully copied by church scribes who copied each page by hand. This was a very tedious and time consuming process. These copies were fragile, rare, and valuable. They simply could not be circulated among the common people, who could not read them anyway.
When Gutenberg invented his printing press, he began to mass produce pages from the Bible. People used these pages to learn how to read. Eventually, other texts were printed, and people learned how to write their own thoughts and circulate them to a mass audience. Ultimately, this led to libraries and universities - centers of great learning.
People began to question what they had been told by the church on all kinds of subjects, including science, astronomy, medicine, ethics, etc. This began the decline of the church's power and influence.
MoreAnother reason that the medieval Church was so powerful was becasue the made laws and set up courts to uphold them. Another ViewThe more I learn about the Middle Ages, the more I am impressed by the wisdom, science, and intelligence of its people.The above answers may be conventional understanding, but the conventional understanding is supported by neither the facts nor historical record. Furthermore, they ignore the most powerful reason the Church had power, which was that it was at the center of what people believed; asking why the Church was powerful in the middle ages is in some respects analogous to asking why science is so powerful today.
As to the facts, we do not have a lot of evidence from the early middle ages, because people did not keep much in the way of records, but what records we do have do not support the idea that people were generally illiterate. Examples include the following:
- The first primary schools in the world were opened by the East Roman Empire in 425 AD with the purpose of trying to make every soldier literate. The East Roman Empire survived until 1453, and is referred to by historians as the Byzantine Empire. And its primary schools remained open until 1453. (see link below)
- We have a record that Cor Tewdws (the College of Theodosius) in Llantwit, Wales was rebuilt in 508 after its buildings had been burned down in a fire. It had been opened before, or possibly very shortly after, the death of Roman Emperor Theodosius in 395, and remained open continuously from 508 until it was closed by King Henry VIII years after them Middle Ages ended. (see link below)
- The King's School in Canterbury was opened in 596 and remains open today. Beverley Grammar School, in Yorkshire, was opened as a state supported school, in 700, and remained open during the decades when the area was controlled by Vikings; it also remains open today. There are a total of over 70 primary and secondary schools open today from the Middle Ages. The number that have not remained open cannot be know, because very few records were kept about the ones that closed. There might have been hundreds of them or more. (see link below)
- There were over 70 universities opened during the Middle Ages, starting with the University of Bologna in 1088, over 300 years before the Gutenberg Bible was printed. (see link below)
- King Alfred the Great set into motion a policy that all freemen of England be taught to read and write in English. In support of this policy, he sponsored the translation of great works from Latin into English. When he died, he was actively engaged in translating the Bible into English. (see link below)
These facts indicate that the power of the Church was not dependent on its relationship with an illiterate population. Since literacy had begun to decline in the Roman Empire of the third century, it is possible that at the time of the collapse of the West Roman Empire, its level of literacy was lower than what it became in the later half of the Middle Ages.
The nature of the Middle Ages was misrepresented very badly by later historians. First, the nature of the Early Middle Ages was misrepresented by historians of the Late Middle Ages, who wanted to inflate their own importance by making themselves the inheritors of the wisdom of Rome. So they invented the term Middle Ages to as a name for a time they regarded as ignorant. Then, the same thing was done by historians of the Renaissance to the historians of the Late Middle Ages, who appropriated the term Middle Ages for the same reason in the same way. They called architecture of the High Middle Ages Gothic, a word of derision, implying it to the sorts of barbaric things one might expect from Vandals, Visigoths and Ostrogoths. In the mean time, an era that did not leave much in the way of records about itself was unable to come to its own defense. Dead men cannot pass literacy tests.
Today, we point to the Middle Ages as a time of superstition and ignorance. But the superstitious persecution associated with the witch trials was not medieval; it happened primarily in the periods of the Renaissance and Reformation. The attempts to control science were not medieval; they too were of the Renaissance and Reformation. I remember when historians pointed at the millennialists of the Middle Ages with derision. They clearly did not believe millennialism would reemerge at the end of the twentieth century. But it did, and I have come to the conclusion that the people of the Middle Ages were no more superstitious than many people of today, especially including those who irrationally believe we know enough of science to base all our trust in it.
The power of the Church in the Middle Ages was based on a single simple fact: it represented what the overwhelming majority of the people believed. People wanted to go to heaven, so they went to church. People wanted to be good, so they invented the Code of Chivalry, congruent with their sacred beliefs, and they obeyed it. People wanted to be perceived as good, so they did not violate the Church. Even kings respected the sanctuary of churches and monasteries, and, in many lands, even felons and runaway queens could be safe in those places. A king's worst nightmare could easily have been being excommunicated, because even if he did not believe, all the oaths taken by his vassals to support him would have been rendered void, and all the treaties made with him would have been rendered invalid, and people who regarded their word as sacred would have been freed to do whatever they wanted to oppose him and support his enemies.
Was medieval hanging religious?
Hanging was a punishment for secular crimes such as piracy, murder, etc. Religious crimes were traditionally punished by burning at the stake.
What medieval word begins with the letter O?
I'm not sure what counts as a "medieval word". I assume that you are asking about an English word, not French or German or Italian or Greek, although these languages also existed in medieval Europe. I also assume you don't want a Latin word, although Latin was an important part of medieval culture everywhere, being the language of the Catholic Church. The word "medieval" can imply just about any time between 450 A.D. and 1500 A.D., over 1000 years. Over those 1000 years English changed so much it became a totally different language. Nevertheless, many of the English words from that time are English words today. Are you looking for a word which was a word then but is not now? Let us look then at a text written in 1380, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Here in the general prologue we find words like Of, On, Or, Onto, Over, Out, Oath (spelled ooth), One (spelled oon), Old, Oyster (spelled oistre), Order (ordre), Office (offyce) and Overest. Overest? It comes from the description of the Clerk: "Ful threadbare was his overest courtepy." A courtepy was a short cloak, which he wore over everything else; "overest" means on top of everything else or uppermost.
What items did medieval monks use?
Monks (not the same thing as friars) were permitted under the Regula Sancti Benedicti (the Rule of St Benedict) to have a knife, a quill pen, a needle, a towel and a wax tablet for taking notes. These items were not theirs to keep, but remained the property of the monastery. Knives were mainly for use at meals and were not to be worn at night, even though monks slept fully dressed.
Other tools were issued as required: spades and mattocks for digging, pruning knives and bills for trimming and repairing hedges and trees, buckets for carrying water, tools for roofing, repairing masonry, preparing parchment and many other tasks. All of these would be issued by and returned to the brother cellarer, who acted as store-keeper for clothing, food, tools and everything else.
Lighting in monasteries was by candle and lamp; lamps consisted of large, rectangular stones called cressets with many "cups" or depressions carved into the top surface. Each cup was filled with fat or oil and a wick and this multiple light was kept burning all night. (see links below for images):
In March what jobs did Medieval Villagers do?
the seed for oats had to be sown and then the villagers used a harrow which was then used to cover the seeds over with oil.
How much of catholicism was retained during Henry VIII?
Catholicism remained dominate during the reign of Henry VIII. He did not abolish its practice everywhere, just in England. Even then, many Catholics retained their faith during this time.
What is the feudal church and its contribution to the Catholic Church?
How did the dark ages impact Christianity?
Some have dated the start of the 'dark ages' to the Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD. It was here that Emperor Constantine set the stage for the removal of God's biblical feasts and the establishing of alternative feasts not found in the Bible - historically known as the Paschal Controversy.
But how/why did this Council have such a profound impact upon the teaching of Christ and the Apostles? Historian Jesse Hurlbut candidly describes the consequences: "But while the triumph of Christianity resulted in much that was good, inevitably the alliance of the church and state also brought in its train many evils. The ceasing of persecution was a blessing, but the establishment of Christianity as the state religion became a curse.
"Everyone sought membership in the church, and nearly everybody was accepted ... The forms and ceremonies of paganism gradually crept into the worship. Some of the old heathen feasts became church festival s with change of name and of worship ... As a result of the church sitting in power, we do not see Christianity transforming the world to its ideal, but the world dominating the church" ( A History of the Christian Church, 1918, pp. 78-79).
The consolidating of Roman ideas continued to isolate the original teachings of the Christian Church. It was not until the time of Elizabethan England that a measure of religious tolerance was granted to those who followed the original practices of Jesus and the apostles - finally emerging in the late 16th Century AD.
It was in 1585, that England and Spain went to war, mainly over the attempt of Spain to militarily impose the Catholic faith on England. In 1588, Spain lost the war, and also its famed Spanish Armada (Flavit Deus et Dissipati Sunt - God blew and they were scattered), so England was free to continue its religious tolerance-which eventually spread to its colonies abroad, including what became the United States and Canada.
What were the two major innovations in music during the High Middle Ages?
Two major innovations in music were tropes, new tests and melodies inserted into Gregorian chants, and polyphony, two or more melodic lines are sung or played simultaneously.
The medieval church modes gradually gave way to the what scales in the middle baroque?
Major and Minor Scales
Who is the most powerful mutant?
The most powerful mutant in the marvel universe is either Franklin Richards the son of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Women or Mr. M(Absolon Mercator.) Franklin Richards is by far the most powerful reality manipulator in the Marvel Universe with Mad Jim Jaspers being the second most powerful. Mr. M possesses a vast array of powers that include molecular manipulation allowing him to become in essence god, X-factor negation/augmentation allowing him to turn on and off mutant powers, he can change his strength to any conceivable level, and many more godlike powers.
(okay seriously who the hell posted this, I would like to have a formal discussion with you regarding your completely "true" and "irrefutable" answer.
Its obviously Jean Grey aka the Phoenix, she is above a level 5 mutant, her powers are uncharted! She also has X-ray vision and mind reading capabilities. She can eat little children and full grown adults. She can sleep for ten years, and the go one million without sleep. And she can have ten mechanical tentacles that have light sabers coming out of the palms. Trust me, no one can beat this girl!
Umm, yeah it's inevitably Jean Grey also known as the Phoenix in most X-men comic versions(in some versions the Phoenix is a separate entity of Jean, but it eventual ends up becoming apart of her). The Phoenix force grants Jean Grey immortality, invulnerability, and limitless power including life resurrection (of itself and others), matter manipulation, telepathy(on a cosmic scale), time travel, and the ability to travel through space unaided. Eating stars is also how the Phoenix grows stronger. Some mutants are capable of some these feats, yet aren't at the level of power as the Phoenix. Mutants of this caliber are known as Omega level. Some do come close such as Vulcan, Jean's daughter Rachel, Iceman and Elixir.
You're all wrong its the JUGGerNAUT! 8itch......
Chronos is the most powerful mutant. He can manipulate the fabric of space-time continuum. He has the chronofield ability, which can render his surroundings frozen in time. He can freeze all matters at will, he can teleport anywhere he wants, and he can create wormholes or dimensional gateways. His ultimate skill is he can spawn a black hole in which he alone can control.
right some good answer and some weird... mutants who are up there include Franklin Richards, jean grey (as phoenix so not sure this is allowed as technically not a mutant) but no one remembers to include..
THE
Isolationist THIS MUTANT POSSESSES ALL THE POWERS OF EVERY LIVING MUTANT.. SO NO MATTER WHAT OTHER POWERFUL MUTANTS WERE ALIVE, HE WOULD HAVE THEIR POWERS PLUS ANY OTHER MUTANT STILL ALIVE, THEREFORE HE IS THE MOST TECHNICALLY THE MOST POWERFUL TO HAVE EVER LIVED
Why did thomas becket have a new master for archbishop?
Thomas Becket was a good friend of and chancellor to the then King Henry II. He was the king's sponser for Archbishop of Canterbury-the leading post in the English Church-the waek papacy followed the king's wishes
What did the catholic church do to medieval peasants?
The Catholic Church played a significant role in the lives of medieval peasants, often providing spiritual guidance and community support. It collected tithes, or a portion of the peasants' produce, which could place a financial burden on them. Additionally, the Church offered education and care through monasteries and parish schools, but it also enforced social hierarchies and promoted the idea of accepting one's station in life as divinely ordained. Overall, while the Church provided essential services, it also maintained the status quo of feudal society.
What did medieval churches have before the invention of the flying buttress?
Before the invention of the flying buttress, medieval churches relied on thick, solid walls and smaller windows for structural support. These walls were often reinforced with heavy stone and masonry to withstand the weight of the roof and vaults. The lack of flying buttresses meant that churches had limited window sizes, resulting in dimmer interiors compared to later Gothic designs that utilized more glass. Additionally, the architectural style was more focused on compact, box-like structures rather than the soaring heights characteristic of Gothic cathedrals.
