Medieval Religion

Byzantine Empire had arisen from the ruins of the (Eastern) Roman Empire as the most consolidated, organized and stable province from all of the Romans' civilizations. But in its a greatest times, it was barely shallow of the Roman Empire, having about 1/2 of the population and 1/3 of the territory. The fortune of the Eastern Roman Empire was rather luckier than the western part and it never lost its ruling elite, senate, aristocracy and dynasty as it had happened to Rome. The sense of direct lineage of various Eastern Roman institutions was helping to survive and transform into new medieval state. Rome lost not only the dynasty, but also senate and most of the aristocracy. Without the ruling elite, there was also very limited drive to maintain army and once strong and feared roman legions were history. On top of it, during the last decades of the Roman empire, its navy disintegrated and was unable to secure Mediterranean that was a vital for the Roman economy. On the other hand, Greek-Byzantine navy was consolidated and remained the most powerful in the world until Crusades.

Beside army and navy that was able to protect Constantinople, Byzantine territory was not entirely overrun by migrating nations and its leadership never allowed foreigners to take control of command as was in the case of the west. Byzantine state was much smaller and never overextend its defenses. The lost wars of Justinian and inconclusive and nothing bearing conquests of his reign taught entire generations of rulers not to expand the Byzantine territory too far. The Balkans was taken by Slavs, Egypt and Levant by Persian and Arabs, so Byzantine was left with smaller, but defensive territory. The downfall of Byzantine Empire started, when all its resources were invested into conquering Bulgaria in 1018 and it has never reaped the benefits of extending the empire. Byzantine empire was one of the first states in history that used diplomacy to prevent conflicts and negotiate treaties as one of the means of survival of the state.

The one of the last element that helped Byzantine empire to outlive Rome was the location of the capital itself that was considered unconquerable until IV Crusade. Constantinople was a terminus of Asian long distance trade and a financial capital of the Mediterranean and Europe where various trading goods were exchanged and thus generating a significant profit for the treasury. The fall of Constantinople coincide with the rise of Venice and Genoa and was closely related with economical decline of the city. When Constantinople was undisputed commercial center of the world, it has unique position among economically depressed cities of the post-roman era. Once this position was challenged, the fortune of the state was in peril and eventually lead to end of the Byzantine state.

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Fiefs were earned by the peasants when they worked on the lord's manor. Knights were also given fiefs in return for their military work. The peasants also had to pay a church tax called a tithe, or in other words, the canon law.

The Church at this time was seen as a corrupt force. Priests contradicted their vows (chastity, poverty, and obedience,) which caused unrest amongst the people later during the Renaissance Era. In addition, priests were able to purchase their offices, meaning they could work their way up the ladder of success through bribery. During the era in which the Church was at war with the Muslims, the Church would often call on crusades. After this event however, the Pope would address his subjects, saying that they need money to form another Crusade to fight off whatever enemy was a threat. It turns out that the Church didn't need a Crusade, but they kept the money for themselves (needless increase in taxes.) Back to the "Priestly Vows." Chastity, which means no tolerance for intercourse, was neglected by many Abbots, Monks, Priests, and even Bishops. These "prominent religious figures" molested boys, payed prostitutes, and committed adultery. Poverty, which means a life devoted to poorness, was also neglected. The Pope, bishops, and Priests lived in wealthy estates, and had luxurious meals day in and day out. Lastly, obedience was also denied. After you look at what the Priests, Abbots, Monks, Bishops, and the Pope did, you could conclude that they do not maintain the obedience with God. In short, the criticisms are the following: They did not follow the 10 commandments completely, they did not support freedom of speech and ideas that conflicted with the Church's, they killed people who went against the Church (heretics,) and they inflicted torture amongst many human beings (physically and mentally.) I think we can all agree that these actions go against what God wants for us. These are some of the criticisms of the Medieval Catholic Church.

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The popes were the leaders of the Catholic Church, with the spiritual and moral authority that entails. If a pope said something was true, there were very few people who would question him.

There was one thing in particular, however, that gave the popes power other people did not have. This was the power to free people from oaths they had taken. It could be exercised as a punishment for kings and emperors.

If a pope wanted to dispute the authority of a monarch, he could excommunicate that monarch. This might sound to people of the 21st century like a purely personal and religious matter, but it was in fact a matter with profound effects. When a king was excommunicated, the pope very often freed the kings followers from all their oaths of allegiance to the king, giving them freedom to rebel or invade at will, and taking away the right of the king to resist. More than one king or emperor found himself in grave difficulty because he decided to enter into a dispute with a pope.

adoun: down deye: die agast(e): afraid; frighten dorste: dare, dared agayn(s): against, toward dout: doubt ago, ago(o)n: gone; ago dout, out of: beyond doubt al: all drede: doubt; dread, fear *al, al be that: although alderbest: best of all *ech: each *als, also: as, also *echo(o)n: each one an: an; on *eek, eke: also *anon: at once elles, ellis: else *artow: art thou, thou art entente: intent, attention arwe: arrow *er, or: before; formerly *as: as, as if, like ese: pleasure *atte: at, at the *everich: every; every one *aventure: chance *axe: ask *fay, fey: faith *ay: always fere, feere: companion fele, feele: many *been: are ferre: farther benedicite: bless us! fil: fell, happened *bet: better flour: flower; flour *beth: are; (imperative) be for: for; because bitwixen: between *forthy: therefore blake: black foryeve: forgive blyve: quickly, soon free: generous, gracious *brenne: burn liberal breste, brast: burst *fro: from bresting: bursting *but, but if: unless game: fun *gan, gonne: began *can, kan: know, be able go(on): go *canstow: can you, you can goost: soul, spirit *cas: happening, chance gyse: guise, manner, way; *certes: surely, certainly plan certeyn: certainly, sure(ly) chees, chese(n): choose, chose *han: have chosen *hastow: have you, you have cheere, chiere: facial expression heigh: high *clepe(n): call *hem: them *clerk: scholar hem lost (or liste): they conne: learn, can wanted conseil: secret, advice hende: ready to hand, coude: could convenient, handy; *coy: quiet pleasant, courteous, gentle deel: bit hente: take, seize, get delit: delight, pleasure *here: her deme: judge, suppose hewe: hue, color devyse: tell (of), describe *hight: named, called *him lest (list): he wants *nere: were not *hir(e): her, their niste: did not know noght: nought, nothing; not *ich: I *nolde: would not *ilke: same *nones, nonys: occasion *noon: none, no *kan: know; know how to; can *noot: know not keep(e), kepe: heed *nyce: foolish *konne: learn; know how to; can *nys: is not konnyng: skill, knowledge nyste: knew not *koude: knew; knew how to; could *kynde: nature *o, oo, on, oon, that oon: one *of: of; off *lasse: less ones, onis: once lese: lose outrely: utterly, entirely lest(e): please, pleases, pleased (impersonal); pace: go, proceed hem (him) leste, liste; *pardee: (lit. "by God"), a common they (he) wanted oath; certainly lete: leave, forsake, abandon parfit: perfect lette: forbear, desist, hinder pleyne: complain, lament; full *le(e)ve: dear povre: poor liggen: to lie *prime, pryme: 9 A.M. like, liketh: it please(s) pryvely, prively: secretly list(e): it pleased, it pleases *lite: little quit(te), quyte: requite, repay lith: lies *quod: said lust: pleasure, desire lusty: lusty; joyous; *rathe: early, soon pleasant; vigorous *rede: advise; interpret; read reed: counsel; (verb) advise maad: made rekke(th): heed(s), care(s) *maistow, maystow: may you, you may right: (adverb): just, quite *make: mate, husband, make routhe: pity maner(e): kind of, manner maugre: in spite of saugh, say, seigh: saw mede: reward *seistow: you say met(te): dream seith: says *mo: more seke: seek mooste: most; greatest *sely: innocent, simple *moot(e) (n): may, must, ought to; sentence: moaning, opinion, so (also, ever) moot I: as I sentiments, subject matter hope to *seyde: said *morewe: morrow, morning *seye: say *mowe: may *shaltow: you shall *muche(l): much, many (a) shape, shoope (reflexive): plan, planned *nam: am not shrewe: scoundrel, wretch namely: especially, specifically *sikerly: certainly, sruely, truly *namo, namoore: no more *sith: since; then *nas: was not slawe, yslawe: slain *nat: not sola(a)s: pleasure, entertainment *nathelees: nevertheless *somdel: somewhat *ne: not, nor somtyme: once, sometimes so(o)re: bitterly, sorely woodnesse: madness *sooth, soothfastnesse, sothe: truth woot, woost: know, knows, knowest; wostow: you know, do you know so(o)the, soothly: truly worthy: distinguished, well to do; in spedde him: hastened good social standing squier: squire wroghte: made, did, worked stente, stynte: cease, stop, restrain wydwe: widow sperte: started steven: voice *yaf: gave suffre: permit, endure *ycleped: named sweven, e, -es, -ys: dream(s) ydo: done *swich: sauch *ye(n): eye(s) swynk, swynken: work *yeve, -en, -est, -eth: give, given syke: sick yifte: gift *syn: since *ynogh: enough ysene: seen task: taketh: take yvel(e): evil, evilly *than(ne): then; than *ywis: surely, certainly thee(n): prosper; so moot I thee: as I hope to prosper ther, ther as: where *thilke: this, that, at that *tho: those; then thoght: thought; anxiety thoughte (impersonal): it seemed thurgh: through thynketh (impersonal): it seems til: until, to to: to, too trewe: true trowe: believe *tweye: two *unnethe(s): scarecely *verray: true, veritable vileynye: rudeness, shameful speech or deed war: aware; be (beth) war(e), a ware yow: beware, take heed wende, -en, -eth: go, pass *wene, -eth: think, thinks werre: war what: what; why wher: where; whether wher as: where which that: which, who *whylom: once, once upon a time, formerly *wight: person, thing wist, wiste: known, knew wol: will wood: crazy, demented, wild

It didn't flourish and in fact it was the opposite. That is one reason the Renaissance is called the age of "rebirth" after a 1000 years of no learning, science, and arts in the middle ages.

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There were centres of learning, science and arts during this period. Life and learning did not grind to a halt. Many of the great universities started up during this time. Oxford, University of Paris and more came into being during the Middle Ages.

Beautiful illustrated manuscripts were created. Art thrived, look at the Romanesque style as an example and the development of stained glass and icons. Many of the greatest cathedrals were built during the Middle Ages. Most of the art was built around faith - the glory of the Church and God.

Arts and education began to flourish in the High Middle Ages as a result of economic stability, a resurgence of interest in philosophy and culture. Urban life began to flourish which allowed people time to do more than worry about subsistence life. This did not apply to peasants on the land, but city life.

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Pretty much all of the services given today were given during the Middle Ages.

Services include the sacraments: baptism, mass, confirmation, unction (though not usually in the church building), confession, marriage, and holy orders. One big difference was that in the Middle Ages, marriages did not always involve the Church, and was a private matter between two people.

There were services performed at regular hours in many churches, such as the Liturgy of Hours, though these were really mostly said in monasteries. There were special services, including funerals, and regularly held annual services such as Stations of the Cross, done during Lent and especially on Good Friday.

The services were not limited to these, and a service could be made up for any particular occasion. For example a priest with a particular interest in healing would be permitted to have a special weekly service to pray for the sick, and the service would be conducted as he wished as long as it was within bounds of orthodoxy.

There are some links below that can be used for more information.

Monks and nuns could be recognized by their habits. Habits were special clothes, like uniforms. They often wore plain clothing, and a cross upon a chain around their necks. Some monks wore hair shirts as undershirts, to purposely scratch their skin and constantly remind them of the suffering that Jesus had done. Monks only had hair at the sides of there heads because when they went into the monastery it showed that they had nothing to hide from God.

The Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ Himself. Read Matthew 16:18, Jesus clearly sets up the Church and promises that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He also says to peter that whatsoever he binds in earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever he looses on earth shall be loosed in heaven. By doing so he sets peter up as the first pope.

The Protestants left the Roman Catholic Church after the Middle Ages ended, during the Renaissance.

Clocks as we know them were not invented until almost the end of the Middle Ages, so other systems were used to keep track of the passing hours.

Time was viewed very differently in the monasteries than it is today - there was no concept of minutes or seconds and the hours could only be roughly estimated. Accuracy was not important; what mattered was fitting in all 8 church services every day at roughly the correct times.

Water clocks were one of the methods used. These were far from accurate, but measured time by allowing water to drip slowly from a tank and measuring the water level in a vertical tube above. Some had a "float" which struck a small bell at the appropriate time - a monk was alerted by this to ring the church bell for services.

Another system was a set of equally-sized large beeswax candles, each marked with lines to represent the hours. As one candle burned down another would be lit to replace it and the correct hour could be read by checking the level against the lines.

A third system used "scratch sundials" marked on a south-facing wall. These were usually a circular carved line and a central hole, with a few radiating lines from the centre to the lower part of the circle. A bronze or iron pin was set in the hole and this cast a shadow along the lines in turn. As a particular line was reached, the monks would know it was approximately time for one of the services.

None of these systems gave an accurate reading, but that didn't matter. The sundial system also varied at each season - daylight hours would be much longer in summer than in winter, spreading out or contracting the total "day".

The main religion in 11th century England was Christianity. You can see many examples Christianity had on 11th century England through the many cathedrals introduced during this time including: York Minster Durham Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, and Wells Cathedral.

Clearly, the priests did.

Peasants provided services ranging from carving pews to cleaning up. Whether this was a part of tithing, I don't know.

Certain individuals were hired by larger churches to be sextons.

Monks and nuns attended churches with everyone else (or perhaps everyone else attended with them) in some places, and any group might be the choir.

Some churches had organs, and organists were often paid to play. Other musical instruments were also used, and musicians were often present.

Grave diggers were often hired, as were people to tend churchyards and church gardens.

During construction and repairs, professional carpenters, stained glass makers, and so on were employed.

In some places there were special architectural features, such as the rood screens in Britain. These were carved and decorated by artists, who put paintings on them. Also, in many places sculpture was put in churches, so sculptors were employed.

Many churches had important things that were made off site. These included bells and bibles. The former would have been made in shops where bells and cannons were cast, and the later at monasteries.

Some things happened at churches that were not canonical, though they had religious basis. These included the production of morality plays, which were intended to educate as well as entertain.

Other things happened at churches, as for example archery matches. Some churches were even built near yew trees so the peasants could get a supply of wood for bows and arrows from the church. I do not know if there was any employment associated with either.

Several ways actually. The emerging rise and power of the church caused many people to life in fear and abide by its laws to avoid being excommunicated. Also, marriage must have been done by the church, divorce looked down on and premarital sex was a sin. The church had power to declare law and bend them to suit itself.

On the other hand, as the church gained power, politics influenced it therefore becoming corrupted. Lay investiture was then the political leaders appointed clergy in order to obtain power of more area. Finally, under Pope Innocent III, there was a cleaning up of the act of members of the church. The Cluniac reforms were a series of reforms to purify the Catholic Church. Penance also came into play to repent for ones sins.

it honestly depends on the class of the child if the child was of a serf they would be masters property and therefor would learn how to be a squire. if it was the masters child and a boy it would learn how to be a knight. if it was masters child and girl it would be under the mothers care and tought how to be a respectable young lady and be brought up for marriage or if the family was weathly in that age it would be called earl so if the family had a good amount of money they could send the girl to a nunenry where they would learn reading writing and how to manage farms and several things, if it was a serfs child and girl it would learn how to clean and read or write most didnt learn as the master would forbid it but it all depends on the master in that case hope this helped

Becket was excommunicating his opponents in the church, and the king saw this as a nuisance. Henry II was speaking of killing him, but didn't actually mean it. His soldiers took it upon themselves to act in the king's interests and murdered him. This is why there was a memorial made for him; the King felt guilty.

The idea that only the clergy were literate is a misconception and can easily be shown to be wrong.

There were times and places during the middle ages when the only literate people in an area were clergy, but it was definitely not true for the whole of Europe for the whole middle ages.

In the East, the Byzantine Empire had a system of primary schools that was started operating in the year 425 and remained open until Constantinople fell in 1453. The Byzantines wanted their military people to be at least literate. So at least in the Balkans, there were a fair number of literate people for the entire time of the middle ages. (See link below to Wikipedia article on schools.)

In the West, literacy began to decline in the third century, when most emperors did not last long and the land was in constant civil war. The fall in literacy continued as the Germanic tribes invaded, and continued after the fall of Rome in 476. This was partly due to the fact that the dominant German groups had a legal system that was based on strict memorization of the law and some of its important leaders doubtless looked down on people who needed to record things on paper.

Nevertheless, schools were opening, and people were being taught. The oldest state run school in the world, Beverley Grammar School, is in Yorkshire, England, and dates to the year 700. Charlemagne instituted a policy of having the nobility in the eighth century, and literacy was on the rise from that point. King Alfred the Great introduced a policy of primary education in English, which was not the language of the Church, for as many freemen as could make use of it. (See link below to Wikipedia article on Alfred the Great.)

During the High Middle Ages and the Late Middle Ages, increasing levels of technical sophistication required many professions be literate. The people who engineered the Gothic cathedrals and churches are an example. Engineers for such military equipment such as artillery are another. Most of these people were not clergy.

Also, beginning in the High Middle Ages, there were a lot of authors, poets and playwrights who were not clergy. Geoffrey Chaucer, one of England's greatest poets was certainly not a member of the clergy.

The Late Middle Ages also saw a rise in mercantilism. Banking families such as the Medici family controlled vast fortunes. Other people had trading routes. The Hanseatic League, which was controlled by merchants, rivaled nations in size and importance. Medieval communes were citizen controlled walled towns and cities, often republican, and sometimes governed by primitive democracies. All of these operations required literate secular people. (See links below to Wikipedia articles on Medieval Communes and Hanseatic League.)

In fact, if you think about it, there were even Vikings who were literate. They left inscriptions in runes that can be seen to this day. (See link to Runic alphabet.)

The early middle ages from 500 to 1000 AD was a time when Vikings were invading Europe, tribal disputes were causing constant war, and Charlemagne conquered most of France, so there really wasn't centers of power established in this time. It wasn't until the high middle ages that society, nobility, and the church grew stronger.

computers

The Pope's role in the Medieval society is to represent the spiritual authority of the Church and, later, the state authority, which was normally represented by a King or Emperor, but was changed with the argument titled the 'Doctrine of Swords', which claimed that the Pope had authority over both the church andthe state.

In the Middle Ages, the Black Death was caught by all sorts of people; no one was immune, and no life style prevented it.

Today, people still get it in many places around the world, including places in Europe and the United States, but it is easily treated if it is caught early enough.