The Role Of Religion15.4; The Church and Society;

Brought to you by JAKE WELLS!!!

The Church Dominated this Time Period• The Good:• Provided order

at a time when there was little• Gave

desperate people hope• Maintained

writing and some education• Acted as

hospitals, safe places, and helped the poor

• The Bad:• Could

excommunicate anybody• Often went to

war with kings over land/other issues• Sometimes

became corrupt and took advantage of uneducated masses

• The Ugly:• Started a court

where they tortured people• Looked the

other way when Jews were massacred• Called on

Knights and kings to attack the Holy Land; resulted in centuries of death– still an issue today

Catholic Church In Every Day life• In Western Europe

the Catholic Church played an important role in every day life• Priest ran schools and

hospitals • Recorded births• Helped perform weddings • Conducted burials• They were basically the

gatekeepers to heaven

New Religious Zeal• Between 1050 and 1150, a strong wave

of religious feeling swept across Western Europe

• As a result, many religious orders and monasteries were founded• Cistercians in 1098

• Farmed, worshipped, and prayed• Bernard of Clairvaux promoted the Second

Crusade and helped the poor• Women who didn’t marry or wanted to study

joined convents as nuns• Hildegard of Bingen- headed a convent in

Germany and wrote music, which was rare for women to do at the time

• Friars went out into the world to teach and help others, unlike monks who stayed in monestaries• Francis of Assisi- founded order of

Fransiscans in 1209

Sacraments

The most important sacrament is the holy Eucharist (Communion)• Bread and wine represent

the body and blood of Jesus• If you don’t do all the

seven sacraments you would not go to heaven• People went to church

several times a week to fulfill religious obligations

Saints

Saint Patrick • To be a saint…• You have to be dedicated

to the church your whole life• Complete the 7

sacraments • Have to be dead for at

least 5 years• Have to perform a

miracle after death

Saint Mary

• Saint Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ. • She has many colleges

and churches named after her• Norte Dame, Saint

Maries• She was born in Israel• She was married to saint

Joseph

Court of the Inquisition

• Heresy!• The leaders of the

church were afraid that church teachings were threatened

• The Pope made the Court of the Inquisition

• Torture methods were used to save souls

Above: different torture methods being used on heretics. Below: Cone hats were put on accused heretics while they were questioned by church officials

How were the Jews treated

• Medieval painting from Germany showing Jews being boiled and burned in the afterlife

• Biggest scapegoats of human history

• When disease or economic problem hurt society people blamed the Jews

• Anti-Semitism- hatred of Jews• Christian mobs killed

thousands of Jews • Governments made Jews

wear special badges and clothing

• Jews also lost the right to own land; forced to move to Poland and other Eastern areas

• Reasons?

On a lighter note… Art and Architecture!• Strong nations

leads to…?• Trade• Banking• Business• Wealth• Awesome

buildings and art• Romanesque

and Gothic styles of Churches

• Also known as Cathedrals

Milan Cathedral is the cathedral church of Milan, Italy. Dedicated to Saint Mary Nascent, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan. The Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the fifth largest cathedral in the world and the largest in Italy.

Wanna go to college?• “University” is Latin for guild

• Studied Grammar, Logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy

• No books (printing press invented in1400s)

• Study 4 to 6 years• One oral exam at the end

• Doctor’s degrees available!• In as little as 10 years, you could

get a degree in:• Law• Medicine• Theology

• Join Oxford University! Opening in Spring 1231! • Still a functioning university today

Scholasticism• So which is right- Science or

Religion?• Scholasticism teaches that

using reason can prove religious beliefs• Thomas Aquinas- blended

Church teaching with Aristotle's reasoning, which had been a big no-no during the Middle Ages (gotta have faith!)• Big question: Does God exist?• Wrote about natural law• How would this influence

governments?

Literature• Latin was the language of

educated people in Europe during the Middle Ages.

• Everyday languages of local people were called vernacular. • Examples today?

• Vernacular literature began in the Middle Ages

• The Song of Roland is about a knight named Roland who fights against the Muslims.

• Troubadour poetry and the heroic epic, two types of vernacular literature, became popular in the educated class.

Artwork showing an epic battle scene from Song of Roland; painted in 778. At that time, very few people could read, so artwork and word of mouth were the only way to tell stories to most people.

Questions • Would you lie to the church if you were being

tortured?• Who is the most famous Saint?• What's the most important sacrament?