ROLE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Church was the center of life in medieval western Europe. Almost every community had a church building. After the collapse of Rome, the Church played a vital role in society. The Church was one of the few ties that people had during the unstable time.

The Church provided leadership and, at times, even organized the distribution of food. Monasteries, or communities of monks, provided hospitality to refugees and travelers. During the Middle Ages, the Church provided education for some and helped the poor and sick.

Pictured Above: Example of a Medieval Church

At the start of the Middle Ages, all Christians in western Europe belonged to a single church, which became known as the Roman Catholic Church. Monks also copied and preserved old texts, and in this way helped keep both new and ancient learning alive. The spread of monasteries and the preaching of missionaries helped bring new converts to the Christian faith.

Pictured Above: The Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne - monk copying texts.

Key Questions:

  1. What was the center people’s lives in medieval western Europe?
  2. Who provided hospitality to refugees and travelers?
  3. Who provided education for some and helped the poor and sick?
  4. Who copied and preserved old texts and helped keep new and ancient learning alive?
  5. List 2 items that helped bring new converts to the Christian faith?

CHURCH AND EDUCATION

The Church played a dominant role in education. During the Middle Ages, most schooling took place in monasteries, convents, and cathedrals. In medieval times, the clergy were the people most likely to be educated. Cathedral schools later grew, becoming early universities. Students in universities studied Latin grammar and rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music.

Monasteries were the most important places of learning during the Middle Ages. Therefore, every monastery needed a library. The library included Bibles and other texts related to the religious life of the community. The library also kept records of the deeds and the documents needed for running the monastery.

Beneath the library of most monasteries was a room called the scriptorium. This room was used for copying books by hand which was the only way to reproduce books at this time in history. Without the efforts of the scribes of the Middle Ages, the world would know very little about the legacy of ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

Pictured Above: Pluscarden Abbey: the home of a community of Roman Catholic Benedictine monks. It is the only medieval monastery in Britain still inhabited by monks and being used for its original purpose.

Key Questions:

  1. Who played a dominant role in education?
  2. Where did most schooling take place?
  3. What did students in universities study?
  4. Monasteries were the most important places of learning during the Middle Ages. What did every monastery need?
  5. Beneath the library of most monasteries was a room called the scriptorium. What was the scriptorium used for?

MONASTIC AND MENDICANT RELIGIOUS ORDERS

Religious orders were the Church’s most important educational institutions. A religious order is a group of people who live by rules specific to their order. Monastic ordersare religious orders that largely separate themselves from the rest of society of focus on prayer and service to God.

Men who joined monastic orders were called monks. Monks spent their lives in prayer, study, and work. other duties included caring for the poor and sick, teaching, and copying religious texts. In the 6th century, Saint Benedict developed the monastic way of life in western Europe.

Women who joined monastic orders were called nuns, and they lived in convents. Monastic life was one of the few opportunities open to medieval women who did not wish to marry. Nuns did most of the same types of work that the monks performed.

Mendicant orders are religious orders which depend directly on charity for their livelihood. The mendicant friars were bound by a vow of absolute poverty and traveled the world to preach. Their survival was dependent upon the charity of their listeners. Unlike monks of the Benedictine orders, mendicants spread God's word in the cities. They were active in community life, teaching, healing, and helping the sick, poor, and destitute.

Key Questions:

  1. Describe a monastic order.
  2. Describe a mendicant order.

THOMAS AQUINAS

Scholars studied classical philosophers, but some Church officials worried that many classical ideas went against Church teachings about faith. An Italian scholar named Thomas Aquinas argued that classical philosophy could exist in harmony with Christian faith. He said that both faith and reason came from God. For example, his concept of natural law stated that there was an order built into nature that could guide people’s thinking about right and wrong.

Natural law, he said, could be discovered through reason alone. Since God had created nature, natural law agreed with the moral teachings of the Bible. Aquinas’s teachings unified ancient philosophy and Christian theology. His teachings were later accepted and promoted by the Church. Aquinas is remembered as a great religious scholar.

THE CHURCH’S WEALTH AND POLITICAL POWER

During the Middle Ages, the Church acquired great economic power. Clergy who filled important positions in the Church has strong social and political ties to Europe’s nobility. As a result, nobles and Church leaders had much in common and often supported one another.

The Papacy’s wealth was greater than that of any individual European monarch. The church gained great wealth and power by receiving gifts from monarchs and wealthy lords. Some land was taken by force. The medieval Church also added to its wealth by collecting a tithe, or tax.

The Holy Roman Empire covered most of central Europe and northern Italy. Latin, the language of the Church, was the only common language in Europe. Church officials were often the only people who could read. As a result, they kept records for monarchs and became trusted scribes and advisers.

The Church also gained great political power during the Middle Ages. The pope’s authority was often greater than that of kings and emperors. The pope’s power caused many monarchs to cooperate with the Church, but it also caused conflict.

Church leaders and European monarchs eventually came into conflict. Kings could be crowned as emperor and be removed from the throne by the pope. For example, King Henry IV built political power by appointing Church officials. However, Pope Gregory challenged Henry’s power. He declared that only clergy could appoint people to Church offices.

Key Questions:

  1. Who had greater wealth than any individual European monarch?
  2. How did the Church gain great wealth and power?
  3. What language did the Church use and was also the only common language in Europe?
  4. Who had greater authority than kings and emperors?