Corina Doleski11:8
2-7-06Medieval Clergy
During the Medieval Era, approximately 597-1417 C.E., the Church had so much power it controlled all aspects of a citizen’s life. Each type of cleric had a certain power or reason to be considered part of the clergy.
Atop the social hierarchy were the clergy. The clergy was separated into two different classes, the secular and regular clergy. The secular clergy included the Pope, archbishops and bishops, friars, and priests. They dealt with the Christian population. They catered to the Christians’ spiritual needs, making them an essential asset of the medieval Church. The regular clergy included monks and nuns, who were withdrawn from the world and are mainly concerned with achieving their own salvation (Landon, “Clerics (High and Low)”).
Each of the different types of cleric had powers individual to their level. Peter the Apostle was arguably the first Pope, but regardless of who was first, the Pope had the most power. He controlled the bishops and dioceses, approved new religious orders, administered the goods of the Church, imposed taxes, and held authority over everything that had to do with the Church (Landon, “Papacy“).
Archbishops were bishops that led the other bishops and held a significant amount of power, but still not as much as the Pope. Their power was greatly decreased throughout the Medieval Ages. Timothy and Titus are arguably the first archbishops, disciples of St. Paul for Asia Minor and Crete. Archbishops could be elected or appointed. Their powers included generally controlling the bishops in their province and calling other bishops to their province, regulating the Church calendar by announcing the date of Easter in their province (Landon, “Archbishops”).
Bishops oversaw a court to which the misdemeanors of clerics were brought; an archbishop also had this type of power in his own court. Bishops were known for protecting the weak and oppressed. They could tell the master of a slave in his diocese to emancipate him, improve prison conditions, prevent abuse of abandoned newborns and find them homes, and “remove young girls from immoral houses” (Landon, “Bishops”).
Friars could preach and hear confession, but still worked individually. They could also provide spiritual services, allowed for burial of townspeople in their cemetery, and did all they could to improve the living conditions in the town. They would take a vow of poverty and live solely by charity. The Church used friars to set a good “example of Christian values associated with a modest lifestyle” (Landon, “Friars“).
Priests were responsible for preserving and raising money for the Church, and support the poor with charity work. Priests could administer Communion, confession, matrimony, extreme unction, and other sacraments. They said mass, lead the singing, pronounced exorcisms and cursings, and announced news bulletins (Landon, “Priests and Parishes”).
Monks and Nuns did not exert any special power over the Christian people directly because they were occupied with getting themselves into Heaven. Separated from the outside world, they would devote their lives to God and keep up with the prayer of the Church. Nuns would not be accepted into a convent if they could not contribute financially and monks would support themselves with agriculture, education, architecture, sculpture and metal work and historical work (Landon, “Nuns”) (Landon, “Monasticism”).
The Medieval Church dominated every citizen’s life, much more powerful than we can imagine our Church being today. All people believed in God, Heaven and Hell, and that the only way to get to Heaven was if the Church allowed them, since the clergy was the communicant of God. The horrors of Hell were preached to them, making them want to follow the Church even more. The Church would also constantly remind citizens of its power, and their insignificance compared to the Church, with the grand cathedrals.
Everyone worked for the Church, whether directly or indirectly. Peasants worked on Church land for free, and others had to pay tithes, which would be 10% of their yearly earnings forfeited to the Church. People were scared into paying tithes, even if they couldn’t afford it, because they were told by the Church that their souls would go to Hell if they didn’t. Other practices that medieval people were scared into paying for included baptisms, marriages, and burials. If you were to work on building a cathedral, church or monastery, and killed in doing so, you were told this would send your soul directly to Heaven. Yet another way for the Church to become rich from free work of scared people (Trueman, “The Medieval Church”).
The Church controlled the medieval people’s lives mostly by fear, but for some, with the pure hope of salvation. Each subclass of the clergy played a different role in conveying the Church to the people during the Medieval Era.
Works Cited
Landon, Dale. Clerics (High and Low). Explanation of two types of clergy.
20 October 2004. 29 January 2006
Landon, Dale. Archbishops. A detailed page about medieval archbishops.
29 January 2006
Landon, Dale. Friars. A detailed page about medieval friars.
29 January 2006
Landon, Dale. Monasticism. A detailed page about medieval monasticism.
29 January 2006
Landon, Dale. Papacy. A detailed page describing the roles of the Pope in medieval times. 29 January 2006
Landon, Dale. Priests and Parishes. Priests and parishes in medieval times.
18 October 2004. 29 January 2006
Landon, Dale. Nuns. Women and monasticism. 29 January 2006
Landon, Dale. Bishops. Bishops in medieval times. 29 January 2006
Trueman. The Medieval Church. A page about the importance of the medieval church in society. May 2005. 29 January 2006