THE ROLE OF RELIGION
Sarah Kauf~Rebecca Barkan
RELIGION IN DAILY
LIVES
 In the 1300s and 1400s the old religious and social certainties were not
the biggest priority in people, because of conflict between Parliament and
church, and the Black Death (plague) (Kemmer 2).
 The Black Death was a plague that swept across Western Europe from
1348~1349. Historians believe that between 25%-50% of the entire
population of Western Europe died (Keri 1).
 This made the European people of the century repent to their god(s)
(Keri 1).
RELIGION IN THE LATE
1300S
 Church officials were corrupt and started to only care about wealth
and power. In other words, they were “self serving” (Kemmer 3).
 This was seen as ungodly, thus they lost respect as they no longer
bothered to “keep up the appearance” of widely known “holy orders”,
and obeying them (Kemmer 3).
 Englishmen and women became irritated because the papal (romancatholic church) court favored their enemies from France, or at least it
seemed that way (Muhlberger 2).
REFORM/RELATIONSHIPS
 The church reform was unsuccessful because of the Peasants’
Revolt(they uniquely captured the Tower of London; the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the Kings Treasurer were killed) (Kemmer 4).
 The church reform frightened a lot of citizens, especially those with
little property, and made them think of reform with political
destabilization and anarchy (Peasants 2).
 “Law, literature and religion were all developing domains for the
spread of literacy in the late medieval period.” (Kemmer 4).
GOVERNMENT/SOCIETY
 As in theory, to an extent the church copied the government of the Roman Empire
(Muhlberger 2).
 Papal missionaries converted Englishmen and women to Christianity, as well as
spreading their religion to many surrounding countries beyond the Roman Empire’s
previous border (Muhlberger 2).
 The conversion to Christianity strengthened beliefs by religious leaders from the west
(like the Pope) that they acquired a legitimate authority, which was separate from politics
(Muhlberger 2).
 Government consisted of three estates: church, nobles, and urban leaders
(Muhlberger 2).
THE END
WORK CITED
 Kemmer, Suzanne. "The History of English: Early Modern English." The
History of English: Early Modern English. Rice University, Spring 2009. Web.
12 Sept. 2012. <http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Histengl/emode.html>.
 Muhlberger, Steve. "Medieval England." The Orb. N.p., 1999. Web. 12 Sept.
2012. <http://the-orb.net/textbooks/muhlberger/14c_religion.html>.
 Peardon, Keri. "The Black Death." Squidoo. TheMedievalNun, n.d. Web. 12
Sept. 2012. <http://www.squidoo.com/the_black_death>.
 "Peasants Revolt." Peasants Revolt. History Learning Site, n.d. Web. 12 Sept.
2012. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/peasants_revolt.htm>.
 Google.com/Images