CHALLENGES TO
CHURCH
AUTHORITY
STUDENT LEARNING
OBJECTIVE
• The students will trace the reactions of
the church to challenges on a graphic
organizer.
FOCUS QUESTION
• How did the church react to challenges
from Heretics, Muslims, and Jews?
As you have read, most
Europeans in the Middle Ages
belonged to the Catholic Church.
As Christianity spread in Europe,
many Jews and Muslims were
pressured to become Christian or
leave their homes. At the same
time, others openly challenged
the church’s authority.
Some Christians began to
question Church teachings.
Religious ideas that oppose
accepted church teachings are
called heresy.
People who have ideas that oppose the
church are called heretics. Heretics were
fined, imprisoned, or killed.
Christians fight the Moors
• The Muslim Moors
controlled Spain.
• Christians fought them to
take away land.
• They called this
Reconquista, or
reconquest.
The Rise of Portugal and Spain
• Please turn to page 283 in the text.
• The marriage of King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella united Castile and Aragon.
JEWS FACE DISCRIMINATION
• Christians believed that the
Jews were responsible for
the death of Jesus.
• Christians killed Jews during
the Crusades.
• Jews were blamed for the
Black Death.
• Throughout Europe, Jews
were forced out of their
homes or killed.
The Spanish Inquisition
• Ferdinand and Isabella
created the Spanish
Inquisition, an organization
of priests that looked for
and punished nonChristians.
• They were ruthless in
seeking heretics, Muslims,
and Jews.
• People found guilty were
sentenced in huge public
ceremonies and most were
burned in public.
CHRISTIAN REACTIONS
TO GROUPS IN THE MIDDLE AGES
CHRISTIAN
REACTIONS
HERETICS
MOORS
People who have
ideas that oppose the
church. They were
Tortured, fined,
Imprisoned and killed.
The Muslim Moors
controlled Spain.
Christians fought them
to take land away. They
Called this Reconquista.
JEWS
Were seen as
Responsible for the
Death of Jesus; blamed
for the Black Death;
were forced out of their
homes or killed.
FOCUS QUESTION
• How did the church react to challenges
from Heretics, Muslims, and Jews?
They sent priests and friars to find
them. They were sent to prison,
tortured, and even killed if they did not
leave during the RECONQUISTA.
Why were church officials
interested in finding heretics?
• They might have been worried that
heretics might lead others to question
the church’s teachings.
How did Reconquista affect
Spanish Jews and Muslims?
• Jews had to convert to Christianity or
leave the country. Islam was banned.
Why did some Christians
discriminate against Jews?
• They blamed them for the death of
Jesus.
What was the purpose of the
Inquisition?
• To find and punish non-Christians in
Spain.
WHAT WERE SOME OF THE
CHALLENGES THE CHURCH
FACED?
THE CHURCH
REACTED TO
CHALLENGES