Why was the Church so
important in the Middle Ages?
What are we going to study?
 Over the last few lessons we have looked at the
feudal system during the Middle Ages.
 So far, we have thought mainly about kings, nobles,
vassals, knights, freemen and serfs. Now we are
going to think about the lives of ordinary people.
 The Church in England was very important and
powerful during the Middle Ages. Today we are
going to think about why this was.
Clockwise from above: St.
James’ parish church in Little
Paxton; Canterbury Cathedral;
Winchester Cathedral.
What words do you think of
when you look at these
churches?
Does this help us to
understand why the Church
was so important?
Winchester, Hampshire
Which building is most noticeable?
York, Yorkshire
Which building is most noticeable?
Ripon, Yorkshire
Which building is most noticeable?
The Church
 The biggest building in any town or village was usually
the church.
 All the churches in England in the Middle Ages were
Catholic churches, because the Catholic religion was the
only Christian religion in England at that time.
 Religion was a very important part of every person’s life.
Nearly everyone went to services, so the churches had to
be big – much bigger and much grander than any
ordinary person could afford.
What were the services like?
 It may seem a bit strange that so many people went
to church when you find out that the services were
not even in English.
 What language do you think they were in?
 Do you think that most people could have
understood this language?
 How else might people have learned about God and
Jesus when they were in church?
Medieval Stained Glass
This is part of one of the
windows in Canterbury
Cathedral. It shows Jesus and his
disciples in a fishing boat,
bringing in a net of fish.
It was made in the late 1100’s.
If you were a medieval person,
how would you feel when looking
at pictures like this? Would they
be helpful to you?
What else could be seen in church?
 But not all pictures showed pleasant images or told
happy stories. Some pictures were much more
frightening...
 On the next slide is a picture that was painted in the
Middle Ages. It can be seen on the wall of a church in
Italy. It shows the kind of image that people living in
those times would have been familiar with.
 I will show you the picture for thirty seconds. After that I
will ask you to remember what you saw and tell me what
you think the picture is meant to be of.
Doom Paintings
 People in the Middle Ages were sure that when they died,
they would go either to Heaven or to Hell. And Hell
didn’t look like a fun place to be…
 Doom paintings, such as the one we have just looked at,
give us valuable evidence about the belief of people in the
Middle Ages. They show what Medieval people thought
would happen on the Day of Judgement.
 What kind of source are Doom Paintings?
 Do they help us to understand why the Church was so
important in the Middle Ages?
A hard life
 Life was hard and short for most people in the
Middle Ages. But the Church helped to comfort
them. It gave them hope by reminding them of the
joys waiting in heaven for those who led a good life.
 But it wasn’t just fear or hope that made the Church
such an important part of people’s lives…
Were there other reasons why the Church was so important?
 The village priest was an important man. Not all were
well-educated – some could not read and so they learned
their services off by heart. However, others had been
educated and gave lessons to local boys.
 The Church was also important because it performed the
three special services that people needed at key times in
their lives – baptism, marriage and death.
 The church in each village was also the focus for
important festivals such as Christmas, Easter and the
saints days. These events brightened people’s lives.
Tithes
 Ordinary people who farmed the land or reared
animals had to give the priest one tenth of all the
food they produced every year.
 This was called a tithe and was a kind of tax. All the
tithes were collected together and placed in a special
tithe barn.
This tithe barn can be found in Great Coxwell in Berkshire. As you can see,
it is very large – a lot of tithes must have been collected here! Do you think
the system of paying tithes would have been popular?
A wealthy Church
 But wasn’t just tithes that made the Church wealthy.
The Church also owned huge areas of land, from
which it made money by collecting rent. Whilst
ordinary priests may not have had much, the men
who ran the church were some of the richest in the
country.
 This meant that men like the Archbishops of
Canterbury and York had a lot of power, and that the
king needed to have the Church on his side.
Complete the Sentence!
 All Christians in Europe at
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this time were ….
The Church was ….
Life for people was …..
The Church gave people ….
Church services were in …..
To help them understand,
people looked at statues and
Doom paintings showed …
Tithes were …