The Age of Faith
Setting the Scene
500 – 1000 AD – the “Dark Ages” time where there was no progress
and no learning
Regions plundered (got attacked)
Centers of learning were destroyed
900 AD – new spirit rose in the Church, began to reconstruct themselves and
create new centers of worship
The Age of Faith
Monasteries lead the reform
o Cluny in France led the push to return to Christian principles
o Needed to establish a new religious order
Restored and expanded the churches power and authority creating a new age
of religious feeling.
Problems with the Church
1. Priests were illiterate and could barely read their prayers
2. Popes were men of questionable morals
3. Bishops and abbots cared more about their feudal lord positions than
about their spiritual duties
3 Main Issues
1. Priests married and had families instead of them being metaphorically
married to God
2. Simony – Bishops sold positions in the Church
3. Lay investiture – Kings appointing church officials or religious leaders
for their benefit
Reform and Church Organization
Pope Leo IX and Gregory VII – enforced laws against simony
1100’s – 1200’s – Church was reconstructed to resemble a kingdom
They created a court and developed its own set of Church laws or
canon laws
Cathedrals
Most people worshiped in small churches near their homes but larger
churches called Cathedrals were being built in city areas
Built to represent a city of God and decorated with all the richness
that Christians could afford
800 – 1100 AD churches were built in the Romanesque style
Early 1100’s thanks to the growing wealth of towns a new style know as
Gothic develops
Gothic
The term Gothic comes from a German trip named the Goths
Gothic Cathedrals were tall, open, bright and had huge stained glass
windows
Notre Dame – famous cathedral in France
Features
Romanesque:
Heavy masonry
Small windows
Rounded arches
Not a lot of light
Gothic:
Ribbed vault ceilings
Flying buttress
Stain glass windows
A lot of light
Very open
Laid out in the shape of a cross
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