Lesson 2
The Dark Ages
1. What event took place in the year 410? How did this event change history?
What was the response of St Jerome? What answer came from St Augustine?
a. Aleric of the Goths sacked Rome in 410. Aleric had served in the Roman
army under Theodosius I. After Theodosius died, the empire was divided
between his sons Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West. Aleric
and the Goths rebelled after unjust treatment by the Romans. The Goths
gathered up other rebellious tribes during their campaign through Greece.
The Goths made their way down the Italian peninsula and laid Siege to
Rome. The eastern Roman historian Procopius describes Italy as sparsely
populated 100 years later. Aleric spared Christian churches and those who
sought refuge inside them. There was some bloodshed but it wasn’t
wholesale as according to military tradition at the time.
b. This event did not end the Western Empire at once, but did show that the
balance of power had shifted from the Roman military to the Barbarian
tribes. (ended centralized Roman government)
c. Jerome’s response was written in the preface to his commentary on
Ezekiel that contained a memoir of his friend and former benefactor
Marcella, who was probably killed during the gothic siege of Rome.
Jerome was forced to leave Rome by the church leadership because of
accusations of an improper relationship with Marcella.
d. Rome had stood for 1100 years never under siege by a foreign power.
Examples of, Pyrrhus 279BC lost his bid to conquer Italy, Hannibal nearly
conquered the Roman Republic during the 2nd Punic War (200BC).
e. Theodosius, (347-395AD) who made Christianity the official religion of
the empire had swept away all signs of paganism across the Empire, Rome
included. He cancelled the Olympic Games, disbanded the Vestal Virgins,
and removed pagan shrines from within the Senate.
f. Christianity had become interwoven with political power in the Roman
government after Theodosius had made Christianity the official religion of
the Roman Empire
g. Romans at the time considered the loss of Rome as the end of the world.
As an example, the writings of an early Christian apologist Lactantius (ca
310) predicts that the end of the world and the affairs of men to coincide
with the fall of Rome.
2. What was the first philosophy of history written by a Christian author and
who wrote it?
a. Augustine’s book “City of God” which responded to pagans who blamed
Christianity for the downfall of Rome. The book also makes a point that
pagans who accused Christianity also sought refuge in churches to save
their lives. The book also exhorted Christians to look to a spiritual
kingdom rather than an earthly one.
b. Augustin saw the old social system crumbling away and knew that the
future of the world depended on a society built on Christianity.
c. Augustine began writing “City of God” in 413 and finished in 426, this
book became one of the most important works of medieval Christianity.
3. When did the Middle Ages begin? When did they end? Why are they
referred to as “the dark ages”
a. Middle Ages are generally referred to as the period of time between
Augustine’s death and the birth of Martin Luther.
b. 430AD-1483AD
c. End of the classical period, civilization in Western Europe declined and
few centers for learning.
d. Scholasticism was the principle system of theology of the high middle
ages. It was a distinct form of theology, just as the work of the Church
Fathers and the Reformers are distinct. The Scholastics took Catholic
dogmas and argued them against all logical objections. The two primary
aims of Scholasticism was to reconcile dogma and reason, in the conflict
of Faith and Reason, Faith plays a lesser role, the other goal was to
arrange the doctrines of the Catholic Church in an orderly system called
the Summa Theologia. The Schoolmen argued every imaginable question,
such as whether who sinned the most Adam or Eve? And how many
angels can be in the same place at the same time. They asked these
questions not to be frivolous but to be exhaustive.
4. What marked the Middle Ages?
a. The Early Middle Ages were marked by a shift of power from the Roman
centralized government to Tribal barbarian kings.
b. Vandals: a Germanic tribe that settled along the Danube. Breached the
Roman frontier while the Romans were fighting the Goths.(406AD)
Eventually settled in Pyrenees (Spain) The Roman proconsul Boniface
stationed in Carthage recruited the Vandals to help him in his feud with
the Empress Placidia (mother of Emperor Valentinian III). The Vandals
under King Gaiseric (an Arian) invaded Africa, eventually taking Carthage
and Hippo, shortly after Augustine died in Hippo. Gaiseric captured Rome
in 455AD and took anything of value including the spoils of the Jewish
Temple captured by Titus. The Vandal Kingdom lasted until 533AD when
the Byzantine general Belisarius defeated the Vandals and returned the
province to Roman rule under Emperor Justinian.
c. Burgundians: a Germanic tribe that had also adopted Arianism.
d. Lombards: A Scandinavian tribe, settled along the Elbe, later Austria.
Invaded Italy around 566AD and eventually converted to Christianity
(catholic) adopted Roman customs. Kingdom lasted until Charlemagne
conquered Italy and was crowned “King of the Lombards” 774AD. (Was
King of the Romans but the Eastern Romans protested)
e. Franks: a Germanic Tribe settled in Gaul around 250 AD. The strongest of
all Germanic tribes eventually evolved into the Carolingian Empire (Latin
version of Charles Martel) when Charlemagne unified all of the western
empire under his rule. (the First Holy Roman Emperor)774AD.
Charlemagne’s grandfather was Charles Martel.
5. Describe the armed forces of Muhammad. Who stopped them?
a. The “moors” had invaded Spain around 710AD from Mauretania or North
Africa and defeated the Goths that had settled there. They conducted
several raids across the Pyrenees, raiding cities for loot they turned toward
Tours where they were met by Charles and his army. Up to that point the
Muslim advance had been unchecked in western Europe. Charles followed
up his victory with further battles to stop any further incursions. The
Moorish caliphate fell into civil strife afterward.
b. Charles had chosen his battlefield with woods to his back and sides, the
early European army did not posses heavy cavalry, consisting mostly of
infantry.
Chronicle of St. Denis a 14th century French Monk, an account of the Battle of Tours.
The Muslims planned to go to Tours to destroy the Church of St. Martin, the city, and the
whole country. Then came against them the glorious Prince Charles, at the head of his
whole force. He drew up his host, and he fought as fiercely as the hungry wolf falls upon
the stag. By the grace of Our Lord, he wrought a great slaughter upon the enemies of
Christian faith, so that---as history bears witness---he slew in that battle 300,000 men,
likewise their king by name Abderrahman. Then was he [Charles] first called "Martel,"
for as a hammer of iron, of steel, and of every other metal, even so he dashed: and smote
in the battle all his enemies. And what was the greatest marvel of all, he only lost in that
battle 1500 men. The tents and harness [of the enemy] were taken; and whatever else they
possessed became a prey to him and his followers. Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine, being now
reconciled with Prince Charles Martel, later slew as many of the Saracens as he could
find who had escaped from the battle.
(Painting by Baron Von Steuben 19th century)
6. Who was St Bernard of Clairvaux? How did he describe Christianity?
a. Born 1090 died 1153. Bernard was born a noble birth, his father was a
knight and mother was a daughter of the house of Montbard. He joined a
Cistercian (Benedictine) monastery and was sent eventually to Clairvaux
to found a monastery there. Under Bernard’s direction the Cistercian order
grew rapidly. Bernard was a Cistercian or “White” monk or a reformed
Benedictine monk. White monks sought a return to Benedictines Rule.
(called because of the color of their robes) Bernard grew quite famous
and maintained a leadership role in the church. He preached the Second
Crusade and at one meeting so many people volunteered that there wasn’t
enough cloth to make crosses for everyone. Luther and Calvin both quoted
him with great favor. Luther had this to say “Bernard is superior to all
doctors in his sermons, even to Augustine himself, because he preaches
Christ most excellently” Even so Bernard was steeped in Catholic
traditions and added greatly to the veneration of Mary through his writings
and actions.
b. Bernard was a model monk of the middle ages; he embraced monasticism,
with its vigils and asceticism as the ideal Christian life. His extreme
mortification nearly cost him his life, but served to promote him as a
spiritual leader of his contemporaries. Bernard was opposed to the luxury
and secular involvements of the cardinals and popes saying “the Church,
as in olden times should cast her net for souls, and not for money”
c. He described Christianity as a sweet yoke and as a bond of society with
God. In his treatise “On Loving God” he asserts that God will be known in
the measure in which He is loved and that the measure of love to God is to
love God without measure.
d.
He preached against Gnostic heresies in southern France. (Cathars or
Cathari from the Greek katharos meaning pure, also known as New
Manichaeans and denied the human nature of Christ) Also corrected
doctrinal flaws in fellow bishops that erred in describing the true nature of
Christ. (same as Arian error) Conversely, he was instrumental in
squashing an early form of reformation that began in the region of
Lausanne (modern Switzerland) that denied infant baptism, communion
with the saints, and the Eucharist, referred to Henricans after Henry of
Lausanne (a black or non-reformed Benedictine monk).
7. Explain the “remarkable wave of church building” that occurred from the
eleventh century through the fourteenth centuries.
a. Began in the eleventh century and lasted for 300 years. Construction of
cathedrals took years and sometimes centuries. Everyone participated in
the construction from princes to peasants. For example, in the city of Ulm
(in southern Germany near the Danube, the birthplace of Albert Einstein)
the women gave all their jewelry to pay for the construction of the local
cathedral. (Now a Lutheran church also the tallest church in the world).
b. The grandest of all cathedrals is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres,
construction began in 1145 in a wave of enthusiasm called “the cult of the
carts” where thousands of people gathered construction materials in carts
and brought them to the construction site.
c. Cathedrals were a form of religious expression of praise and devotion that
began with the zeal of the monks and carried forward by bishops and
princes.
8. Who was Thomas Aquinas? What impact did he have on Christianity?
a. Born in 1220 in the territory of Naples to the Count of Aquino (a
descendent of a royal Lombard family) and to the Norman granddaughter
of the Crusader Tancred (1076-1112 former prince of Galilee and
governor of the crusader state of Edessa) He was a member of the
Dominican order and a Doctor of the Church.
b. His writings include philosophical commentaries on Aristotle, exegetical
commentaries on the Bible and an exposition of the Gospels known as the
Golden Chain. He also wrote apologetical works designed for Muslims
and non-believers. His master work the Summa Theologica was
unfinished due to his death in 1274.
c. Aquinas shares the distinction as one of three great theological minds of
Western Christianity with Augustine and Calvin. Called the prince of the
Scholastics, he seemed unaffected by the battle between faith and reason.
He presented his expositions as an argument, detailing both sides and then
offering a solution. For example in the third question of his Summa
Theologica, “The Simplicity of God” he profiles several objections
i. God is described as having dimensions Job 11:8, has a figure Gen
1:26, has parts of a body, Job 40:4 and eyes Ps 25:15, God has a
seat and physical position Isa 6:1, Ps 24:5
ii.
On the other hand God is Spirit John 4:24, therefore God is
not a body
iii.
The answer therefore is that the scriptures that attribute to
God bodily parts are figurative.
d.
Even so, he was a man bound to his time and place being fully involved
with the hierarchy and doctrine of the Catholic Church, teaching that
Christ won Grace but the church imparts it.
e. A painting by Triani dating to 1341, illustrates the central role Aquinas
played in medieval theology. In the center Thomas Aquinas is seated
holding an open book, at the top is Christ, on either side is Matthew, Luke,
Paul , Moses, John and Mark. On the left stands Aristotle and on the right
Plato. At the foot is Averrhoes a muslim philosopher, and on either side of
him stands groups of monks. Aquinas set the standard of Catholic
Theology.
9. Who was St. Anselm? What did he believe?
a. Born in 1033 near Aosta in Burgundy. He entered the Norman Benedictine
Abby at Le Bec. (The abbey was destroyed during the French Revolution)
as a novice in 1060 and was eventually elected as prior and finally abbot
in 1078. It was during this time that he wrote most of his works. Anselm
died in 1109 in England and remains buried in the Canterbury Cathedral.
b. Anselm reluctantly accepted the appointment to the archbishop of
Canterbury in 1093 while William II was King of England. William II or
the Red (for his red hair) was successor to William the Conqueror and it
was said of him “that he feared God but a little, and man not at all”. He
was profane and blasphemous and kept the see of Canterbury empty for
four years while plundering its treasury. Anselm described himself as old
and feeble sheep and the king as wild young bull. Anselm’s struggle with
William was due primarily to the question of whether his allegiance was to
the pope or to the King, this conflict carried on under King Henry I.
English Kings William and Henry both appointed their own bishops and
pastors without the pope’s consent, and were known for taking the
revenues of vacant sees.
c. Anselm’s chief works in theology are the Monologium, Proslogium, both
offered a logical and philosophical approach for proving the existence of
God. Anselm’s theology is defined in this statement “He who does not
believe, has not felt, and he who has not felt, does not understand”. He
sought to harmonize reason and faith and considered it a sin to not strive
for knowledge. Anselm’s chief contributions to theology are 1. a logical
argument for the existence of God and 2. a redefining of the doctrine of
the atonement, this the most significant of his contributions, in the book
Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man), he set aside the doctrine
handed down through the church fathers that Christ’s atonement was made
as a ransom to Satan, saying instead it was a ransom to God for man’s
iniquity.
10. What did the Mendicant orders, the Dominicans, and the Franciscans
introduce into the religious life of the middle ages that was radically
different? What does the word “mendicant” mean?
a. There were two distinct monastic orders of the time, they were contrasted
by the way they ministered the Gospel. The “stabilitas” of the
Benedictine’s and other minor orders, and the “mobilitas” of the
Franciscan and Dominican orders.
b. The Benedictine Order: Founded in the sixth century, the most well known
monastery Monte Casino. Benedictine monasteries were self sufficient,
having enough land to feed the monks who lived there. The Rule of St.
Benedict provided a foundation for well ordered Christian community,
whose basic motto was “pray and work”. The life of a Benedictine monk
involved manual labor and the intellectual labor of the scriptorium, where
manuscripts were copied and Biblical commentaries were written. The day
of labor was structured around prayer and worship throughout the day.
Through history there were movements of reform to call monks back to
life according to the Rule, i.e. Cistercians.
c. The Dominican and Franciscan Orders were Mendicant orders. Mendicant,
Latin for “beggar”, monks moved around from city to city living in
absolute poverty, they were forbidden to possess property.
11. Of the Mendicant Orders reformers, who stands out above others and why?
a. St Francis of Assisi, born 1182 in central Italy. His given name was
Giovanni, he was later called Francesca because of his parent’s connection
with France. His Father was a wealthy cloth merchant. Francis spent his
youth dreaming of becoming a troubadour or a knight, he was also
described by biographers as “a master of revels” because he was spent
much of his youth drinking, and squandering his money. At age 20 he
joined in a war between Assisi and Perugia (both cities in the present day
region of Umbria Italy) He was captured and released two years later and
later became very ill, it was then that God began to change his heart.
When he recovered he was disgusted with the vanity of his youth and
unsatisfied in what the world could give. In the year 1208 he went a
pilgrimage to Rome he was moved by the hundreds of beggars in the city,
and in what seems an impulsive gesture he exchanged his fine clothes for
those of a beggar. Francis made his home at the chapel of St Damian, a
humble crudely finished chapel in the suburbs of Rome. His father
subsequently disowned him, undeterred Francis replied “Up to this time I
have called Pietro Bernardone father, but now I desire to serve God and to
say nothing else than ‘Our Father which art in heaven’” From that time
Francis devoted himself to his calling, living in poverty, possessing
nothing, he helped rebuild his chapel by begging stones on the street. The
beginning of the mendicant orders is attributed to Francis’ conversion. His
movement challenged the present religious system and may have well
been declared heretical but after a test of Francis’ sincerity it was endorsed
by Pope Innocent III. Many followers gathered around Francis, shared
with him in poverty while spreading the Gospel, but the Rule by which
Francis lived by did not extend past his lifetime. The original Rule of
poverty was modified, papal authority was accepted (before he would not
accept bull’s or protection from the pope) and the foundation of a
monastery was laid in his honor (Francis had favored freedom of
movement, making the outside world his chapel) His legacy to us is the
reminder that a call to follow Christ can break all social and
ecclesiastical barriers. St. Francis died in 1226.
12. Reform on the Horizon.
a. Contemporary writers of the Roman Catholic Church stated that the three
major forces governing the catholic faith were the priesthood, the empire
and the university (universities were often run from monasteries and
cathedrals centers of catholic faith). However, universities became the
instrument for reform. Lasting reforms were introduced by Jan Huss, a
rector of Charles University in Prague, Wycliffe at Oxford and Luther at
Wittenberg.
b. John Wycliffe: Best known for his English translation of the Bible was
born about 1320 in Yorkshire, England; he was a professor at Oxford by
1361. In 1366 he was appointed to be one of King’s chaplains. (Edward
III) Wycliffe began to preach as a reformer in the summer of 1374, he
spoke against the abuses of the clergy and against the Pope’s secular
authority. He found an unusual ally in the Duke of Lancaster who was
openly opposed to the clergy and expressed his opinion in this statement
“Take her lands dear Lords, and let her live by her dimes (tithes)”. John’s
activity did not go unnoticed by the church; The Pope issued 5 bulls
condemning his teachings calling them “wicked and damnable heresies”.
Fortunately for Wycliffe the Pope died before they could be enacted. In
1380 Wycliffe sent forth as itinerate preachers (former Oxford students) in
to public places to preach the Gospel without papal authority. From this
sprang the Lollard movement (anti-clerical) and the peasant revolt of
1382. His teachings asserted that 1. Papal authority should not extend to
secular government. 2. That the bread and wine were Christ’s body in a
figurative sense. 3. Oral confession was necessary for a soul prepared to
die 4. That the English (like the Greeks) should govern themselves (not
governed by the Pope) 5. That members of the clergy should not hold
temporal possessions. Prevented from preaching by the church and
English parliament he spent his last days in confinement in his rectory in
Lutterworth. It was here that he wrote the Trialogos, which introduced the
principle that when the clergy and the Bible disagree, the Bible must be
the authority. John Wycliffe passed away in 1384 and was remembered by
his assistant with these words “he lit a fire that shall never be put out”
Wycliffe’s English translation of the Bible was widely circulated among
the laity and by 1414 the reading of the English Bible was punishable by
seizure of your land, cattle, life and goods from you and your hiers.
c. Jan Huss: Born 1370 in Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic), he was a
philosopher, theologian and rector of the Charles University in Prague.
Influenced by Wycliffe’s work his teachings were considered heretical by
the Roman Catholic Church. He was called to the Council of Constance to
answer for his teachings. Assured of safe conduct by the Holy Roman
Emperor Sigismund, he was imprisoned and burned as a heretic in 1415.
His primary work “On the Church” defined the church as the body of
Christ, with Christ as its only head. Huss’s statements against papal
authority and the abuses of the priesthood lead to his death. He was
branded as a heretic not for his doctrine but for his insubordination. His
followers “Hussites” and the Bohemian people condemned those that
killed Huss as “an assembly of the satraps of Antichrist”. A whole people
rallied around Huss’s and Wycliffe reforms. Within four years of Huss’s
death the whole nation now embraced his reforms, much to the liking of
the current King Wenceslas who despised the priests and their
corporations and hoped to take their wealth for himself now that their
power was broken. Pope Martin IV issued a bull in 1420 authorizing a
crusade against the Hussites. So began the first Hussite war in which for
the first time hand cannoneers were employed as heavy infantry against
mostly mounted knights. The last war ended in 1436 with the
establishment of the Moravian church.
13. Conclusion: One thing that can be seen as common to the lives of all these men is
that in many ways they were flawed like you and I, but through them and by
God’s grace the gospel and His word was carried through the era. None of these
men was able to operate or think outside of their time or culture and their writings
reflect that. There is only one who transcends time and culture that is the Christ.