CH 510 – The History
of Christianity 1
UNIT THREE – The Medieval Church
Slides based in part on The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez
The New Order
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
• Theodosius I was the last emperor to rule over a unified Roman
empire (West and East) – 379-395; the empire was permanently
divided after his death
• Rome was sacked by the Visigoths (under Alaric I) on August 24, 410;
first time in 800 years that it had been sacked by a foreign enemy
• At the time it was no longer the capital of the western empire (being
replaced by Mediolanum and later Ravenna), but it was still
considered the “eternal city” and spiritual center of the Roman
empire
• The western empire officially ended with the abdication of Romulus
Augustus (the last de facto emperor) in 476 under pressure from
Flavius Odoacer who led a revolt against him
• Odoacer would be considered the first “barbarian king” of Italy
• The last de jure emperor was Julius Nepos (who died in 480)
Barbarians
The Huns
• Confederation of Central Asian tribes, spread out across a
large area of Eurasia
• Established control over a large area of Eastern Europe under
Attila’s rule (434-453)
• Never settle in large numbers within the Roman Empire;
preferred to raid it and leave its government to others
• Precipitated the great migrations of the Germanic peoples into
the Roman Empire, first the Goths, then others, in order to
escape from them
• Their empire broke up a year after Attila’s death
The Vandals
• Displaced by the Huns, the Vandals migrated down the north
bank of the river Danube to escape them
• After battling with the Franks, who controlled the northern
Rhine regions, they were able to walk across the river Rhine
when it froze in the cold winter of 406-7, and invade Gaul
• In 409, the Vandals moved into Spain, where they tried to
settle but were dislodged by the Visigoths
• In 429, under King Genseric, the Vandals moved on to North
Africa, in part of the complicated political maneuvering of the
dying Roman empire, when different groups would be
promised lands in return for military aid to different court
factions
• They were at the gates of Hippo as its bishop, Augustine, was
dying
The Vandals
• Established a kingdom in North Africa after the conquest of
Carthage in 439
• Eventually the Vandal kingdom also included Sardinia, Sicily,
Corsica and the Belearics
• In 455, the Vandals sacked Rome (the second time it was
sacked)
• The Vandals were Arian Christians, and so their rule was
disastrous for the church in North Africa
• The Vandal kingdom collapsed in the Vandalic War (533-4),
when Justinian I managed to recapture N. Africa for the
Eastern Roman Empire
The Goths
• Long-standing traders with and mercenaries for the Roman Empire,
who were settled in large numbers on the north bank of the Danube
• Converted to the Arian faith by the half-Goth missionary, Ulfilas
(Wulfila)
• In 376, the Goths came under aggressive attack from the Huns
• Their leader came to an agreement with the Emperor Valens that
they would be given lands and allowed to settle south of the Danube
• However, Valens reneged on his promise (because of a famine),
inciting the Goths to wage war with the empire (Gothic War, 378382)
• In 378, the Goths decimated the Roman field army at the Battle of
Adrianople, killing Emperor Valens
• The Goths were inside the empire to stay; divided into Visigoths
(“Western Goths”) and Ostrogoths (possibly translated as “Eastern
Goths”) during the 5th and 6th centuries
• From then on, they alternately made peace with various Roman
emperors and generals and were double-crossed by them
Ulfilas (ca. 310-383)
Ulfilas (Wulfila)
• Name means “Little Wolf” in Gothic
• Half-Goth, Half-Greek from Cappadocia
• Ordained bishop by Eusebius of Nicomedia during the height
of the Arian controversy; sided with Arianism
• Returned to his people to work as a missionary
• Given permission by Constantius II to migrate with his
converts to Moesia (Bulgaria) to escape persecution
• From there he translated the Bible from Greek into Gothic, for
which he devised the Gothic alphabet
• Converted many of his people to the Arian faith
The Creed of Ulfilas
I, Ulfila, bishop and confessor, have always so believed, and in this, the
one true faith, I make the journey to my Lord; I believe in one God the
Father, the only unbegotten and invisible, and in his only-begotten son,
our Lord and God, the designer and maker of all creation, having none
other like him (so that one alone among all beings is God the Father,
who is also the God of our God); and in one Holy Spirit, the
illuminating and sanctifying power, as Christ said after his resurrection
to his apostles: "And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon
you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be clothed with
power from on high" (Luke 24:49) and again "But ye shall receive
power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8); being
neither God (the Father) nor our God (Christ), but the minister of
Christ ... subject and obedient in all things to the Son; and the Son,
subject and obedient in all things to God who is his Father ... (whom)
he ordained in the Holy Spirit through his Christ.
The Visigoths
• Migrating westward, the Visigoths would sacked Rome under their
king, Alaric, in 410 (the incident that led Augustine to write his City
of God); they then temporally settled in Gaul
• In 415, the Visigoths were asked by Honorius to help drive the
Vandals out of Spain
• They settled in the Aquitaine by 418, the nucleus of what would
become, by 475, an independent Visigothic kingdom covering most
of the Iberian peninsula (modern-day Spain)
• Though they were Arian Christians, they did not persecute the
orthodox to the extent that the Vandals did; relied on the conquered
orthodox inhabitants of their territories as the guardians of ancient
culture (providing a measure of stability)
• The conversion of King Recared (586-601) to Nicene orthodoxy
meant the conversion of the majority of Visigoth nobles; Arianism
would soon disappear on the Iberian peninsula
• Third Council of Toledo (589) added “filioque” to the Nicene Creed
as a measure against Arianism
The Ostrogoths
• A second group of Goths from around the Crimean rebelled against
Attila in the early 450s
• Under Theodemir, they dealt the final blow to the Huns by defeating
the sons of Attila at the Battle of Nedao in 454
• They initially joined up with the other Goths south of the Danube,
eventually settled along the Dalmatian coast
• The Byzantine emperor Zeno commissioned the Ostrogoths to take
back Italy from Odoacer, who had deposed the last nominal Roman
emperor of the West, Romulus Augustulus, in 476
• Their great general, Theodoric, invited Odoacer to a banquet in 493
and killed him at the table
• “Theodoric the Great” (454-526) then set up his own rule in Italy,
with his capital in Ravenna; his mausoleum survives, together with
several churches he had decorated with beautiful mosaics
• After the death of Theodoric, the Kingdom of Italy was conquered by
Justinian I in the Gothic War of 535-554
The Franks
• A loose confederation of Germanic tribes who inhabited the
Upper Rhine
• Raided the Roman Empire from time to time (3rd-5th
centuries); many Franks would join the Roman legions from
the mid-fourth century
• Further displaced in the early fifth century, partly by
skirmishes with the Vandals, Sueves and Alans, as the latter
made their way down the Rhine to escape from the Huns, and
partly by the Huns themselves
• They spread into Northern Gaul, following and continuing to
skirmish with the other tribes
The Franks
• The Franks were finally united under the Merovigians (Dynasty
started by Meroveus)
• Two successful leaders, Childeric (who reigned c.457 – 481) and his
son Clovis (who reigned 481-511), established Frankish dominance
more securely
• By the 6th century the Franks had subdued the Burgundians, ruling
most of Gaul (France) north of the Loire
• Clovis (the grandson of Meroveus) married a Burgundian princess
and on the eve of battle promised to convert to Christianity if his
wife’s God gave him victory; Clovis was baptized on Christmas day
(496)
• Clovis' decision to convert to the Nicene version of Christianity in
496 was decisive for its re-establishment in Western Europe, as the
Frankish kingdom continued to prosper
The Merovigians &
Carolingians
• The Merovigians would go on to found one of the most
enduring monarchies to replace the old western Roman
empire (developing later into the Carolingians); one of
the most active forces in the spread of Christianity over
western Europe
• By the eighth century, the Carolingian Empire would
come to dominate most of western Europe
• This empire would eventually evolve into France and the
Holy Roman Empire
The Burgundians
• Burgundians: East Germanic tribe, initially from Scandinavia
• In 369, Valentinian I enlisted the help of the Burgundians to
fight against another tribe, the Alamanni
• They crossed the Rhine and entered the empire in the early 5th
century with other tribes of the great Germanic migration
(e.g. Vandals); settled in southern and central Gaul
• They had a stormy relationship with the Romans, who used
them to fend off other tribes, but were suspicious of their
Arianism; often raided border regions and expanded their
territories when possible
• Converted to Catholicism circa 500 AD
• Conquered by Clovis of the Franks in 534; the Burgundians
were largely absorbed into the Frankish kingdom
The Lombards
• Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origins
• By the 5th century they had migrated and settled in the valley of the
Danube River
• Justinian I had re-taken Italy from the Ostrogoths in the Gothic War
of 535-554
• However, by 568 the Lombards conquered Italy under the leadership
of Albion, setting up a Lombard Kingdom in Italy (later named the
Kingdom of Italy)
• In 774, the Lombard kingdom would fall to the Franks, though
Lombard nobles would rule parts of the Italian peninsula until the
11th century
• Largely pagan; their initial conversion to Christianity was nominal
and largely incomplete; while allied to the Ostrogoths they were
Arian; pressure to embrace Catholicism after the conquest of Italy
The Angles, Saxons & Jutes
• The Angles came from Angeln (north Germany), the Saxons
from Lower Saxony, and the Jutes from Jutland (Denmark)
• The first started arriving in south-east Britain from the 440s
• The Angles may have been initially invited by the Britons to
help protect them from the raids of the Picts and Scots; over
the next two centuries they gradually extended across the
north and west of what would eventually be called “England”
• Language: “Old English” (Ingvaeonic), a West Germanic
language
• Anglo-Saxon period: 550-1066 (Norman conquest)
• Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons began around 597 and
was nominally completed by 686
The Scots (Irish)
• Mentioned by the fourth-century Roman historian Ammianus
Marcellinus as perpetuating countless attacks on Roman
Britain, along the western coast
• After the withdrawal of the Roman legions in the early years
of the fifth century, these attacks increased
• The west of Scotland, Argyll and the Isles, was settled by Scots
from Ulster (Northern Ireland) in the late fourth and early fifth
centuries
• Territorial control over western Scotland grew imperceptibly
over the next few centuries, helped by the monastic
connections of powerful characters such as Columba of Iona
The Britons
• After the withdrawal of the Roman administration in the early
fifth century, the Britons were relatively vulnerable
• Raided from the North by the Picts, from the West by the
Scots/Irish, and from the East by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes
(many of whom, ironically, may have been invited over by the
Britons as mercenaries)
• The Britons were steadily pushed West by the Angles/Saxons
over the ensuing centuries, into Strathclyde, Wales and the
West Country (Cornwall)
• A number of them settled in Brittany (northern France), which
was itself, however, subject to Scots/Irish raids
Christianization of
the British Isles
Withdrawal of Roman legions
• Christianity had existed in Britain even before the conversion of
Constantine
• Glastonbury, located near the mouth of the Severn River, is one of
the earliest Christian holy places in Britain
• Latin-speaking British bishops were present at the Council of Arles
(314)
• By the end of the fourth century, Roman troops were gradually
removed from Britain (mostly by imperial usurpers seeking to make
their fortunes in Gaul)
• Result was the vulnerability of the Romano-Celtic inhabitants (the
Britons), who had to defend themselves first against their pagan
neighbors (to the North and West) and then against invading Angles,
Saxons and Jutes
• The country reverted back to tribal organization and towns
depopulated as the Germanic invasions turned into full-blown
occupation
Invasion of Britain
th
(beginning in the 5
century)
Germanus of Auxerre
(378-448)
Survival of “Celtic” Christianity
• Bishop Germanus of Auxerre made to visits to Britain at the
request of colleagues there (429 and 444-5); to combat
Pelagianism, and to lead a British force against a joint Saxon
and Pictish invasion in the north
• However, over the course of the century, Christianity was
driven farther and farther west, until confined to Cornwall,
Wales and Strathclyde
• Conversion of Ireland is associated with a Briton named
Patrick (389-461)
St. Patrick
ca. 389-461
The Career of St. Patrick
• A Romano-Briton (not Irish!), probably born somewhere in
western Britain or Wales
• Son of a Christian deacon named Calpurnius
• Kidnapped by Irish pirates as a young man, and put to work as
a slave
• Escaped after six years; Patrick ended up in Gaul where he
trained for the priesthood
• Eventually returned to Ireland as a missionary bishop
• In 431, Pope Celestine had dispatched Palladius to be bishop for
“the Scots (Irish) who believed in Christ”; he died within a year
• Patrick was sent to replace him
Patrick’s Career
• Patrick was noted for having won significant converts among
local royal families of Ireland
• Established territorial bishoprics (on tribal basis) rather than
dioceses, since “cities” of Romano-Gallic society did not yet
exist in Ireland
• Introduced communal ascetic life to Ireland; after his death
these monastic communities would become the pastoral
centers of the Irish church
• The abbots of these communities typically belonged to royal
families of the various tribes, and were often (but not always)
bishops as well
• In this way the Irish episcopate was monastically based and
essentially tribal, rather than territorially based (as was the
rest of the catholic world)
Celtic Christianity
• Monastic communities would become the foci of pastoral and
missionary work
• Also become the centers of learning, the arts and education
• Irish monasticism influenced the parallel development in
Wales – St. Illtyd (d. 535) and St. David (d. 560)
• During the time of Patrick, British Christianity extended
northwards into the territory above Hadrian’s Wall through
the efforts of St. Ninian
• The conversion of Scotland proper (north of the Clyde and
Forth) was the work of monastics from Ireland
• The inspiration behind these missions was St. Columba (521597)
St. Columba (or
Colum Cille)
St. Columba’s career
• A member of the royal family of O’Neill of Connaught;
educated at the abbey at Clonard
• Tradition holds that a dispute with St. Finnian over a copy of a
manuscript of a psalter led to pitched battle at Cúl Dreimhne
in 561 in which many were killed; Columba was threatened
with excommunication by a synod; St. Brendan interceded for
him and it was agreed to send him into exile
• Columba vowed to convert as many people in Scotland as had
been killed in battle
• Columba and twelve companions eventually established a
community on the island of Iona in 563 (under the patronage
of King Dalriada of Argyleshire)
• Iona would become the center for the conversion of the Picts
Conversion of Northumbria
• The missionary work of Iona continued after Columba’s death
and began to extend to pagan Anglo-Saxon settlers of NE
England by the 7th century
• King Oswald of Bernicia, having been raised among the
converted Scots and Picts (while in exile), summoned help
from Iona upon regaining his throne in 633
• The response was from St. Aidan of Iona, who established a
monastery on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne (634)
• Aiden also trained the brothers Chad and Cedd, who worked
for the conversion of Mercia and the East Saxons respectively
The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
•
•
•
•
•
Northumbria (Northern England)
Mercia (Central)
East Anglia (East-Central)
Wessex (South & West)
Kent (Southeast)
St. Augustine of
Canterbury
ca. 530-605
The Mission of Augustine
• In the same year that Columba died (597), Augustine arrived
in southeastern England to establish a mission for Kent and
East Anglia
• Augustine had been sent by Pope Gregory the Great to take
advantage of the new political situation there
• King and Bretwalda (High King) Ethelbert of Kent had married
a Christian Frankish princess by the name of Bertha
• Augustine baptized Ethelbert on Easter Day in the year 601
• Established his see in Canterbury, and two others in Rochester
and London
• The mission fell apart after the deaths of Augustine (605) and
Ethelbert (616), but would be revitalized in the second half of
the 7th century
Celtic Christianity v. Roman
Christianity
• The northern missions were structured according to the Irish
model; the Saxons missions in the south were structured after
the Roman territorial model
• The southern missions were also consciously loyal to Rome
and to the papacy
• Many obvious and definable differences between the two
traditions, particularly in liturgical practice, including the
dating of Easter and difference in monastic tonsure
• The entire ethos and organization of Celtic Christianity was
different from that of the Roman mission
Council of Whitby (663)
• King Oswy of Northumbria called for a council to resolve the matter
for his kingdom
• Whitby on the North Sea was chosen as the site; St. Hilda (d. 680)
had established a double monastery there
• Arguing the Roman cause was Wilfrid, abbot of Ripon; while Colman
of Lindisfarne argued the case for the Celtic tradition
• When King Oswy learned that the bishop of Rome was the successor
of Peter (and held the keys to heaven) , he decided in favor of the
Roman discipline
• The decision resulted in eventually bringing the whole of England
under Roman obedience
• This decision would have momentous consequences for the reform
of European churches through the proliferation of monastic
communities on the continent that continued in the spirit of Irish
missionary endeavors
Benedictine
Monasticism
Benedict of Nursia (480-547)
• Family belonged to the old Roman aristocracy; grew up under
Ostrogoth rule in Italy; familiar with the tensions between
Arianism and orthodoxy
• At the age of 20 he resolved to become a hermit
• Established 12 monastic communities east of Rome before
moving his base of operations to Monte Cassino in the
mountains of southern Italy
• Benedict’s greatest significance was not in the founding of an
order, per se, but in the writing of the Rule for his community
at Monte Cassino
Benedict’s Rule
• Two elements: permanence and obedience
• Monks were bound to their monastery for life, unless ordered to
go to another place
• Monks were to obey the Rule and their abbot “without delay”
• Core of monastic life was prayer; eight periods of prayer (or
“eight hours”) were assigned throughout the day
• Matins/Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline
• Devoted to the recitation of the Psalms, Scripture reading, other
devotions
• The Lombards destroyed Monte Cassino in 589; the monks
fled with the Rule in hand
• Benedict’s Rule became widespread as it caught the attention
of Pope Gregory the Great; went with Augustine to England
The Rise of the
Papacy
Origins of the Papacy
• Most scholars agree that Peter visited and was martyred in
Rome; however, it is unclear that he established any form of
lasting hierarchy there
• The Roman church during the Imperial Era was important,
though the theological influence of North Africa was arguably
just as important during this time
• The barbarian invasions brought an upsurge in the authority of
the Roman papacy;
• In the West, the church was regarded as the guardian of
ancient civilization; and the western church’s most prestigious
bishop became the focal point for regaining Christianity’s hold
on Europe
Important Roman Popes
• Leo the Great (440-461) – Attila the Hun; Vandals; Sack of
Rome (455)
• Hilarius (461-468) – Schism with the East
• Hormisdas (514-523) – Ended schism with Constantinople
• Benedict I (575-579) – Held the Lombards at bay
• Pelagius II (579-590) – Bought the Lombards off; appealed to
the Franks
• Gregory the Great (590-604) – One of the most important
popes in history; Gregorian reforms; Mission to England
The Arab Conquests
• Expansion under Muhammad (622-632)
• Expansion under the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661)
• Expansion under the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750)
The Eastern Church
The Eastern Empire and the Faith
• In the East, the Empire continued for another thousand years
• Often beleaguered by foreign invasion; autocratic emperors
who kept a tight reign on ecclesiastical leaders
• Civil interventions in ecclesiastical matters, particularly
theological debates; appeals to the emperor in doctrinal
disputes was common
• Emperors often made theological decisions based on political
considerations; leading to even greater acrimony
• Theological controversy became the hallmarks of eastern
Christianity in the Middle Ages; issues at stake were often
central to the Gospel
• Decisions made in the East (even with little participation in the
West) were regarded as normative for the whole Church
• First permanent schisms within Christianity
Christological Controversies
• The Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381) had
settled the matter of the divinity of the Second and Third
Persons of the Trinity
• Subsequent controversies would focus on the question of how
the two natures – divinity and humanity – were joined in Jesus
Christ
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Antiochene Christology
• Emphasis on the human
nature
• Insisted that Jesus had
to be fully
(psychologically) human,
therefore the Godhead
“dwelt” in him
• Early teacher: Diodore of
Tarsus
• Duo-phusis (two
natures)
Alexandrian Christology
• Emphasis on the divine
nature
• Insisted that Jesus had to
be fully (psychologically)
divine
• Revered Athanasius, who
taught that the incarnation
involved the union of the
Logos with the bodily
dimension of human
nature
• Mono-phusis (one nature)
Apollinaris of Laodicea (d. 390)
• Friend and supporter of Athanasius and the Nicene faith
• Largely responsible for converting Basil of Caesarea to the
homoousian position
• Christology was driven by the desire to affirm that Christ, the
divine Son, was immediately present to transform and divinize
the sinful mortality of the human creature
• Taught that the true “ego” (or life-principle) in Jesus was
simply the Logos himself
• Impossible to assert that the divine Son united with a
complete, normal human being, for that would require the
union of two competing wills, two minds, two selves, and
hence two Sons, human and divine
• The unity of Christ would be destroyed; God would not be
“with us”
Apollinaris’ Christology
• A “trichotomy” of the divine mind, and a human body & soul
Divine
Logos
(Mind)
Human Body/Soul
Apollinaris’ views attacked
• Gregory of Nyssa – Against Apollinaris
• Gregory of Nazianzus insisted that since it is not merely the
flesh which sins, but soul and mind as well, it was necessary
for the divine Logos to take a complete human nature,
intellect as well as ensouled body
• Condemned by a Roman synod in 377 and by a synod in
Antioch in 379
• Council of Constantinople included Apollinarianism in its
lengthy list of erroneous teachings to be condemned (Canon
1)
“For that which he has not assumed he has not healed, but that
which is united to his Godhead is also saved.” (Gregory of
Nazianzus)
“Nestorianism”
• Initially, the Antiochene position was articulated by Diodore of
Tarsus and his pupil, Theodore of Mopsuestia
• The Antiochene opposed Apollinarianism’s teaching that the
Christ is “one composite nature,” objecting that this negated
what they wanted to affirm – namely that in Christ were TWO
SUBJECTS of action and predication – TWO NATURES and TWO
HYPOSTASES
• This position was too much for those who embraced the
Alexandrian position
• The elevation of Nestorius to the patriarchate of
Constantinople in 428 brought this issue to a head
Nestorianism
• Prosopic union : One “Prosopon” (i.e. face) – Unity of
Indwelling
“The Logos”
Complete
Divine
Hypostasis
“The Man”
Complete
Human
Hypostasis
Nestorian Controversy
• Early on in Constantinople, Nestorius delivered a sermon in
which he condemned the use of Theotokos (God-bearer) as a
title for the Virgin Mary
• “That which is formed in the womb is not…God”
• “God was within the one who was assumed”
• “The one who was assumed is styled God because of the One
who assumed him”
• More appropriate to refer to Mary as “Christotokos”
• Nestorius’ views were reported to Cyril of Alexandria, a strong
supporter of the Theotokos position; Cyril had been looking
for an occasion against Nestorius over a case in which
Nestorius had reversed a judgment of Cyril in the case of some
Egyptian monks
Cyril of Alexandrian: Champion
of Alexandrian Christology
• “One incarnate nature of the divine Logos”
• The one Lord Jesus Christ was identical to the only begotten
Son of God, who was “enfleshed and became a human being”
• Therefore, there could only be ONE subject, one nature and
one hypostasis, that of the Divine Logos
• The humanity of Christ, body and soul, was a mode of
existence which the Logos made his own through his birth of a
woman; the humanity could not be separated from the Logos
as “another” beside him
• Nestorius understood Cyril to be saying that the humanity and
the divinity had somehow been fused into Christ into
something that was no longer either divine or human
Council of Ephesus (431)
• Called by Theodosius II in the East and Valentinian III in the
West
• Cyril and his allies were the first to arrive and quickly
condemned Nestorius before his supporters could stop him
• John of Antioch (Nestorius’ main support) was delayed in
getting to Ephesus and thus convened his own council to
condemn Cyril and exonerate Nestorius
• Finally, the delegates of Pope Celestine (Rome) joined the
Cyrillian assembly and proceeded to add John of Antioch to
the deposed
• The two sides were at an impasse with Theodosius unsure as
to what to do
Formula of Reunion
• In 433, John of Antioch sent Cyril his text called the Formula of
Reunion, which admitted to the use of Theotokos, and also
that Christ was “complete God and complete human being”
and that a “union of two natures had occurred, as a
consequence of which we confess one Son.”
• Cyril signed it with enthusiasm; Nestorius’ cause was now lost,
and he was exiled: the Cyrillian assembly at Ephesus was
vindicated
• However, the document turned out to be a compromise which
each side; by 438, Cyril was convinced that the Antiochenes
had been duplicitous; he then wrote against the teachings of
Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia
• The stage was set for a renewal of acrimony
The Aftermath of the Council of
Ephesus (431)
• Formula of (Re)Union (433) – Both John of Antioch and Cyril of
Alexandria agreed to it
• Victory for the Alexandrian position: “Monophysite”
language; exile of Nestorius
• “One (monos) incarnate nature (phusis) of the divine Logos.”
• Theotokos language was upheld as orthodox
• Truce with the Antiochenes: “Complete God and complete
human being” language
• Both sides suspected duplicity and recriminations soon began
Controversy flares up again
• Cyril’s condemnation of the teachings of Diodore of Tarsus and
Theodore of Mopseustia, which many Antiochene signers of
the Formula of Reunion still honored
• Cyril dies in 444, succeeded as bishop of Alexandria by
Dioscorus, who had little regard for the Formula
• The new bishop of Constantinople was Flavian (447-449), who
supported the Formula but was inclined towards the
Antiochene position
Eutyches (380-456)
• Popular leader of a monastery in Constantinople and the principle
support of Dioscorus of Alexandria in that city; influential in the
imperial court
• Accused before Flavian at a synod of teaching that the human
nature of Christ was altered or absorbed by his deity
• Eutyches refused to admit that Christ’s humanity was the same
(homoousios) as ours, famously maitaining that Christ was “from
two natures before the union, but in one nature after the union”
• Eutyches was condemned by the synod but made an immeidate
appeal to the imperial court, which then proceeded to demand that
Flavian, not Eutyches, produce a confession of faith!
• Back in Alexandria, Dioscorus called for and obtained an imperial
summons for a general council
Prelude to Chalcedon
• Both Flavian and Dioscorus appealed to Leo I of Rome (440461)
• Leo responded to Flavian in a long and carefully argued letter
(Leo’s Tome) that Eutyches was an extremely foolish and
altogether ignorant man
• Leo appealed to the baptismal creed of the Roman church to
substantiate the traditional western view that Christ has two
substances or natures that remain intact and come together in
“one person”
• Leo’s Tome would prove to set Rome against its normal ally,
Alexandria, in favor of a more Antiochene-friendly christology
Prelude to Chalcedon
• Theodosius II called for a council to meet at Ephesus in 449
• Dioscorus and his supporters took all necessary steps to
predetermine the outcome
• Flavian was condemned; Eutyches vindicated
• Leo’s Tome was denied a reading
• Flavian died of suspicious circumstances on the way to exile
• Rupture of the ancient alliance between Rome and Alexandria
results
• Leo calls the council a “robbers’ synod”; calls for a new council to
be held in Italy
• Theodosius II refuses; then accidentally dies in 450
• The new empress, Pulchera and her husband, Marcian agree
to a new council to be held in Chalcedon (451)
Council of Chalcedon (451)
• Fourth council to be called “ecumenical”
• Acted quickly to depose Dioscorus and Eutyches (a “win” for
the Antiochenes)
• Rehabilitated Antiochene supporters of the Formula of
Reunion (a “win” for the Antiochenes)
• Canonized the Second Letter of Cyril of Alexandria to
Nestorius and his letter affirming the Formula of Reunion as
adequate expositions of the meaning of the Nicene Faith
against the errors of Nestorius (a “win” for the Alexandrians)
• Crafted a formula composed largely of phrases and ideas
drawn from Cyril’s letters, Leo’s Tome, and the Formula of
Reunion (a “draw” between Alexandria and Antioch with
Rome coming out on top)
Chalcedonian Definition
• Does not define the union (i.e. how it took place)
• Set limits beyond which error lies, for example:
• Nestorius had gone too far in not admitting to the unity of person
• Eutyches had gone to far in not admitting the distinction of
natures
“…One and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten,
manifested in two natures without confusion, change,
division or separation. The union does not destroy the
difference of the two natures, but on the contrary the
properties of each are kept, and both are joined in one
person and hypostasis.”
Aftermath of Chalcedon
• Became the standard orthodoxy of the entire Western church
and most of the East
• The cause of the first long-lasting schisms in Christian history
• Nestorians (Syrian Churches of the East)
• Monophysites (Church of Armenia; Coptic Church)
• Christological differences became both the cause and the
excuse for political discord in the empire
• Emperor Zeno’s Henoticon (482) attempted to settle the
christological disputes by requiring all to go back to the
beliefs held prior to the controversy – failure of imperial policy
resulting in the Acacian Schism (between East and West)
• Schism healed in 519
Justinian I (483-565)
Further Christological Debates: NeoChalcedonianism
• “Controversy of the Three Chapters” – Justinian I sought to
regain the allegiance of his Monophysite subjects who
rejected Chalcedon by condemning the writings of three hated
Antiochene theologians who Chalcedon had failed to
condemn: Theodore of Mopsuestia, Ibas of Edessa and
Theodoret of Cyrrhus (the latter two explicitly accepted as
“orthodox” by Chalcedon)
• Second Council of Constantinople (553) – eventually
considered the “Fifth Ecumenical Council”
• Condemned the “Three Chapters” (the writings, not the
theologians who wrote them)
• Resulted in a “Neo-Chalcedonian” orthodoxy summarized in the
phrase “One of the Trinity suffered in the flesh”
• Failed to satisfy those who wished to see the decisions of
Chalcedon withdrawn
The Neo-Chalcedonian
Doctrine of “En-Hypostasis”
• Teaching of Leontius of Jerusalem at the Second Council of
Constantinople
• The doctrine that the human nature of Christ has no
hypostasis (principle of concrete existence) of its own but
exists “in” the hypostasis of God’s Son
• Hallmark position of “Neo-Chalcedonian” orthodoxy
Further Christological Debates:
Monothelism
• Greek monos (one) and thelema (will)
• Monothelite position: Christ had but one will; the divine will
taking the place of a human will
• Yet another attempt to reconcile the Monophysites to imperial
orthodoxy, but considered by many to deny the full humanity
of Christ
• Supported by Pope Honorius (of Rome); later declared a
heretic for this position
• The debate was interrupted by the Arab conquests that
overran Syria and Egypt
• Third Council of Constantinople (681) – the sixth to be called
“ecumenical” – condemned this view
Further Christological Debates:
Iconoclasm
• From earliest times Christians had used art and images in
worship; some bishops expressed concern for idolatry at times
• In the eighth century, several Byzantine emperors attempted
to avert the misuse of images as objects of worship (idolatry)
• Constantine V called a council in 754 that forbade the use of
images in worship altogether
• Response to Islamic threat (strong teaching against physical
representations)
• Desire to curb the power of monks in the East (who were almost
unanimous in their support of Icons
• Iconoclasts (“destroyers of images”) vs. Iconodules (“worshippers
of images”)
Iconoclasts vs. Iconodules
• Iconodules: If Jesus were truly human, and in him God had
become visible, how could one object to representing him?
• Iconoclasts: The second commandment condemns all visible
representations of the divine
• The Second Council of Nicaea (787) – the seventh and last to
be considered “ecumenical” – settled the dispute in favor of
the Iconodule position:
• Distinction between latria and dulia: worship due only to God,
and honor (veneration) afforded images (or other things like
people)
• “Triumph of Orthodoxy” (842) – the definitive restoration of
images to the churches
• Nicaea II receives cool reception in the West; eventually
affirmed
Imperial Restoration
in the West
Coronation of Charles, King of the
Franks, on Christmas Day, 800
• “May God grant life to the great and pacific emperor!” (Pope
Leo III)
Charlemagne’s Reign (King of the Franks, 768814; Emperor of the Romans, 800-814)
• When Leo II crowned Charles “emperor” (in 800) most of
western Christendom was already under his rule
• His campaigns against the pagan Frisians and Saxon in
northern Europe had been long and bloody, often resulting in
forced baptism; he had accomplished the forced conversion of
the Frisians by 784 and that of the Saxons by 785
• Began the long process of reconquering the Iberian peninsula
(Spain) from the Islamic Moors
• As emperor, Charles began a program of both civil and
ecclesiastical reform throughout Europe
• Benedict of Aniane (Monastic reform; proliferation of Benedictine
ideals)
• Alcuin of York (theological/liturgical reform)
• Theodulf of Orleans (educational reform)
Alcuin of York
ca. 730-804
Monastic Reform
Decline of the Carolingian
Empire (late 9th Century)
• Many monasteries had been sacked and destroyed by
Norsemen and Hungarians
• Many of the unaffected abbeys became the personal means of
aggrandizement for nobles or bishops
• Rule of Benedict generally ignored; violence in the monastery
was rife
• Either violence from ransacking pagans
• Or violence of conscience, and even murder
Cluniac Reform
• In 909, Duke William of Aquitaine founded a small monastery and
called a devout monk named, Berno, to become its abbot
• At Berno’s request, William’s favorite hunting ground at Cluny was
set aside for lands to sustain and support the monastery
• Cluny was deeded over to “Saints Peter and Paul” – thus placed
under the direct jurisdiction and protection of the Pope; prevented
the interference of other bishops and nobles
• The deed also forbade popes from invading or otherwise taking
what belonged only to the two holy apostles
• At first the monastery only sought to keep Benedict’s Rule in its
entirety; but eventually sought to reform other houses as well
• Result was a network of “second Clunys,” directly under the
authority of the abbot of the main house; each house was appointed
a “prior”
Abbots of Cluny
•
•
•
•
•
•
Berno (909-926)
Odo (926-944)
Aymard (944-965)
Mayeul (965-994)
Odilo (994-1049)
Hugh (1049-1109) – under whom reform of women’s monastic
communities took place
• Pontius (1109-1122) – Period of decline
• Peter the Venerable (1122-1157) – Period of revival
Cluniac Life
• Divine Office (Hours of Prayer): Cluniacs came to spend
practically their whole time at the Divine Office
• At the high point of the movement 138 Psalms were sung in a
single day
• This was technically a departure from the Rule, but justified by
arguing that monk’s function was to pray and praise God
• The typical duties of labor within the monasteries were given
over to oblates
• In time, the Cluniacs would extend their reforming zeal to the
entire church
• Three solemn vows: Celibacy, Obedience, Poverty
• In time, the massive accumulation of wealth by Cluniac
monasteries would be a main cause of their decline
Cistercian Reform
• In the late 11th century, Robert of Molesme founded a new
monastery in Citeaux (Cistertium in Latin)
• Eventually the community of Citeaux gave rise to a wave of
monastic reform similar to that of Cluny over a century before
• The great figure of Cistercian reform was Bernard of Clairvaux,
who brought a group of friends with him when he presented
himself to the monastery for admission in 1113
• Later, Bernard would be told to found another monastery in
Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux
1090-1153
Papal Reform in the
th
11 Century
The need for Papal reform
• The sin of “Simony” – the purchase or perceived purchase of
ecclesiastical office
• Clerical abuses: disuse of clerical celibacy, practice of taking
“concubines”, immodesty, and accepting benefices from lay
people
• The Controversy over Lay investiture – i.e. the control over
clerical appointments by European monarchs
Commencement of the period
of papal reform (11th century)
• In the year 1048, three reform-minded monastics – Bruno,
Hildebrand, and Humbert – would enter Rome as “pilgrims” for the
election of the new pope; each opposed to the practice of simony
and each committed to papal reform
• Bruno had been offered the papacy by the western emperor, but
refused his offer; once there, if elected by the people, he would
accept
• Bruno was elected, and chose the name “Leo IX” – beginning the
program of reform by promoting clerical celibacy and the abolition
of simony, advancing the cause of reform north of the Alps
• In time, Humbert would become a chief advisor and theologian to
many of the reforming popes; responsible for the system of election
by the “college of cardinals”
• Hildebrand would eventually be elected pope, and choose the name
Gregory VII
th
Reforming Popes of the 11
century
• Leo IX (1049-54) – Great Schism (1054)
• Victor II (1055-57) – Convened the Second Lateran Council
against clerical abuses
• Stephen X (1057-58)
• Nicholas II (1058-61) – Attacked the practice of lay investiture
and attempted to consolidate the papacy’s political
independence of German, Roman and Italian rulers
• Alexander II (1061-73) – Extended papal authority through
political alliances, particularly with the Normans, including
sanctioning the Norman conquest of England in 1066
• Gregory VII (1073-85)
The Great Schism – 1054
• Leo IX’s reforming zeal and concern for the authority of the Roman
see ultimately brought his career to a tragic close, including a final
and irrevocable break with Eastern Christianity
• His two gravest errors were: (1) making war against the Normans in
Sicily and being taken captive (1053); (2) sending Humbert to
represent him as legate to Constantinople, leading to the Great
Schism
• Contributing factors to the Schism: Long-held jealousies between
the two patriarchates (Rome & Constantinople); differences in
custom, culture and political allegiances
• The patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, determined to
assert the authority of his see over the other eastern patriarchates,
and to establish its equality and independence in relation to Rome
• An rare political alliance between Emperor Constantine IX (East) and
Henry III (West) prompted the emperor to demand that Cerularius
write the traditional “synodical letter” to the pope in Rome, which
he had failed to do at his succession
The Great Schism – 1054
• Cerularius was not willing to write the letter; instead he closed
all churches of the Latin rite in Constantinople, hoping to
destroy the new political alliance between East & West
• In 1053, Cerularius persuaded Leo of Ochrida to address a
letter to the western churches criticizing them for illicit
“Frankish” customs, including the use sunleavened bread in
the Eucharist and fasting on Saturday
• Upon Leo IX’s capture by the Normans, Cerularius changed his
tune and wrote a more conciliatory letter (now that Byzantine
territories in Italy were in danger); Leo responded by sending
a delegation to Constantinople
• Leo sent Humbert and two other legates who bore a letter
from Leo (that Humbert had actually written) which was
uncompromising in its tone
The Great Schism – 1054
• Cerularius, despite the emperor’s desire for conciliation, chose
to ignore the legates and to question their credentials (the
announcement had just come in that Leo had died)
• On July 16, 1054, Humbert went into Hagia Sophia, made a
public protest against the behavior of Cerularius, and then laid
upon the altar a sentence of excommunication against him
that ranked him “with the devil and his angels” and ended
with a triple “Amen”
• The action of the legates was received with satisfaction in the
West despite its dubious legality (Leo was dead); Cerularius
seems to have thought that he got what he wanted as well
• The schism has not been formally healed to this day
Hildebrand – Gregory VII (r.
1073-85)
• One of the last of Leo IX’s reforming cardinals to survive, Hildebrand
had be a central figure among the papal counselors of the era
• As a Roman himself, he was equally devoted to the honor of the city
and the authority of the papal office; single-minded in his resolve for
reform
• In his work Dictatus Papae, Hildebrand had contended that the pope
(not the emperor) was “Vicar of Christ.”
•
•
•
•
“The Roman Church was founded by God alone.”
“The Roman Pontiff alone can with right be called ‘universal’.”
The Roman Pontiff “alone can depose or reinstate bishops.”
The Roman Pontiff “alone may use imperial insignia” (since he alone
is the true successor of Constantine
• “That it may be permitted him to depose Emperors.”
• “That he himself may be judged of no one.”
• “That he may absolve subjects from their fealty to wicked men.”
Gregory VII (Hildebrand)
• The principles he laid out in Dictatus Papae were not new:
• Found in two earlier works of forgery: Donation of Constantine and
the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals
• He was, however, the first pope to insist on these principles as a
practical program of reform, which his successors would put into
effect
• In 1075, Henry IV made an appointment to the archbishopric of
Milan; Gregory answered immediately with a stern letter of rebuke
• Henry then summoned a council to meet in Worms (January 1076),
where a large portion of the German bishops joined in denouncing
Hildebrand and rejecting his authority as pope; supported by the
Lombard bishops
• Gregory replied by holding a Roman synod in February 1076 that
excommunicated Henry, forbade him to exercise royal authority in
Germany and Italy, and released all of his subjects from their oaths
of allegiance
Pope vs. Emperor
• Henry IV answered in a letter of defiance calling Hildebrand
“now no pope, but a false monk” and demanding that he
relinquish his office and make room for “another who will not
cloak violence with religion.”
• In the end, Henry could not sustain his opposition, for the
pope’s decree had undermined the German bishops and given
license for rebellion to the king’s enemies in Germany
• A synod of lay nobility held a synod in October 1076 declared
that unless released from excommunication within a year,
Henry would be deposed
• Henry met Gregory while crossing the Alps in winter, and for
three successive days presented himself barefoot, as a
penitent, before the castle gate at Canossa; Gregory lifted the
excommunication in January 1077
Pope vs. Emperor
• This threw Henry’s enemies into disarray; civil war broke out
• A second decree of excommunication and deposition went out
against Henry in 1080, but this time Henry prevailed, and this time
had Gregory deposed at a synod in Brixen, and appointed a new
pope – Clement III (an “anti-pope”)
• Henry went on to take control of Rome and had himself crowned
“emperor”; Gregory went into exile to Monte Cassino
• Upon his death, Hildebrand declared the his successor would be the
aged abbot of Monte Cassino, who took the name Victor III
• The next pope, Urban II, would regain the city of Rome and expel
Clement III
• Schism would continue under Urban’s successor, Paschal II (10991118)
Gregory VII’s legacy
• Gregory had achieved much for the prestige and authority of
the papacy
• Though the papal schism would persist for a number of years,
eventually it would be the papacy, not the German empire,
that would turn out to have gained control over the headship
of Latin Christendom
• Callixtus II (1119-24) would end the dispute over lay
investiture – (separation of powers)
• Prelates would be elected freely, according to ancient custom,
but in the presence of the emperor or his representatives
• Only proper ecclesiastical authority could invest prelates with the
symbols of their office
• Only civil authorities could confer feudal rights, privileges and
possessions
Medieval “Heresies”
Medieval Heresies – The Cathars
• Cathars – “Pure Ones,” a dualist heresy teaching a doctrine of
two opposing divine principles or even two gods existing in
open warfare from eternity; sometimes called “Medieval
Manichees” (a misnomer, though much affinity)
• May be related to the eastern Bogomil heresy
• One sacrament (consolamentum): “baptism by the Spirit,” not
with water but by laying on of hands; custom of wearing black
robes
• Chose to call themselves simply “Christians” or “Good Men”
• Receiving the consolamentum: a sign of one’s perfection and
entrance into the elect; most chose to defer until death was near
• Also called “Albigenses,” from the town of Albi in France
• By 1200, the Cathars of southern France and northern Italy were
a serious threat to the established church
The Waldenses
• Unlike the Cathars, the Waldenses originated in no conscious
hostility to the church
• Founder: Peter Waldo (more accurately Valdes), a wealthy
merchant of Lyons; the name “Peter” was added by his
followers of the late 14th century to link Waldo to the first
apostle
Peter Waldo (c.
1140-1218)
Peter Waldo
• Impressed by a song about St. Alexis sung by a traveling minstrel,
Waldo asked a master of theology “the best way to God.” The
theologian quoted him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you
possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heave;
and come, follow me” (Matt 19:21)
• Selling all that he had, and making provision for his wife and
endowing his daughters for life, he literally put this counsel into
practice
• He procured vernacular translations of scripture passages and the
fathers and walked the streets preaching a life of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins
• Many thought he was mad, but he gained a following for his vita
apostolica
• He soon aroused the suspicion and hostility of the archbishop and
clergy of Lyons; Canon law restricted preaching to clergy
Waldenses (a.k.a. Waldensians)
• Waldo and his followers appealed to the Third Lateran Council,
who laughed at them as ignorant laymen but did not
pronounce them heretics
• Pope Alexander III applauded their devotion to poverty but
denied them the right to preach without first securing
permission from their bishop
• At first they obeyed the restriction, but when permission was
not granted they began to interpret the refusal of their right to
preach as the word of man over against that of God
• They were excommunicated in 1182 and expelled from Lyons
• The “Poor of Lyons” made their way to NE France and into
Germany, and southward into Lombardy
• Condemned along with the Cathars in 1184 at the Council of
Verona by Pope Lucius III
Foreshadow of the Protestant
Reformation?
• Waldensian beliefs:
• The Bible, particularly the New Testament, was the sole rule of
belief and life; every prescription must be followed to the letter
• Preachers went out “two by two” in simple woolen robes,
barefooted or wearing sandals cut in a special pattern
• Preached repentance unto life; rejected all oaths and shedding of
blood
• Renounced marriage and all worldly goods; maintained
themselves through contributions of their sympathizers
(“friends”, “believers”)
• Did not consider episcopal ordination necessary; woman as well
as men were granted the right to preach
• Lay celebration of the Lord’s Supper was permitted in regions
where the sacrament was not readily available from a Catholic
priest
The Crusades
Prelude to the Crusades
• European Expansionism
 Conversion of Vikings and Magyars (Hungarians) removes
pressure on Europe; raids subside around 1000
 Agricultural advances increase food supply
 Cluniac Reform – 11th century
 Great Schism – 1054
 Battle of Hastings – 1066
 Capture of Toledo from Moslems – 1087
 Capture of Sicily from Moslems – 1091
The Crusades: Causes
 Rise of the Seljuq Turks in 1037, a Turkic-Persian, SunniMuslim empire
 Battle of Manzikert, 1071, meant that the Byzantines would
eventually lose Anatolia to the Turks
 Loss foreshadows eventual end of Byzantine Empire
 Turks begin to disrupt pilgrim traffic to the Holy Land
Seljuq Turkish Empire
Urban II calls for Crusade (1095)
• Purposes:
• Drive Turks from Anatolia
• Place the Eastern empire (and the Eastern patriarchate) under
obligation to the West (and to the Pope)
• Heal the Great Schism
• Capture the Holy Land from the Muslims and restore it to
Christendom
First Crusade (1097-98)
 Achieved all major objectives in Holy Land
 Set up the “Kingdom of Jerusalem” and other Crusader
states in the Levant
 Turkish threat blunted, though not eliminated
 Area was not actually strategic to Moslems, could have
been held indefinitely with a little skill.
 Initial gains would be lost through diplomatic bungling,
as Crusaders attempted to destabilize their neighbors
Second Crusade (1145-48)
•
•
•
•
•
Called by Pope Eugene III
Occasion: The Fall of Edessa
Complete military fiasco for the Crusaders
Discredited the “invisible” reputation of the Crusaders
Only military success was the recapture of Lisbon (Portugal)
from the Moors (the Crusaders were en route to the Holy
Land and stopped to help a much smaller Portuguese army)
Third Crusade (1189-91)
• Called by Gregory VIII
• Occasion: the Fall of Jerusalem to Saladin, the Fatimid ruler of
Egypt and Syria
 Involved Richard I of England, Phillip II of France, Frederick I of
Holy Roman Empire
 Restored many of the coastal possessions of the Crusaders
(the city of Acre), but not Jerusalem
Fourth Crusade (1199-1204)
 Called by Pope Innocent III in 1198, went largely
ignored at first
 To pay for crusade, the Crusaders sought financing
from the Venetians
 When they arrived at Constantinople they were not
well received; Crusaders then sacked Constantinople in
1204
 Any chance to heal the Great Schism were utterly lost
 (In 1453, when attacked by Turks, Byzantines preferred
surrender to asking Rome for aid)
Other Crusades
• Fifth Crusade (1218-19) Capture of Damietta which the
Crusaders swapped for Jerusalem; tried to capture Egypt, but
were routed
• Sixth Crusade (1229) – Frederick II of Germany negotiated a
ten year treaty and the return of Jerusalem
• Seventh Crusade (1248-54) – Nearly an exact repeat of the
Fifth Crusade
• Eighth Crusade (1270) – Much of the expedition diverted to
Tunisia, so never reached objective; the final Crusader states
in Palestine would fall by 1291; one remaining island
stronghold would holdout 1303
The Spanish Reconquista
• Ancient Visigothic kingdom of Spain had fallen to the Moors in
the eighth century; the remnants of it being relegated to the
northern region of Asturias
• The Franks under Charles Martel would stop the eastward
advance of the Moors at the Battle of Tours (ca. 732)
• The “unification” of Christian of Spain began with the
“discovery” in northern Spain of the tomb of Saint James
(Santiago) in the ninth century; the road to Santiago brought
northern Spain into constant contact with the rest of Christian
Europe
• The last great caliph of Cordova died in 1002 saw the division
of Muslim lands into a multitude of petty kingdoms, leaving
them vulnerable to Christian encroachment
The Spanish Reconquista
• By 1085, Alfonzo VI and the Spanish kingdom of Castille had
taken Toledo from the Muslims; causing the Moors to
reinforce from North Africa
• In 1212, a coalition of Christian kings joined in defeating the
Moors at the Battle of Navas de Tolosa; by 1248 the only
Moorish state on the Iberian Peninsula was the kingdom of
Granada
• In 1492, Granada fell to Ferdinand (of Aragon) and Isabella (of
Castille)
Consequences of the Age of the
Crusades
• Distrust between Christians and Muslims
• Distrust between Latin and Byzantine Christians (permanent
division)
• Weakening of the Byzantine Empire; finally fall in 1453 to the
Ottoman Turks
• Enhanced power of the papacy, which gradually grew in its
international authority during this period
• Contact with the Holy Land influenced Christian piety, devotion and
liturgy; veneration of relics gained momentum
• Monastic ideal took on a militaristic form: Templars, Order of St.
John of Jerusalem (Knights of Malta; Knights Hospitallers)
• Violent suppression of heretical groups: Bogomils, Cathars,
Waldenses
• Re-introduction of Aristotle to the West (Maimonides and Averroes)
• Trade as a new source of wealth; the emergence of cities and the
bourgeoisie
Mendicant Orders
Factors that contributed to the
emergence of the Mendicants
• Movement of populations to cities
• Growth of a monetary economy; growing chasm between rich
and poor
• Traditional parish ministry not as adaptable to the growing
spiritual needs of people in contrast to the adaptability of
monasticism
• The emergence of the mendicant (“beggar”) orders both
responded to a more urban population and challenged the
mores of the monetary economy
• A forerunner of the mendicant orders was Peter Waldo and
his followers (Waldenses); condemned as heretics in 1184
St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
• Giovanni Francesco di Bernardon – “Little Frenchman”
• Son of a wealthy merchant
• Profound religious experience led him to embrace a life of
poverty; gave all he had to the poor
• Imprisoned by his father; the local bishop finally ruled that he
must give up his inheritance; lived as a hermit in the woods
• In 1209 he began to combine his love of poverty with the
vocation of preaching; poverty became a means of identifying
with the poor and the sick
• Gained a small following in Assisi, who then went to Rome to
ask for authorization from the pope (Innocent III)
• Innocent III approved his order in 1210
Franciscans
• The Friars Minor – “Order of Lesser Brothers”
• A sister order for women – the “Poor Clares” – would be
founded by St. Clare on Palm Sunday, 1212
• Third Order of Penitents and Tertiaries
• Francis’ will forbade his followers to possess anything or to
appeal to the pope to have his Rule made less stringent
• Later disputes over the authority of the will would cause
controversy within the order; in 1230, Pope Gregory IX would
declare the will non-binding
• Francis voluntarily gave up leadership of his movement at a
meeting of the general chapter in 1220 and knelt in obedience
to his successor; then he retired to the chapel that he had
rebuilt in his youth; Francis died in 1226
St. Dominic (11701221)
St. Dominic (1170-1221)
• Domingo Félix de Guzmán – born in Caleruega in Castille to an
aristocratic family
• After ten years of study in Palencia, Dominic became a canon
at the cathedral in Osma;
• After four years as a canon, the cathedral chapter dissolved to
follow the monastic rule of the Canons of St. Augustine,
meaning that they lived as a monastic community without
withdrawing from the world
• In 1203 he visited southern France and was moved by the
success of the Cathars (Albigensians) and the efforts to
convert them to Catholicism by force
• Convinced that there were better ways to convert the Cathars,
Dominic began a mission to preach and teach orthodoxy
The Dominicans
• Joining a disciplined life of monasticism with rigorous study and
preaching proved to be a powerful combination to combat heresy
• The archbishop of Toulouse gave him a church in which to preach as
well as a house in which to organize a monastic community
• He went to Rome in 1215 to request permission from Innocent III to
found a new order; the pope refused because he was concerned
about the proliferation of different monastic orders
• The pope encouraged him to continue his work and to adopt one of
the existing monastic rules; Dominic and his followers chose the
rule of the Canons of St. Augustine, but adapting the rule to their
own needs
• The also adopted the rule of poverty and mendicancy, following the
early Franciscans, in order to refute the Cathars (Albigensians)
• The new pope, Honorius III, granted the formation of the Order of
Preachers (Ordo Praedicatorum) in January 1217.
The Mendicant Orders in the
Universities
• The Dominicans founded houses in the major theological
universities of Paris and Oxford
• Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas would bring great prestige
to the order in intellectual circles
• The Franciscans also established a foothold in the universities,
albeit somewhat later
• Alexander of Hales joined the Franciscans in 1236
Scholasticism
Thirteenth Century
Scholasticism
• Name given to the theological systems and methodologies
that developed in the various “schools” of the high middle
ages
• Early roots were in the monasteries; but later (12th century)
the cathedral schools became centers of theological activity;
by the 13th century, the universities supplanted the cathedral
schools
Anselm of Canterbury (10331109)
Anselm of Canterbury
• Born in Italy; reputable teacher at the Norman abbey of Bec;
Archbishop of Canterbury (1093)
• Author: Proslogion
• The “ontological argument”
• His approach: “Faith seeking understanding”
• Author: Cur Deus Homo (“Why God became Man”)
• Satisfaction Theory of the Atonement
Other scholastic notables
• Peter Abelard (1079-1142) – author of Sic et Non
• Peter Lombard (1100-1160) – Four Books of Sentences
Averroes (1126-1198)
• Muslim scholar of Toledo
• Commentator on Aristotle
• Profound impact on Western Scholasticism
The “Latin Averroists”
• Mainly members of the Arts Faculty of the University of Paris
• Embraced the “new” philosophical ideas of Aristotle with
enthusiasm
• Insisted on the radical independence of reason and philosophy
from any constraints imposed by faith and theology; insisted
that the path of reason should be followed to the end, and
that if this posed a problem for theologians, then so be it
• Allowed them to accept a number of teachings taught by
Aristotle that would otherwise have contradicted Christian
orthodoxy
• Some, like Bonaventure, responded to this challenge by
reasserting the traditional Platonic and Augustinian outlook;
i.e., faith is necessary in order to achieve correct
understanding
Albert the Great
(1206-1280)
The Synthesis of Philosophy and
Theology
Philosophy
Theology
• Operates on the basis of
autonomous principles
• Can be known apart
from revelation
• Seek truth by a strict
rational method
• Does not seek to prove
what the mind cannot
understand
• Starts its inquiry from
the basis of revealed
truths
• Revealed truths are
those which cannot be
known by reason alone
• Revealed truths are
more certain than those
of reason (which may
err)
Thomas Aquinas (c.
1224-74)
Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74)
• Born in Roccasecca, Italy (father: Landulf of Aquino)
• Nickname in childhood: “The Dumb Ox”; his teacher, Albert,
would later say, “The bellowing of that ox will be heard
throughout the world.”
• Joined the Dominican Order in 1244; imprisoned by his family
for a year
• Studied in Paris, Cologne
• Author: Summa contra Gentiles
• Arguments in favor of the Christian faith (benefit missionaries)
• Author: Summa theologiae (aka theologica)
• Three parts
• Detailed study of key aspects of Christian theology
Thomas’ lasting contribution
1. The “Five Ways” – arguments for the existence of God
2. The Principle of Analogy – theological foundation for
knowing God through creation
3. The relation of faith and reason
Sacramental System
Transubstantiation
• Defined by the 2nd Lateran Council, 1215
• CLASSIC DEFINITION: The conversion of the whole substance
of the bread and wine into the whole substance of the Body
and Blood of Christ, only the accidents (i.e. appearances) of
the bread and wine remaining
Thomas Aquinas’ Understanding
First, because it is not customary but horrible for men to eat the
flesh of a man and drink his blood, the flesh and blood of Christ
are offered under the form of things which are more frequently
used, namely bread and wine. Secondly, lest this sacrament
might be ridiculed by unbelievers if we ate our Lord in his own
form. Thirdly, that while we receive the body and blood of our
Lord invisibly this may contribute to the merit of our faith (ST, III,
q. 75:5)
Defining Terms
• Form = The underlying reality of a thing
• Substantial Form = That which distinguishes the substance of one
thing from the substance of another. That which makes a “thing”
what it is, and not something else.
• Matter = What a thing is made of; a thing’s constituent parts;
the corporeal substratum of a thing
• Form + Matter = Substance
• Form inheres in matter to make a substance
Accidents
• Real but incidental properties of things, contingently
conjoined to a substance (color, quantity, taste, texture, etc.)
• Examples:
• Heating a rock changes the “accident” of temperature, but not
the substance of the rock (transaccidentation)
• The process of decay changes both the substance and the
accidents of a “thing” (transformation)
Transubstantiation
• The substance changes (as in transformation), however the
accidents remain the same
• How? Thomas posits the radical separability of substance and
accidents
• But Transubstantiation takes place only in the realm of the
miraculous
• In the miracle of Transubstantiation, substance exists without
its accidents (properties), and accidents exist without their
substance
• Thus Christ’s presence is a “non-local” presence, since locality
is an accident
East & West: The
Final Breach
The Fate of Constantinople
• The Byzantine Empire weakened by the Fourth Crusade, and
the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by the Crusaders
• Period of Latin rule: unstable, empire broken up into smaller
Greek states that allied themselves against the Latins, but
fought amongst themselves for imperial succession
• Constantinople is re-taken by the Greek state of Nicaea in
1261, but the old empire never recovered from its infighting
• The Turks were held at bay by threats from the Albanians,
Hungarians and the Mongols
• Finally, in the mid-1400s, the Turks were ready to conquer
Constantinople
Attempt at Reconciliation
• Sultan Mohammed II’s dream to take Constantinople and
make it his capital
• Byzantine emperors again appeal to the West; the price that
the popes demanded was ecclesiastical reconciliation
• The Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1439:
• The decisions of the council attempted to reconcile and/or
defend distinctive Western doctrines (e.g. the Filioque phrase in
the Creed) over against traditional Eastern theology
• The Eastern emperor, Constantine IV, pressured the bishop of
Constantinople to capitulate to the Council
• The Patriarchs of Jerusalem, Alexandria and Antioch rejected the
council and thus broke communion with Constantinople; the
Russian Orthodox Church followed suit
Attempt at Reconciliation
• Constantine XI continued his plans for reunion with Rome
despite losing the allegiance of the rest of Eastern Christianity
• The Roman Mass was celebrated in Saint Sophia (Hagia
Sophia) in 1452
• However, help from Western Europe never came
• On April 7, 1453, Mohammed II laid siege to the city; the walls
of the city could not withstand the artillery of the Turks
• The last solemn service at the cathedral of Hagia Sophia was
celebrated on May 28, 1453; the city fell on May 29
• Constantine the Great’s dream of a new Christian Rome had
come to an end
Immediate Aftermath
• Hagia Sophia becomes a mosque.
• Greek Orthodox Church remains intact, most of the populace
remains Christian
• Gennadius Scholarius is appointed Patriarch of the Orthodox
Church by Mohammed II
Avignon Papacy
Celestine V and
Boniface VIII
Conflict of ideals
• Celestine V (r. 1294) aspired to reform the church through
Franciscan simplicity; considered one of the humblest men to
ever occupy the throne of St. Peter; he resigned the papacy
after serving only five months and eight days
• Boniface VIII (1294-1303) had Celestine imprisoned and may
have had Celestine murdered
• Not many were happy with Boniface’s election
• The powerful Colonna family in Italy who had their own designs
on the papacy
• The extreme Franciscans (the “Fraticelli”)
• Many saw Celestine’s election as a fulfillment of a prophecy
announced by Joachim of Fiore that the “Age of the Spirit” had
begun; Thus many did not accept his abdication
Boniface VIII (1294-1303)
• The first part of his reign was successful
•
•
•
•
Dealt with the powerful Colonna family
Dealt with a rebellion in Germany
Held off the war between England and France
Declared a Year of Jubilee in 1303, granting a plenary indulgence
to anyone who visited the tomb of St. Peter
• Relations between Boniface and Philip of France grew tense
• Issued a the bull Unam Sanctum which asserted papal claims to
universal power, both ecclesiastical and political
• After various mutual recriminations, Boniface attempted to
excommunicate Philip in September 1303
• Boniface was kidnapped by his enemies (Sciarra Colonna and
William Nogaret), on the eve of the excommunication,
demanding his resignation
“The Slap of Anagni”
• Boniface responded to the demand to resign by saying that he
would “sooner die”
• This response elicited a famous slap
• Boniface was then beaten badly, humiliated and nearly
executed; locals managed to secure his release after three
days: He died in October 1303 of kidney stones
In the Aftermath of Anagni
• The next pope, Benedict XI, restored the fortunes of many of
Boniface’s enemies, but refused to try the former pope
posthumously; died after brief pontificated (perhaps
poisoned)
• The “pro-French” party obtained an agreement from the
cardinals on the election of Clement V
• Clement never visited Rome even once; moved the papal curia to
Avignon, France in 1309
• Clement agreed to try Boniface posthumously; though Boniface
was exonerated
• Clement forgave Nogaret and his companions and commended
Philip of France
• Under Clement, the Templars were tried and condemned
The first Avignon Pope: Clement V
(1305-1314)
The “Babylonian Captivity” of the
Church
• Clement V moved the papal curia to Avignon in 1309
• Clement had named twenty-four cardinals, all but one was
French, and several were his relatives
• For nearly seventy years the popes would generally remain in
Avignon, and willingly serve as the tools of French policy
Avignon Popes
• John XIII (1316-1334) – Elected at 72 and ruled for 18 years!
• Benedict XII (1334-1342) – Built the great papal palace in
Avignon; alienated England and Germany during the 100 Years
War
• Clement VI (1342-1352) – Tried to mediate the 100 Years War;
many saw the Black Plague as divine punishment for the
papacy’s absence from Rome
• Innocent VI (1352-1362) – Attempted to return to Rome, but
died before accomplishing it
• Urban V (1362-1370) – Reforming pope; returned to Rome in
1365; the Romans received him with joy, but in the long run
he failed to win their loyalty, so returned to Avignon
• Gregory XI (1370-1378) – Made a cardinal by his uncle,
Clement VI when seventeen
Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380)
Catherine of Sienna
• Joined the “Sisters of the Penance of St. Dominic” (A tertiary
order of the Dominicans) as a young girl
• Two years later had a vision in which Jesus joined her in
mystical marriage and ordered her to serve others
• Became a famous teacher of mysticism, gathering around her
followers (both men and women), some of whom were more
educated than she; her Dominican followers kept her well
versed in theological questions so that she could avoid heresy
• In 1370, she had a vision in which she claimed that her
mission was to restore the papacy to Rome; she set out on a
pilgrimage to bring about peaceful resolution of many of
Italy’s wars and feuds
• Finally, in 1377, Gregory XI returned to Rome, ending the
Babylonian Captivity; Catherine died three years later`
The Effects of the Avignon
Papacy
• Papacy had become a tool of French policies; other nations
began to view the papacy as a competing “foreign power”
• As a result, nationalism was on the rise in Europe; resentment
towards the papacy
• Revenues from unfilled vacancies poured into Avignon,
France; no motivation to fill vacant posts or to move back to
Rome
• Simony once again became prevalent in the church; to this
abuse was added the abuses of pluralism (the holding of more
than one benefice or post), absenteeism, and nepotism
The Great Western
Schism
Causes of the Great Schism
• Gregory XI had actually considered returning to Avignon as
conditions in Rome proved to be less than ideal; he died
before he had the chance
• The people of Rome feared that the majority of French
cardinals would elect someone who would return the papacy
to Avignon
• Fearing that the French cardinals were planning to escape
Italy, a mob invaded the place where the conclave met and
demanded the election of a Roman or at least an Italian
• Under duress, the cardinals elected the archbishop of Bari, an
Italian, who took the name Urban VI; his coronation was one
of great pomp in which all the cardinals, both French and
Italian, participated
Urban VI (13781389)
The inflammatory reforming actions
of Urban VI
• In an effort to curb absenteeism, Urban declared all bishops
who formed part of his court (i.e. not in their dioceses) to be
“traitors to Christ”
• He denounced the ostentatiousness of the cardinals and
declared that those who received any gifts whatsoever were
guilty of simony
• In an effort to curb French influence, he appointed a vast
number of Italian cardinals
• Meanwhile, he appointed many of his relatives to positions of
importance, thereby opening him up to the charge of
nepotism
• Many of his cardinals charged that Urban had gone mad, and
began to form an opposition party against him
The plot against Urban
• Both French and Italian cardinals joined the opposition against
Urban, fled Rome and gathered in Anagni
• There they declared that they had elected Urban under
coercion and thus his election was not valid
• They then proceeded to elect a new pope (the Italians present
abstained, but did not protest), who took the name of
Clement VII
• Thus an unprecedented situation developed; for the first time
there were two popes elected by the same cardinals
• The new pope took up arms against Urban and attacked
Rome; he was repulsed and resided in Avignon
• All of western Europe would now have to take sides
Divided Europe
Avignon Papacy
• France
• Scotland
• Castile & Aragon (at first
supporters of Urban)
• A number of German
nobles who had reason
to oppose the emperor
Roman Papacy
•
•
•
•
•
•
England
Scandinavia
Flanders
Hungary
Poland
Holy Roman Empire
(Germany)
Divided Europe
• Portugal changed allegiances repeatedly
• In Italy, each city and each ruler followed its own course and
changed allegiances as political factors dictated
• The Kingdom of Naples sided with Avignon (for the most part)
Urban’s Mess
• Catherine of Sienna devoted herself to Urban’s cause before
her death; but Urban did not make things easy
• Urban decided to created a principality for his nephew, and
thus became embroiled in a series of senseless wars; when
some of his cardinals suggested he change this policy, Urban
had them arrested and they died of suspicious means
• Urban died in 1389, and his cardinals elected Boniface IX
• By taking the name Boniface, the new pope indicated that he
would follow the anti-French policies of the earlier Boniface
Two Lines of Popes
• The Great Western Schism went beyond the election of two
competing popes to the election of their successors, and thus
was created two competing lines of popes
• The Great Western Schism encouraged ecclesiastical abuses,
especially that of simony as the competing popes were always
in need of funds
Papal Claimants during the Great
Schism (1378-1417)
Avignon Line (Anti-Popes)
• Clement VII (1378-1394)
• Benedict XIII (1394-1423)
• Abdicated
Three others not recognized by
any nation:
Clement VIII
Benedict XIV (Bernard Garnier)
Benedict XIV (Jean Carrier)
Roman Popes
•
•
•
•
•
•
Urban VI (1378-1389)
Boniface IX (1389-1404)
Innocent VII (1404-1406)
Gregory XII (1406-1415)
Interregnum (1415-1417)
Martin V (1417-1431)
Proposal of the University of Paris
(1394)
Three possible solutions to the Great Schism:
1. Both Popes resign, and a conclave consisting of both sets of
cardinals proceed with the election of a new one
2. Question be settled by negotiation and arbitration
3. A General Council be called to decide the matter
Charles VI of France attempts
to intervene…
• When Clement VII of Avignon died, Charles VI of France asked the
Avignon cardinals not to elect a new one, hoping that he could
convince the Pope of Rome to abdicate
• The Avignon cardinals, feeling that their case could be weakened,
went ahead an elected Benedict XIII anyway
• Charles responded by besieging Avignon, but had to abandon the
siege due to changing political fortunes
• Meanwhile, the Roman popes began a series of maneuvers to make
it appear that they wanted to end the schism
• Both sides, however, refused to negotiate, which ended up
alienating many of the cardinals on both sides
• The Roman cardinals were the first to break with their pope begin
negotiations with the Avignon Party; meanwhile France withdrew
her support for Benedict
• The stage was set for the “Conciliar Movement”
Conciliarism
The Call for a General Council
• Not since the days of Constantine did the church place so
much of hope on the convening of a universal council to settle
the decades long Babylonian Captivity
• As it began to be articulated in western theology, conciliar
theory (or conciliarism) held that a universal council,
representing the entire church, had more authority than the
pope
• The question was: who had the authority to call a council of
the whole church? In the Western Church, councils were
summoned by popes; in the Eastern Church, councils had
been summoned by emperors
• The difficulty was solved when cardinals of both parties issued
a joint call to a great council to be held in Pisa in 1409
Council of Pisa (1409)
• When the council gathered in Pisa, it had the support of both
colleges of cardinals and well as most of the courts of Europe
– a very hopeful sign that was soon to be dashed
• Rather than try to determine who was the rightful pope, the
council declared that both were unworthy, and thus both were
deposed
• The council then went on to deal with the issues of simony
and other abuses
• Meanwhile, the cardinals elected another pope who took the
name Alexander V
• Convinced that they had ended the schism, the council
adjourned
And then there were three…
• Most of Europe accepted the decisions of Pisa and the new
pope, Alexander V
• However, both rival Popes (Rome and Avignon) refused to
accept the decisions of the council of Pisa, and both had
enough support to insist on their claims
• Alexander died less than a year after his election; the cardinals
then proceeded to elect his successor, John XXIII
The Pisan Antipopes: Alexander V (14091410) and John XXIII (1410-1415)
The Intervention of Sigismund of
Germany
• John XIII found himself forced to flee Italy and seek asylum
from Emperor Sigismund of Germany, who at the time was the
most powerful monarch of Europe
• Sigismund decided that it was time for another council to
decide the issue once and for all, and required of John XXIII his
agreement on the issue as a condition of asylum
• John XXIII was to convene the council, which would gather in
Constance in 1414
Council of Constance (1414) finally
settles the matter…
• By convening the council, John XXIII assumed that those assembled
would support his claim to the papal throne; he was mistaken
• The council was of a reformist mindset, and thus called for his
resignation; John fled
• John was a fugitive for months, but eventually captured, brought
back to Constance and forced to resign; he was then condemned to
prison for the rest of his life
• Gregory XII, the Roman pope, resigned as he promised to do if his
rivals did likewise
• The council then elected Martin V
• Benedict XIII refused to resign and took refuge in a fortress where he
continued to claim his legitimacy; no one paid much attention to
him; he died in 1423
• Benedict had up to three successors, though since their elections
were dubious, he is considered the last of the Avignon line.
The Three Reforming Councils
• The Council of Constance (1414) – attempted to reform the
church, legislate against abuses, and rid the church of heretics;
John Huss was condemned; Also decreed that councils should
meet every ten years or so to continue the work of
reformation
• The Council of Basel (1431) – Called by Martin V, but dissolved
by his successor, Eugene IV; it refused to adjourn and ended
up electing an antipope (Felix V – gave up claim in 1449)
• The Council of Ferrara-Florence (1439) – Eugene decreed the
transfer of the Council of Basel to Ferrara (eventually to
Florence); there the council attempted a formula of reunion
between East and West as a condition for western aid to
Constantinople
The Waning of the
Medieval Synthesis
The Renaissance
The Renaissance
•
•
•
•
Meaning: “rebirth” – i.e. the rebirth of knowledge
Cultural movement from the 14th to the 17th centuries
Flowering of art, science, literature, religion, and politics
Resurgence of learning from the classical period of Greek and
Roman antiquity (immediate past considered the “Dark Ages”)
• Intellectual transformation that swept Europe, widely
considered the “bridge” between the Middle Ages and the
Modern era
Characteristics of the
Renaissance
• Renaissance thinkers turned their gaze backward in historical
time; not to the immediate past which was arrogantly
assumed to be "dark," but to the classical past of ancient
Greece and Rome, which they assumed was bathed in light
• The Classic period was considered a “Golden Age.” Therein
were found thinkers who had similar interests to the
Renaissance thinker, and who had wrestled with identical
problems
• Increasingly, Renaissance thinkers would view the medieval
synthesis as too formal, too compartmentalized, too confining;
it was too logical, too systematic, too Aristotelian
• The Renaissance would end up reacting strongly against the
medieval synthesis -- against all “pigeon-holing”
Proto-Reformers
Two Types of Reform
• One that addressed mainly moral and pastoral issues, such as
simony and absenteeism (Conciliar Movement)
• One that also sought to reform not only the life, but also the
doctrines of the Church
• John Wycliffe – 1328-1384
• John Huss (Jan Hus) – 1369-1415
John Wycliffe
(Wyclif), 1328-1384
Wycliffe’s Resume
• Little is known of his early life
• Spent most of his career in Oxford, England; famous for his
erudition and logic; not very good humored
• In 1371, he left the university to serve the English Crown, first
as a diplomat then as a polemicist
• This was during the time of the Avignon papacy, so Wycliffe’s
arguments on the nature and limits of lordship and dominion
were well received by the English authorities
Wycliffe’s Position on Legitimate Dominion
• All legitimate dominion comes from God
• Dominion is to be characterized by the example of Christ, who came
to serve, not to be served
• Any dominion exercised for the profit of the ruler and not for the
good of the governed (commonwealth) is not true dominion, but
rather usurpation
• The same is true of dominion that seeks to expand its power beyond
the limits of its authority
• Therefore, any supposed ecclesiastical authority that collects taxes
for its own benefit, or seeks to extend its power beyond the sphere
of spiritual matters, is not legitimate
• Wycliffe applied this last principle to civil power, which must also be
measured according to the service it renders to its subjects; Wycliffe
eventually lost support of many of the English nobles for this view
The Radicalization of Wycliffe’s
Views
• Wycliffe’s views became more radical as the result of the
scandal of the Great Western Schism (1378)
• The “true Church” is not the pope and his visible hierarchy, but
rather the invisible body of those who are predestined to
salvation
• It is impossible to know for sure who is “predestined,” but
there are indications or “fruits” of salvation in true believers
• Many ecclesiastical leaders were in truth “reprobate”;
eventually Wycliffe would declare that the pope was among
those who were probably reprobate
Wycliffe’s View of Scriptural
Authority
• Scripture is the possession of the Church and only the Church
can interpret Scripture correctly (as the Roman Church taught)
• However, the Church that owns the Scriptures is the body of
all who are predestined
• Therefore, the Bible ought to be put back into the hands of
believers, and in their own language
• Wycliffe and his followers began to put this into practice by
translating portions of the Bible into English
• By 1382, Wycliffe had managed to translate much of the New
Testament directly from the Latin Vulgate; Wycliffe’s Bible was
complete by 1384
Wycliffe and the Mass
• The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) had declared the doctrine
of Transubstantiation
• Wycliffe would eventual reject this doctrine because he saw it
as a denial of the principle manifested in the incarnation
• When God was joined to human nature, the presence of divinity
did not destroy the humanity
• Likewise, when Christ unites himself with the bread and wine he
does not destroy them; in a sacramental or mysterious way, the
Body (Blood) of Christ is present in communion; but so is the
bread (wine)
• Wycliffe would be condemned in Oxford for this view;
however, after a brief imprisonment, he was allowed to
resume his studies and writings
Wycliffe’s End
• In 1381, Wycliffe retired to his parish in Lutterworth, a
benefice that he had received from the Crown for services
rendered (irony: Wycliffe profited from absenteeism)
• Wycliffe died of stroke in 1384 and buried in consecrated
ground
• The Council of Constance (1415) later condemned him; had
his remains disinterred and burned; ashes thrown in the River
Swift
• The movement called the “Lollards” took their inspiration
from Wycliffe
The Lollards
• Pejorative name meaning “mumblers”
• Believed in vernacular translations of the Bible, preached
against clerical celibacy, pilgrimages, and the abuse of images
• Also rejected Transubstantiation and prayers for the dead
• At first Lollardy had adherents among the gentry, but a
number of failed political uprisings brought it into disfavor
• Lollardy remained an underground movement in England up
to the 16th century; eventually Lollards would swell the ranks
of the Protestants in England
John Huss (13691415)
John Huss of Bohemia
• Famous preacher and scholar; rector of the University of
Prague (1402)
• At first he had no intention of changing the traditional
doctrines of the church; he only sought the reform of the
Christian life, particularly that of the clergy
• King Richard II of England had married a Bohemian princess;
through this political connection many Czechs were able to
study in England where they came into contact with the
writings of John Wycliffe
• The writings of Wycliffe caused a great stir in the University of
Prague, dividing the Germans and the Czechs in their opinions
of him
John Huss
• The Germans questioned Wycliffe’s orthodoxy, to which Huss
responded that it was the right of scholars to study Wycliffe
even if they did not agree with all of his positions
• Huss himself did not agree with Wycliffe on the question of
Transubstantiation
• The King of Bohemia supported the Czech scholars, compelling
the Germans to leave Prague and found the University of
Leipzig; on leaving Prague they declared Prague to have
become a hotbed of heresies
Conflict with the Pisan Papacy
• The Council of Pisa (1409) had attempted to end the Great Schism
by deposing two popes and electing a third (Alexander V and later
John XXIII); now there were three popes
• The Archbishop of Prague obtained a papal decree banning the
works of Wycliffe and ordering the preaching should only take place
in cathedrals, parish churches and monasteries
• Huss decided he could not obey and continued preaching at the
chapel of Bethlehem (which did not fall into any one of these
categories)
• In 1410, Huss was summoned to Rome to answer for his
disobedience; he refused to go and was excommunicated in 1411
• With the support of his king and the people of Bohemia, he ignored
the papal sentence and continued to preach and teach
The Radicalization of Huss’ Views
• While not questioning the legitimacy of the Pisan pope, he
nonetheless concluded that an unworthy pope was not to be
obeyed; popes acting in their own interests, and not for the
welfare of the church, were not to be obeyed
• Huss concluded that the Bible was the final authority by which
the pope as well as any Christian is to be judged
• Huss protested against John XXIII’s sale of indulgences to pay
for his crusade against Naples; he came to conclude that only
God can grant forgiveness, and to sell that which can only
come from God is a usurpation
• Huss also criticized John XXIII for making war against fellow
Christians; the king of Bohemia (who needed the pope’s
support) ordered Huss to silence his protest
John Huss’ Condemnation
• After another excommunication, Huss withdrew to the
countryside to write on the needed reformation of the Church
• In 1414, Emperor Sigismund (of Germany and Hungary) called
for a council to meet in Constance in order to end the “threepopes controversy”; he invited Huss to defend his views at the
council and granted him safe-conduct to attend
• Upon entering Constance, it was clear that John XXIII wanted
to try Huss outside of the council in a papal consistory; Huss
was taken into custody and ordered to recant; Huss responded
that he would recant only if someone could show him that he
was a heretic
• He was then treated as a prisoner; the emperor at first
protested, but then washed his hands of the affair
John Huss’ Condemnation
• On June 5, 1415, Huss finally appeared before the Council of
Constance
• John XXIII (the Pisan pope) had fled the council upon his
deposition, but had been captured and returned as a prisoner
• The hope was that the council would see Huss as the enemy
of the anti-pope John and thus be dismissed without charge
• Instead, Huss was condemned for his refusal to recant
John Huss’ Martyrdom
“I appeal to Jesus Christ, the only judge who is almighty and
completely just. In his hands I place my cause, since he will
judge each, not on the basis of false witnesses and erring
councils, but of truth and justice.”
• On July 6, Huss taken to the cathedral, dressed in priestly
garments which were then torn from him, shaved of his
tonsure, and had a paper crown decorated with demons
placed on his head; refusing one last chance to recant, he was
burned at the stake as he recited the Psalms
• Jerome of Prague, Huss’ colleague, was burned a few days
later
The Martyrdom of Huss
“Lord Jesus, it is for thee that I patiently endure this cruel death.
I pray thee to have mercy on my enemies.”
Rebellion in Bohemia
• Taborites and Horebites – two groups that claimed Huss as
their inspiration
• The threat of armed intervention led the various “Hussite”
groups to agree to Four Articles:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The Word of God to be preached freely
Communion in “both kinds” (bread and wine)
Clergy should live in “apostolic poverty”
Gross and public sin should be punished severely
• One general council and two failed crusades against Bohemia
finally convinced the Catholics that negotiation with the
Hussites was necessary
The Church in Bohemia
• As a result of these negotiations, the Church of Bohemia
rejoined the rest of western Christendom, but allowed to
retain communion in both kinds and other elements of the
Four Articles
• Most Bohemians, particularly the nobility, accepted the
agreement; many left the church to found the Unitas Fratrum
(Union of Brethren)
• The Brethren grew rapidly, not only in Bohemia but also in
Moravia
• The Brethren established close ties with the Protestants in the
16th century, and some would ally with Lutheranism
• Hapsburg persecution in the 16th century almost wiped them
out; the “Moravians” would eventually come to the new world
Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498)
Savonarola
• Dominican Friar, native of Ferrara, Italy; spent most of career
in study and devotion
• In 1490, he was invited to Florence by Lorenzo de Medici, “the
Magnificent”; joined the monastery of St. Mark and began a
series of lectures on Scripture to his fellow friars; soon
developed a popular following and he began to preach
• During Lent in 1491 he was invited to preach at the main
church in Florence; he preached a sermon which contrasted
true Christian life and the life of luxury, which offended many
of the powerful of Florence including Lorenzo de Medici
• Lorenzo then hired another preacher to attack the views of
Savonarola; but the people supported Savonarola and
compelled the rival preacher to flee the city
Savonarola as Prior of St. Mark
• Savonarola refused to give the customary gratitude to Lorenzo
for his election as prior of St. Mark, opting to thank God in
private
• He then sold a great deal of the convent’s holdings and gave
the proceeds to the poor
• He then embarked on a program of reform of the inner life of
his community; other monastic houses asked to join in the
reformation that he had begun; news of his holiness spread
• Even the dying Lorenzo called on the saintly friar to join him at
his bedside
Savonarola intervenes with Charles
VIII of France
• Lorenzo’s successor, Pietro de Medici, was expelled from
Florence for trying to buy Charles VIII off as he marched south
to claim the crown of Naples
• Savonarola led the embassy to negotiate with Charles; when
Charles entered Florence and made unreasonable requests,
Savonarola intervened and, as a result, Florence became allies
with France
• Savonarola prestige was so great that the people of Florence
turned to him for guidance in establishing their government;
Florence became a republic, and their economy was restored
• Savonarola also recommended that the gold and silver of the
churches be sold in order to feed the poor
The Radicalization of Savonarola’s Views
• The monks at St. Mark’s studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic
and Chaldean
• However, Savonarola became preoccupied with rooting out
“vanities”; under his leadership there were periodic “burnings
of vanities” – clothing, jewelry, wigs, furniture, etc.
• Savonarola’s bonfires took on a bizarre “holy carnival”
character
Savonarola’s Downfall
• Alexander VI, one of the most notorious popes, made an
alliance against France with most of Italy, Germany and Spain
• Instead of joining the pope’s alliance, Savonarola insisted that
the Florentines honor their alliance with Charles VIII of France
• The pope responded with a series of harsh measures, first
against Savonarola, and then against the entire city of
Florence; it soon became clear to many Florentines that they
were losing a great deal of their trade and commerce
• Savonarola’s supporters became increasingly convinced that
he was a prophet and demanded miracles from him
• When he foretold something that came true, his followers
became even more enthusiastic; but when he failed to
produce even one miracle, they too turned against him
Savonarola’s Condemnation
• Finally a mob invaded St. Mark’s and took him captive;
Savonarola refused to defend himself or let his friends take up
arms against other Florentines
• He was tied, beaten and turned over to the authorities; he
was then tortured for several days while the authorities
attempted to come up with some charge of heresy against him
• They tried to force him to confess that he claimed he could
foretell the future, which he never actually claimed he could
do
• Papal legates attempted to exact his confession as well, but to
no avail; finally he made an appeal to a future council
Savonarola’s Martyrdom (1498)
• With no specific charges against him, his judges finally
condemned him and two of his closest associates as “heretics
and schismatics” and handed them over to the secular
authorities for execution
• The only mercy they received was that they were hanged
before being burned; all three died valiantly, their ashes beng
thrown into the River Arno
• Years later, when the Germans sacked Rome, some saw this as
the fulfillment of Savonarola’s prophecies
• At various times since, many in the Roman Catholic Church
have called for the canonization of Savonarola