Church Reform and the Crusades
Essential Questions:
• What problems were plaguing the Church?
• How did reforms come about and who led them?
• Who was St. Francis and what did he do?
• What are the differences between Romanesque and
Gothic cathedrals?
• What were the causes and effects of the Crusades?
• What were the Reconquista and Inquisition?
Q1: Why did the Church begin to
reform itself in the new millenium?
 Many church officials, even popes, were living
wildly immoral lives; and because of that, the
Roman Catholic Church wasn’t as healthy and
upstanding as it needed to be.
• Rural priests and even some bishops were
marrying, having kids, etc., and treating their
roles almost as if they were hereditary.
• The whole lay investiture mess we’ve already
discussed.
• The problem of simony, which is selling
church offices, even to unqualified individuals
Q1: Continued…
 With all of the problems inside the Church,
they now also faced a growing threat from
the outside:
 The Muslims
Where did reform originate within
the Church?
 Reform originated from several areas including, but
not limited to:
 Benedictine Monks such as Dominic and Francis of
Assisi
 Popes, such as Leo IX and especially Pope Gregory VII.
Hence, the Gregorian reforms
Gregorian Reforms
• Pope Gregory VII introduces reforms aimed at those
three problems mentioned earlier.
• He reasserted celibacy among the clergy, going so far
as to say people didn’t have to obey bishops who
allowed married priests and he also withheld revenue
to such bishops.
• Fought against simony.
• And we know all about how he tried to assert Church
authority over the state and how he clearly defined the
Church’s position on lay investiture.
• Also strengthened the position of the pope as head of
the Church.
Q2: What was the Curia and what
was its purpose?
 The Curia was the pope’s group of advisors
 They helped to create and enforce canon law, acting
like a court
 Papal diplomats traveled throughout Europe keeping a
close eye on bishops and kings
Q3: What was the purpose of the
Church tax?
 The tithe (pronounced with a long e sound)
was a 10% church tax collected from all
Christian families, regardless of social
position.
 It was used to fund building projects and
also to care for the sick and poor, including
hospitals
Q4: What were traveling preachers
known as?
 Friars
 Like monks, they took vows of chastity, poverty and
obedience
 They did not live away from the world in monasteries
like monks did. They traveled from town to town,
preaching to the poor
 They owned nothing and lived by begging.
 Some famous examples:
 Dominic (Dominican order)
 St. Francis of Assisi (Franciscan order)
Q5: What were built to inspire
people’s faith in God?
 Gothic Cathedrals
• From the Greek καθέδρα – seat – indicating the building is
the seat of the resident bishop or archbishop
• Much different from the Romanesque churches of the early
Middle Ages
• Often very large, very ornate, very beautiful, and very
amazing.
•
Meant to reflect the glory of God and inspire awe in the
observer
• Usually funded by wealthy merchants and nobles who
wanted to leave their mark and maybe improve their
chances with God.
• The two big innovations were ribbed vaults and flying
buttresses.
• Vaults
• A vault is the arched shaped that helps hold up the
roof. The Romanesque cathedrals used barrel
vaults. These were simple arch-type structures.
• The ribbed vault provides what literally looks
like a rib. This is more efficient and does a
better job of distributing the weight to the
wall.
• Here’s a comparison of the barrel vault of the
Romanesque Saint-Sernin Cathedral in Toulouse with
the ribbed vault of the Gothic Amiens Cathedral
Flying buttress
• The flying buttress was an external structure – a bit
like an external half-arch. The weight of the roof
and walls was distribute outwards to these
buttresses. This took the weight-bearing
responsibility away from the walls themselves and
allowed for the big open spaces for windows.
• Compare these cross-sections of SaintSernin and Amiens.
• Here’s the difference it makes to the interior lighting:
• The later Gothic cathedrals also tended to
have tall spires on the towers and
pinnacles on top of the buttresses.
• Here is a comparison the floor plans of
Saint-Sernin and Amiens.
Here are other examples of Romanesque styles.
• Now, Gothic:
Q6: Why did the pope encourage leaders of
Western Europe to fight against the
Muslims?
 The Crusades 9 (four major ones and five minor ones)
were inspired by conquest
 Muslims had seized control of the Holy Land,
including the holy city of Jerusalem
 The Holy Land (present- day Israel and Palestine) was
considered holy and cherished by the three great
monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and
Islam
 There were obviously religious motives, but there were
also economic, social and political goals
Q7: Why did the Church favor the
Crusades?
Pressure Valve
•
Religious zeal had been on the increase around
this time. This was a good opportunity to
release some of that zeal. It helped that the
knights were told that dying while fighting this
holy war was a golden salvation ticket to
heaven.
•
The borders of European Christendom had also
stabilized to some extent and all these knights
had little better to do with their warrior talents
than fight amongst each other and terrorize the
peasants. A Crusade would give them
something to do and keep them from making
trouble in Europe.
“’The bearer of this ticket will go to heaven if you get
slaughtered on a Crusade!’ Awesome! I’m gonna be a
knight!”
Q8: Why did commoners join the
Crusades?
• Some people just wanted to make a name
and fortune for themselves. Seemed like a
good opportunity to do so when there wasn’t
much of one at home. In fact, most
Crusaders who volunteered were peasants.
• And finally, the Italian merchant cities that
controlled all the major ports and
Mediterranean shipping were all in favor of
it. They were cleaning up by transporting all
these Crusaders, supplying them with food
and arms, getting trade routes, etc. There’s
good money to be made in war.
Q9: Were the Crusades successful?
Why or why not?
 The Crusades were badly organized, often leading to
the deaths of many of the fighters before they even
reached the Holy Land
 Land was won and lost
 Often ended in great slaughter and forced conversions
The Reconquista
The Crusade to retake Spain from the Muslims
The Iberian Peninsula was conquered by the Muslims
around 711 and had all of it had been under their
control from the to the 1100’s when it started being
taken back.
• The reconquering was completed in 1492 when the last
Muslim outpost in the south was overrun and expelled
by the combined forces of King Ferdinand of Aragon
and Queen Isabella of Castile (the same ones who send
Christopher Columbus on his way).
A feature of the Reconquista was the
Spanish Inquisition
• There was a general Inquisition movement in
Europe, but the Spanish version was especially ugly.
• It was motivated by anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim
feelings.
• The goal was to search out fake Christians, i.e.
those who had converted but weren’t sincere.
• People were given a grace period to come forward
and confess. If they did, they had to implicate
others. The others would be imprisoned, property
confiscated and put on trial. They would be tortured
for a confession. If confessing, they could be
released, punished, or burnt at the stake.
Q10: What were several effects of the Crusades?
• All this interaction with the Muslims brought back
some technology and mathematics, e.g. algebra,
they had lacked.
• Opened up trade routes with the east (money
knows no religion)
• Weakened the power of the pope since he had
called for these failed expedition.
• Strengthened the kings. All these nobles and
knights had gone off and gotten killed which
meant the power went to the monarchs. By
extension, it weakened the feudal system.
• The Byzantines are weakened.
• Down to modern-day, Muslims are a little irked
about the Crusades.