Lecture Structure
1). What was ‘the church’?
•
Images and ideas
•
Organisation and Personnel
•
Functions
2). Challenges facing the (late) medieval
church : heresy and discontent
Church militant and triumphant
• The church ‘triumphant’ (Ecclesia
Triumphans), comprising those who are in
heaven
• The church ‘militant’ (Ecclesia Militans),
comprising those believers who are living
• The church ‘suffering’ or Church Penitent
(Ecclesia Penitens) or expectant (Ecclesia
Expectans), comprising the souls in
purgatory
The Church Militant and Church
Triumphant
The Church Suffering
The three are fundamentally linked through
prayer:
the saints in heaven intercede for those on
earth
the faithful living pray for the souls of the
dead
the suffering souls in purgatory find their
suffering diminished through the labours of
the faithful
Other ideas about the church
• The church as institution and the church
visible
• The church as the community of believers,
and the church ‘invisible’
• Where do the roots of ‘true’ faith lie? In
continuity in the visible church as the
repository of the faith, or in the continuity
of belief among Christians?
Organisation and Personnel
• The Pope (Bishop of Rome) as the
successor of St Peter.
• Cardinals – the college of cardinals comes
to elect the pope
• Archbishops
• Bishops
• Priests
The Pope
• From Latin "papa" or "father" from Greek πάπας,
pápas, "papa“
• Current pope is (conventionally) the 265th
successor to St Peter
• Roman primary clear in second century: St
Irenaeus writes “With [the Church of Rome],
because of its superior origin, all the churches
must agree... and it is in her that the faithful
everywhere have maintained the apostolic
tradition”.
Cardinals
• Responsible for the election of the pope
(at least since 1059)
• Usually also a bishop in the church
• Will be among the closest advisers to the
pope
• Responsible for the administration of the
church sede vacante
Bishops and Archbishops
• responsible for teaching the Catholic faith
and for the administration of the Church
• Area of authority = diocese, or
archdiocese / metropolitan see
• Only a bishop can confer holy orders – i.e.
ordain a priest
• The word episkopoi (bishop) occurs five
times in the New Testament, although its
meaning is disputed
Priest
• The office of the priest, or the priesthood
of all believers?
• Ordained by the bishop
• Responsible for preaching and for the
celebration of the sacraments
• Based in a ‘parish’ church.
What does the Church offer?
• The only route to salvation (life after
death) via the sacraments
• Education
• Definition and Structure of Time
• Adminstration of canon law
• Administration of land (major landowner)
• Social functions in the community
The geography of the afterlife
• Heaven
• Hell
• Purgatory
• Limbo(s)
St Michael weighs souls
Dies Irae (13th century)
Dies iræ! dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla!
Day of wrath! O day of mourning!
See fulfilled the prophets' warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!
Day of Judgement
Securing the fate of the soul
• The sacraments of the church
• Faith and good works
• Prayer and the prayer of others
• Indulgences
Seven deadly sins
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pope Gregory the Great
Pride
Envy
Anger
Avarice
Sadness (later sloth)
Gluttony
Lust
The deadly sins (Chaldon, Surrey,
12th century)
Seven corporal works of mercy
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Give food to the hungry
Give drink to the thirsty
Welcome the stranger
Clothe the naked
Visit the sick
Visit the prisoner
Bury the dead
The sacraments
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Baptism
The eucharist / Mass
Confirmation
Marriage
Holy orders
Reconciliation / confession / penance
Extreme unction / last rites
Liturgical celebration
•
•
•
•
•
Latin
Observation and participation
Praying alongside the priest
Feast days, holy days, festivals
Sacred function and social function – for
example processions at Rogationtide
Books of Hours
•
•
•
•
•
•
Private devotion
Texts, prayers and psalms
Calendar of the feasts of the church
Latin (English = primers)
Based on breviary, monastic prayers
Lay piety mirrors monastic life
Private devotion
Books of the laity?
• Low levels of literacy
• Other forms of communication?
– Images
– Altarpieces
– Preaching – a priority?
– Relics, pilgrimage, sacred space
The Ghent altarpiece
The shrine of St Frideswide (8th
century abbess)
Criticism of the church
•
•
•
•
•
Theological
Opposition to devotional practice
Political
Economic
anticlericalism
Cathars
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Southern France 11th century onwards
Condemned 1179
Rooted in the heresies of the past?
Theological challenge?
Sacraments (consolamentum)
Rival structures
Credentes and perfecti
Suppression
•
•
•
•
Begins in earnest late 11th century
Lateran III (1179)
Political? Popes and princes
Key players: Innocent III; Philip II;
Raymond of Toulouse; Simon de Montfort
• Albigensian Crusade 1208
• Peace of Paris 1229
Challenges for the Historian
• Rhetoric and reality?
• Lack of sources for early Catharism
• Narrative dominated by key incidents
(Beziers)
• Theological, political, territorial and
popular narrative
Narrative of events
• Suppression begins 1179
• 1184 Pope enlists the help of emperor
• Innocent III (1198-1215) holds the power
of the popes in esteem; legalistic
• Tensions build early 13th century
Political factors
• Geography: the bulk of the attention in
South of France
• Raymond Count of Toulouse (1194-1212)
sees himself as virtually independent
• Wealthy but not popular; hard to command
loyalty
• Clash of local autonomy ands traditions
and the demands of the pope
Map of Languedic
Emerging crisis
•
•
•
•
1199: legates sent to Languedoc
1204 Arnold Amalric of Citeaux sent
1206: St Dominic
1207: pope calls on the king to act (but he
is busy fighting the English)
• 1208: assassination of Peter of Castelnau
• Raymond protects the murderer:
excommunicated
Crusade
• Material and eternal reward
• Raymond tried to use crusade to gain
control of territory
• Amalric views him as a heretic
• Raymond reconciled with the church 1209
Phase One 1209-11
• Army gathers July 1209
• Massacre of heretics at Bezier (first target)
• Amalric ‘kill them all. God will know his
own’
• Carcassone falls to crusaders
• Simon de Montfort acquires land
Phase Two 1211-13
• Papal legates try to limit Raymond’s
involvement
• Further victories for Simon
• The defeated towns turn to Raymond as
the army leaves
• Raymond still isolated in Toulouse.
Toulousain territory falls to Simon
Phase Three 1213
• Aragonese involvement: Peter
• Peter is already suzerain in parts of
Southern France
• Presence of Simon is a threat to Peter
• Alliance between Peter and Raymond
• 1213 Peter killed at Battle of Muret
Cathars expelled from Carcassone
Phase Four: 1213-15
• Simon destroys all towns that he cannot
garrison
• Appeals to French king for help
• 1215 Louis VIII makes crusading vow
• Louis attacks Narbonne and Toulouse
then leaves
• 1215 (December) Raymond deprived of all
land; handed to Simon
Phase Five 1215-1225
•
•
•
•
•
•
Counter attack by South
Raymond defeats Simon at Beaucaire
Other towns fall to Raymond – Toulouse 1217
Simon killed in Battle 1218
Midi falls without his leadership
Raymond died 1222; his son takes over
campaign
• 1225 Raymond (VII) excommunicated and
deprived of land
Phase Six 1225-1229
• Honorius II calls crusade
• Louis VIII leads army and conquers Provence,
Avignon, and much of Languedoc and Query
• Louis died 1226
• Southern France exhausted by war
Reconciliation
• Peace of Paris 1229
• Raymond VII swears loyalty to Louis IX
(12 year old boy)
• Lands returned to Raymond, but with
conditions and penalties
• First time that the area has been
controlled by king
• Persecution ends. Last ‘perfecti’ executed
1321 (Guillaume Belibaste)