History of the Catholic Church
A 2,000-Year Journey
214 Church History
Part 3
The Church
of the Early
Middle Ages
Changing the Face of Europe
 Islamic threat grows – Northern Africa falls along with
much of East. Invasions stopped in Spain.
3
End of the Dark Ages
 Islam on the move – armies of
Arabs on jihad devastated North
Africa
 Mediterranean becomes a
Muslim lake
 Italy and other coastal areas
constantly attacked by fierce
raiding parties who even raid
inland
Moorish Chieftain
 Constantinople, capital of Byzantium, is attacked
 Spain overrun by Arabs and Berber allies, but one small
area is held by the Christians
4
Not Entirely Dark: An Example
John Philoponus, Christian Scientist, Philosopher,
Theologian (c. 490-570)
It was because of (not despite) his Christianity that he
could go against 1,000 years of Hellenistic belief…
5
 Stars: mutable objects; corruptible matter
 Sun is fire
 Appearance of cosmic changelessness is the mere effect of
the immense temporal and spatial intervals of cosmic
movement
 Argued against Aristotle: light moves
 Hypothesized that space above the atmosphere is a
vacuum
As a Christian, he saw the entire universe as a “creature” of
God
Saving Europe – Tours (Poitiers)
 Moors (Arab/Berbers) stormed
into France
 Pepin’s son, Charles Martel
scraped together a Franksh
army to meet the Moors as they
rode north
 Clash at Tours a turning point in
European history – Franks
soundly defeated the Moors and
turned them back from Europe
Battle of Tours
 Wake-up call for do-nothing Merovingian kings
 Charles’ prestige passed to his son, Pepin the Short
6
Pepin the Short…and Strong
 Pepin wrote to the Pope:
“Who should rule, he who
inherited a title, or he who
actually rules?”
 Pepin crowned king
 Pepin’s concept of kingship:
“To us the Lord has
entrusted the care of
government.”
 Very different from tribal
concept of kingship: state
personal possession of the
king
7
Pepin the Short
Pepin and St. Boniface
 Pepin also established Papal States
 Invited St. Boniface to reform whole
of Western Frankish Church
 St. Boniface very successful
converting German tribes
 Everywhere he promoted the
authority of the papacy and the
need for Catholic rulers to defend it
 Boniface died a martyr, June 5, 754
 Pepin overshadowed by his son,
Charles the Great who inaugurated
the Carolingian era
St. Boniface
8
Irish Monks: Saving Civilization
 Toward the end of Merovingian rule in
the kingdom of the Franks, learning
had nearly disappeared
 Ignorance was widespread and writing
itself had greatly deteriorated
 The Irish missionaries saved the day
(and the civilization) by:
 Reforming monastic life and
discipline
 Restoring ascetic ideals, even
among the laity
 Focusing on literacy among the
Franks and others
9
St. Columbanus
Charlemagne, King of the Franks
10
 Unlike Pepin, Charles was supersized
 1st concern: order throughout
Frankish realm & defend borders
 In 30 years he waged 60
campaigns, half of them personally
 He fought Muslims in Spain,
Basques in the Pyrenees, wild
Avars in Hungary, and pacified
northern Italy
 Biggest headache: pagan Saxons
 Forced conversion on Saxons;
resettled them within his realm
Charlemagne
King of the Franks
Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor
 Turning point: Christmas Day, 800
 Pope St. Leo III crowned Charles as
Roman Emperor
 Coronation represents two important
developments:
1.
2.
Restoration of the Western Roman Empire
– dream of European unity under a
Catholic ruler would survive the empire’s
demise
Shift in geographical focus of Western
civilization – from Mediterranean (Mare
nostrum) to the North
Henri Pirenne: “Had there been no Mohammed,
there would have been no Charlemagne.”
11
Charlemagne
Charlemagne’s Reforms
12
 Economic reforms under
Charlemagne
 Agricultural innovations
produced a true agricultural
revolution
 Issued standardized coins to
facilitate local trade
 Muslim conquests hindered
foreign trade, but Charlemagne
The Caliph and Charlemagne
achieved increase in foreign
 Charlemagne even
trade by using Jewish
corresponded with the
merchants who moved in both
legendary Caliph of
Christian and Muslim worlds
Bagdad, Harun al-Rashid.
Carolingian Renaissance: Education
13
 Charlemagne also began a great
educational and cultural revival
 Great need, particularly among
clergy
 Opened school at Aachen, his
capital, to promising students of all
classes –included girls
 Same occurred throughout the
country
 Schools used ingenious methods
and specified humane treatment of
students – with playtime & exercise
 Recruited Alcuin, English deacon
Charlemagne
receiving Alcuin
Carolingian Renaissance: Art
14
 Charlemagne also supported
a revival of the arts and
architecture
 One of his greatest works
was his palace chapel built in
the Byzantine style with a
design and mosaics modeled
after a Byzantine church he
had visited in Ravenna
 Charlemagne had numerous
other building projects (many
of wood perished in the
barbarian waves late in the 9th
century
Charlemagne’s Palace
Chapel in Aachen
(Aix-la- Chapelle)
Alcuin
 Alcuin recruited the best and
the brightest scholars of
Europe
 Unlocked what had been
preserved for centuries in
the monasteries
 Stressed the mastery of
Latin, the need for books,
and careful copying of texts
 These scholars also
contributed much original
work of their own
15
Books & Writing
“Our whole knowledge of
ancient literature is due to
the collecting and copying
that began under
Charlemagne, and almost
any classical text that
survived until the eighth
century has survived till
today.” – Kenneth Clark
16
Few people today
realize that only
three or four
original antique
manuscripts of the
Latin authors are
still in existence.
Books & Writing
 Even in the 6th Century scribes
were busy copying the Scriptures
 Alcuin’s zeal for books and
libraries was echoed throughout
the Carolingian world
 Carolingian miniscule – a new
form or writing, tremendous
improvement – clearly formed
letters, upper and lower case,
spaces between words
 Charlemagne demanded homilies
be translated into common
languages so all people could
benefit from them
17
Agricultural Revolution
Beginning with Charlemagne, many
improvements in how land was
farmed in Europe: an true agricultural
revolution
 Rediscovery of Roman farm
technology (waterwheel)
 Development of the heavy plow,
horseshoe, new horse harness
3 Whippletree Set
 Dense forests cleared for farming
 Dikes created to hold back the sea and enclose fertile soil
 Three-field system of crop rotation – increased output to support larger
population
18
 Moved beyond subsistence farming – more people could take up
trades – villages grew
Alfred the Great (849-899)
19
 English king who, like
Charlemagne, strongly
encouraged education
 Ensured classics of previous
centuries were translated
into Anglo Saxon
 Personally translated for his
people works on the Church,
geography and other
subjects in simple and
popular style, often adding
simple material of his own
composition
Chaos in Rome, Barbarians Again
 After Charlemagne’s death in 814 his
empire was divided in two with a Middle
Kingdom in between
 Barbarian and Muslim attacks continued,
battering Europe
 Papacy too (with a few exceptions)
reached an all-time low
 Manipulated elections; popes deposed
and replaced
 Decline of royal political control; feudal
lords gobbled up Church land with
impunity
 Viking raiders from Scandinavia;
Magyars from Eastern Europe
20
Viking
Serf and Turf
It’s for whacking
peasants. I call it
a serfboard.
21
Feudalism
 Complex roots in Roman times & Germanic
customs -- by the 800’s invaders and ineffective
rulers had splintered the Carolingian Empire
 Feudalism: a kind of coping mechanism
 Only a strong local warlord could maintain order
& public safety – needed support of fighting
men loyal to him (vassals)
 Feudal pyramid: Cavalry (vassals) required
horses and land which the lord would give in
return for loyalty
 Meanwhile, who farmed the land? The fighting men needed farmers,
and the farmers (non-warriors) needed protection – manorialism
22
 Peasants (serfs) lived on lords’ & vassals’ manors cared for the land &
produced the food – received a place to live, protection
Feudalism
 Serfs made up the bottom lever of
feudalism’s pyramid, vassals the middle and
overlords and kings the top.
 Feudal/manorial system at top & bottom
could be brutal with thugs fighting each other
and brutalizing peasants – and would have
been much worse without the Church
 Early on relationships between lords &
vassals were ingeniously Christianized
Roland giving fealty
 Lords & liegemen swore solemn oaths before
clergy to defend & support each other
 Knights swore to protect the clergy, poor & weak and not to harm
their property (the Peace of God)
23
 Truce of God limited times when fighting could be done and finally
eliminated most private wars altogether
Feudalism – a Way of Life for Christendom
 Bishops and abbots often
had large landholdings, and
monasteries reflected feudal
estates in organization,
management, and selfsufficiency.
 Feudalism offered stability
and protection and became a
way of life.
 Hard work, warfare and
primitive living conditions
prevailed for all levels.
Cluny
24
Decline of Feudalism
Rise of King’s
Power
King
Nobles
Growth of
villages &
towns
In France, Spain &
England
Knights
Peasants (serfs)
Wars among nobles
make them weaker
Better life in towns
More trade,
more towns
Trade
Developed
25
More peasants
moved to towns
Kings took
back their
land &
power
Kings with more
power
Create centralized
government
Feudalism
26
The Rise of Towns
 Agricultural revolution – increase in
superfluous serfs who yearned to set up
shop in local villages
 Villages growing into towns – organized and
self-governing – irresistible to ambitious &
talented serfs
 Lords often stymied by military strength of
towns & their walls – and that most were
outside their jurisdiction
 “Town air makes free” – if a man could
support himself in a town for a year and a
day, he was no longer a serf but a freeman
 Feudal trappings would survive, but the
towns with their new middle class became
the center for schools and guilds
27
Medieval Town
The Guilds
28
Organizations of masters and apprentices in
various crafts, profoundly influenced by
Catholic principles:
 Guildsmen had to charge customer a just
price & deliver a quality product
 Guildsmen agreed to limit hours of work
and provide just compensation for his
workers
 Guildsmen required to assist ill or injured
members – came to provide insurance, etc.
 Every guild had a patron saint & celebrated
the feast day with Mass and processions
 Guilds contributed to the support and
artistic decoration of the local church, and
provided for the schooling of talented youth
Guildsmen
The Role of Kings
29
The emergence of national kings throughout
Europe meant the reappearance of central
political authority and the hope of peace and order
 Royal rights were contested by powerful feudal
nobility, so kings sought allies elsewhere
 The towns withstood the opposition of feudal
aristocracy by appealing to the kings
 In return for a charter from the king and his
protection, towns gave their allegiance
 Rich and powerful towns made this cooperation
valuable and weakened the impact of the
country warlords
 11th century produced some remarkable and
admirable kings: Stephen of Hungary, Henry II
of Germany
Henry II of
Germany
Divine Right of Kings
“Once you get past the divine right of kings,
I’m not much into theology"
30
Early Middle Ages
 Early form of Divine Right
of Kings
 Lay Investiture
Controversy
 Popes & many bishops
function as Territorial
Rulers
 Inheritance Disputes
 Simony
31
Renewals & Reforms in the Early
Medieval Church
 Carolingian Reform (9th
Century)
 Cluniac Reform (10th
Century)
 Reforms started by
Pope St. Leo IX (11th
Century)
 Gregorian Reform:
Pope St. Gregory VII
(11th Century)
32
1,000 A.D. – A New Sprit
The early springtime of Christendom
 Invasions has ceased (except for Norman
raids)
 Badly needed reforms had begun in the
Church
 Nations were being organized under
competent Christian kings
 Standard of living on the rise
 Church architecture reflected these changes
One chronicler wrote:
“One might have said that the whole world was
shaking off the robes of age and pulling on a
white mantle of churches.”
33
Abbaye aux Dames,
Caen, 1050 AD
From the Ground Level
 Theologians denying the
deposit of faith
 Heretical sects spreading
 Priests discarding celibacy
 Bishops buying their offices
 Popes either morally
deficient or were met with
indifference
 Lay interference
34
The Move Toward Reform
35
 Wealth & political importance caused
ecclesiastical positions to be regarded as
desirable sources or prestige & power
 Spiritual character of offices obscured;
kings filled offices with unqualified
laymen to gain favor or payment
 Vows of chastity & poverty forgotten
 Growth of general sentiment – among
monks, rulers & laity – of what was
wrong and a desire to root out evil
 This groundswell of indignation came to a
head just as the papacy was ready to act
 Some outstanding, fearless figures rose
up to demand reform and condemn the
sins of both clergy and laity
A Cistercian (11th
Century)
Reform: the Beginnings
 Monasteries too had fallen under the
influence of the age -- 1st Step was a
renewal of monastic fervor
 Reorganization of Benedictine life – Cluny
established (910) by William, Duke of Acquitane
 Camaldolese hermits by St. Romuald (1012)
 Vallumbrosan hermits by St. John Gualbery (1038)
 Alpine hospices by St. Bernard of Menthon (1008)
 Exerted a profound influence on Church life
36
 Rules reserved an ideal of law & order during a
period of civil wars & social unrest
 By their austerities they made reparation for
widespread sin
 They brought about a return to deeper spiritual life
among both clergy and laity
 Prepared the way for the faithful to receive the grace
needed to enact real reform based on prayer & selfdenial
Councils & Preachers
 Councils and preachers
attached the evils of simony,
breaches of vows of celibacy,
and clerical worldliness
 The push, however, was to
ensure only worthy candidates
would be accepted into the
priesthood and hierarchy
 1st top-level reforms begun by
Pope Leo IX (d. 1054) and his
immediate successor, Pope
Nicholas II (d. 1061)
37
Pope St. Leo IX
Growth of Papal Power
Pope St. Gregory VII
To free the Church from political
control, Pope St. Gregory VII (107385) attacked 3 evils:
 Simony [buying and selling of
ecclesiastical offices/spiritual
goods]
 Alienation of property [the passing
of Church property into the private
hands of a bishop’s or priest’s
offspring]
 Lay investiture
38
Pope St. Gregory VII
Growth of Papal Power
Pope St. Gregory VII
To restore the authority of the pope
over the Church he:
 Decreed that the pope held supreme
power over all Christian souls – the
supreme judge under God alone
(1075)
 Made all bishops and abbots subject
to him; declared his powers of
absolution and excommunication
were absolute. [Dictatus Papae].
 Asserted papal authority over
Emperor Henry IV.
 Established Roman Curia as the
central organ of church government
39
Pope St. Gregory VII
Catholic Thought & Culture
St. Peter Damien (d. 1072)
 Italian Benedictine monk; unbending foe of corruption &
laxity
 Authored important works on liturgy & moral theology
 Supported future Pope St. Gregory VII in his struggle
for the rights of the Church
St. Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109)
 Archbishop of Canterbury, defended Church’s rights
& liberties against encroachments of English kings
 Philosopher & theologian, developed a method of
reasoning; prepared the way for the great thinkers
 Devotion to Our Lady; first to establish the feast of
the Immaculate Conception in the West
40
Catholic Thought & Culture
St. Wulstan (d. 1095)
 English monk & bishop
 Relentless reformer; enforcer of celbacy
 Ended the salve trade in England & Ireland
French Scholars
 Sylvester II (Gerbert of Aurillac), elected Pope
in 999, was perhaps the greatest scholar of
his time; strong promoter of education,
particularly among the clergy
 The Cluniac reformers also had a strong
impact on monastic education – relationship
between morally good living & good thinking
 Fulbert, student of Gerbert, bishop of
Chartres, inspired teacher and reformer
41
St. Wulstan of
Worcester
Culture in Germany
Hroswitha of Gandersheim (d. 1002)
 Nun & poet; 1st Christian dramatist; 1st female
historian
 Writings emphasized virtue and role of Our
Lady as an ideal; wrote in Latin
Bl. Herman Contractus of Reichenau
(d. 1054)
42
 Crippled scholar; scarcely able to sit up or
speak; yet his knowledge was encyclopedic
 Authored numerous works of prose, poetry,
mathematics, history
 Authored many hymns including the Salve
Regina, still sung today
East-West Schism [1054 A.D.]
Remote causes: Disagreements on
Doctrine & Authority
 Beginning Nicaea (325) Church formally
defined important doctrines
 Disagreements often came from the East
(Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria,
Constantinople)
 Although Eastern Church (through Bishop of
Constantinople) recognized Pope as
successor of Peter and head of the whole
Church, resentment arose – sense that West
dictated to East – and there were often
temporary estrangements
43
East-West Schism [1054 A.D.]
Remote causes: National Churches
 Effects of various Eastern heresies and the
consequent rise of national churches
 From the 5th Century: Arianism,
Nestorianism, Monophysitism initiated the
separation and subdivision into more
Eastern churches
 These became the national churches quite
early on, preceding the Great Schism to
come:
 Coptic Churches of Egypt and Abyssinia
(Ethiopia)
 Jacobite Churches if Syria and Armenia
 Nestorian Churches of Mesopotamia and
Persia (Iraq & Iran)
44
East-West Schism [1054 A.D.]
Remote Causes: Iconoclast Crisis
 Icons: stylized paintings of Christ, Mary
& the saints – generally on wood (except
for hands and face) and covered with a
relief of pearls, silver & gold
 Opposition to the veneration of icons
initiated by Eastern emperors had two
phases:
1. Begun by Emperor Leo the Isaurian in 728;
ended in 787 when 2nd Council of Nicaea
condemned the heresy & allowed veneration
of sacred images
2. Began under Leo V in 814; ended in 842 when
the Feast of Orthodoxy was established by
Empress Theodora
45
East-West Schism [1054 A.D.]
Remote Causes: Opposing
Ecclesiologies
46
 Deeper level – opposing views on the
nature and structure of the Church
 East’s view incorporated into its view of
the Church's union with the Empire; saw,
for example, relationships between
bishops merely as administrative
problems
 Over time Eastern Church focused on its
autonomy within borders of Eastern
Empire
 Western Church further defined its
concept of the Primacy making it even
more catholic (universal) and absolute
East-West Schism [1054 A.D.]
Prelude to the Schism
 Mid 9th Century St. Ignatius, Bishop of Constainople,
denounced immorality of emperor. Ignatius was
deposed and Photius replaced him
 867 Photius summoned a synod; attacked “errors” of
Western Church; excommunicated pope
 One of the “errors” was inclusion of words, “and from
the Son” (Filioque) in Nicene Creed
 Council of Constantinople (381) had left question
open – Eastern Church preferred “and through the
Son.”
 10-year estrangement – when Ignatius died in 877,
Pope John VIII appointed Photius to vacant see (878)
if Photius agreed to submit to Holy See in all matters
and make reparations for his past errors. Photius
remained faithful to the pope until his death.
47
Photius
East-West Schism [1054 A.D.]
The Schism
48
 In 1043 the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael
Cerularius, rivived Photius’ old charges and added
some new ones
 He began a major anti-Roman campaign, closing
Latin-rite churches and attacking the papacy
 Pope Leo IX sent delegates to Constantinople
without success.
 On July 16, 1054 Michael Celularius was solemnly
excommunicated
 Celularius responded by calling an Eastern synod
and excommunicated the Pope and the entire Latin
Church
 This began the schism that still divides the East from
Rome
Michael Cerularius
East-West Schism [1054 A.D.]
The Aftermath
 After the schism, relations between the two
Churches continued to disintegrate
 Despite the split Pope Urban II sought to help
free Byzantine territory from the Muslim Turks
and then regain the Holy Land from the Saracen
Muslims by launching the first Crusade in 1096
 By the Fourth Crusade [1202-1204] the sack of
Constantinople by Christian knights dealt the
death blow to East-West unity
 Reconciliation attempts were made in 1274 at the
Council of Lyons and again in 1438-49 at the
Council of Florence -- both were unsuccessful
49
Pope Urban II
East-West Schism [1054 A.D.]
The Aftermath
50
 Church of Constantinople & other Eastern Churches banded together
in a group known as the “Orthodox Eastern Church” in which the
Patriarch of Constantinople held a kind of precedence
 The term “Orthodox” had originally been applied to Churches that
accepted the Council of Chalcedon against the Nestorian and
Monophysite heretics; now it applied to Eastern Churches in schism
with Rome
 After the fall of Constantinople (1453) Eastern Churches broke up into
autonomous national Churches
 Grave consequences: Church unity in the East suffered and gave rise
to splintered Churches; missionary work in Asia and Africa stopped;
the Church was confined to Europe until the 16th century
 In 1964 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras met in Jerusalem and
lifted the mutual excommunication orders of 1054. Dialogue continues.
The Crusades: Truth & Fiction
 Much has been stated about the Crusades
that is far from accurate
 There were both good and bad aspects to
the Crusades & we will address both
 The Crusades were a concerted effort to
rescue the Holy Land from the hands of
infidels
 Their results were mixed at best –
although some achieved considerable
victories
51
 They did, however, unify Christians of
different countries under a common
banner and with a common sacred goal
The Crusades: Remote Causes
 The Crusades finally began nearly five
centuries after Muslim armies had set
out to conquer the Christian world
 By the time the Crusades began (1095),
Muslim armies had conquered two-thirds
of the Christian world
 The Crusades began:







52
457 years after Jerusalem was conquered
453 years after Egypt was taken
443 years after Italy was first plundered
380 years after Spain was conquered
363 years after France was attacked
249 years after Rome was sacked
Only after centuries of church burnings, killings, enslavement and
forced conversions of Christians
The Crusades: Prelude
 During Charlemagne’s time and afterwards
Christian pilgrims could usually visit the
Holy Land without too much interference. It
was then ruled by the Caliphate of Egypt
 But in the 11th century things changed -even before the Seljuk Turks conquered
Jerusalem (1071), Christian pilgrims were
harassed and killed
 In 1095 When the Seljuks threatened to
attack Constantinople, Byzantine Emperor
Alexios I asked the Pope to aid the Church
and the Eastern Empire.
53
Byzantine Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos
The Crusades: Immediate Cause
Pope Urban II's Speech
Clermont, France in 1095
 In 1094 or 1095, Byzantine Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos asked the pope, Urban
II, for aid against the Seljuq Turks, who
taken nearly all of Asia Minor from him
 At the council of Clermont Urban
addressed a great crowd and urged all to
go to the aid of the Greeks and to recover
Palestine from the rule of the Muslims
 The Pope’s summons brought thousands of
Frenchman, Germans, English and Italians
willing to go off on such a mission
54
 On their chests they bore a cross of red
fabric and became known as crociati or
Crusaders
1st Crusade 1095 AD
55
The Seven Crusades
 1st Crusade – 1095 – Pope Urban II
 2nd Crusade – 1147 -- Pope Eugene III
 3rd Crusade – 1190 – Richard
Lionhearted
 4th Crusade – 1202 – Sack of
Constantinople
 5th Crusade – 1217-1221 – Lateran
Counsil
 6th Crusade – 1248 1248) –St. Louis IX
 7th Crusade – 1270 – St. Louis IX
56
The Siege of Jerusalem
 1000s died during the siege, many innocents
 Yes there were Crusader atrocities; no
excuse but there were far greater ones by the
Turks
 Crusaders were at the limit of their
endurance, starving and dehydrated, and
forced to endure systematic mockery of
Christianity and murders of Christians by
Muslims on the walls
 When siege broke, several commanders tried
to restrain their men, but without unified
command little could restrain the besiegers
 As bad as it was, it paled compared to what
1000s of Christians suffered at the hands of
Muslim armies
57
The Crusades: Providential Role
 Crusades played a providential role in the life of the Church
– even though sometimes diverted from their sacred
purpose and misused by some participants
 Revealed the extraordinary spirit of faith that prevailed
throughout Christendom in the Middle Ages
 At the Pope’s request, hundreds of thousands left all they
had to face danger and death in distant lands in a noble
effort to recover the sacred places where Jesus walked
 Crusades brought West back into contact with the East’s
science, literature and art, opening up new worlds of
thought for Western scholars
 Opened trade routes to the Orient, stimulated commerce
 Preserved the Church in the West from Islamic conquest,
allowing Christian medieval culture time to develop in peace
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The Crusades: Orders of Knights
Presence of Crusaders in the East led to the
formation of religious orders of knighthood
 Knights Templars – founded 1119 in
Jerusalem; lived under the Rule of St.
Bernard; took vows of poverty, chastity and
obedience, plus a vow to protect pilgrims;
white mantle & red cross
 Knights Hospitallers – founded 1137 from
the hospital of St. John at Jerusalem; took
the 3 religious vows plus vow to care for sick;
became known as Knights of Malta; black
mantle & white cross
 Teutonic Order of Knights – founded 1190
at Acre; took 3 religious vows plus another to
care for sick; white mantle & black cross
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New Religious Orders
 The Church was faced with the
growing spiritual needs of an ever
increasing number of members
 As people began to live in cities and
towns, the mendicant orders became
for them a means of salvation –
foremost were the Franciscans &
Dominicans
 Contemplative orders also grew
substantially and it was in this period
that the Carthusians and Cistercians
came on the scene
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New Religious Orders: Contemplatives
Carthusians
 Founded by St. Bruno of
Cologne – end of 11th century
 Prayer, manual work, study,
perpetual silence, abstinence
from meat
Cistercians
 Founded by St. Bernard of
Clairvaux in 1112
 Bernard considered the last
Father of the Latin Church
Canons Regular
 Combined the cloister with
parish life
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New Religious Orders: Mendicants
Franciscans
 Founded by Francis of Assisi
(d. 1226) – determined to follow
ideal of evangelical poverty
 St. Clare: Poor Clares in prayer
and strict seclusion
 Approved by Pope Honorius III
in 1223
Dominicans
 Founded by St. Dominic (d.
1221) – Friars Preachers –
conversion of heretics
 Approved by Pope Honorius III
in 1216
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Carmelites & Augustinians
 Other mendicant orders began
to adapt rules to new modes of
religious life
 Mendicants lived among faithful
 Friars made contemplation
overflow into works of charity
Canon Law
 Canon Law had existed in various
“codes” since Church’s beginning
 Their sources included: Scripture;
church councils; texts of the Church
Fathers (patristic writings); Roman Law;
papal documents.
 During the 9th Century numerous codes
were published based on forged
documents – designed to support
certain corrupt behaviors
 The Church-wide reforms of the 11th
Century also led to reforms in Canon
Law to counteract corruption and
abuses
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Canon Law
 As they struggled to justify their
vision of the Church, reformers
realized that the Church needed
a body of law that would be
recognized throughout
Christendom.
 They also realized there should
be a central authority with the
power to modify and change law
when needed. Ultimately they
recognized that the papacy
should be the center of that
reform
 The eleventh-century canonists emphasized papal judicial and
legislative primacy as it had never before in the canonical tradition.
They created a new Petrine ecclesiology.
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Canon Law
 Gratian of Bologna [d. 1170?] – “Father of Canon
Law”
 Gratian's
Decretum quickly
became the
standard
textbook of
medieval canon
law
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Gratian
Canon Law
 Pope Gregory IX [d. 1241] summoned
Raymond of Pennafort to Rome in 1230
and asked him to compile a new
codification that would replace all earlier
collections of decretals with one volume
 Gregory promulgated the new collection in
1234 and, along with Gratian’s Decretum, it
became the most important collection of
papal decretals in the schools and in the
courts of Europe
 These codifications strongly supported
papal authority
 Legalism within the Church was firmly
established by the middle of the 13th
century
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Raymond of Pennafort
Rise of the University [1000 A.D.]
 Cathedral Schools &
Monasteries were
established mostly for the
education of clerics and
monks; sometimes also
open to sons of nobles.
 Preservation/copying of
ancient manuscripts &
liturgical books; Cluny &
Gregorian Reforms
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Bologna
Abelard: Flawed Superstar
 Teacher in Cathedral schools of Paris
 Students came from all over to study
under him – theology & philosophy
 New approach in using principles of
Greek logic – dialectics – to study matters
of faith
 Wrote books on ethics, logic and
universals
 Controversial in his approach to Scripture
and theology, he was nevertheless the
first of the great teachers of the 2nd
millennium
 Scandal with his young student, Heloise,
and their son, Astrolobus – secret
marriage. Later he became a monk and
she a nun. Buried together.
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Abelard
Bernard of Clairvaux
 Wanted to remain in his monastic cell, but
kept encountering wrongs to right
 Revitalized the Cistercians; sorted out a
painful papal schism; preached the 2nd
Crusade; advised Popes bluntly; wrote
wonderful works of mystic theology;
 Accused of being puritanical, he strived
for austerity in the Cistercians – no
distractions
 Called Abelard’s theology “foolology” &
secured Abelard’s condemnation at
Counsil of Sens (1141)
 Was reconciled with Abelard by Abbot
Peter the Venerable of Cluny
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Bernard of
Clairvaux
Intellectual Life in the High Middle Ages
 Rediscovery of the writings
of Aristotle (monasteries &
Arabic sources)
 Slow/gradual process;
many church leaders
resisted newer methods -truth comes from God's
revelation, not human
reason
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 Foundation of independent Universities in Bologna (1088),
Paris (1150), Oxford (1167), Cambridge (1208), Salamanca
(1218), etc.
 Establishment of four separate/specialized faculties: theology,
philosophy, law, and medicine
The Scholastics (Schoolmen)
These medieval intellectuals presupposed the compatibility of faith &
reason, uniting philosophy & theology thereby unifying the accummulated
knowledge up to this time:
 St. Bonaventure, OFM (1221-74), thought that the
human will was more important than the human
intellect
 Thomas Aquinas, OP
(1225-74), the most
influential of all
Christian theologians:
comprehensive
systemic "Thomism"
St. Bonaventure
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St. Thomas Aquinas
The Scholastics (Schoolmen)
Examples of applying scholastic
thinking to religious questions:
 What is a sacrament? How do they
convey grace? How many are there?
 How can one explain the "real
presence" of Jesus in the
Eucharistic bread & wine?
(“transubstantiation”)
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