Peace of God: A movement by the Church to protect non-combatants during feudal warfare.
Gothic: An architectural style (12th–16th c.) featuring pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and stained glass to elevate spiritual experience.
Gregory I the Great: Pope who strengthened papal power, promoted monasticism, and influenced early medieval Church doctrine.
Investiture Controversy: A conflict over the appointment of church officials, particularly bishops, between secular rulers and the papacy.
Henry III: Holy Roman Emperor involved in early Church reform, asserting imperial authority over papal appointments.
Iconoclasm: The rejection or destruction of religious images, especially in Byzantine Christianity, notably under Leo III and Leo the Isaurian.
Leo the Isaurian: Byzantine emperor who initiated the first phase of Iconoclasm (726–741).
Foundation Charter of Cluny: Document founding the Cluniac monastery, emphasizing reform and independence from lay control.
Charlemagne: First Holy Roman Emperor, champion of Christianity, and sponsor of the Carolingian Renaissance.
Carolingian Renaissance: A revival of learning and culture under Charlemagne, focusing on classical texts and Christian education.
Simony: The buying or selling of church offices or roles, a major issue of reform.
Saxon Capitulary: Laws issued by Charlemagne enforcing Christian practice among the Saxons.
Gero Crucifix:
Lay Investiture: The practice where secular leaders appointed church officials—central to the Investiture Controversy.
Papal Pornocracy: A term used to describe a period of corruption in the papacy, especially during the 10th century.
Dictatus Papae: A 1075 decree by Pope Gregory VII asserting papal authority over secular rulers.
Leo IX: Reform pope who fought simony and lay investiture, initiating the Papal Reform movement.
Urban II: Pope who launched the First Crusade in 1095 with the Council of Clermont.
Crusades: A series of religious wars sanctioned by the Church, aimed primarily at reclaiming Jerusalem and aiding the Byzantine Empire.
Peter Damian: Monk and reformer who opposed clerical corruption and promoted asceticism.
Papal Monarchy: Refers to the growing power of kings and emperors over religious affairs.
St. Boniface: Missionary who spread Christianity in Germany and supported Church reform.
Letter to Baugulf: Written by Alcuin to a monastery, emphasizing learning and moral living.
Anselm: Theologian and philosopher known for the ontological argument for God’s existence.
Peter Abelard: Philosopher and theologian known for his logical method and controversial love affair with Héloïse.
Documents
John of Damascus: Defended the veneration of icons during the Iconoclastic Controversy, arguing images help elevate the mind to God.
Said images can be verbal (scripture), corporeal (depictions), and allegorical (symbolic).
Stated: “It is impossible to make an image of God… yet we perceive Him through material things.”
Essay Themes
Major figures of the Byzantine Empire and their influence on the development of Christianity and the post-Chalcedonian debates:
Justinian
Theodora
Heraclius
Leo the Isaurian
Significance of Justinian:
Hagia Sophia
Code of Justinian
Conquests
Monasteries
3 Chapters and relations with the Pope
Iconoclastic controversy:
History and importance
Relationship of religion and politics in the Byzantine Empire
Impact on relations between Rome and Constantinople (Leo and Constantine)
Eventual end of the controversy and the Triumph of Orthodoxy
Gradual separation between Rome and Constantinople resulting in the schism of 1054.
Transition from late antique to medieval Christianity:
Gregory the Great
Benedict of Nursia
Developments on the Continent and in England and Ireland.
Traditions of Irish monasticism and their influence on England and the Continent:
Missionary tradition
Austere lives of the Irish monks
Irish influence on English monasticism and its missionaries like St. Boniface
Boniface and the English monks/missionaries’ influence on reform in the Carolingian world.
Gradual conversion of Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire and the acceptance of Christianity, in its Arian and Catholic forms, by the Germans.
Problems facing the Frankish Church in the early 700s and the reforms of Charlemagne and the Carolingian dynasty.
Charlemagne’s reign:
Ideas about Christian kingship
Motivations
Conquests
Relationship with the Pope and Church
Reforms of the clergy (priests, bishops, monks):
Reorganization of the church hierarchy
Contacts with the Pope in Rome
Concerns with the salvation of people and efforts in improving the life of the Church and all Christians in the empire.
Purpose and accomplishments of the Carolingian Renaissance.
Civil wars and invasions (Magyars, Muslims, Vikings) that brought about the collapse of the Empire and the emergence of new forms of religious and political life after the year 1000.
Gregorian Reform and the great reform movement of the 11th Century:
Causes and consequences
Challenges faced by the Church in the 11th century:
Ignorant priests, immoral priests, married priests, absent priests
Eigenkirchen (“proprietary churches” founded by laymen on their property and so not part of the church infrastructure and staffed by untrained priests).
Bishops acting as princes, more concerned with power than preaching, serving both the church and the state (especially in Germany/Holy Roman Empire where the king/emperor generally appointed the bishops as part of his duties as ruler—the Reichskirchensystem).
Problems with simony (buying and selling of church offices/spiritual things), Nicolaitism (clerical marriage), and lay investiture.
Reforms at Cluny and the early phases of the reform movement in the 10th and 11th centuries, including the actions of Henry III at Sutri (1046).
Problems and challenges in Rome:
Italian families competing to control the papacy and its patronage
Traditions of the papal pornocracy.
Gregory VII:
Career and relationship with Henry IV
Role before becoming pope
Strong support of the reform of the church
Creation of a hierarchical church with the pope on top and a clear divide between the laity and the clergy
Policies, Henry’s ideas about kingship, and the Investiture Controversy.
Consequences of Reform:
Crusades
Papal Monarchy
12th-Century Renaissance
Urban II and his role in defending Gregorian Reform.
Urban and the creation of the papal monarchy:
Use of cardinals and legates and new departments
Creation of the papal court
Infrastructure necessary to implement reform and papal authority.
Urban and the Crusades, especially the First Crusade (1095-99):