The Catholic Church, Feudalism, Manorialism

  • apolistic succession - direct, uninterrupted line of continuity from the first Apostles of Jesus Christ; messages Jesus passed down remain the same today
  • papal infallibility - the pope cna never be wrong about anything regarding Christianity
  • Apostles - right before Jesus dies, he goes to hsi friends and tells Peter to take over after he dies (power: God → Jesus → Peter → popes…)
  • Pentecost - little fires that symbolize “tones a-flame” moment when the APostles were given ability to speak many languages to spread the Gospel

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Major Events

  • The Edict of Milan (313 CE) - established toleration for Christians in Roman Empire
      * promoted spread
      * helped build hierarchy
  • First Council of Nicea (325 CE) - they came together for a consensus on what they believe
      * Jesus is the son of God and fully human
  • The Vulgate Bible (382 CE) - first Latin translation of the bible
      * the catholic church will do all sermons, prayers, etc. in Latin until like the 1970s
      * barrier - pretty much only the catholic church uses this language, helps build the church

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Life in the Church

How do you get to heaven?
  • life as a peasant SUCKS, so the only appeal is to go to heaven
  • 3 part equation to get to heaven:
      * believe in Jesus
      * Do good works (not a murderer)
      * receive mandantory sacraments by a priest - don’t make them mad!
        * conformation, holy communion (transsubstantiation), confession, last rites, holy order, marriage
        * transubstantiation - when a priest blesses bread and wine it becomes a body of Jesus Christ
  • they have lots of power with excommunication (stop communicating with you → you don’t get the sacraments → you go to hell)
      * you can be recommunicated
  • they hold the gates to heaven

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Catholic Church Hierarchy

Pope → Cardinal → Archbishop → Bishop

  • cardinal - northeast america
  • archbishop - large area (NY)
  • bishop - cities (Dallas)
  • Great Schism (1054) - large breakup: Catholics and East Orthodox
      * in the west, they have political power through excommunication
      * in the east, the state has control
      * opposites!

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Feudalism

  • feudalism - complex set of customs, rights, and obligations that bound warriors (lords, vassals, knights) to each other and peasants to them due to the political fragmentation of Europe
      * people are greedy and go to other lords for more lands… results in a very messy system
        * who should you pay loyalty to now?
      * maniorialism - essential part of feudal society that emphasized the rural economy with a lord’s manor (fief)
        * lord’s wealth was accumulated through the contributions of the serfs as part of their feudal contract

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