Christianity and Medieval Society

The Church Shapes Society and Politics

• Church officials (clergy) and their teachings significantly influenced medieval European culture and politics.
• Life centered on the church, hosting markets, festivals, and religious ceremonies.
• People undertook pilgrimages to holy sites such as Jerusalem, Rome, Compostela, and Canterbury.
• Many individuals bequeathed land to the church upon their death, leading to the church becoming a major landholder in Europe.
• Bishops and abbots were deeply involved in political affairs.

Monks and Friars

• Some believed the church should prioritize spiritual matters over wealth and power.
• In the early 900s, French monks established a monastery in Cluny, adhering to a strict schedule of prayers and religious services with little regard for the outside world.
• The changes at Cluny led to the creation of the Cluniac monks, a religious order. A religious order is defined as a group of people dedicating their lives to religion and following common rules.
• Other new religious orders formed, adopting even stricter rules.
• Convents, communities of nuns, also emerged across Europe.
• Not all members of religious orders desired isolation from society; some aimed to live in cities and disseminate Christian teachings.
• The Dominican and Franciscan orders were founded in the early 1200s.
• Members of these orders, known as friars, lived and worked among the general public, distinguishing them from monks who resided in monasteries.
• Friars lived simply, wearing plain robes and no shoes, owning no property, and traveling to preach, sometimes begging for food. They were sometimes called mendicants, derived from the Latin word for beggars.

The Church and the Arts

• From the 1100s, Europeans constructed cathedrals in the Gothic style. These Gothic churches were taller than older churches, featuring buttresses and large stained glass windows allowing sunlight to enter.
• Medieval churches housed paintings and carvings.

Universities are Built

• The church founded some of the earliest universities, with clergy comprising most of the teachers.
• Besides religion, schools taught law, medicine, astronomy and other courses.
• All classes were taught in Latin.
• Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican philosopher and teacher at the University of Paris, posited that rational thought could support Christian beliefs.
• Aquinas believed in natural law, a law created by God, that governed the world.