Preview

kknmn

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1001 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
kknmn
The Role of the Church in the Middle Ages

The Catholic Church played a major role in all areas of medieval life. Faced with the hardships of everyday living, people found hope in Christian teachings. They turned to the Church for guidance and comfort. For peasants and nobles alike, the Church offered a chance at salvation and eternal life. This was important because life was hard during the Middle Ages and it gave people something to look forward to in their next life. The path to salvation included the sacraments, the seven sacred rites that were administered by the Church. The sacraments included baptism and Holy Communion. The Church also played a central role in political affairs. Because they were educated, church officials were valued as advisers by kings and nobles. As a result, the Church was able to influence important decisions in a wide range of matters. The Church also held a lot of land. They would offer to let lords use the land if the lord and the other people on the land promised to live life as a Christian. This gave them a lot of control over the people on their land. The Church played an important role in everyday life. It took on many jobs that the government does today. For example, the church made laws and set up courts. They could collect taxes, which made the church very rich. The church also got land by performing marriages and funerals in exchange for land. These lands were worked by monks and nuns as well as by people who were willing to live life in a way that would please God. We will learn more about monks and nuns later. The monks and nuns who worked the land improved the way that fields were planted and livestock was taken care of during the Middle Ages. In this way, the Church helped to improve the economy of the Middle Ages, which was based on farming. One of the most powerful tools the Church had was the power to excommunicate a lord. This meant that the lord was no longer allowed to take part in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Apush Summer Assignment

    • 5694 Words
    • 23 Pages

    5. The role of the church had a strong influence on the development of Europe – from patriarchy, to social hierarchy; the church often determined the running of the community. The church helped to unify…

    • 5694 Words
    • 23 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Church owned vests amounts of land and money, which inevitably attracted power. Furthermore, religion was hugely important and prominent in everyday life during the Tudor period. The church was able to influence what people believed through preaching. Furthermore the church even had some influence over the monarch so it could be argued that they were very important in upholding political stability and they had influence over the monarch who was the most important when it came to making political decisions as everything passed through them.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the early Sixteenth Century the Church was an integral part of the European society and the Church’s’ power was virtually absolute. The church stood for justice, supposedly, but many historians argue the Church was corrupt and exploited the people’s religious faith to increase its own wealth.…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    They made bishops/clergy separate from normal members of the church and creating structure. Rome responded to this with more systematic persecution, but this approach doesn’t work. Christianity became too strong to defeat with force. Christianity had a lot to offer, such as the promise of salvation for people in all different roles of society- rich, poor, aristocrats, slaves, men and women. They had an emphasis on equality. The religion was also familiar. It was another religion offering immortality thanks to the sacrifice of a savior-god, but it offered more. Jesus was relatable because he was also human. Christianity fulfilled the need to belong and created communities. People could express love by helping one another, the poor, sick, widows and orphans. It offered women new roles and friendship with other women. Some women fostered the religion in their homes and preached to townspeople. Some even died for their faith. Constantine was the 1st Christian emperor. In 313 he used the Edict of Milan to officially declare the tolerance of Christianity. Theodosius “the great” made it the official religion of…

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, some may say that even after the king had been removed from the church he still had power over his vassals. Giving him an army, money, and most importantly power.…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    HAHA

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages

    After the fall of Rome, no single state or government united the people who lived on the European continent. Instead, the Catholic Church became the most powerful institution of the medieval period. Kings, queens and other leaders derived much of their power from their alliances with and protection of the Church.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The role of the Catholic Church in Europe was very important. When the Roman Empire collapsed, the lives of people in medieval Europe were a mix of complete chaos and confusion. When the Roman Catholic Church was established and was starting to grow in power, it promised salvation to the people and as life was extremely tough, people were attracted by the idea of dreamland after death. In addition to that, the church provided aid and assistance to wounded and injured, elderly, feeble and the sick. They held a high esteem and these offers were hard to ignore when life was so difficult and painful. All of this played a very important role in the life of the people but the beginning of the scientific revolution changed…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The legacy of the Middle Ages, while being debatable, is most closely tied to that of an “Age of Faith” due to the Roman Catholic Church’s power over most aspects of medieval culture. From the 5th to the 15th century, Christianity reigned over any other structures that had power over the Medieval Era, allowing the church to have the most lasting impact on the age and most other time periods that followed. The church was able to outlast any dark or golden age, overpower the feudal system, and gain the complete and utter faith of most people in Europe, giving the age its ultimate title as one of faith.…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Church was the only place of knowledge at a time in the Dark Ages in which education was rare. It was a religious learning center that allowed people to become scholars and preserve history and philosophy, one of the only places in which someone could rise in social status. Christian religion and church was also a link to God. The seven sacraments provided codes to live by and it brought people together under common beliefs. The church could punish those who did not abide by the rules, so God was always a prominent figure in day to day…

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Medieval Societ

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The first estate, the pope was the leader of spiritual power. The pope declared papal supremacy, which meant he held power over all rulers. That included kings and other high-ranking rulers. Under the pope, the archbishop supervised the church activities. The bishops and archbishops were the nobles. The Pope also had his own territories. The church developed Canon law, which over looked many aspects of the medieval life such as marriages and wills. One of the main reasons the church held so much power was because of their will to excommunicate someone or a region. Excommunicating someone is like cutting them off of all life. None would want to even be seen with them, and they were not allowed to live in the town. They were damned to hell.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It became a power high over the Christians. You could easily dominate a city or a…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Middle Ages are known as dark period of history. The Roman empire collapsed, barbarian tribes took over and formed new kingdoms and the Church got great power. The Church got political influence and not always used it for good purposes. Also, the church preached about one thing and did another. In the end, was there anything positive about the church? Well, maybe after some thinking we may find some positive things, but in my opinion, the Church was more negative than positive in the Middle Ages.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Church was extremely respected making them more powerful than the kings. The Pope and bishops were thought to be close to…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Church of the middle Ages played a capital role in the socio-economical shaping of France. Because it was considered to be derived from God, it established laws that govern people’s lives. The…

    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays