Preview

The Roman Catholic Church

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
371 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Roman Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church

After the fall of Rome, the Christian Church split into eastern and western Churches. The western Church became the Roman Catholic Church. Religion was an important part of medieval life. Many question if the Catholic Church was positive or negative during the middle ages. This essay will explain why the Church was a negative aspect during the medieval times.
According to A Document 2, the Church started a court system called the Inquisition. The Inquisition included church officials who search for people who are suspected or accused of not obeying the church and punishing them. People who commit an action against the Church are called heretics. Heretics are punished by loss of property, imprisonment and death. Even if the person was truly innocent, if the church officials didn’t believe you, you were out of luck. There was no escape.
The medieval Church members were corrupt. Because the Church was Roman Catholic, it was headed by the pope. The Church had absolute power over Christians. The king did not have the ability to tell the Church members what to do. Some church leaders ignored their vows. Priests paid less attention to religion. The corruption growth could not be tried by a normal court but instead by fellow churchmen, who were very lenient. A lot of church members were doing things they didn’t suppose to do and often meddled in secular politics to get a result most popular for the Church. The counterclaim weakly argues that the Church maintained order by the people not committing any wrong-doings such as murder, robbery, assault, etc. in E Document 1. Likewise in B Document 1, the Church entertained the masses and kept everyone pleased. Plays were performed that were available for public viewing. There were four or five short mystery plays in each presentation which were quite amusing and very well commoners and nobles alike.
Ultimately, it is indeed clear that the Roman Catholic Church was negative during the medieval

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    CHHI 525 Syllabus

    • 1135 Words
    • 12 Pages

    A study of the development of the Christian Church from the sixteenth century to the present is…

    • 1135 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    02 Flores A CAC1

    • 1031 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Western Europe there were several religious changes that had to deal with the Christian church which was between the church and ruling elites, who had more power. One of the changes into religion in the time period 800s the Roman church became powerful in Western…

    • 1031 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Catholic Church of the 16th century was perceived as being corrupt and unpopular due to its social hierarchy within its society of ordained men, and their abuse of power to take advantage of the laypeople and their strong faith to extort money out of them for their own greedy purposes. The sources A, B, C and D all depict this corruption in one form or another.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the time period of the Inquisition, a great deal of restriction was imposed on its subjects. The Inquisition was established during a time in which many people were emigrating – for various different reasons – to European and South American countries, bringing their values and cultures with them. This naturally brought about a multitude of conflicts between existing citizens and immigrants. Some pose the argument that due to this more prevalent blend of cultures across the world, the Inquisition led to more legal action and punishments for – what some argue to be – trivial and petty crimes, such as witchcraft and sodomy. However, we, as readers, understand these cases in different manners, based on the sources that we derive information…

    • 1518 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful 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
  • Good Essays

    The author Christine Caldwell Ames1 showed that the church used the inquisition as a force to create a cohesive religious civilization during the 13th and 14th century. Further evidence of the use of the inquisition to enforce religious uniformity is found in the contemporary account of Bernard Gui, a Dominican inquisitor.2 The Inquisition was operated by a religious order known as the Dominicans, who were a part of the Catholic Church answerable only to the Pope. “Adopted by the church as one of several responses to heretical movements that emerged in the high Middle…

    • 1199 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    II was the relationship with the Church and the world. "The Church is a human…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prior to the reformation in England the Roman Catholic Church had been the only church in the country and as such had a form of monopoly which over the years had begun to be exploited by some who entered the priesthood for reasons other than those religious. An example of what was considered to be a form of corruption in the Roman Catholic church is given as an argument by Luther in his case for a reformation of religion in the Holy Roman Empire, the example being the sale of indulgences, through which people can pay an amount of money in order to be forgiven or to reduce their time spent in purgatory. Corruption was also evident in the system of ‘tithes’ in which every person would be required to pay one tenth of their goods to the church to form a sort of basic welfare system in which the goods collected would be distributed to those who needed them however, in actual operation this system sometimes resulted in a corrupt church official being in charge of the system and consequently the tithes in that area covered by the corrupt official would not be distributed evenly or sometimes may not be distributed at all. The view presented mentions that the Catholic Church was lacking in any serious religious commitment, not only is this evidence by the corruption which, in any organisation following true Christian values, should not appear as the Church should be helping people as much as it can and not profiting from their plight, it may be argued that the lack of religious commitment may stem from the system that the oldest child received his father’s land and titles and then the remaining children would enter into a profession or military service, it was customary for at least one child to enter the priesthood and as such, if none of the children wished to enter the priesthood but one was…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the lives of the people in medieval Europe mostly revolved around faith and on what they believe in, mainly their religion, the effect of the Church in the middle ages on the citizens was huge. The church controlled the people as it was the main center of religious and social life. All Christians belonged to the Roman Catholic Church and it was considered that the church was as important, if not more, than any king or queen. In fact, a king could only be the king if the church approved it, otherwise he could be kicked out anytime the church wished. The pope was the absolute political and social leader of the church and as the church had the most authority, he controlled almost everything in all Christian nations which were sometimes called Christendom during the Middle Ages. The main reason of the immense power of the church was the fact that it owned over one-third of all the land in Europe (largest landholder) and collected a large amount of tax from the public. Power disputes were common between the pope and the crown. Since generally the clergy of the church were the only people who could read, they could easily misuse the holy bible in order to manipulate the people of medieval Europe.…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The description of the government’s collapse in document 1 was the first evidence of this point. Document 4 shows the authority that the Church believed it had over military when it says “If... any castle is besieged during these (holy) days... the besiegers shall cease from attack.” Document 9 also says that while the church has rule over most of Europe, the power of the political leaders is only local. It continues to say that the church “often used its power to influence kings to do as it wanted,” and that the church (not the government) was the “single, largest unifying structure in medieval Europe.” Lastly, according to Document 7, when new cities began to develop, people began to “abandon their old roles of military headquarters and administrative centers.” While this happened, the church continued its reign as most powerful structure since the people continued to build churches within their…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    5. The church’s fate was bound with the fate of Europe; however it shaped much of the course of history in the medieval times.…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Middle ages and church

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Everyone in medieval times was expected to go to church, and to confess their sins to a priest. If a person was considered to have committed a really serious sin, they could be excommunicated, that is denied the right to attend church or take communion.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Medieval

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Medieval Church had a large role in the Middle Ages and everyone's daily life revolved around the church. In the Middle Ages, when there was a weakened government, the church rises in power and becomes more of a political role. The church had all control over the people. Peasants worked for no pay on the church land. Also, the church didn't pay any taxes which saved them a lot of money making them more wealthy than any king of England at this period of time. Some of the money the church received was spent to build cathedrals, churches and monasteries, and by constructing these buildings, it showed the church's wealth.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther 95 Theses

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The beginning of the European religious problems came in the fourteenth century, when the King, Pope, and Clergy began to gain massive amounts of power and wealth. The idea of medieval Christendom was a newer concept which is basically a Christian commonwealth led by the papacy. As the church tried to create this Christendom, theorists argued that the church was only a spiritual body and therefore its power did not extend to the political realm. The theorists along with the people said that the state needed no guidance from the papacy and that the clergy was not above secular law. The church was becoming more corrupt by the day, which included: nepotism (appointing ones relative to office), pursuit of personal wealth by the bishops, and sexual indulgence of the clergy. Theologians attacked the churches authority by arguing that the church did not control an individual’s destiny, instead by accepting God’s gift of faith. I think this is a very important move by the theologians, because they are sharing similar beliefs to me. I think my church and preacher are very important but not more important the God.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Middle Ages Religion

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It’s the same story. No matter the crazy surroundings and change in the middle ages the anchor was always the optimism in the church. The fact that for the first time in history people had a sense of unity in Europe not by the rule of empires or dictators. As amazing as religion sounds in its domination it did not change in all of its glory. It is true that Caesaropapism, the “Donation of Constantine,” and a few other religious events happened, but many of these events minimally change the religion itself and mainly effected the political landscape rather than the religious landscape.…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays