RELG 330 - History of Christianity
Course Notes
Chapter 18
Throughout chapter 18 the author uses the term "reformers" to describe Roman Catholics who were trying to reform the Church during the Middle Ages. Chapter 18 deals with the period AD 600-1500 - the centuries leading up to the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others. So the "reformers" of chapter 18 are not those usually meant by the (Protestant) "Reformers" of AD 1500 and onwards.
Page 221 - simony - the practice of simony, selling ecclesiastical positions, gets its name from Simon Magus, who tried to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit from St. Peter (see Acts 8:14-24). The Church had become so corrupt that fees were charged or bribes taken for appointing people to positions such as bishops or abbots.
Page 221, 223 - Lay Investiture started when people gave money to provide a chapel or a priest to pray for them. Because they gave the money, they often had the power to choose who should be the priest. This grew into a widespread practice, with local lords choosing the clergy for their domains - ie. a lay person had the power or the right to "invest" a priest with a clerical position.
Page 221 - The Cluniac order (see pages 269-272) and the Cluniac reform. The monastery at Cluny (in France) was founded in AD 910 by William the Pious, Duke of Aquitaine. The members of this monastery took their spirituality very seriously. The monks used the Rule of St. Benedict and emphasized personal piety, manual labor, and common worship. The monastery at Cluny sent people out to found other monasteries, which were under the direction of Cluny, and whose abbots were appointed by the abbot of Cluny.
Page 224 - William II of England, also known as William Rufus because of his red hair, was a despotic ruler who was generally hated by the people. He was killed in a "hunting accident" by being struck by an arrow. No-one knows for sure who killed him, or whether it was an accident or deliberate, and no-one asked too many questions. The story went around that, because of his red hair, he had been mistaken for a deer. His body was left lying in the forest for a couple of days before anyone bothered to collect it for burial.
Page 224 - Anselm of Canterbuty (ca. 1033-1109) became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093. He probably contributed more to the development of the Church by his philosophical writings rather than by his position as Archbishop. He put forth a philosophical proof for the existence of God. He also wrote a book called "Cur Deus homo" (Why did God become man?) showing that the devil didn't have any rights over anyone - it is only God who has rights of ownership over us.
He opposed some of the actions of Kings of England (William II Rufus, and Henry I) and was sent into exile twice
Page 224 - typo in the box about Thomas Becket. The text speaks of the "conflicting claims of the church and stage" - it probably means "church and state".
To use the term "church and state" for this period is anachronistic. People of the Middle Ages did not think of their countries as States - they thought in terms of Kingdoms, Duchies, Counties (the region controlled by a Count), Principalities (ruled by a Prince), Lands, even Bishoprics. Ruling decisions were not made by parliaments or presidents or cabinets of ministers; there were no democratic elections for office; the systems of government as we know them today were still in a very rudimentary stage and had no real power. National identity was tied to the ruler and his family. The Law was whatever the King said it was. So the conflicts about who had authority were usually between Church and individual leader (Emperor, King, Duke, Earl, Baron, etc.) rather than Church and state.
Page 224 - the alienation of Church lands refers to the practice of the King to take over any lands that he wanted within his Kingdom. Under the feudal system all the land in the country 'belonged' to the King. The King had the right to appoint anyone he wished to be in charge of parts of the land - for which they owed him homage. Homage meant swearing to be the King's loyal servant, being ready to fight for him, and to provide an army or a group of fighting men whenever he called for them. In addition the King could demand supplies, money, whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. The nobles in turn demanded allegiance from their tenants, villagers, and serfs. The feudal system demanded complete obedience to one's superior in a chain of command. In practice it worked as a balance of power - the King could not demand too much of the nobles, because they usually had more soldiers than he did
For several centuries after William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England and became William I, the Conqueror, there was a strange situation in which the kings of England owed allegiance to the kings of France for the Duchy of Normandy. They were Kings of England, and Dukes of Normandy in France at the same time.
A ceremony in which peers of the realm give homage to the monarch is still part of the coronation ceremony of British rulers to this day.
Page 224 - "the three great western shrines for pilgrims" - the textbook does not say which the other two were, but my guess is that the author means Canterbury Cathedral, St. James of Compostella (in northern Spain), and St. Peter's in Rome
Page 226 - The German electors - the German Empire was not one united kingdom ruled by a family of hereditary monarchs. It was a federation of several hundred small kingdoms, earldoms, duchies, free trading towns (The Hanseatic League), and (later) some prince-bishoprics. They quite often fought each other, but in order to present a united front against other countries they 'elected' an Emperor to lead them all. The election was not a general one, but was restricted to about a dozen hereditary 'electors', leading rulers, who chose one of their own group to be Emperor. Those who had the right to take part in the election of the Emperor were known as the electors. The Hohenstaufen family were hereditary electors.
Page 226 - Barbarossa means Red Beard, and was a name given to Frederick I because of his red beard
Page 226 - Lateran Councils were a series of general church councils held in the Lateran Palace in Rome. The Roman Catholic Church regards the Lateran Councils as Ecumenical Councils, whose decisions are binding for the whole Church. The Eastern Churches and the Protestant Churches do not regard the Lateran Councils as having the same status or authority as the earlier seven Ecumenical Councils.
Page 227 - King John of England - although the textbook does not say it, the confrontation between Pope Innocent III and King John was one of the factors which led to virtual civil war in England and an abortive invasion by the French King. The result was the loss of power by King John, and the signing of the Magna Carta (Great Treaty) in 1215. Stephen Langton was one of the leaders of the Baronial party, and his signature heads the list of John's 'counselors'. The signing of the Magna Carta is regarded as the first step towards parliamentary government and democracy in England
Page 228-229 - The Cistercians - see also pages 273-275
Page 229 - Bernard of Clairvaux brought about a reform in the Cistercian Order, calling them to a deeper spirituality, and stressing the love of God for all humanity. However, Bernard did support the Second Crusade. The Cistercian Order was a development of the Cluniac Movement, with very strict living conditions, and an emphasis on manual labor to support themselves, which led to improved farming techniques in Europe in general.
Page 229 - Peter Abelard - see pages 253-254 & 257
Page 230 - Francis of Assisi was originally a rich young man, but his life was changed when he had a vision of Jesus' calling him to a life of poverty and service to others. His father disowned him, and the religious authorities were initially suspicious of him, but he persevered. His life-style attracted other young men to follow him, and they eventually were allowed to become the "Friars Minor" (Little Brothers).
The textbook says that he left home in a ragged cloak - more detailed accounts say that his father took him before the Italian law court and disowned him, whereupon Francis threw off his clothes - which belonged to his father - and was naked until some of his friends threw a cloak over him.
Page 231 - Friars and Monks : The textbook does not explain that Friars are technically not Monks. A friar (Latin frater = brother) is a member of one of the Mendicant Orders, who support themselves by begging rather than by living as members of a community in a monastery. Friars own nothing, and have a different authority structure to monks. The main Mendicant Orders are the Franciscans (grey friars - though nowadays they wear brown habits), the Dominicans (black friars), and the Carmelites (white friars)
Page 235 - icons - the textbook makes it sound as if icons are statues. Icons are two-dimensional (flat) representations of Jesus, the saints, or the angels. Although Westerners tend to think of icons as paintings, in the Eastern tradition one speaks of 'writing' an icon (rather than painting it)
Page 235 - "the five important leaders of the Christian world" - these were the bishops of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem
Page 238 - the Crusader "states" - it is anachronistic to use the term "states" for the lands controlled by the Crusaders. They themselves called these lands "kingdoms", "Principalities", or "Counties", and set them up with kings, princes, or counts in control, rather than parliaments or governments.
Page 239 - the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller - see also page 275
The Hospitallers' first headquarters was the Hospital of St. John (the Baptist) at Jerusalem.
In 1309, after the Crusaders were defeated in the Holy Land, the Hospitallers moved to Rhodes (in Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean), and continued to fight against the Turks.
In 1530 the Emperor Charles V gave them the island of Malta, where they remained until Napoleon invaded Malta in 1798.
The Order has continued in Europe up to the present day.
In England, their property was seized by Henry VIII in 1540, and the Order was inactive until it was revived as an Order of the Anglican Church in 1831. In 1888 the Order founded the St. John's Ambulance Brigade, to respond to medical emergencies.
In the town in the North of England where I grew up, we had a "St. John's Ambulance", with the black Maltese Cross (Star) logo, rather than a Red Cross unit.
The Knights Templar were formed during the time the First Crusade gained power over Jerusalem. They were given shelter and stabling for their horses in the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and they also moved into the Muslim shrine over the Dome of the Rock - where they cut into the Rock itself. The Temple at Jerusalem was destroyed so thoroughly by the Romans in AD 70 that all that remained were the retaining walls of the Temple Mount, and piles of stones in what had been the valley beside the Temple. The Muslims had built the Al Aqsa Mosque into the walls of the Temple Mount to commemorate Muhammad's Night Journey - it is the third most holy place in Islam.
Page 241 - Nureddin and Saladin are anglicized versions of their names. "Nureddin" was Nur ed-Din, and "Saldin" was Salah ad-Din (pronounced sal-AH ad-DEEN)
Page 240 - The Fourth Crusade started in 1199, but the crusaders needed money to pay the Venetians for sea transport. The Venetians had a feud with the town of Zara, on the coast near Venice, so they asked the Crusaders to attack it. The Crusaders did so, and then the Venetians and the Crusaders went to Constantinople to support a contender to the Byzantine throne who promised to pay all their debts. They attacked Constantinople, and put their candidate on the throne in 1204. He lasted about a year, and then the city rebelled. The crusaders went on the rampage, and burned the city. It took nearly 60 years for the Byzantines to get their city back, and they were permanently weakened, and unable to fight off the Turkish invasion when that happened. The split between the Eastern and Western branches of the Church was made worse by all of this.
One of the main reasons for the attack and massacre of Constantinople by the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade was the suspicions of the Crusaders that the Byzantine Emperor was conspiring with the Moslems against the Western Christians.
By this time the inhabitants of the Western and Eastern Empires did not understand one another and were suspicious of each other. The Byzantines had learned to live next to the Moslem Seljuk Turks whom they were unable to conquer, and had begun to trade and work with them. The Westerners saw this as collaboration with the infidel and betrayal of the cause of Christ
Page 241 - The Children's Crusade of 1212. Groups of children from France and Germany set out for the Holy Land, believing that if they were pure and innocent, the sea would part for them and they would be able to walk all the way. They reached Marseilles and other ports in France and Italy, and were disappointed when the sea did not do as they expected.
Eventually unscrupulous operators offered them passage aboard ships, and the unsuspecting children were either sold into slavery and prostitution, or perished when ships were wrecked in storms.
Pages 246-259 - The Inquisition - The purpose of the Inquisition was to "inquire" into heresy, and root out any heretics. The inquiries often used torture to make people confess, and then burned the victims alive to frighten anyone else who might be tempted to heresy.
Page 253 - Anselm - See also page 224.
Anselm's 'Ontological Argument for the Existence of God' :
Anselm defined God as "that than which nothing greater can be thought", and argued that this being must exist in the mind, even in the mind of the person who denies the existence of God. He suggested that, if the greatest possible being exists in the mind, it must also exist in reality. If it only exists in the mind, then an even greater being must be possible - one which exists both in the mind and in reality.
Anselm argued that there must be some one thing that is supremely good, through which all good things have their goodness. For whenever we say that different things are 'good' in different degrees, we must understand them as being 'good' through 'goodness', and somewhere there is something which is supremely 'good', and we can't imagine anything with more 'goodness'. And that which is supremely good we call 'God'. Similarly, one can argue that God is 'that which is' supremely powerful, supremely beautiful, eternal, supremely just (and many of the other attributes of God). So Anselm boiled it all down to 'God is the greatest good that your mind can grasp' - And God must exist because if He didn't you could imagine something which was supremely good and which did exist (and then that would be 'God').
Pages 253-254 - Peter Abelard and his pupil Heloise are one of the great love stories of the ages. Her family wanted to break up the match and ruin Abelard, so they arranged to have him castrated - so not only could he not have children with Heloise, but he couldn't have any high position in the Church because of the rules against castrated men at that time. Heloise entered a nunnery, and Abelard entered a monastery, but they still continued to write to one another, and their letters were later collected and published. Abelard was the leading scholar of his age, although his "theory" about how salvation was granted to humanity seemed to be that Christ came to give us a "good example" rather than to die for our sin. The textbook credits Abelard with the initiative that started the move towards Universities - places where students could gather and study under several different teachers.
Page 253 - Anselm of Laon, with whom Peter Abelard studied, was not the same person of Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury. Anselm of Laon was a teacher and Bible scholar; he was a deacon or archdeacon, but was probably not a priest.
Page 260 - Gothic Architecture. The "Gothic Cathedral" (referring to the style of building) had pointed arches rather than rounded ones, and was more strongly built. The builders tried to express reaching up towards heaven, by making things tall and pointed, and by having stained glass windows and carvings showing religious themes. The idea for pointed arch was brought back from the Middle East by the Crusaders - the Saracens had been using it in their buildings, and the Crusaders saw it and liked it.
Copyright © 2005 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
