Sophie
1) Explain the impacts of paying or failing to pay tithes in the middle ages?
Tithes could be paid in either money or goods produced by the peasants. Peasants had little money and almost always had to pay in seeds, harvested grain, animals etc. This caused hardship as seeds were needed to feed a family for a year. The Church told the peasants that failure to pay tithes would lead to their souls going to hell after they had died.
2) Why did people fear the church?
The Church was seen as scary due to the power and wealth the church had. When the church was teaching, they told stories about Hell that scared people. Peasants took care of the church and were treated quite badly. Opposition to the catholic church and the pope would result in being banned from attending any church services, denied the sacraments and they would go straight to hell.
3) Explain why the church was remarkably wealthy?
The church was more wealthy than any King of England at this time. This was because the church did not have to pay any taxes. They collected 10% of what the peasants earned in a year. The people of the middle ages had to pay for baptisms and if they were not baptised they could not go to heaven. They also had to pay for buried on holy land or their souls would not go to heaven.
4) How were the heretics punished by the Inquisition and why?
If a heretic confessed the punishments would range from loss of property, imprisonment or death. If a heretic refused to confess they were often tortured until they did. The church believed it was necessary to punish the heretics to save their souls.
5) What did the Church introduce to the education system?-add more
In most kingdoms, education was managed by the church. The church organised the curriculum of studies, created the testing and marking system and guided the students through studies.
6) Explain what the source reveals about the Church’s beliefs of illness.
Part of a letter from the Prior of the Abbey Christchurch, Canterbury, to the Bishop of London, 28 September 1348
“Terrible is God towards the sons of men…he often allows plagues, miserable famines, conflicts, war and other forms of suffering to arise, and uses them to terrify and torment men and so drive out their sins. And thus, indeed, the realm of England because of the growing pride and corruption of its subjects, and their numberless sins..is to be oppressed by the pestilence”
The people of the middle ages believed that God sent plagues, famines and other forms of suffering and he used them to torment men to drive out their sins. The church believed that because of all the diseases that God allowed, the country of England was ruined and downtrodden. The Church was scared of all the plagues that God ‘controlled’ therefore, their sins were driven out as they prayed to not only destroy the plague but to clear their sins.
7) Penance was the last part to receive forgiveness for sins. Describe this practice.
Penance was an action that demonstrated that the person had repented their sins. For example, the priest could order the person to do one of the following for a period of time
Go on a pilgrimage
Fast
Donate
8) What were the main 2 purposes of baptism in the middle ages?
To wash away all sin and to drive evil away from the newborn child. This sacrament was so important to the Catholic Church that they feared an infant might die unbaptized.
Baptism also welcomed a new soul into the community. The ceremony in the church established ties to his godparents who were not supposed to be related to the godchild through blood or marriage. From the beginning of his life, the medieval child had a relationship to the community
9) Describe the Church’s responsibilities in the realm of politics?
During the late Middle Ages, Europe was governed by the Church. The Church protected widows, orphans and helpless with their laws. The Church also dealt with offenses like heresy, sorcery and apostasy. Marital cases were managed by the Church like the legitimacy of children, recording of marriages and wills.
10) Name and describe three abuses that increased with the escalating power of the church.
Simony-buying and selling positions of power within the church for profit
Nepotism- granting special favours to relatives of the clergy
Lay investiture-the bishop-elect was required to pay tribute to a lord during his ordination ceremony. The lord invested the bishop with symbols of position and the land attached to his bishop’s territory.
11) In what ways did the Priest’s role impact the church
The local priest looked after the people from the time he baptised them as babies, until their funeral rites. The priests impacted the church significantly as the majority of them cared for the villagers around them and were given the duty to help the sick, the old, the poor and even travellers who needed shelter. The priest were there to teach the society about God, to comfort them in times of trouble and to help them in times of need. They educated multiple communities about their religion and beliefs.
12) Why were the Monks known as the most educated people of the Middle Ages?
Monks were religious men who had made their own choice to live away from the manor in buildings called monasteries. There they spent their lives worshiping God and helping others. Monks were some of most educated people in the Middle Ages as they were often the only people who were able to both read and write. As well as churches and cathedrals, medieval Britain had many monasteries and nunneries, where monks and nuns lived.They were run by powerful abbots and priors (and abbesses and prioresses).They were often very large and owned a lot of land.
13) How did the Church educate people in Medieval times? 🙁
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the multiple social and economical changes which came about the Medieval society helped create an increased interest in education. In most kingdoms in Europe, education was overseen by the church. Bishops in cathedrals, priests in churches and monks in monasteries were the teachers of many institutions founded by the church. This sort of early education depended on the feudal class of the child’s parents. Depending on the country older children may have attended either a Grammar or a Monastic school. Only the brightest and wealthiest of these pupils would graduate and continue to receive University-level education.
14) How influential was the Catholic Church to that of the peasants living within Europe? 🙁
In Europe, during the early Middle Ages, the mainly recognised religion was christianity. The Catholic Church was extremely significant as it dominated the lives of the Medieval people. About 90 percent of medieval Europeans were peasants who worked as farmers. The peasants relied on the Church greatly
15) Where did the Medieval Church stand in the Feudal system ? 🙂
The Church played an important role in the feudal system. The Church believed that the Pope was God's representative on Earth and that kings were also appointed by God. It taught people that their position in life was decided by God. This belief supported feudalism, which operated on the understanding that each person knew his or her place in society.
Land was donated to the Church by wealthy nobles, in the belief that it would earn them a place in heaven. The Church was the largest landowner in Medieval Europe, controlling about one third of the total area.
16) State what elements of the visual source reveal about how the Church was involved in education.
The source shows how the Church impacted educated in a significantly positive way. The Church was open to educated members–
17) How did the Church influence the Medieval people on believing Purgatory was real?
The Church advised multiple medieval people on how people could avoid the pain of Hell and purgatory _ The Church taught that some people would spend time in a place called purgatory to atone for their sins before going to HEaven. Purgatory was not as bad as Hell, but it was still painful. Purgatory was a place where you went to make up for your sins when you hadn't been good or bad enough to go one way or the other.
However the Church was aware of how concerned and anxious the people were, and took the opportunity to bribe them into paying money to the Church so they would not my going to the purgatory.
18) How did the Medieval people show that they honoured God?
People in the Medieval ages had multiple simple beliefs and those who followed God’s teachings would go to heaven and those who did not would go to hell. People showed that they honoured God by going to Mass on sundays, and even making sunday a day of rest and devotion to God. Medieval People also celebrated multiple holy days throughout the year. On these days from work, people remembered saints and celebrated their lives through festivals, games and even feasts. People looked to their religious leaders, the clergy, to help explain their world. They supported their church leaders by paying them the tithe, a tax of 10 percent of the crops they grew. As a result of this, the Catholic church became very wealthy and often very influential in government, law-making and law enforcement. To gain favour with God, many wealthy nobles left land, property and money to the catholic church, which soon became richer than most kings. It controlled about one-third on the land in Europe, and had its own courts and laws (called canon law) and used the name Christendom, the countries where christianity was the main religious belief, to describe the Christian countries of Europe.
19) Explain what the Church assumed on heretics?
During the Middle Ages, the Church had such a great amount of wealth and power that followers believed Christianity was the only true religion. The Church taught the people of did not follow the Christian faith would be condemned to spend an eternity in Hell. While this Christian teaching instilled fear in many, there were some Medieval Europeans who continued to practise their own religions. This included people who had refused to abandon their pre-Christian beliefs in pagan deities. For most non-Christians, however, their beliefs had to be practises in secret. It was around the eleventh and twelfth centuries that an increasing number of people began to publicly reject the Catholic Church’s teachings. These people were accused of being heretics. While some of the accused did believe in a different god/goddess than the Christian God, others simply had a different interpretation of Christian teachings. Some were ignorantly unaware that their opinions deviated from the Christian faith. All of these people, however, were still guilty of having an opinion that was contrary to the Church’s teachings.
20) Pilgrimages were very common in Medieval ages. Explain why the Church encouraged people to go on pilgrimages
The Medieval Church encouraged people to make pilgrimages to special holy places called shrines. It was believed that if you prayed at these shrines you might be forgiven for your sins and have more chance of going to heaven. Others went to shrines hoping to be cured from an illness they were suffering from. At other shrines people went to see the teeth, bones, shoes, combs etc. that were said to have once belonged to important Christian saints. The most common relics at these shrines were nails and pieces of wood that the keepers of the shrine claimed came from the cross used to crucify Jesus.