What role did the Christian Church play in the Middle Ages? Detailed answer

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What role did the Christian Church play in the Middle Ages? Detailed answer

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What role did the Christian Church play in the Middle Ages?

The Christian Church in the Middle Ages played the role of a connecting factor for European states. At the same time, the church also performed an identification function. After 1054 (the break with the Byzantine Patriarchate), the church turns into the center of political life in Europe (Vatican City, Rome, Italy).

According to the doctrine of Augustine the Blessed, the church asserted and defended its priority over secular power. Not a single king could challenge the privileges of the pope, interfere in the political life of his own state. Of course, secular rulers were looking for ways to neutralize the strong and unnecessary influence of the Catholic Church. But these victories were the exception rather than the rule.

The main instruments of struggle against recalcitrant monarchs were the financial press and the institute of anathema. During the period of feudal irritability, the kings were most dependent on the will of the pope. The struggle for the integrity of the state required a lot of money, because the rebellious feudal lords were often richer than the overlord. Monetary assistance was provided in exchange for expanding the pope's influence in the region.

If the king turned out to obey the head of the Vatican, then the mechanism of anathema was activated. Anathema - a church curse, the eternal excommunication of an objectionable person. Anathema entailed terrible, irreparable consequences.

The French king Henry VII fell into this trap, notorious for his campaign in Canossa, where, after incredible humiliation, he was nevertheless forgiven by the pope.

Unlike secular power, the Catholic Church had a solid financial income - church tithes from peasants, generous gifts from powerful feudal lords and benefits provided by the monarch.

During the early and middle Middle Ages, the Catholic Church controlled all spheres of human life: from politics to the spiritual world of the individual. Every step a person took with the permission of the clergy. This position has led the church to a double morality. The Church demanded from parishioners strict observance of all moral norms, but allowed itself the impossible.

Education was controlled by "black and white cassocks", everything that was contrary to official morality was removed from the programs of schools and universities. The natural development of science was hindered by dogmatism: for example, among the victims of the geocentric model of the world was D. Bruno, who was declared a heretic. Another talented scientist, G. Galileo, who was more diplomatic, had to beg forgiveness for a long time.

But these circumstances do not negate all the positive things that were done by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. The monasteries were the center of culture; many of them contained evidence of the great deeds of the Roman Empire. Competent monks painstakingly rewrote ancient scrolls.

The Church encouraged the development of such genres as various lives of saints and chronicles "from the Nativity of Christ." Note that the Orthodox Church led the chronology from the Creation of the world.

In order to dominate the minds, hearts, and souls of its contemporaries, the church practiced various methods of tracking changes in society. Of course, the methods chosen were not the cleanest, although they were effective. In the arsenal - surveillance, denunciations and the good work of the Inquisition. There was an ongoing "witch hunt". As a result, hundreds of thousands of "sorceresses" were burned at the stake. Mass executions were practiced, up to 500 women were burned at the stake per day. The Inquisitors, they are also the gloomy tools of the Dominicans (the Order of St. Dominic), in search of heretics, were guided by the prescriptions of the treatise "Hammer of the Witches". The accusations were absurd, the punishments were inhuman and cruel. Torture was used to force the victim to sign his own sentence. The most popular are the hugs of the "iron maiden", the Spanish boot, hanging by the hair, water torture. As a sign of protest, no less terrible “black masses” swept across Europe, which caused a new surge in the “witch hunt”.

The influence of the Catholic Church began to decline sharply in the late Middle Ages, with the end of the process of centralization. Secular power noticeably ousted the clergy from making state decisions, which resulted in some liberalization of all aspects of life.

The stable position of the church turned out to be in those states of Europe where the rate of economic growth lagged noticeably behind the leaders (Italy, Spain).

Author: Irina Tkachenko

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Why does a peacock spread its feathers?

The feathered peacock is one of the most spectacular sights of all birds. As you can imagine, this spectacle has always fascinated people. Even in ancient times, the Greeks and Romans considered the peacock a sacred bird. But this did not stop the Romans from eating the peacock!

The homeland of the peacock is India and Southeast Asia. There are two varieties of peacocks that are related to pheasants. Due to the fact that the peacock spreads its feathers and walks around with a proud look, the expression appeared: "Smug as a peacock." In fact, this is not quite fair in relation to this bird. He is no more smug than any other bird during the mating season. The male peacock unfolds his magnificent plumage only for the female and for no one else.

As you know, it is usually the male who has the brighter coloration and "screaming" appearance. It so happens that the peacock is painted in more magnificent colors than any other bird. Its head, neck, and chest are dark purple in color, tinted with shades of green and gold. His head is crowned with a crest of 24 paler feathers. His back is green, and his wings have a copper tint. The most remarkable feature of the appearance of the male peacock is, of course, the train or extension of the tail.

The peacock has a length of about 2,25 m, of which approximately 1,5 m is occupied by the tail. The tail is a mixture of blue, green and gold. Throughout the tail is a regular pattern of "eyes" that vary in color. The plume is lifted and held up by the stiff feathers of the shorter, true tail.

The female peacock is smaller in size and painted in more restrained tones. She does not have a train, but there is only a dull-colored crest. Usually the female lays ten dirty brown eggs. Peacocks are mainly bred for beauty and for their feathers.

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