The Structure of the Church

Like the system of feudalism, the Church had its own organization. Power was based on status. Church structure consisted of different ranks of clergy, or religious officials.

The pope in Rome headed the Church. He was the most important leader in the Catholic Church. He made all decisions for the church. All clergy, including bishops and priests, fell under his authority.

Bishops supervised priests. Bishops were in charge of certain areas of land and all the priests and churches that were in it. Bishops also settled disputes over Church teachings and practices. Bishops were less powerful than the pope, but more powerful than priests

For most people, local priests served as the main contact with the Church. Priests were the lowest ranking clergy in the Catholic Church. They said mass, heard confession, gave sacraments, & had the most contact with everyday people. The Church had seven sacraments. They were baptism, confession, communion, confirmation, holy orders, marriage, & anointing of the sick. Priests were usually responsible for administering these sacraments. This made them very, very important to people because Christians believed that you had to receive sacraments to get into heaven. Priests offered guidance to people about moral issues and often helped the sick and the poor.

The Church required all followers to pay a tithe. This is a tax that is paid to the Church. Most often it was about 10% of a person’s income. Part of it stayed in the local parish to help run it. Part of it gets sent to Rome. The Church would demand money from people by promising it would save their soul or repay for sins. The Church would use this money to build huge cathedrals, buy expensive items, or sometimes corrupt clergymen would put the money in their own pockets. After a while the Church became greedy.

The Church began to build huge, gothic style cathedrals during this time. Cathedrals are very large churches managed by a bishop, not just an everyday priest. New modern technologies were created to help build cathedrals.

Some followers of the Church chose to withdraw from the outside world in order to grow closer to God. Monks and nuns joined monasteries and convents. There groups of monks or nuns lived separated from everyone else. They spent their time praying, working, or studying. Monks became responsible for teaching a lot of people to read and write.

Activities:

1. List the different roles in the Church and describe them. (There are 4!)

2. Which member of the Church did people have the most day to day contact with?

3. Why did people consider priests to be so important?

4. What is a tithe?

5. How did the Church become greedy?

The Church & the People

The Church becomes very important to the average, everyday person during this time. But it is also very important to even the most powerful people. All of a Christian person’s major life events centered around the Church. Most of these life events were sacraments. Baptism marked the entrance of a person into the community of the Church, marriages were performed at church, & the dead were buried in the church cemetery. These sacraments were of the utmost importance because a person had to have them to get into heaven. Life was very hard for people during this time. Many times their main goal was to get to heaven so they could have salvation.

Churches were one of the few sources of education during the Middle Ages. Priests and monks often learned to read and write so they could read the Bible and copy it down. Monasteries became places of learning where people could go for an education.

The Church often helped the poor and the sick. This made the peasants draw closer to the Church because the Church helped take care of them

At the local level, the village church was a unifying force in the lives of most people. It served as a religious and social center. People worshiped together at the church. They also met with other villagers. Religious holidays, especially Christmas and Easter, were occasions for festive celebrations.

The Church controlled all aspects of a person’s life, both the secular (not religious) and religious parts. The pope was the spiritual leader & the representative of God on earth. Because of this the popes claimed papal supremacy. This means they had authority even over secular rulers, even kings and emperors. The pope’s clergy, like bishops and archbishops were usually nobles who had their own kingdom like territory and armies.

Feudalism and the manor system created divisions among people. But the shared beliefs in the teachings of the Church bonded people together. The church was a stable force during an era of constant warfare and political turmoil. It provided Christians with a sense of security and of belonging to a religious community. In the Middle Ages, religion occupied center stage.

The Church had both religious and political power. It created a system of rules and justice to guide peoples’ conduct. Both peasants and kings had to follow these rules. Anyone who disobeyed a church law was seen as an outcast and people were suspicious of them. They could face many different penalties for not following the laws of the Church. The worst of these was excommunication. Excommunication is banishment from the Church. If you are excommunicated you can never get to heaven. Popes used excommunication to have power over kings. If the king was not doing what a pope wanted him to, the pope would threaten to excommunicate him. He would not receive any sacraments or a Christian burial. He would go to hell.

If a king still would not listen the pope could threaten to use an interdict. This would mean that no religious sacraments or service could be done on the king’s land. The subjects of the king would be very angry if their king was put under an interdict.

The Church might accuse someone of heresy if they didn’t follow church law. Heresy means a denial of the teachings of the Catholic Church. People accused of heresy  were called heretics. The Church created a court to deal with heretics called the Inquisition. Those who confessed to heresy performed public penance (community service) or were flogged. Eventually the Inquisition added the element of torture to get people to confess.

Activities:

1. Why was the Church so important to people during this time?

2. What are some positive things the Church did? (Name at least 3.)

3. What are some negative things the Church did? (Name at least 2.)

4. How did the Church keep control over secular life and the kings?

5. Overall, do you think the Church had positive or negative impact on life in the Middle Ages. Defend your answer!