Church in Medieval Europe

The Roman Catholic Church was as powerful as the institution of Feudalism. Once the rulers in Europe accepted Christianity, the Pope, who headed the Church, became the head of the Christian world in western Europe. By the 6th century, the Pope often wielded more power than the King and could make him follow his orders. Initially, the Monasteries (the places where the Monks lived) were institutes of high learning. The monks worked to uplift people’s moral life and for welfare of the poor. But soon, corruption crept into the monasteries.

You can also check – World History Notes for UPSC

Church’s Evils

Tao Te Ching, the Chinese manual of Statecraft, preached 2400 years ago: “The ancients practiced the way which did not enlighten the people ; they used it, rather to stupefy them; the people are hard to rule when they have too much knowledge. Therefore, ruling a state through knowledge is to rock the state. Ruling a state through ignorance brings stability to the state.” The Church used the same principle in maintaining its stranglehold. Also as we will see later, this power of enlightenment of people, is exactly why the American and French Revolutions are much more important for being the revolution of ideas than anything else.

In the Middle Ages (600 AD to 1500 AD) the Church’s evils took the form of:

• Money for Church posts, for every ritual and removing sins. For example, the Church started selling “Letters of Indulgence” which upon their purchase removed the need for doing pilgrimages for removal of sins.
• Pope, nuns, bishops etc. became corrupt & lived like princes.
• Church owned & amassed huge property.
• To correct the state of affairs, Wandering Monks were introduced by some Church leaders. These Monks did not have home and travelled among the masses setting an example of self-sacrifice and chastity. But soon, they also became corrupt. For example, they authenticated any marriage and would remove all sins for money.
• The Church was the only institution for education in the Medieval time but becoming a Monk was the only future prospect this education offered. They taught in Latin which was not understood by the common man.
• Church made “once in a year” confession of sins to the Father compulsory and the breach of this rule mandated punishment.
• Logic, Reason and Science were discouraged. There was no education available in the disciplines of Science and History. This is why the developments in Science and Technology that happened later are referred to as the Scientific Revolution.
• There was wide belief in witches, superstition and magic. Church became violent. It ordered burning of people who opposed its ideas about God, religion and even the physical phenomena. This was done on charges of “Heresy”. Many scientific thinkers became the victims of Church’s punishments when they proposed scientific theories which invalidated the principles (like the Earth is Flat, or, the whole universe revolves around the Earth), which the Church propagated to glorify God. Many of them were burnt after being classified as witches & as possessed by evil spirits.
• Sexual abuse scandals: In recent years, priests and other church members have been accused of sexually abusing children in a number of incidents.

Church’s Misdeeds

• The past of the Church in Europe is long and complicated. The Church has made important contributions to the culture and society of Europe, but it has also done some bad things. Some examples include:
• The Crusades: Between 1095 and 1291, three Crusades were fought between Christian and Islamic power (the Christian state of Europe and Islamic power).
  • This happened because of Islam’s strategy of growth and the changed political and economic situation in Europe.
  • In Europe, the church and the aristocracy wanted peace to make Europe a better place to live.
  • So, domestic conflicts were brought outside of the country on purpose.
  • At the suggestion of the Byzantine emperor Alexius I and Pope Urban II, the Christian army moved to Syria and Jerusalem, which remained holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
  • During the Crusades, there was a lot of violence, people died, and Jews and Muslims were persecuted.