Cathar Heresy

This crusade would grant remission of sin to those who undertook the crusade. Harris again remarks on the similarities, “The reaction in the papal curia when news arrived that Constantinople had fallen was much the same as it had been when Jerusalem had been lost to Saladin in 1187” (pg 195 2nd Edition). Pope Urban IV justifies this new crusade by saying that without Constantinople, the way to Jerusalem was blocked and any efforts to retake the Holy Land would fail. This call to crusade is similar to the one that launches the Third Crusade led by Richard Coeur de Lion to retake Jerusalem. However, here these parallels end. Unlike in the Third Crusade, Pope Urban IV's call for crusade fails and no armies are sent forth. At least none that could constitute a strict crusade due to a lack of promised remission of

The fourth Crusade was one of the most astonishing turn of events during the Middle Ages. Each Crusade was called for one purpose, to reconquer the Holy Land from the Muslims. With that in mind, the fourth Crusade was disaster, not only failing to get anywhere near Jerusalem but then to attack and conquer two Christian cities, which had been unprecedented to this time. When discussing these points in history, it is important to discuss how such events came to be, and whilst the sacking of Zara and Constantinople are not in question, what is in question is how much of a role did Pope Innocent III did play in the 4th Crusade? Was he the mastermind, or was control of the 4th Crusade taken from him? This

During the Protestant Reformation, the clergy and the papacy faced the difficult task of negating all heretical ideas. The most influential of all heretics to the Catholic Church was Martin Luther,

Henry took a big step against the Catholic Church when he began the, “Dissolution of the Monasteries” in 1538. Henry had sent inspectors to watch the behavior of the monks and if the monasteries were being run as Henry wanted. Henry discovered that doing the complete opposite of what he wanted or

While most people were fine with ignoring what the Popes were doing to the Church, there were men who, throughout the medieval period, did their best to expose and spread the news of what was really going on behind the scenes in the Church. The first of these dissenters was a florentine noble, who was exiled from the city because of the influence of Boniface VII. In his banishment Dante Alighieri wrote several books including Dante's Inferno. In it he describes hell as being made of concentric rings, each one further down in the earth, smaller then the last, and housing a sin Dante deemed worse. Down in the eighth of nine circles is where we find where Dante has planned for Boniface VII to go. This is his way of shaming the clergy of the time, because the eighth circle is where the simmers go and it is full of Popes, one of them even mistakes Dante for Boniface VII and tells him that he is destined for this circle. A little after Dante's time comes the work of Geoffrey Chaucer, the son of two vintners who grew up to be around royalty the rest of his life. His most famous work, The Canterbury Tales, describes the journeys of several pilgrims on their way to see the bones of Thomas Beckett, and through many of the pilgrims and their stories depicts the flaws of the church in often humorous ways. Like the Pardoner's Tale for example, where the Pardoner tell of his sin of simony through three friends who get drunk, find lots of money in the woods, and end up killing

As the Church gained traction, one of the key concepts that they wanted to expunge was the influence of pagan religions. St. Augustine wrote The City of God about the actions of the Roman people on the very topic that the people because of their sins had gotten themselves into their own mess. Another way that the Church helped to expunge pagan influences was to build churches and cathedrals on pagan temples. They also came up with religious feasts to replace pagan feasts that would be going on at the same time. Another problem that had arisen for the Holy See was the struggle with royalty. An example, is when Gregory VII excommunicated Emperor Henry IV and he was only absolved by spending three days and nights prostrate outside the papal castle. A great wound to the Vatican that was self-inflicted was when Pope Clement V moved the papacy to France where it remained for nearly sixty years before Pope Gregory XI returned it to Rome. This altercation led to a problem, for the next nearly forty years, there were two Vicars of Christ, one in Rome and an antipope in France.

“For us it is not lawful to introduce any doctrine of our own choosing, neither may we choose some doctrine which someone else has introduced by his own choice.” (Peters, 1980, p. 30). As early as the second century CE, Christian writers, such as Tertullian (ca. 160 – ca. 200 CE), began defining what it was to be a heretic and what heresy could lead to (Peters, 1980, p. 29). Medieval churchmen believed there was much to fear from heresy, but the practice of witchcraft was especially troubling, as their greatest fears of heresy could be summoned by means of magic.

The reigns of Gregory VII and Innocent III were remarkably similar in their attempts to exert ecclesiastic power over secular rulers. Gregory's outlook was characterized by his reformist behavior, supporting the notion of challenging the sacred character of kings. "Implicit in the concept of ‘lay investiture' was the idea that kings were layman. Yet kings were anointed, and in the eleventh century most people, including ecclesiastics, viewed royal consecration as akin to priestly ordination." Gregory intelligently avoided being named a radical, whereby he took a more complicated position: he did not comment directly on the status of kings, but he believed them semi-laymen, placing their rank below that of the minor clerical order and therefore not in a position to elect or invest bishops or other ecclesiastic officials. He articulated his beliefs through a decree, the Dictatus Papae, which succinctly and articulately stated his demands

Pope Innocent III began a sequence of changes that influenced the face of secular and ecclesiastical Europe through careful use of law and political manipulation. It has been remarked that the papacy acquired and retained the most power under the leadership of Pope Innocent III during the late 12th and early 13th centuries. I plan to examine sources primarily pertaining to the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 and secondly to a collection of Innocent III’s papal letters. In my analysis, I hope to draw a correlation between Innocent III's actions and these actions influence on medieval society and why this period is considered to be the height of papal power since its inception.

The synod of Rome in 1075 saw different bishop be warned and some even deposed for their actions. The accounts written about this synod reveal how the authors, Berthold and Bernold of St. Blasien, saw bishops and clergymen who went against the papal reforms. Pope Gregory used the weapon of deposing and excommunicating clergymen to enforce his papal reforms. These weapons meant that the person deposed or excommunicated must not receive of any sacraments and no one must willing follow this person and their rule. Gregory wanted to encourage that if a member of the church committed a crime of simony then they aren’t an actual bishop or clergymen who could carry out the sacraments. Berthold and Bernold both adopted his viewpoint and opinions in regards to clergymen who act against the papal reform. Berthold would become his biggest supporter, believing Gregory had God-like powers in regards to cleaning the Catholic Church and that he had every right to do it. Berthold explains, “Strove to clear the field of the lord properly with the authentic axes of catholic and apostolic discipline”. The language Berthold uses implies that Gregory is within his right and power to clean the “field of the lord” with the “authentic axe”. Berthold’s description shows that he supported Gregory in his mission to cleanse the church of corrupt

This document testifies that Southern French had become saturated with non-orthodox (and therefore heretical in the eyes of the church) beliefs. It also displays how powerless the clergy were to stop it. The heretics felt no obligation to the them. especially when they had the backing of local nobility. Effectively, the church was helpless. Their attempts to assert religious control were met with staunch defiance, and most likely only made the church even more unpopular. After hearing the verdict the Good Men said that the bishop, “...was a heretic, not they...they were on guard against him as the lord enjoined them in the gospel, “beware of false prophets...”15It was obviously difficult to tell someone they were in error when that same person

Pope Pius IV confirmed all of these decrees passed by the bishops after the closing of the council in 1563 and issued a summary of the main doctrines of the council in the form of a creed. Some of the major decrees were; A new index of forbidden books that was set out to obstruct the spread of heretical ideas . The Roman Catechism, which was a comprehensive overview of the catholic church's beliefs that was established in 1566. This was produced to help priests educate lay people on catholic belief and practices,helping the word be spread around about the newly reformed church and the beliefs it follows. ‘The Inquisition’ was also one of the main decrees bought back from the 13th century. The inquisition

The power that these religious figures had allowed for them to rid what they viewed as heresy by whatever means necessary. The 10-12th century began the struggle of identity for many people who wanted to be a good Christian and those who were considered a heretic. During the medieval

By the late 1500s, Christian denominations had been popping up all over Europe. This was in response to the reports of indulgences (selling of freedom from purgatory), clerical immorality, abuse of money, along with many other bad actions that were rampant among the Church. It was these problems that Luther and others rebelled and created their own religions. With the rising of these Reformation movements, the Church needed to make some reforms itself. These reforms took the form of educating the clergy, opening monasteries, the Inquisition, and the organizing of councils. In fact, even though Protestant attacks brought these reforms, many of these reforms were needed anyway. The problems in the Church were so bad that the Church would not

Catholicism was a prominent religion for over 1,000 years. Before the Reformation of the 1500s, anyone who was Christian belonged to the Catholic Church— any other form of Christianity was considered a denomination. To eliminate denominations, the Church turned to inquisition. The Papal Inquisition began in the late 12th century, when Pope Innocent III sent cardinals to Southern France, where heresy was popularizing. However, the official inauguration is considered 1231, when Pope Gregory IX sent Dominicans to Southern France, Germany, Austria, Lombardy, and Aragon to convict heretics. Heretics were granted the chance to admit their deceit and return to the Roman Catholic Church. If their heresy was sustained,