Economische En Sociale Geschiedenis

At the beginning of Henry VIII’s reign in 1509, there were over 800 monasteries in England, but by 1540 the majority of these ceased to exist and all that was left of most of them was a ruin. The monasteries were rich and powerful institutions which were loyal to the Pope. From 1536 to 1539, Henry VIII, and his advisor, Thomas Cromwell wanted to close down the monasteries. There were two real reasons why Henry VIII wanted to get rid of the monasteries, firstly because he wanted access to the wealth of the monastery and he wanted the treasures of the land owned by the Church. Secondly Henry VIII

Feudalism, during medieval society, was parallel to the existence of the Catholic Church and its influence over the population. Religion permeated all elements of society and the way in which they related to each other. The Church wasn’t only a spiritual power, but a political and economic one and the struggles between the political and religious leaders will be key factors in the development of the medieval world. The church will also be the primary keeper of knowledge in the Middle Ages, and they will accomplish most cultural advancements.

In the time of 1500s the Catholic Church, the papacy, was known to hold a large amount of power, both religiously and politically. With this power it allowed for a lot of different corruption to seep into the different seeds of the religious power. This corruption was due to the fact that the church became a lot about the different money that was gained, power in the church was able to be bought by the rich with their money. The church also used money gained from the people

In the Medieval times, the Roman Catholic Church played a great role in the development of England and had much more power than the Church of today does. In Medieval England, the Roman Catholic Church dominated everyday life and controlled everyone whether it is knights, peasants or kings. The Church was one of the most influential institutions in all of Medieval England and played a large role in education and religion. The Church's power was so great that they could order and control knights and sends them to battle whenever they wished to. The Church also had the power to influence the decision of Kings and could stop or pass laws which benefited them in the long run, adding to this, the Church had most of the wealth in Europe as the

The Catholic Church was by far the largest owner of land during the Middle Ages. While bishops and abbots occupied much the same place as counts and dukes in the feudal hierarchy, there was one important difference between the religious and secular lords. Dukes and counts might shift their loyalty from one overlord to another, depending on the circumstances and the balance of power involved, but the bishops and abbots always had (in principle at least) a primary loyalty to the church in Rome. This was also an age during which the religious teaching of the church had a very strong and pervasive influence throughout Western Europe. These factors combined to make the church the closest thing to a strong central government throughout this period.

People were sick, tired, and in much pain all their lives(History of Medicine). Doctors thought that the heart got blood from food and water, so they would eat more so their bodies would absorb it(History of Medicine). Although many people were not healed, medicine was based on theories so hardly anyone was healed. Life before the 1500s was hard, but during the 1500s they had a better understanding of the body(Blakstad). Wise Women and doctors would try to invent more complex medicines, but they still had no effects. Instead they used herbs and bark as painkillers(Blakstad). They also had humoralism, which was a theory that said health came from four body liquids. They had four humors: black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. It was believed that if these were not balanced in the patients body, it caused sickness. Four elements, which were water, fire, earth and air, caused the humors(Blakstad). Hippocrates discovered the humors. Since the body was not easily understood, mental and physical illnesses/treatments were combined. According to Nancy Siraisi, an American historian of medicine and author, the most common age for death was childhood. Obviously people didn't live long. One out of five died before the age of one. One out of two died before ten. Housing, diet, wars and plagues all played into early modern Europe's health

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.

The Catholic Church had an extremely amount of power that it had become very wealthy and very corrupt. Which leads the revolt of Martin Luther in 1517 against his authorities significant in this time period. Luther’s ideas on the church would spread quickly throughout Europe fueling the flames of Protestantism. Leaders such as Henry VIII took these ideas and used them to break free from the Catholic

Since warfare and disease made life unbearable, everyone from the common serfs to the prosperous king looked to Church for direction on the key to a happy afterlife (Document 9). People paid heavy taxes/gifts and devotion to guaranteed themselves in themselves a place in the Church since their births (Document 9). This showed how they had much power over all the other classes in medieval society, especially when the Truce of God was proclaimed to control knights from committing felonies on holy days (Document 4 and

(Sergi notes) If the money and land belonged to the church, the church would overrule England and all the citizens would probably be forced to be Catholic and not have a choice of religion since that is what Henry VII wanted. One other way the Protestant Reformation affected the reign of Henry VIII is it separated the church and state in England. In other words, the church no longer owned the land and tax

The protestant reformation happened at the moment that it did because the Catholic Church was very a powerful force in Europe. It controlled people lives both spiritually and temporally. The church had so much power that it maintained political control over a large portion of Italy. The fact that the church held so much control over countries and governments became a point of contention among European countries such as the Holy Roman Empire, Italian city-states outside of Rome, England, France and Spain. The power of the rulers of these areas had greatly increased in the 14th century and they were eager to take the chances offered by a Reformation to weaken the grip of the Catholic Church in Europe and also to develop their own powers across the European continent. For quite some time the Catholic Church had been an institution rampant with internal struggles. Such as the Avignon Papacy from 1309 to 1377 when seven popes opted to live in Avignon, France and not reside in Rome which was and is the traditional home of the Papacy. The Pope and other high ranking church officials often lived opulent lifestyles rather than a more austere lifestyle that should befit a spiritual leader. Many church leaders and Popes maintained political powers. They led armies, waged wars and made many political decisions. Church offices were sold, and many Popes and bishops practiced nepotism to fill church offices. With all of these worldly issues for the Pope

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

The expansion of Europe in the eighteenth century and the changing way of life in the eighteenth century also helped mold the western society. The population began to explode in the eighteenth century in Europe. There had to be limitations on population. Some things that helped the population were famine, disease and war. The reason population was growing so much was mainly because the plague had just ended. The cottage industry also with the population in the eighteen century. By this time the cottage industry challenged the monopoly of the urban craft industry. There was a lot of healthy people because of the plague had ended. There was a lot of working people because of the cottage industry. The eighteenth century was good to Europe.

During the Medieval Ages the Catholic Church was able to rise to one of the most powerful institutions in Europe. After Rome subsequently

Spain census of population, 1789, lot of population estimations are rough and not precise. Small societies. Not very large growth of population in 18th century. Low fertility or high mortality is the cause of slow growth. So population of preindustrial Europe remained relatively small. (more in chapter 5).