How the Catholic Church Held Up During the Middle Ages Essay

The Church was the absolute most predominant foundation in medieval life, its impact invading practically every part of individuals’ lives. Its religious observances often shape to the plan; its customs checked every minute in a person 's life; and its lessons supported standard convictions about morals, the significance of life and existence. Church in Western Europe was recognized as the Roman Catholic Church went from the religion of the Roman Empire to the official religion and the most powerful institution of the Middle Ages. All of Europe had been converted to Christianity by the year 1000. Although this process was peaceful at times but other times it got downright ugly.

As the tenth century rolled about, the power of the Roman Catholic Church grew steadily stronger, the church had an argument with the normal Kingdom over who should rule supreme out of the Pope or the King, the church believed that the Pope who is the voice of God on Earth should be the ruler of the world while the peasants thought that the King should, the power struggle eventually ended with the Church coming out as the dominant force in the West. The Church passed a law that stated that everyone (mostly peasants) is forced to pay 10% of their income to the Church. The church had the ability to stop any laws that they did not like or make some new laws that benefited them, they were a very powerful group that could manipulate the peasants and knights in any way they liked, in Church there were photos of people being tortured in hell, this intensified the peoples longing for heaven and therefore extended the power and influence of the church. All Christians were expected to attend the mass and, by the 13th century, were expected to take the Eucharist at least once a year.

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.

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

5), which can be considered a political part in the feudal society. The church had a great deal of political power. However, leaders only had local political power (Doc. 3). “Every person was required to live by the Church’s laws and to pay heavy taxes to support the Church,” (Doc. 3). The people of the church would be shown in return “the way to everlasting life and happiness after lives that were often short and hard,” (Doc. 3).

To begin with, religion and the church was an extremely important factor in people's lives in the middle ages. For example, the text states, “...he

The Middle Ages was a time of high achievement and also a period of despair but many of the aspects that occurred was influenced by the Roman Catholic Church. In spite of the many changes that occurred from 1000-1100 such as separation of beliefs, political power, and the forgiving of sins have affected how the Church runs society, however there were also continuities including the Pope as the center and the seeking of converting people. The separation of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church brought confusion to the people of what belief system was more better and that brought an abundant amount of Christians to lose members. The political power has changed because it brought conflict of who was to rule. The forgiving of sins were changed from how the pope viewed society.

It was felt to have a monopoly on the church and it basically meant that they could control of who went to heaven or hell. This made a huge impact on people’s lives and made more people go to the church. The catholic church played a lot of huge roles back in the day and still does to this

The churches were organized into a hierarchical system that let church control people and the lower priests by organizing them into different groups of hierarchies. First, there was ordinary believers, citizens who follow the Christian faith. Then was the clergy, who has dedicated their life to the church. Clergy

The power of The Church, in The Middle Ages, was enormous. It touched almost everyone's life in many important ways. The Church baptized a person at birth, performed the wedding ceremony at people' marriages, and

People in the middle ages were very religious. People believed that Roman Catholic Church represent God. The church had a big influence on the content spread in the Middle Ages, and they were content with religious or moralistic. The only religion recognized in Middle Ages Europe was Christianity and specifically Catholicism. Christianity in the middle ages dominated the lives. The life of the medieval people was dominated entirely by the church and many religious institutions gained power and wealth. It was single the larges institution in west of Europe. It touched everyone’s life no matter what rank in social class they lived in. Everyone in western Europe was Rome Catholic Christian at that time. From the reaches king all the way down.

The papacy of Roman Catholic Church reached its zenith in the thirteenth century. But there was a decline of the papacy in the fourteenth century due to disaster like the Black Death, The Great Schism, and many other evolutions in Europe. Many new ideas and advanced technologies were developed after series of changes. These ideas influenced the lives of many normal people in the Medieval Ages.

With the way the Church was growing it wanted to keep its power to turn people towards God, but to do that they had to stop the rise of feudalism or find an important role in the feudalistic

The Middle Ages were a period in Europe dating from the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, around the 5th century. However, the fixing of dates for the beginning and end of the Middle Ages is arbitrary. According to the Norton Anthology, "Medieval social theory held that society was made up of three 'estates': the nobility, composed of a small hereditary aristocracy,...,the church, whose duty was to look after the spiritual welfare of that body, and everyone else..."( Norton 76).

The priests in the middle ages didn't have to pay taxes because their work was considered noble. They provided care for the members of the community and conducted Mass in the parishes. The priest had a special place in society. He presided over baptisms and wedding and he usually was the sole source of education. The priest was in charge of ensuring that the religious occasions and events were observed and he performed the final rites to the dying.