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Monasteries Influence On People In The Middle Ages

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Monasteries were a very powerful influence on people in the Middle Ages. It was were a community of monks and nuns lived and worshipped, devoting their time and life to God. They were seen as intermediates between the mortal world and God. The daily chores and activities that they carried out were all seen as acts of worship to God. This was how they would live out their lives preaching to God and spreading the word of the Lord. Monasteries had a social, cultural, economic and spiritual significance to the society.

Monasteries and Abbeys had a strong impact on the world during the middle Ages. People saw the monasteries as holy land and so they worked on it without any pay because they saw it as a good deed to God. Monasteries performed important …show more content…

Due to this, they were well regarded as intermediaries between the people and God. Monasteries were admired, as they were a self-contained area where monks and nuns chose to live a simple life of prayer and work. Reading and copying books was one of the many services that the monks did, which was based around bible readings and important holy books and teachings. The monks and nuns spent most of their nights and days in prayer or in silence. Silence was a technique the monks used to find their inner spiritual self. Furness Abbey also known as St. Mary of Furness was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which made it even more sacred to the community. The monks that lived in Furness Abbey were separated into two different groups; the clerical who were the people that focused on the choirs, literature and spiritual sector of the abbey and the laical, who were the teachers, workers and agricultural …show more content…

The land generated money for them through rent and farming. The monks who lived and worked in them were very holy. The peasants were taught that the only way to Heaven and salvation was through the church. People had therefore worked on the Church land for free. Another form of payment the Church received was by families paying a tenth of the yearly income to the Church. Due to this the Church became very wealthy and powerful gaining a lot of land and it was on this land that they built the monasteries. The Monasteries provided religious service to the community and received money in return. They also received donations in the form of money or goods, which was used or sold. Multure was a big part of the income that monasteries received which was a fee paid to the owner of the mill and everyone needed to use it to grind their grain. Monasteries also received money by holding courts and handing out fines to the people living under the abbey’s jurisdiction. Furness Abbey was the second richest and most powerful abbey in England. The monks of the abbey were large land owners and the most powerful group of people in an area which was very remote.
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Monasteries in the Middles Ages , such as Furness Abbey, greatly impacted the society and were a great source of influence to the followers who worshipped God. The people believed that the way to Heaven and Salvation is through serving the church and had therefore

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