The Idea Of ' Otherness ' Has Played A Large Part Of Latin Christian Society

Not only did the Christian Church hold importance but it also held authority. Document 11 describes the power of the Catholic Inquisition. In attempting to try a man for heresy, they killed him by means of torture. Not only did they have the judging authority, but they could kill men without consequence. The greatest minds of Western Europe were captivated by Christianity as well. Document 13 describes Thomas Aquinas, one of the best thinkers of the Christian postclassical world, in his use of science to try to determine the right and Christian relationship between men and women. In every aspect of Western Europe, Christianity was a defining characteristic.

At the beginning of the 11th century, the predominant faith in Western Europe is the Catholic one, and the Church in those territories follows, in theory, the same Canon Law and has the Pope at its head as the deciding voice in religious disputes. The Church was the main unifying factor between territories that had evolved in very different ways, had different power structures in place and spoke different languages.

For most civilizations, religious figures have had a large influence over the lives of the common people. The Roman Catholic Church was a very influential figure in many civilizations. It can trace its origins to over 2000 years ago. One of the Church’s most influential periods of this time was the Middle Ages. The Roman Catholic Church played a very big role in the lives of the people during that period. For many, it was the center of their life. The three most important impacts of the Church on medieval life were their secular roles concerning laws and their position over the state, the way that the Church unified Europe, and their power over the common people.

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.

From the third to the fourth century, the Roman Empire witnessed a widespread attempt to stop the spread of Christianity. Initially, leaders of the church were predominately targeted, but later anyone admitting to Christianity became a target. The persecutions hit a climax during Diocletian’s reign. These persecutions actually helped the spread of Christianity by glorifying Christians and beginning a tradition of martyrdom that shaped the Church, and the strength that Christians displayed shows that the persecutions could not have possible stopped the spread of Christianity.

The church in the Medieval era, however, was incredibly powerful and mostly unopposed. Salvation, to the religious, was and remains the most important aspect of faith. Religion without a fate after death is almost entirely hopeless and borders on nihilistic. The Catholic church used this incessant fear to fuel their political vendettas. This is made evident by the attempted squelching of the Reformation sparked by Martin Luther as well as the expulsion of the Moriscos, Jews, and Protestants from Spain. The church had successfully convinced an entire continent that the only true way to attain eternal life was through the doctrine of the church. This gave the Pope authority, power, and uncontested control over the Christian people, for a

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.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was no main dominating force in Europe to enforce laws and protection for the people. The Middle Ages had begun and without the Romans, life became centered around survival. The destabilization caused rates of illiteracy, disease, and deaths to rise dramatically and to remedy the average peasants worry, the feudalism system flourished and required work in exchange for the safety of manors. Yet while there was not a overlooking empire to look towards for authority, the Catholic Church served its role to bring all classes together (Document 6). The Middle Ages will be ultimately known as an age of faith because of the prevalence of violence, power of religion, and the Catholic Church’s preservation of knowledge.

The central Middle Ages was a period of time from the 11th century through the 13th century that was characterized by prosperous economic growth in Europe. The lead of economic growth in Europe was the movements in the Christian communities. Christian movements in the central Middle Ages included Knights Templar, first Crusade, the Franciscans, and pilgrimages. Not only were the movements in the Christian communities made changes in the economy, but they also influenced the challenges against traditional authority. Some challenges of traditional authority were the Dominicans and the Franciscans. Guibert of Nogent’s description of the Revolt in Laon will be examined in this essay. Robert the Monk’s version of Pope Urban II’s speech from 1095

The book, communities of violence: Persecution of the minorities in the middle ages, written by David Nirenberg, examines violence between the Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Lepers, primarily in the Crown of Aragon. Nirenberg focuses on the history during narrow time period of the first half of the 14th century. Through analyzing the history during this period, Nirenberg makes the argument that persecution of minority groups were politically or economically motivated and not completely driven by hatred or prejudices.

Prejudice comes in different shapes and sizes, so treatment of culture minorities differed with the circumstances.

Anti-Semitism is defined as prejudice or discrimination against, and persecution of, the Jews as an ethnic group. Historically, this has been practiced for many different reasons, by the ancient Egyptians before the Exodus, under the Babylonian

Knipfing analyzes the atmosphere of religious tolerance during Constantine I’s reign. Knipfing was an assistant professor of European History at Ohio State University when this essay was published in January, 1925. As Knipfing mentioned, this essay was written after World War I, which threw much of the world into chaos. Knipfing wrote this essay as a historian, analyzing the early part of Constantine’s reign. Since this essay was published in a Catholic journal, there is the possibility the essay may be biased in the way it looks at religion. While historians strive to be as unbiased as possible, it is almost impossible to be able to look at everything objectively, leading to at least some bias. Additionally, since Knipfing’s essay was written over 1600 years past the time it was talking about, the essay had to be based off of primary sources, such as the Edict of Milan. This leads to the possibility of double bias in this essay, as both Knipfing’s and his sources’ writings may be biased. In this essay, Knipfing begins by discussing the constant swings back and forth between religious tolerance and intolerance. Knipfing acknowledges that there had been multiple periods of tolerance before Constantine, but none of them actually lasted for long. After discussing the Diocletian Persecution, which was occurred until the time of the Edict of Milan, Knipfing begins discussing the actual edict. Knipfing spends these pages discussing things other than the edict so readers will be able to understand how people had looked at religion up until the edict. By giving this background information, readers are better able to understand the significance of the edict. Additionally, Knipfing makes note of the fact that there was probably not an actual Edict of Milan. While many people today discuss the edict, Knipfing

Jews were a despised minority during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. As stated by the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, “Their presence was tolerated, but they were restricted to certain trades such as money-lending, could only live in certain areas that were known as ghettos, and had to wear distinctive clothing to distinguish themselves from Christians” (2011). During this time, Jews were accused of multiple

Thesis: Martin Luther believes that all Christians are not seen as equals as a result of the Romanists’ three walls.