Helen Keller, deaf-blind author, political activist, and lecturer, once said, “Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light” (“Faith Quotes”). Through many years of fighting and sorrow, the Middle Ages regressed down to points of murder, rape, and mass killings of the innocent and the non-innocent. Overtime, many lost faith and hope in their peers, thus causing the medieval ages to plummet even more. But soon enough, the church was shook with the realization that no one was paying attention to what really mattered: religion. As time progressed, the church’s only role was to eliminate the destruction of faith. By unifying the people, living through the horror of devastating events, and vowing to purity, chastity, and poverty, the citizens of the once shattered world gradually emerged into the light of the age of faith. Particularly, through the actions of the church, unification was brought upon the citizens as they were shown how the world actually looked through the eyes of religion, which slowly helped piece them back together. One of the ways the church broke down the ways of the world was by eradicating all violence like murder and assault, trying to spread the positivity of peace throughout the Middles Ages (DBQ 1-4). By doing this, they were able to accomplish the decrease of savagery and get peace into the mindset of others. Another way the church brought upon realization was by making the daily lives of the citizens all about
Significant reforms took place during the reign of King Henry VIII in the 16th Century, which influenced Christianity and the way it is practiced today. Prior to this, the institution of the church was very powerful with the Pope and bishops held in high esteem as they presented themselves as the gateway to God. The Pope, head of the Catholic church, would not grant an annulment in the marriage of Henry VIII to enable him to marry Anne Boleyn and this seems to be the catalyst for the changes to the church’s power pursued by Henry. The Catholic Church’s authority was systematically attacked through a series of events brought about by the actions of Henry, through economic, personal and political means.
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.
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.
Medieval times saw an age of countless wars and bloodshed. From Persian conquests and Viking massacres, to Crusades and The Hundred Years War, Europe was no stranger to tragedy. Unfortunately, in the mid 1300s, there was an attack they never saw coming; a bloodthirsty raid unlike anything they had ever encountered. This invader had no mercy, killing all who came in his path and no one was prepared to fight back. He had no preference in victims; men, women, and children; Jews, Christians, and Muslims; even animals all fell prey. This ruthless intruder was the bubonic plague known as The Black Death. Historian, Ole J. Benedictow refers to the epidemic as “The Greatest Catastrophe Ever,” but just how devastating was it and what was the lasting impact?
Throughout history, religion has played an important role in almost every aspect of life but, in certain events, it has played a more dominant role. As time progressed in the 1500’s, many religious aspects of life developed solely on the aspect of animosity, and nothing is so fatal to religion than that of indifference. For example, the Wars of Religion display a clear conflict between two very different religions, the Catholic League and the Huguenots. The brutal power struggle was converging in Europe between the
The influenza of the church and economic factors in the 900s and 1000s indicate that there was a slow revival in the culture and economy of Europe. The church wanted people to live in harmony and peace. For this, the church gave the hint to the people living in the European states during the period of 900s and 1000s to be stable, useful, peaceful, productive, and respectful to other cultures and ethnicities. To do this properly and on time, the church had the authority and prestige because Christianity reached all over the European living areas. In addition to this, the church organized some public services, such as “defense, charity, and civic maintenance.” The main concerns of the Church were violence that negatively affected on economic
Religion provides hope for those who are hopeless. It aims to welcome those who are alienated and feel that their life has no purpose. Religion served the same function in the Middle Ages and Renaissance as it does today. However, religion was embraced more during the Middle Ages by desperate
The Protestant Reformation, throughout the middle ages, had a truly impactful effect in Europe and the Roman Catholic Church. Before the reformation, all Christians in Europe were primarily Roman Catholic; for it had dominated European civilization. Along with the priest, who provided people with forgiveness of sins, marriage, baptizing and other important duties, the Catholic Church was the “caretaker of the soul” and also owned one third of all the land in Europe. Evidently, the Catholic Church was quite powerful and had great say in a European Christian’s daily living.
The Christian religions rise to supremacy in the middle ages was the result of several factors. Christians had long been persecuted by the Roman Empire because the Romans felt that Christianity challenged and offended the Greco-Roman Gods and the Christians were prone to revolt against Roman rule. Christianity survived because it had many teachings that appealed to the downtrodden in Roman society, these teachings being that even though they were suffering they would gain equality and possibly superiority in the next life, Christianity gave them hope.
The Religious Reformation was one of the most influential time periods of European history. Not only did it give way to some of the most popular religions of the present day, but it also helped many Europeans realize that the word of the Roman Catholic Church was not the end-all-be-all. Because of the Religious Reformation, new forms of thought began to emerge and many of the Roman Catholic empire’s standards were questioned and revolted upon. While there were many reasons for the Religious Reformation to occur, there are three main causes that helped proliferate it around European society. The Religious Reformation was caused by the Roman Catholic Church’s strict views on penance, the degree of control that the Roman Catholic Church deemed
The Middle Ages, often referred to as the Dark Ages, was regarded to be a time of despair, disease, and death. Just as the name the “Dark Ages” suggests, this period of European history seemed to be surrounded by darkness and hopelessness. Unfortunately, the majority of people only see this side of the Middle Ages when, in fact, the Middle Ages was a much more important era. Especially during the late Middle Ages, one can find a change in orthodox social structure, political instability mostly concerned with succession to the throne, and economic changes and how those changes went hand in hand with the change in society. After certain demographical changes and turning points such as the Hundred Years’ War, Europe began to transform
The Middle Ages is a medieval time period in Western Europe that lasted from 500 to 1500 C.E. The Middle Ages began as a result from the collapse of the Roman Empire which began in 31 BCE, and fell in 476 C.E. In around 300 C.E. the emperor of the Rome divided the land for easier control. This began the decline of Rome. The Western half of Rome fell to Barbarian invaders, while the eastern half lived on as the Byzantine Empire. The Early Middle Ages began shortly after the western half fell. After the Roman Empire lost its position as the center of power, Western Europe fell into a time of chaos and warfare. There were a lot of attacks by Vikings, Magyars (hungarian nomads), and Muslims. The invasions caused disorder, and suffering, and the government system developed into feudalism.The High Middle Ages followed, the Early Middle Ages, and was the time period in Western Europe from around the 11th century to the 13th. The Middle Ages are referred to as the “Dark Ages” because of the disorder, hopelessness of the time. It is accurate to refer to the Middle Ages (500-1500) as a whole as a” the Dark Ages”.The Early Middle Ages meet the qualities of a dark age due to the, lack of government, education, and dysfunctional economy. However, the high middle ages was a time of improvement for these issues.
The Medieval Ages that descended upon the Europeans following the deconstruction and devolution of the formerly grand institutions of the Roman Empire left a world darkened to the eyes of history. The world lost touch with simple concepts to a modern history student of writing, economy, culture, and government—the mainstay of that which we cannot see ourselves without—civilization. What was left of Europe was a state of chaos. In all other periods of human history I have studied there were similarities among them from which I could draw conclusions upon the condition of the respective times. The Text helped to give order to the progression of European history from the ancient to the modern drawing
The renaissance and the reformation were two of the most significant changes in history that has shaped our world today. Both of these great time periods are strikingly similar in some ways and totally different in others. This is because the renaissance was a change from religion to humanism whether it is in art or literature; it is where the individual began to matter. However, the reformation was,” in a nutshell,” a way to reform the church and even more so to form the way our society is today. The first half of this paper will view the drop in faith, the economic powers, and the artistic and literary changes during the renaissance, while the second half will view the progresses and changes the church makes during the reformation.