Middle Ages Identity And Authority Essay

567 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The influence of Christianity in the Middle Ages

Category Analysis One: Identity and Authority During the Middle Ages and into the Inquisition, the Church believed it’s christian identity and its authority on earth was being usurped by heretics. The Cathars or Good Christians as they called themselves, claimed to be a continuation of the apostolic New Testament church in opposition to the established Catholic Church. It was through crusades, pogroms, and inquisitions against the Cathars that the Church sought to establish christian identity; and reinforce its authority to administer God’s graces upon the earth. How did one identify as a christian during the Middle Ages? For Western Europe, that meant being a member of the one established Roman Catholic Church; and being in communion with the Bishop of Rome (also known as the Pope or Ecumenical Pontiff). During this time, that meant following the dictates of the Pope as administered through his bishops and receiving the Eucharist at least once per year. This was what was meant as being “in communion” with God through the Church. …show more content…

The consolamentum, as it was called; was the one unique Cathar sacrament that was required to receive one’s ultimate reward in heaven. Deane states that, “the Good Christians limited the fusion of profane and divine to a single moment: the consolamentum - baptism by the Holy Spirit via the laying on of demonstrably holy hands instead of through the corruption of material water.” (Deane, p. 31) The Cathars as radical Dualists rejected the material world as sinful in favor of the spiritual realm and is so doing rejected the sacraments of the Church which used elements of the material world in her sacraments. The consolamentum defied the Church’s authority (and monopoly) on the administration of God’s grace(s) through the sacraments, specifically in this case the sacraments of baptism and

Show More
Related

  • Medieval Ages vs. Rome Empire

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    Medieval church was even different, it was a strictly catholic. Of course this changed with the arrival of new emperors, but it was mainly this religion on the whole time period. They were so stricted on people being catholic, that you would be revoked from the church and sometimes even killed if you did not believe in the religion.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jeanne De Jussie's Roles In The Short Chronicle

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Catholic Church referred to most groups that attempted to improve the Church and failed as ‘heretics;’ heresy could include “resistance to or rejection of Catholic sexual belief” (Crawford 73). Through use of this term, Catholics attempted to discredit these groups by categorizing them as counters to Catholic morality. Catholics previously had used this method to discredit groups like the Cathars, Waldensians, and Albigensians; all three of which rejected Catholic hierarchies regarding sex (Crawford 74). Like the Catholic Church, throughout the chronicle, Jeanne de Jussie continuously referred to Protestants as ‘heretics.’ Jeanne de Jussie too used the term to discredit the Protestants and to create a division between them and those who she considered to be true Christians: the

    Read More

  • Postclassical Era in Western Europe

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kings often struggled with the Church over power and land, both trying desperately to obtain them, both committing atrocities to hold onto them. Time and time again, the Popes of the postclassical period went to great extremes to secure the Church’s position in the world. Both the Crusades and the Inquisition are examples of this. D...

    Read More

  • Martin Luther the Evangelical Educator

    1428 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before the Reformation, medieval Christians all worshipped under the same universal idea of Christendom. The catholic faith had existed for centuries (since 325 C.E. Constantinople, Council of Nicaea) without opposition to it legitimacy, but at the turn of 1500s new ideas on Christian belief erupted all over Europe causing a split between the Church. Christianity prior to the reformation was a part of the worshippers’ everyday life. Their home, work, and social lives were oriented around the Church, yet many 16th century Christians before the Reformation did not fully understand why. Most 16th century Christians were not educated enough to understand the mandatory sermons and mass services that were preached in the medieval church because these services were in Latin. Only the upper echelon of society were sophisticated enough to understand sermon. This upper crust included the clergy, nun, monks, monarchs, nobles, and the patricians which made up a small portion of the medieval population. The clergy consisted of the Pope (Top), Cardinals (princes of the church and electors of the pope), Bishop (overseers of the dioceses), and Priest (lowest and served at each parish). The clergy were the intermediaries between the laity and God and their most important job was to ensure proper following of the sacraments .

    Read More

  • European History - The Spanish Inquisition

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Church since its origins has suffered from the attack of heretics and their heresies, which have, caused many controversies and schisms within it. The Spanish Inquisition was independent of the medieval Inquisition, which evolved in the Middle Ages as an effective means of coping with the problem of heresy, which became a serious menace to the Catholic Church in the twelfth century. The fame of the Spanish Inquisition, as Ferdinand and Isabella established it at the close of the fifteenth century, was directed at Jewish merchant and Muslim traders, even under reluctant approval of Sixtus IV. The literal meaning of the word heretics is choosing, selecting beliefs outside or of different religions instead of accepting obediently the whole faith of the Catholic Church. Although, no authorities could completely agree on how to deal with the so-called problem of heretics, they did all agree that it had to be dealt with. A heretic is a highly unpopular person in a Middle Age town, the heretic is, then, seen as an equal to any common criminal, a rebel, and a pariah. Both civil and church authorities can run an inquisition in order to root out non-believers from a nation or religion in the wake of the decline of the Roman Empire.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Cathars

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Cathars were a very peaceful group that adopted a life of extreme devotion. Both men and women could become "parfaits". "Parfaits" referred to people who were seen by the Catholic Church as "perfect heretics". They renounced the world and abstained from eating meat and having any sexual contact. The Cathars lived in poverty. The men would travel and preach, and they earned money by cloth making, and shepherding. Followers were not expected to abide by the same ascetic standards as the parfaits, and they were permitted to eat meat and engage in sex. Catharism, or Albigensianism, was a religion which originated in the Balkans long before it made its appearance in the southwestern region of France , around the 12th century. It was a religion like any other, based on good versus evil. Albigensianism was a heretic religion and the catholics were not very fond of this new and upcoming religion. Its creed stated that god never created Earth, Jesus never existed nor did he suffer on the cross. The only ceremony practiced by the Cathars was the consolamentum or baptism of the Holy Spirit. For the Cathars, this was the only means of salvation. The Cathar clergy were those who had already received the consolamentum as part of the ritualistic ordination and had already been saved. The lay Cathars, or Believers, were obliged to receive the same sacrament before death in order to be saved as well. By the early thirteenth century Catharism was a very quickly growing religion in the area of Languedoc. It was supported by the nobility as well as the common people. This was yet another annoyance to the Roman Church. Even in open debates, Ca...

    Read More

  • Spanish Inquisition Essay

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Middle Ages, the Christian community 's hatred towards the Jews still remained as the Spanish inquisition had approached. The Jewish community was expelled from Spain because the church authorities had figured out that the Marranos, who were converted Jews, still practiced Judaism in secrecy. This is what the Christians took extreme offence to, and believed that the Jews were deliberately going against the church. The purpose of the inquisition was for the Catholic authorities to root out, suppress, and punish the Jewish heretics. The Christian community believed that the Jewish heretics were corrupting their society and wanted them removed. The inquisition was operated by the enraged Christian population themselves, as they drove the

    Read More

  • Medieval Piety

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    Religion in the Middle Ages takes on a character all of its own as it is lived out differently in the lives of medieval men and women spanning from ordinary laity to vehement devotees. Though it is difficult to identify what the average faith consists of in the Middle Ages, the life told of a radical devotee in The Book of Margery Kempe provides insight to the highly intense version of medieval paths of approaching Christ. Another medieval religious text, The Cloud of Unknowing, provides a record of approaching the same Christ. I will explore the consistencies and inconsistencies of both ways to approach Christ and religious fulfillment during the Middle Ages combined with the motivations to do so on the basis of both texts.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Social Life In The Middle Ages

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Catharism theory was that evil existed throughout the material world and the only good was the spiritual. These individuals did not believe in the Catholic church or Christians, because they considered them to be false. Cathars were protected by some of the heads of course, which cause a number of people to convert. Many heads crusade against them which eventually created a war between “Northern and Southern French nobles.” Even though Northern succeeded the ward many individuals remained secret Cathars. The church was not satisfied with this results and this is where the inquisitions enters the

    Read More

  • Essay On The History Of The Middle Ages

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    The argument of the continuity or discontinuity between the Middle Ages and Modern World seems to be an argument that will continue to be debated by historians and philosophers. I agree that there is a continuity between the Middle Ages and the Modern World because history is always building upon its ancestry. We will always be looking to the past and trying to learn from it.

    Read More

  • Investiture Controversy

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ruler Otto controlled the church during his reign by making bishops and abbots royal princes and agents to him (425). The revival of the church however, began as the German empire weakened in the eleventh century (425). During this time, the Church declared its independence from the governments’ control by embracing a reform movement, The Cluny Reform Movement (425). The reform established at the Cluny monastary in France, aimed at “freeing the church from secular political influence and control” (425). The reformers were supported in their efforts by popular respect for the church as people admired clerics and monks (425). During this time, any man had the opportunity to become Pope; the Pope was supposed to be elected by the people and clergy of Rome (425). The church also promised a better life to peoples whose current was relatively harsh (425). The reformers condemned the state’s contemporary mixing of religions and secular institutions as well as the clergy’s subservience to royal authority (425). They taught that the Pope alone commanded the clergy and they demanded separa...

    Read More

  • The First Crusade and the Ideas of Crusading

    2006 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout the ten-century, particularly in France, the world had become an extremely violent place. Feudal Knights were often quarreling over land possession, looting, and looking to lay people to provide them with sustenance . Likewise, the power of these knights and the extent of violence flourished due to the increasingly lacking power and authority of the kings . The Church, in an attempt to halt the violence and anarchy attempted to take control and issued such concepts as “the Peace of God” . Similarly, at this time other movements for peace by the Church were underway, and one of the commonly held ideas was the need to transform the world to more “monkish ideals”. From these ideals also sprouted the concept of the laity having “God-given functions to perform, functions that could include fighting to protect the Church”. Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) is an example of this idea; he often used militia to fight against his opponents. In the early eleventh century, there came a pivotal figure in the ideas of Church sanctioned war, Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085). Pope Gregory was involved in the Investiture Contest, and soon turned to scholars to seek out “justification for his conviction that violence could be used in defense of the Church and could be authorized by it”. The movements generated by Pope Gregory, as well as the results of the Inve...

    Read More

  • Byzantine Iconoclasms

    2024 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...antine Empire saw the potential of the church and the threat to their power it posed, so the way that they could remove the threat and bolster their own power would be to take over the church through the Iconoclasms.

    Read More

  • Middle Ages Culture Essay

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion is among one of the aspects that defines culture. This was a key concept for those living in the Middle Ages, whose lives were dominated by religion. More specifically, those in high positions of the church dominated their lives because the church provided a unified culture, or belief system. In fact, in the Early Middle Ages, rulers needed the support of the church to legitimize their rule. This was the case for Charlemagne, who united much of Western Europe and converted his subjects to Christianity. Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans in 800(History). “The assumption of the title of emperor of Charlemagne in

    Read More

  • The Crusades and Their Benefits to the Church

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    Membership of the Catholic Church was somewhat steady at the time of the Crusades. Many members felt there was something lacking from their religion, and the Crusades gave something for the members to believe in. “The Crusade brought peace to Christendom and at the same time provided unity.” 1 This quote gives information on peace being a part of their religion now and it was due to the Crusades. The presence of the Crusades also increased some enthusiasm with the unification of its members. “In the first place the preaching of the crusades aroused great religious enthusiasm and led many sinners to reform.” 2 This describes the Crusades as being the ones who attracted people who have fallen away from the faith and gave something for the current members to be excited about.

    Read More

More about Middle Ages Identity And Authority Essay

Open Document