How Did Catholic Church Influence Medieval Society

Improved Essays
Medieval society was complex, Church was its main influence, it was governed by laws and they had a remarkable military organization. First, Catholic Church was its main influence, Church played an important role in the Middle Ages society. The Bible was the main educational source and they constituted their own set of laws. In the social structure of feudalism, the only power over the king’s authority was the Catholic Church. The decisions taken by the Church were not questioned by the civilians because they were to believe that these were messages sent by God directly to the Pope.
Medieval times were characterized by the lack of authority and the power local lords had to apply the law among their civilians. “Feudalism was not only a system

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    There was a lot of culture in the middle ages from the buildings such as the large and beautifully decorated cathedrals to laws but religion was a huge aspect of it. The Great Chain of Being, what is is you ask? It put everything and everyone in its own place such as plants, animals, humans, angels, then god being first at the top. The culture in the middle ages were revolved around their religion which was Christianity. The only religion accepted and allowed to be worshiped was Christianity (Alchin).…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Early Middle Ages, a person’s social status greatly impacted their life. For example, Kings would give land to serfs and knights in exchange for land and food (Doc. 1). Also, the Church played a major part in a person’s social life. The Church touched everyone’s life, no matter their rank.…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Feudalism Dbq

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In Europe, the feudal system took a more complicated system. People always owed the people below and above them duties as did they receive from both (Doc. 9). The Bishop of Laon wrote in a poem that “The ecclesiastical order forms one body, but society is divided into three orders. . . These three groups live together and could not endure separation.” Meaning…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Religion in the Middle Ages had a huge impact on people’s lives and medieval Europe. People would do many things because of their religion! Some ways that religion affected people’s daily lives were the Crusades happening, people devoting their entire lives to the church, and the church having power over kings. One way how religion affected medieval life was that many people fought in the Crusades. According to Document 6, Christians would go on pilgrimages to visit holy sites.…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Catholic Church has been a prominent factor in the daily lives of many European states for many centuries; and Spain is no exception. The rule of the Catholic Church is so indoctrinated in people that even today, “ three-quarters of Spaniards define themselves as Catholics, with only one in forty who follow some other religion”. (Tremlett, "Spain is still a very Roman Catholic country, but times are changing") It is evident that the Catholic Church has played a large part of the shaping of Spain today in religion and history, but the Church has also molded some of Spanish culture. But did the Spanish Catholic Church play a role in the mid of the twentieth century, and even before the Spanish Civil War?…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The medieval warfare was about the Crusades, and during the Crusades, the Western people interacted with the Eastern people, and because of this, they socially and economically influenced each other. The new technologies, science, foods, goods, and other norms began to enter the Western World from the Eastern World. Because of this, the Papacy began to lose its power over the tyrants that it was monarchic governments. “Monarchs gradually won the struggle with the greater feudal lords.” The royal power became superior to the Papacy.…

    • 197 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During these times the Church was a very substantial institution controlling mostly everything in Europe. The Church provided all the social services,ran orphanages and provided what education was available. These days Bibles can be found almost anywhere, during the Middle ages the Bible was only available in Latin and most europeans in there life would only meet one person who could read the bible which…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kali Mcknight medieval culture (A distant mirror ) The period after the fall of Rome was label the medieval period in which no scientific accomplishments had been made, no great art produced, no great leaders born. Most of medieval culture revolved around religion and chivalry. The black death, which killed a third of Europe's population, significantly affected the culture and economy of the middle ages.…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the medieval times, the Catholic Church was the dominant power in Western Europe. It dictated the way of life of kings as well as commoners, although the pope’s authority was sometimes challenged. The church reached its highest power…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Thus, the concepts of “feudalism” and the “feudal system” have been “simplistically defined”, oversimplifying the models of the Middle Ages (Brown 1065).…

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As one empire rises another falls and such a cycle is not one that is likely to end, after all, playing nicely will lead to death. However, while physical empires may fade, spiritual ones remain behind. They stick in our minds and move through the ages, partially forgotten, and touch our everyday actions and choices, as well as our changing cultures and ideologies. They bind us to our past and remind us of how different we are, creating boundaries where there previously had been none. Their importance easily and often overlooked.…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the Middle Ages, Catholicism was the predominant religion in Europe. It had a very large following and was very powerful. The Roman Catholic Church was such a powerful institution during the medieval times due to the education that they taught, the substantial amount of money they had, and the amount of power that they had over other institutions. One reason that the Catholic Church was such a powerful institution was because of the education that was taught and learned there.…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Church had separate trials and punishments to those of the monarch’s, any member of the Church who committed a crime would be judged in the Church court. The Church would judge a person’s innocence through trials by ordeals. These ordeals include ordeal by poison, water, pulling an object from boiling oil, carrying hot metal over a certain distance, walking over hot coals if one of the burns got infected, the person would guilty. If a person would be found guilty, assuming that they weren’t dead from infections or burns, they would be punished by banishment or excommunication, were the person would be unable to talk to any church member or attend any church activities. These laws were also used on King John in the 15th century causing a rebellion, which meant that the Church had far greater influence on the people and the barons than the…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Feudalism, England’s alternative to a government during the Middle Ages, played a significant role in the age of war and monarchs, and in some ways continues to have a role in today’s government. The workings of feudalism are simple. A king, or lord, gives land, also known as fiefs, ownership to nobles, also known as vassals, and in return for the king’s overall protection, the vassals would be responsible for providing their support and defense in the form of knights. In reciprocation for their service, knights were given smaller sized fiefs, this was known as subinfeudation. The peasants, or serfs, would do all upkeep of the land.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In conclusion, life was hard for the peasants in the European world during the Medieval Ages. The Feudal System determined the livelihood of their life. Since the peasants were on the bottom of the ranking system, they worked long, hard, and tiresome jobs. Although this social system did not just influence the jobs and positions they held, it also determined the meals they ate, they items of clothing they wore, what their homes were like, and their hygiene and health. These people lived quaint and simple lives, worked hard, took care of their family, and managed to…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays