How Did Religion Affect The High Middle Ages

The High Middle Ages were a very hard time to be around, wars constantly erupted over land and religious beliefs. Religion seemed to be the center of conflict with Christianity being the midst of the controversy. Christianity changed drastically during the High Middle Ages through different reforms that had a positive impact on ordinary people, such as when Pope Gregory VII made it possible for the church to manage itself without an outside source; for example a government making decisions for them. However, Pope Gregory VII had many challenges and conflicts in trying to reform the church in becoming independent of government control, nevertheless he managed to become successful in accomplishing this feat. Pope Gregory’s goal was to get …show more content…
Their reasoning for creating this organization was because they were unhappy with how little discipline there was in their own Benedictine monastery. They made many changes to their lifestyle by eating a simple diet, having only one robe to wear, removing from all of their churches and monastic buildings, and setting more time for prayer and manual labor by spending less time at religious services. Unlike the Benedictine monks, who would spend many hours in personal prayer, they would take their religion to people outside the monastery. In addition, Cistercians also played a considerable role in establishing a new spiritual model for 12th century Europe. This was a positive thing for the everyday person because this proved to the people that they were in control of themselves. That rules can be made and passed on their own terms that will benefit everyone. This would be appealing to people because it shows that they are in control and have power without the influence of outside sources. The Cistercian order was positive for everyone because it got Christianity out there more since they weren’t limited to the monastery bringing in more people to join the