Religion was very important to the people of Medieval Europe, and it played an important role in their lives. The catholic church was the last institution that survived the fall of Roman Empire (Richardson, Robert 1). The church was outside of feudalism and didn’t take part of it (Richardson, Robert 2). The church and government were very important and powerful in the middle ages. The church was viewed as powerful when the pope crowned Charlemagne as the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. This action symbolized the strong alliance between the government and church. Even though Charlemagne did not gain any power from this, the act was viewed as an approval of God (Biel, Timothy Levi 23). Another way the church was powerful was when Charlemagne made tithing a legal obligation.
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People would turn to the church because their lives were so terrible. There was death, sickness and labor everywhere and they wanted comfort in their miserable lives. The comfort they gained was reassurance in going to heaven (Richardson, Robert 1). They were so desperate that they would believe anything that the church would say, including the Great Chain of Being. The catholic church created a philosophy/notion called the Great Chain of Being that stated, everything in the universe from God to an atom had a unchangeable place in the proper order of things (Richardson, Robert 2). This meant in the medieval society that some people like kings, nobles and lords are more important than other people such as serfs and freemen. An object’s place in the universe depends on the amount of spirit and matter the object has. The more spirit and the less matter an object has, the higher the object is on the ‘scale’ of importance (Melani, Lila). The Great Chain of Being influenced feudalism and the levels of the social classes (Richardson, Robert 2). This philosophy helped political rulers keep their authority and maintain
People would turn to the church because their lives were so terrible. There was death, sickness and labor everywhere and they wanted comfort in their miserable lives. The comfort they gained was reassurance in going to heaven (Richardson, Robert 1). They were so desperate that they would believe anything that the church would say, including the Great Chain of Being. The catholic church created a philosophy/notion called the Great Chain of Being that stated, everything in the universe from God to an atom had a unchangeable place in the proper order of things (Richardson, Robert 2). This meant in the medieval society that some people like kings, nobles and lords are more important than other people such as serfs and freemen. An object’s place in the universe depends on the amount of spirit and matter the object has. The more spirit and the less matter an object has, the higher the object is on the ‘scale’ of importance (Melani, Lila). The Great Chain of Being influenced feudalism and the levels of the social classes (Richardson, Robert 2). This philosophy helped political rulers keep their authority and maintain