Why Is Religion Important In The Early Middle Ages

The Middle Ages are a misunderstood period of history in which the popular view is that they were a dark and gloomy time with little or no progress. In fact, the Medieval Times were much brighter times than what is commonly believed. Many accomplishments made during these times attributed to the progression of history. Religion was vitally important to the people of the middle ages and brought them together as a society. Beauty can be found in the architecture, music, and literature from this misunderstood period. Ingenious new strategies were invented to push the age further into the future. The Medieval Times were not actually a “Dark Ages” but rather a bright time filled with progress thanks to religious unity, cultural achievements, and …show more content…
Characterized by massive size and rounded Roman arches, this was the most popular style at the time of the early middle ages. The architecture featured the use of heavy stone walls and small rounded windows. The interiors were intricately detailed but given a mysterious tone due to lack of light by the small windows. Undoubtedly the most beautiful exemplification of the Romanesque style is the Palatine Chapel in Germany. The chapel is all that remains of Charlemagne's Palace of Aachen built around 800 A.D. The beautiful church was carefully designed by Odo of Metz to portray religious beauty. The chapel features a dome rising to 101.5 feet which held the title for the highest vaulted interior in northern Europe for several …show more content…
This system was complicated and well thought out to govern the methods of agriculture and the peasants who worked in the manor. The manor was a mostly self sufficient farming territory worked by villagers and overseen by the lord's appointed men as it was depended upon for the economic life of his fief. The managers of the manor came in a hierarchy, the steward being the highest ranking, then the baliff, and finally the reeve. The steward inspected the manor while the baliff oversaw the work of the peasants and the finances. The reeve acted as an assistant to the baliff in farm work and represented the peasants interests.10 The peasants consisted of both freemen and serfs. Freemen were small in number but were allowed to leave the manor, but a serf was bound to the land and required to stay there his entire life. The majority of the income came from these peasants who were required to offer their services on the manor by doing “week-work.” They spent two or three days each week working for his lord doing various tasks such as farming or repairing roads. Besides this, they were also levied dues and required to pay monopolies to use facilities such as the mill or