Pope Martin IV

The Witch's Hammer In 1559, Pope Paul IV had The Witch's Hammer published as kinda a manual on how to hunt, capture, and torture Witches. They would use the common things from having weird birthmarks, to having a simple medical herb garden as signs as one being a witch. In this essay, I will explain the meaning of the Witch's Hammer, and what it means to me. I will also discuss how it is used in the Pagan and Wiccan community and if I would use it in my own practice. I will be discussing why it is important to know and any misconceptions me or any others have about this term. The Witch's Hammer or Malleus Maleificrum in Latin was written by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprencer. It was submitted on May 9th, 1487 but was not published at that…

The inquisition and it’s purpose had originated from the queen’s interest to, “weed out heresy in the Christian world” (The Inquisition). The earliest date of the establishment had developed in 1478 and had lasted a 356 years, ending in 1834. The only rulers known to have been noticed for this event are only the king and queen themselves and Spaniard Pope Sixtus IV. Even though it had been carried throughout for many years, no others have been recognized for such, except for Tomás de…

TOPIC 3: The changing literary and visual representations of China by Westerners in the history One of the oldest countries in the world, China, is also one of the four ancient civilization. For long stretches of history, China had their glory but also had a hard time, and the changed of China also changed impression on westerners by their literary or visual representations. In the 13th - 14th century, Genghis Khan established the Mongolia regime, built the Empire of Mongolia and began his…

Both historians and Catholics believe that Pope Innocent III and Pope Gregory VII as some of the greatest figures in history because they thought of everything in religious terms. More importantly, using their powers, they were able to achieve their goals of saving the welfare of the Church and Christian civilization. The Middle Ages was known as a period of European history, from the 5th to the 15th century, that followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and preceded the Early Modern…

In 1305, Philip IV convinced the body of Cardinals to appoint a French archbishop as the new pope. Clement V, the recently appointed pope, moved from Rome to the city of Avignon in France. The transfer to Avignon exceedingly enfeebled the Church. When reformers eventually attempted to relocate the papacy back to Rome, yet, the outcome was surprisingly severe. In 1378, Pope Gregory XI passed away while paying a visit to Rome. The body of Cardinals then gathered in Rome to select an inheritor. The…

This conflict arose between Gregory and german Emperor Henry IV, where their differing opinions on who should choose local bishops clashed in the early 11th century. Pope Gregory was an advocate for more church authority and believed that he, and future popes, should have absolute say in certain spheres of power and decision making. To cement this total authority, Gregory created his “Dictatus Papae” in 1075, which laid out his vision for the church and delegated certain powers to the pope,…

Catholic Church went through the Great Schism from 1378 and 1409, with two popes, one in Rome and the other in Avignon, and from 1409 and 1417, a third pope in Bologna. This was a political crisis as much as a spiritual one. Indeed, popes had followers, lands, people that directly depended on them. Having multiple popes posed many problems, about who actually had authority, and who was the true pope, that will lead everyone to salvation. Supporting the wrong pope may have serious consequences.…

nuns affiliated with the Church taught reading and writing and ran hospitals for the needy. Pope Gregory I used Benedictine monks as diplomats/missionaries. He sent them to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The Byzantine Empire had a very strong military. He used his military and his best commander Belisarius to reconquer Northern Africa circa 533 CE. Most of Belisarius’ success was because of his superior tactics in battle. The Byzantines used the kantos, an overhand thrusting spear, before…

of economic, social, and political tensions within the religion. Many leaders who challenged the authority of the papacy, found justification for their ideas within Protestantism, and used it to further their own independence and temporal power. This created quite the problem for the Church as they relied on taxes and tithes from these areas to fund their expansive building projects as well as the lifestyles of church leaders. The papacy realized that in order to remain influential, it must…

Due to the Holy Roman Empire’s influence, the Roman Catholic Church played a significant role in the lives of western Europeans in the Middle Ages (Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia). People were named, married and buried by the guidance of Roman Christianity (Haberman and Shubert). This changed when Martin Luther asked questions regarding salvation and the relationship between community and God. As a result of these questions, Europe would never be the same as Luther started the Protestant…