Summary: Continuing Influence Of The Church

The plague was a disease that devastated Europe and the Christian population. Christians handled the plague very differently than the other groups it affected. The mortality rate for European Christians was an estimated 31%. (Robert S. Gottfried, The Black Death, New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1983.) They believed the plague was a cruel and horrible punishment on the men, women, and children of their society brought upon them by God.

Overall, there were positive and negative consequences for the church resulting from the changes that occurred during the medieval period. The preservation of Christianity by the church and the monks cannot be understated. The corruption that occurred in the church carried the name of God in vain. Could the church have maintained the simple fellowship that it started with and still maintained its identity and teachings gained from the apologists and teachers of the second through fourth centuries? I do not know what that would have looked

Religiously, the plague affected people’s beliefs in the Catholic Church. During the plague, a self torturing cult known as the Flagellants broke out and traveled from town to town whipping themselves. Hoping that they could recreate the Passion of Christ. They felt as if by doing this, they would absolve themselves from their sins and thus avoid the plague (“The Plague” Documentary). These people would today be known as a cult like group, but were soon outlawed by Pope Clement VI in 1349 (The

The survivors of the plague were more cynical, fearful, and less virtuous than ever. The murder rate during this time tripled what it had been in the past and people became care free. The religious began to question their beliefs and church officials began to indulge. Many wondered why they should obey the old customs when the Black Death could easily resurface

As the plague worsened, people remained prayerful but they no longer believed that God was a just and loyal God, instead they believed that he had forsaken them. They no longer kept themselves quarantined in their homes and they had contact with people who had the plague because they thought that they were going to die either way. During the plague, the barriers between the religions disappeared and The Church of

Big changes happened in the past time of life in European history. In the Middle Ages to the Renaissance people start thinking different they had new ideas. They went from praising religion to praising humankind. In the text it states, “during the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope were the primary players in Europe.” This is important because it emphasizes that that was the trending topic it was the most important thing to people back then before 1400 until 1700 time period came and it shows who was in charge at that time. However, people move on from religion when the Renaissance came. New invention came like the printing press which causes people to think differently and not always focus on religion and start praising humankind.

During the Plague, having death as a constant part of life led to serious social changes in art, religion and relationships. During the time of the plague, art began to incorporate death in almost every form: paintings, music, and literature. Whole communities of scholars were hit by the plague and schools were shut down.

According to Robert S. Gottfried, author of the book The Black Plague: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe, the Black Plague had a huge impact on human behavior and psychology, “the mechanics and commonplaces of everyday life simply stopped, at least initially “(77-78). With the devastation of the plague, “peasants no longer ploughed, merchants closed their shops, and some, if not all, churchmen stopped offering last rites” (Gottfried 78). In his book The Decameron, Boccaccio described many of the responses of the people during this time:

As the tenth century rolled about, the power of the Roman Catholic Church grew steadily stronger, the church had an argument with the normal Kingdom over who should rule supreme out of the Pope or the King, the church believed that the Pope who is the voice of God on Earth should be the ruler of the world while the peasants thought that the King should, the power struggle eventually ended with the Church coming out as the dominant force in the West. The Church passed a law that stated that everyone (mostly peasants) is forced to pay 10% of their income to the Church. The church had the ability to stop any laws that they did not like or make some new laws that benefited them, they were a very powerful group that could manipulate the peasants and knights in any way they liked, in Church there were photos of people being tortured in hell, this intensified the peoples longing for heaven and therefore extended the power and influence of the church. All Christians were expected to attend the mass and, by the 13th century, were expected to take the Eucharist at least once a year.

By The Middle Ages, one understands a relatively long historical period extending from the end of the Roman Empire to the 1500's. The conquest of The Roman Empire by Germanic tribes, and synthesis of Germanic and Roman ways of life formed the civilization which we call medieval (medieval-from Latin words; medium (middle) and aevum (age)). Medieval civilization was greatly influenced by the Muslims in Spain and The Middle East, and by Byzantine Empire and Christians in Southeast Europe.

The Middle Ages were a period in Europe dating from the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, around the 5th century. However, the fixing of dates for the beginning and end of the Middle Ages is arbitrary. According to the Norton Anthology, "Medieval social theory held that society was made up of three 'estates': the nobility, composed of a small hereditary aristocracy,...,the church, whose duty was to look after the spiritual welfare of that body, and everyone else..."( Norton 76).

The plague did, in fact, impact religion and religious attitudes. Namely, the monks at the time would flagellate, or whip themselves so that God would forgive them for whatever they did and remove the plague. The priests in local areas began to die, and a lack of clergy means people had less spiritual guidance. If the plaque hit an area to such an extent that all the priests in that area died, the people would not be able to go to Church on Sundays or Holy Days of Obligation. Since the people didn’t have access to the Bible or other Christian Texts, people were not informed as much. People also began to lose Faith because the disease was hitting so hard. All in all, the plague had a negative effect on people’s Faith.

By the late 1500s, Christian denominations had been popping up all over Europe. This was in response to the reports of indulgences (selling of freedom from purgatory), clerical immorality, abuse of money, along with many other bad actions that were rampant among the Church. It was these problems that Luther and others rebelled and created their own religions. With the rising of these Reformation movements, the Church needed to make some reforms itself. These reforms took the form of educating the clergy, opening monasteries, the Inquisition, and the organizing of councils. In fact, even though Protestant attacks brought these reforms, many of these reforms were needed anyway. The problems in the Church were so bad that the Church would not

The first picture shows a church that is full of paintings and sculptures, this is a photo of the Catholic Church. In the Catholic Church they worshiped relics and used many statues and other pieces of art. Along with the use of relics, the Catholic Church used the bible to teach and preach about God, whereas the protestant Church did not. The second picture is of a church that is mostly empty, this shows the protestant church, because they did not use relics and they focused on their relations with god.

I believe we exist for one purpose. That purpose is to worship and reflect our Heavenly Father. He has given His instructions to us in the Bible. The Bible tells of how we are to administer the church, how we are to worship in the church and who is to have roles in the church.