There is irrefutable evidence that over the period of the Middle Ages, both Christianity and Islam have been anchors in both shaping and influencing governance of kingdoms and empires comprising Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and territories ruled by Islam. Religion during this period was widely used to set laws, influence culture, justify armed conflicts, and pronounce punishment on citizens domiciled within the geographies depicted within this essay. I will attempt to illuminate the geopolitical climate, territorial demarcation, and religious influences that depicted life circa 500 – 1517 CE. From the background material submitted, I will directly answer the following questions:
1) The role Religion played in establishing legitimacy
2) The Role Religion played in establishing armed violence
3) The extent that Christian and Muslim leaders believed that their powers flowed from God
4) Did monotheistic Religions make states more or less stable
Thesis:
• State and Religion
• Direct correlation between kingdoms/ruling authorities and Religion as a major influence in governing and prescribing morals and other societal dictates of the time period.
Chronology:
Western Europe and the Byzantium empires 500- 1000 CE:
European kingdoms grew from Germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire in the
5th century C.E. Vandals ruled North Africa in a kingdom centered in Carthage. The Visigoths ruled Spain in a kingdom which preserved many elements of Roman culture. Ostrogothe King Theodoric established a kingdom for his people in Italy.
Vandal, Visigoth, and Ostrogoth people all had cultures heavily influenced by Rome and its Religion. During this era, feudalism developed, and Christianity divided in two - the Catholic Church in the west and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the east. In both cases, the Church grew to have a great deal of political and economic power.
The era from about 500 to 1000 C.E. is sometimes referred to as the "Dark Ages" in European history, partly because many aspects of the Roman civilization were lost, such as written language, advanced architectural and building techniques, complex government, and access to long-distance trade. For the most part, these early people of Europe
There were a variety of reasons that several hundred years of Europe's history was referred to as the “Dark Ages”. One pool of thought is that this period of time was not appropriately named as such because there is a lot of historical evidence about many of the people and their lives back then. Others would point to the economic hardships and the continual lack of jobs. To the new generations it could have been the need for academic opportunities. Despite all these negativities, historians don’t always agree on every aspect of the Dark Ages; they have their opinions. One possible reason that they don’t always agree is the abundance of cultural events that occurred during this era. The Dark Ages were called so due to the hardships faced by
In these kingdoms people had no cities and no written law, people fragmented and isolated themselves to live in small communities, and the king led people into war. By the late 700s Frankish king Charles the Great, Charlemagne, took the throne. He ruled for forty-seven years, was well educated, consolidated land empire in Western Europe. Charlemagne had three accomplishments and they were that he established a Frankish empire, revived learning in Western Europe where he set up a palace school to educate in Latin, Bible, and classical subjects, and Pope Leo III crowned him “Holy Roman Emperor” in 800 A.D. When he died in 814 A.D. the kingdom fell apart. His three grandsons split the kingdom into three parts. This caused internal feuding which weakened European Kingdoms. New waves of invaders plundered and looted Europe, the Muslims from North Africa, the Magyars from Asia, and the Vikings from Scandinavia. The result of these raids led to
All through the Middle Ages, religion was a solid, inescapable power in the public arena. Most people were more worried about God and the likelihood of existence in the wake of death than they were with current human issues, says Encylopedia Britannica. When the Renaissance happened, this social mentality was starting to change. Religion was as yet honed, yet individuals started to be more centered around mainstream or humanist esteems, instead of most profound sense of being, right now.
Religion was far more important in almost every area of medieval life than it is in most modern societies. The vast majority of people in Europe followed the Christian religion under the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. The church in that era had great wealth, political power and influence over community life, art, architecture and education. With such influence over the beliefs of the people, the church also wielded tremendous political power. The other two religions were Judaism, and Islam.
There are several different influences during the art perspective during the Middle Ages. The church became dominant in Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire. This includes religion. The only religion recognized in the Middle Ages was Christianity and specifically Catholicism. Christianity in the middle ages dominated the lives of both peasants and the nobility groups. There were some issues however. Christianity in the middle ages saw a great divide also known as the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western Church. This had some influence on art as well. The most wild illustrations of Christ’s life show full-blown inventiveness throughout the art. Religious art was also known as pietistic.
Many believe the universe began when God created light. The Middle Ages was a turbulent time which fostered both destruction and beauty that always connected back to belief. God’s light had shined through the darkness, illuminated the minds of skilled workers,and aided the righteous in times of unrest, which is why the Middle Ages would have been better named the Age of Faith.
Throughout the middle ages, religion underwent much criticism and controversy. In a time where Catholicism reigned as the sole religion, ideas arose that opposed this strict faith. These ideas spawned the Protestant reform and changed religion throughout Europe. It not only changed religious practices and the path to God, but also initiated political repercussions. These results were all in search of an answer to the question to which everyone sought assurance: "How do I know I am saved?"
Government and religion are two major institutions of every civilization. Throughout history, they have coexisted, often intertwining at different points. When the two are brought fully together, humanity’s tendency toward corruption can be seen at full effect. For Christianity, the height of this intertwining between government and religion, and the corruption through power that goes with it, occurred in the thirteenth century. The Church was using and abusing its substantial influence, resulting in division and corruption that led to the emergence of reformers like Thomas Aquinas. In the thirteenth century, Christianity was at the height of its political power, but through the crusades, inquisitions, the Second Council of Lyon, and the conflict of scholasticism, the religion as a whole became as divided and corrupt as ever.
In “Religious Upheaval”, the power point lecture informs the readers how religion played a major role in the 16th century. As most may know, the Catholic church in our history was very strong and big but also corrupts. The power point explains multiple corruption methods they used like purchasing indulgences for the future. People like Martin Luther began to question these beliefs. Purchasing your way to heaven was definitely not a method most people agreed with especially the poor. This started a new way of religious behavior from the people, soon Luther began “Lutheranism” which grew across Europe. Puritans also began in England and spread throughout. At the same time period, slavery trade began to take over. Slaves were sold in America,
The early middle ages in Europe were characterized by conflict. Vikings, Eastern tribes, and Muslim armies battered the continent from all sides. Most of the emperors were too weak to fight off the threats after emperor charlemagne. Powerful nobles independently controlled their own land, in which they usually were servile to their emperor. Feudalism then became the main political, social, and economic organization of medieval Europe. Serfs worked as primarily farms but could be called to the war at any time. They didn’t have many rights but they could own their own freedom and work on their own land, but most of them soaked in misery.
In the medieval time's the role of the philosophy was to write stories in code as you could say to talk about religion and not get in trouble by doing it. The early philosophers were contemplating on religion and their beliefs and rules that should be and how things should be. Early church leaders effected philosophical by the word they were teaching and spreading out for others it affected the writers and how they wrote things because of how they believed in things and how they thought and that was what they wrote about. It is as if you went to church your whole life you would write about what you have learned and what you believe in and where you are going after death and how you should live your life. That is what they were trying to tell
The best label to describe the Middle Ages is the Age of Faith . This is because the church tried to make the world more peaceful, men gave up their possessions for god, and people gave a lot of money in order to build huge churches. The church tried to bring peace to the people. The only reason they thought they could do this was because they knew they had power. The church knew that people were so devoted to the church that they would do anything that the people of the church say. According to document 5, “ This decree of peace shall be observed… so that no one may commit murder, arson, no one may injure another with a sword, club, or any kind of weapon.” Men were willing to give up everything for their religion. The men in monasteries weren’t
A fourth theme tell us about international aspects of the Church. International, multinational the Church was the central institution of the European Middle Ages. No aspect of the medieval world was untouched by its influence as it shaped the daily round of peasant and magnate alike, from cradle to grave, it was a key factor in the high politics of kings and emperors, it ordered the relations of man and woman, the individual and the group, the ruler and the ruled and also it was the driving force behind many of the economic and administrative advances of the age. Was the source and stimulus of western learning and the immortal souls of everyone, from the lowest to the highest, were in its care. Anyone who wishes to understand the lives must
The ultimate goal of religious life in medieval times was eternal life with Jesus Christ. Every part of life was carried out for the glory of God and done in the hopes of the second coming of Jesus. The monks aimed to establish a school solely in service of the Lord. The objective of living the religious life was to listen to the voice of God and function in obedience to Christ. The monks vowed to always seek peace and walk in the paths of Jesus through promoting justice, finding truth, and practicing patience. Clergy in the medieval times as well as in modern day seek to constantly exercise devotion to God through their daily lives.
Although the Medieval and Modern ages were guided by the church, everything in the Medieval ages was based off Christianity while in the Modern age people were free thinking and interpreting religion differently as they saw fit. The two-time periods clashed over the importance of Christianity in everyday life which lead them to question how do we know God is real, and how is his work supposed to be interpernated.