THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION’S GROWTH IN THE MIDDLE AGES
VERN BENDER
By the year 1000AD, tensions between the Eastern and western realms escalated. Churches aligned with the Latin Rome segment or the Greek Constantinople segment. The Christian community that developed into what is now known as the Russian Orthodox Church is traditionally said to have been founded by the Apostle Andrew, who is thought to have visited Scythia and Greek colonies along the northern coast of the Black Sea.
200 YEARS OF CRUSADES:
Early in the11th century, European Christendom started military expeditions against the Muslims in Palestine. Europe had recovered from the Dark Ages, Barbarian invasions were few, and the commercial trade routes were open again.
The Muslim attitudes toward the Christians were boiling over; all tolerance was gone. There were seven major Crusades and several minor ones. Only the first one was a significant success; Jerusalem was taken back by Frankish Crusaders. Both Jews and Muslims were massacred. The Christians then ruled Jerusalem from 1099 until 1187. Saladin retook Jerusalem in 1187.
In the Fifth Crusade, put in motion by Pope Innocent III before his death in 1216, the Crusaders attacked Egypt from both land and sea. Still, they were forced to surrender to Muslim defenders led by Saladin’s nephew, Al-Malik al-Kamal, in 1221.
In 1229, in what became known as the Sixth Crusade, Emperor Frederick II achieved the peaceful transfer of Jerusalem to Crusader control through negotiation with al-Kamal. The peace treaty expired a decade later, and Muslims quickly regained control of Jerusalem.
After the Crusades, there was a heightened interest in travel and learning throughout Europe, which some historians believe may have paved the way for the Renaissance. Among followers of Islam, however, the Crusaders were regarded as immoral, bloody, and savage. The ruthless and widespread massacre of Muslims, Jews, and other non-Christians resulted in bitter resentment that persisted for many years. Even today, some Muslims derisively refer to the West’s involvement in the Middle East as a “crusade.”
After the crusades, monumental churches were built in a Romanesque style. ( i. e., they knocked off Roman architecture). Ditto for sculpture.
The Christian church was hitting its stride in the 13th century. It held sway over both sacred and secular. The High Middle ages were the high point for Catholic Christianity. Also, at that time, there was a power shift from the Greek Church in the East to the Latin Church in the West.
A significant economic revival was concurrently sweeping Europe. The Italian states, Britain, and France, we’re leading the way. Pope Innocence 3rd (1198-1216) wanted to forge a church that would rule over every aspect of society. (He made no small plans). The European economies were roaring along. The engine of growth was the mercantile cities. A new middle class of merchants, craftsmen, and other professionals nurtured and sustained the European economy.
A new emphasis on church teaching and learning was restoring intellectual thought in Europe. Arista tole’s body of work was rediscovered in the monasteries, and dialectic discussions were back. His body of work was the basis for most medieval intellectual endeavors. This learning produced academic clerics, e. g. Thomas Aquinas, John Wycliff, etc. Latin was their common language.
The High Middle Ages also produced the Gothic style in architecture. The invention of the flying buttress allowed for the building of giant cathedrals. The elegance of Gothic art in paintings and sculpture originated in Bohemia and Italy.
(FRENCH GOTHIC)
By 1201, Pope Innocent declared that the Papal authority was superior to the Roman Emperor’s reign; his papacy asserted the absolute spiritual leader of his office while still respecting the temporal power of kings. There was scarcely a country in Europe over which Innocent III did not in some way or other assert the supremacy which he claimed for the papacy. (Papal authority was superior to Royal power).
Avignon papacy, Roman Catholicpapacy during the period 1309–77, when the popes took up residence at Avignon, France, instead of at Rome, primarily because of the current political conditions. (Plus, the new Pope, Clement V, wanted to stay in the South of France).
IN 1347, the plague showed up in Europe. By 135i, it had reached Russia. European society was torn asunder. All levels of the organization were hit. The crime was in the streets. Almost one-third of Europe’s population went away.
THE WESTERM SCHISM OF 1378-1417.
The schism in the Western Roman Church resulted from the return of the papacy to Rome by Gregory XI on January 17, 1377. The Avignon Papacy had developed a reputation for corruption that estranged major parts of Western Christendom. This reputation can be attributed to perceptions of predominant French influence and the papal curia‘s efforts to extend its powers of patronage and increase its revenues.
After Gregory XI died in the Vatican Palace on 27 March 1378, the Romans put into operation a plan to ensure the election of a Roman pope. The pope and his Curia were back in Rome after seventy years in Avignon, and the Romans were prepared to do everything in their power to keep them there.
The Schism of 1378 was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417[1] in which two men (by 1410 three) simultaneously claimed to be the true pope, and each excommunicated the other. Driven by authoritative politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance (1414–1418). For a time, these rival claims to the papal throne damaged the reputation of the office. The situation was resolved in 1415 when the Council of Constance caused all three to resign.
