The Church in the Middle Ages

1
The Church in the Middle Ages

• The Age of Faith

2
Religion as a Unifying Force

• During a time of constant warfare, the Church was
  a stable force
• No matter who you were, religion provided the way
  to salvation
• Religious festivals were social and religious
  gatherings

3
Problems with the Church

• Simonyselling positions in the Church
• Lay investitureKings appoint bishops
• Priests had families, when marriage was against
  church rulings

4
Reforms

• Pope Leo IX enforced church laws against simony
  and priests marriage
• Pope Gregory VII banned lay investiture
• Popes power extended by traveling
  representatives who enforced canon law (law of
  the church) on marriage, divorce, and inheritance

5
Church Architecture

• In the early 1100s a new style of architecture
  was developedGothic architecture.
• Gothic Cathedrals thrust upward as if reaching
  toward heaven