The Dark Ages

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The Dark Ages

• Christianity moved rapidly into a position of
  strong world
• influence in the fifth century, as the church
  developed its
• moral, intellectual, and political leadership.
• 1. The years from 450 to 700 saw the complete
  disintegration of the Western Roman Empire.
• 2. The Eastern empire held together, but it was
  gradually weakening too.
• 3. Barbarian invasions destroyed what was left
  of the old Roman political, economic, and
  social fabric.
• 4. What is now Europe was divided into areas
  ruled by local kings, who often warred
  with their neighbors.
• 5. In the midst of this chaos, the church was
  often the one stable element in peoples
  lives.

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Dark Ages (cont.)
1. The church and society had entered what
would later be called the Dark Ages. It
involved a. The churchs own version of
darkness b. The churchs ongoing
entanglements with politics and
feuds c. The churchs growing power and
wealth 2. Life as a Christian a. In the
early Dark Ages (6th century) people
had little control over disease, their
environment, or their own fate. b.
Consequently, people had a strong sense that God
ruled creation, not man. c. The people of
the Dark Ages had a strong sense of Gods
grace but also of the devils presence
and power.
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3. Worship a. Eucharist worship was
central to Christian life in the 6th
century. b. People went to Mass on
Sundays, called that since the 5th
century. Mass from the Latin word missa in
the farewell given by the presider at the
Eucharist, Ite, missa est, or Go you are
dismissed. c. The form of the Mass was fairly
standard by the 6th century, for both the
East and the West. d. In the West, the
sacrament of reconciliation was usually
performed in public, and only in the cases
of the most serious sins. e. The
penances were quite severe by our standards. f.
The veneration of saints became increasingly
important part of worship. g. By the year
600, many saints were called upon in prayer and
remembered during the liturgy because they
were seen as intercessors in
heaven.
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4. The Clergy a. From the 5th to the 7th
century, qualifications for the
priesthood gradually became stricter and
more standardized. b. Early in the
5th century, the minimum
requirements for priests were not to have done
public penance in their lifetime. c.
not have served in the army since the time of
their baptism d. not have paid for
public pagan games e. not have been a pagan
priest f. if married, they have to have
married a virgin not a woman married
twice g. not a widow A century later, the
list was expanded to h. no women j. no
proven criminal i. no illiterate person k.
No physically deformed
man
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Political Scene

• In the West
• a. The state was much weaker in the West.
• b. Barbarian invasions put great social,
  economic, and political pressure on the
  empire.
• c. The state (emperors) was too weak to stop
  the
• invasions.
• d. The pope and the church ascended in power
  and influence.
• e. The church became the stabilizing force for
  order and peace.

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In the East a. The Eastern emperors were
generally more capable than those of the
West. b. The Eastern emperors were so strong
they dominated the church with regard to
church doctrinal disputes, the calling of
church councils, appointing bishops, etc. c.
They were often Arians, influencing the
eastern church and also the barbarian tribes
converted by eastern missionaries.
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In 476 the Roman emperor was deposed by a
barbarian leader. For the next several centuries
the West would have no Roman emperor. It would
be ruled by a variety of barbarian chieftains in
the name of the Eastern emperor. After the fall,
the empire became known as the Byzantine Empire.
THEODORIC
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Theodoric 1. A king of a Goth tribe, he took
over the rule of Italy, at the
beginning of the 6th century. 2. He realized
that in Italy the church alone had the
organization needed to keep the peace.
3. Even though he was an Arian, Italy
experienced some years of relative calm
and order.
Clovis, king of the Franks 1. His rise to
power was a political development with
enormous significance for the church. 2.
A pagan, he married a Catholic princess,
from whom he learned the faith. 3.
According to legend while losing a fierce
battle, he prayed to his wifes God,
resulting in victory. 4. In 496 Clovis, and his
3,000 soldiers converted, and gradually
all the Franks became Christians.
CLOVIS
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Christendom on the Rise 1. As Clovis worked
his way south, Catholic Christianity
spread throughout the tribes that had been
Arian. 2. He used the church to bring stability
to his kingdom. 3. A common religion gave his
subjects a unifying moral code and set
of religious rituals to follow. 4. His
conversion was significant to the rise of
Christendom. (d. Christianity as the dominant
organizational and cultural force in
society) 5. In the centuries after, the
Frankish kings so enmeshed the church in
governmental affairs that church and
state were hardly distinguishable. 6. This
enabled the church to grow in numbers, but it
often compromised the church as well.
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Justinian The Last Strong Emperor 1. Ruled
over the Byzantine Empire from 527 to 565,
and was its last strong emperor. 2. His
most significant achievement was the reform
of the civil law. 3. Most laws did not
reflect Christian values, so a committee
worked for seven years to produce the
Justinian Code.
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Justinian Code 1. The new law manifested a
more Christian orientation a. It took away
much of the arbitrary power that a
man had over his wife and children. b. A
father could no longer send his children into
slavery to pay his debts. c. Women
could hold property in their own name. d.
Women were protected from being easily divorced
by their husband. 2. It was based in part
on the customs of the time, and despite
its problems, it better reflected Christian
ethics than the old laws had. 3. They also had
their ruthless elements Justinian
believed he was responsible for the religion of
his subjects, so everyone had to become
Christian. 4. This led to the persecution of
Jews, non-Christians, and heretics.