Revival, Recovery, Reform, and Expansion

1
Revival, Recovery, Reform, and Expansion
2
Political Revival

• 11th Century a new political stability began
• Rulers in France, England, and Germany worked to
  reduce private warfare and civil anarchy
• In the 10th Century Charlemagnes descendents
  continued to hold the royal title in the West
  Frankish kingdom
• They did not exercise control over the feudal
  lords

3
France

• Northern France had strong feudal elements
• Southern territories used Roman Law
• Five counties dominated northern France
• Anjou, Blois-Chartres, Brittany, Flanders, and
  Normandy

4
Charles the Simple

• West Frankish Ruler
• Not able to remove the Vikings from France
• In 911AD he officially recognized Viking ruler,
  Rollo and later gave him more land
• In turn Rollo gave allegiance to Charles and
  agreed to hold the region as a barrier against
  future Viking attacks

5
Duke William I

• Descendent of Rollo
• Under his control rebellious lords ignored ducal
  authority, built private castles, and engaged in
  private warfare
• Beginning in 1060, he united the Norman nobility
  under threat of external aggression from the
  counts of Blois and Maine
• Defended his frontier with a circle of castles
• Made feudalism work as a system of government
• Executed vassals who defaulted on their
  obligations

6
Carpetian Dynasty

• In 987, when the last of the Carolingian rulers
  died, nobles assembled to choose a successor
• Hugh Capet was selected
• Soon after his coronation he crowned his son to
  ensure succession and prevent disputes after his
  death
• Saved France from further division
• By hanging onto their lands they laid the
  foundation for later political stability

7
England

• In 1013 the Danish ruler Swen Forkbeard invaded
  England
• His son Canute completed the subjugation
• Became King of England from 1016-1035
• After 1030 he became King of Norway as well
• Made England the center of his empire
• Promoted a policy of assimilation and
  reconciliation between Anglo-Saxons and Vikings

8
Germany and Italy
9
King Otto 936-973

• Lead the Germans in a crushing defeat on the
  Hungarians on the banks of the Lech River
• The Battle of Lechfeld halted the Magyars threat
  to Germany and made Otto a great hero to the
  Germans
• Also it demonstrated that Otto was a worthy
  successor to Charlemagne
• Selected Aachen as the site of his coronation to
  symbolize his intention to continue the tradition
  of Charlemagne
• Relied on the church to halt feudal anarchy
• Got financial support and the bulk of his army
  from ecclesiastical lands
• Coroneted by the Pope in 962
• Revived imperial dignity and laid the foundation
  for what was later call the Holy Roman Empire
• Filled a power vacuum in northern Italy and
  brought peace among the great aristocratic
  families

10
The Peace of God

• Bishops took action to put a stop to the rampant
  attacks against the church
• Church councils formed peace associations
• Groups of men in particular districts who
  assessed themselves and used the money to provide
  armed protection against thuggish lords
• Some churchmen tried to reduce the amount of
  warfare by initiating the Truce of God
• They limited the number of days on which fighting
  was permitted
• Sundays, Special feast days, and the seasons of
  Lent and Advent were to be free of fighting
• If all forbidden days had been observed fighting
  would have been permissible on only 80 days of
  the year

11
Revival and Reform in the Christian Church

• In the 11th Century monasteries remodeled
  themselves under the leadership of the Burgundian
  abbey of Cluny
• Pope Gregory VIIs strong assertion of papal
  power led to profound changes in serious conflict
  with secular authorities
• Cathedrals showed the revival in the church in
  the 12th and 13th Centuries

12
Monastic Revival

• The Viking, Magyar, and Muslim invaders attacked
  and ransacked many monasteries across Europe
• Powerful laymen appointed themselves or their
  relatives as abbots, took the lands and goods of
  monasteries, and spent monastic revenues
• Abbots, bishops, and archbishops thus had
  military responsibilities that required them to
  fight with their lords or at least send
  contingents of soldiers when called on to do so
• The first two abbots of Cluny, Berno and Odo, set
  very high standards of religious behavior
• Cluny gradually came to stand for clerical
  celibacy and the suppression of simony
• Simony- the sale of church offices

13

• Deeply impressed laypeople showered girts on
  monasteries with good reputations
• As the monasteries became richer, the lifestyle
  of the monks grew increasingly luxurious
• Soon fresh demands for reform were heard, and the
  result was the founding of new religious orders
  in the late 11th and early 12th Centuries

14
The Cistercians

• In 1098 a group of monks left the rich abbey of
  Molesmes in Burgundy and founded a new house in
  the swampy forest of Citeaux
• Planned to avoid all involvement with secular
  feudal society
• Accepted only uncultivated lands far from regular
  habitation
• Refused all gifts of mills, serfs, tithes, and
  ovens
• Early Cistercians avoided elaborate liturgy and
  ceremony and kept chants simple
• Refused to allow the presence of powerful
  laypeople in their monasteries

15

• In 1112 a 23 yr old nobleman named Bernard joined
  the community at Citeaux
• 3 yrs later he was appointed founding abbot of
  Clairvaux in Champagne
• He attacked the theological views of Peter
  Abelard
• He intervened in the disputed papal election of
  1130
• Drafted a constitution for the Knights Templars
• Preached the 2nd Crusade
• Unavoidably, Cistercian success frought wealth
  and wealth brought power
• By the later 12th century economic prosperity and
  political power had begun to compromise the
  original Cistercian ideals

16
Mendicant Friars

• Pope Innocent III 1198-1216
• 13th century pope who presided over the papacy at
  its highest level of influence
• Sanctioned the establishment of two new orders
• The Dominicans and the Franciscans
• The members of both were called friars
• Worked among needy people, especially those
  living in towns, rather than isolating themselves
• It was said that their world was their cloister
• To finance their good deeds they went about
  begging for alms
• This caused people to refer to them as
  mendicants, or beggars
• Preached and defended the teachings of the Church
  and fought heresy wherever they encountered it

17

• Thomas Aquinas
• Dominican theologian
• His teachings are still considered the definitive
  statement of Roman Catholicism

18
Dominicans

• Founded in 1216 by Saint Dominic
• Felt the way to fight heresy was to return to
  the simple ways of the apostles
• Gained fame by joining the crusade against the
  Albigensian heresy
• Albigensian were centered in southern France
• Believed the world was a battleground for the
  forces of good and evil
• Church Evil, because of its wealth and power
• Order of the Friar Preachers became the official
  name of the Dominicans

19
Franciscans

• Francis
• Son of a wealthy merchant from Assisi
• Dreamed of becoming a knight but was captured
  during his first military venture
• Had a dream in which he was directed to repair
  several ruined churches near the city
• Without permission used fathers money to do
  repairs and was flogged and imprisoned
• Then pledged himself to a life of poverty and to
  helping the poor and the sick
• To demonstrate the teachings of Jesus
• Soon a small group of like-minded people joined
  him
• The Order of Friars Minor was sanctioned by Pope
  Innocent III
• Impressed Clare, a young noble woman
• She renounces her inheritance
• She founded an order of nuns called the Poor
  Clares

20
Reform of the Papacy

• In the 10th the papacy provided little leadership
  to the Christian peoples of western Europe
• Popes were appointed to advance the political
  ambitions of their families
• Pope John XII was appointed pope by his powerful
  father when he was only 18
• He concentrated on expanding papal territories
• At the local parish level, in the 10th and 11th
  centuries, many priests were married
• These priests were called Nicolaites

21
The Controversy over Lay Investiture

• In 1075 Pope Gregory held a council at Rome
• Published decrees against nicolaitism, simony,
  and lay investiture
• Clerics who accepted investiture from laymen were
  to be deposed
• Laymen who invested clerics were to be
  excommunicated
• The churchs penalty of excommunication relied
  for its effectiveness on public opinion
• Henry IV in the Empire, William the Conqueror in
  England, and Philip I in France protested

22
Why did the issue of lay investiture provoke the
wrath of the Kings?

• Kings appointed monks and clerics as their
  administrators
• Rulers used church offices, bishoprics, and
  abbacies as the financial means with which to
  support royal governments
• The revenues of a diocese or monastery supplied
  the incomes for royal officials and their staffs

23

• The strongest reaction came from Germany
• Gregory accused Henry of lack of respect for the
  papacy and insisted that disobedience to the pope
  was disobedience to God
• In 1076 many of the German bishops who had been
  invested by Henry withdrew their allegiance from
  the pope
• Gregory replied by excommunicating them and
  suspending Henry from the kingship
• The Christmas season of 1076 witnessed an ironic
  situation in Germany the Clergy supported the
  emperor and the nobility supported the pope
• Henry outwitted Gregory
• According to legend, Henry stood for 3 days in
  the snow seeking forgiveness
• As a priest, Gregory was obliged to grant
  absolution and to readmit the emperor to the
  Christian community

24

• In 1080 Gregory VII again excommunicated and
  deposed the emperor in return, Henry invaded
  Italy, captured Rome, and controlled the city
  when Gregory died in 1085
• Gregorys successors encouraged Henrys sons to
  revolt against their father
• In 1122, at a conference held at Worms, the issue
  was settled by a compromise
• Bishops were to be chosen according to canon law
  in the presence of the emperor or his delegate
• This allowed emperors an effective veto over
  ecclesiastical appointments

25
The Papacy in the HighMiddle Ages

• Pope Urban II laid the foundations for the papal
  monarchy by reorganizing the central government
  of the Roman church, the chancery, and papal
  finances
• He recognized the college of cardinals as a
  definite consultative body
• These agencies combined with the papal chapel
  constituted the curia Romana
• Curia Romana the papal court, the papacys
  administrative bureaucracy and its court of law
• The Roman curia had its greatest impact as a
  court of law
• As the highest ecclesiastical tribunal, it
  formulated canon law for all of Christiandom