64Notes March02,2017

Religion and Society

3 new religious orders were setup in Europe during the

Medieval Times.
The Cistercian Monks were founded in 1098. They
farmed, worshiped and prayed. The most famous
monk was Bernard of Clairvaux.
The Franciscans were founded in 1209. These were not
monks but friars:means brothers. Lived in town and
taught Christianity to the people. The most famous friar
was Francis of Assisi.
The Dominicans were founded to defend the Church
teachings. The friars would study so they could defend
their ideas. The most famous Dominican was Dominic
de Guzman.
Also during this time many women joined convents to
become nuns.
These women joined convents for a number of reasons:
because they were widowed, unable to marry or
because they were educated.
Friars and monks are different because: friars went out
into the world instead of staying in the monasteries.
Also they lived by begging.

Role of Religion

Priests ran schools, hospitals, kept records of births and

deaths and marriages.

Only clergy could give sacraments to people.

People prayed to saints as a way to ask for favors or

help in a time of need.

The Inquisition

The Catholic Church feared that if people stopped

believing then the church would lose power. So they
came up with a plan to stop heresy.

Step 1 send friars such as the Dominicans out in the

world to preach the message.

Step 2 start the Inquisition, where heretics were

questioned until they confessed. If they didn't confess
they were tortured and then killed.

Treatment of Jews
Most Christians did not care for the Jews, either for not
being Christian or for lending money for a fee, which
was considered a sin.

The church persecuted them during the Inquisition also.

When disease or money issues arose people blamed the

Jews.

Jews were attacked and killed by Christian mobs, made

to wear special badges or clothing and sometimes forced
to live separately from others.

Their communities were known as ghettos.

Eventually they were evicted from England, France and

Germany and settled in Eastern Europe.

Medieval Culture
Medieval Art and Architecture
During this time cathedrals were built in either
the Romanesque or Gothic styles.
Romanesque churches had thick walls and little
windows which let in very little light. Making
them dark.
Gothic cathedrals were bigger than Romanesque.
Had large stained glass windows and arches.
The windows had pictures from the bible thus
teaching the serfs about Jesus.
First Universities
Universities were created to train scholars. There were
no books so all learning was done verbally.

It took 4-6 years to get a basic degree with the final

exam given out loud.

A doctor's degree could take up to 10 years to obtain.

Thomas Aquinas

A dominican friar who used scholasticism to ask tough

questions about theology.

Was a supporter of Aristotle and used logic to answer

such questions as "does God exist?"

Came up with the idea of natural law - laws that are

given to man by nature and cannot be taken away by
governments.

These laws include the ideas: right to live, to learn, to

worship and reproduce.

Literature
Only the educated people read and wrote in Latin,
while most people spoke in the vernacular.

During this time vernacular poems become a huge hit,

either troubadour poems (love) and heroic epics (war
stories).