01.01.

09 ROCK & SAND

OUTLINE

GROWTH AND POWER

Turning tide
West-East schism
Christendom and papacy
Monastic flowering
Francis and Dominic
Reason and faith
Crusades and mission
Waldensians and dissent
Cathari and inquisition

DAYS OF RESTLESSNESS
Winds of change
Eclipse of papacy
Renaissance
Spiritual stirrings
John Wycliffe
Jan Hus
Savonarola

Questions
Open Reflection
Reading & Resources

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 SALVATION LANDSCAPE
An opportunity to understand, discuss and reflect upon the story of the people of
God; seamlessly integrating biblical and church history against a background of world
history and applying our observations to the Christian community today.
LEARNING GOALS:
Unit Objective: To enable learners to understand the relationship between history,
mission and eschatology in defining the environment, inspiration and the purpose of
Christians as the people of God.
Module Objective: To enable learners to recognise and understand the biblical
presentation and historical development of Christianity
Learners will:
Review historical events
Analyse different interpretations
Identify the spiritual dimension of world history
Reflect on the relevance to the students own times
Learners will acquire a knowledge and understanding of:
Sequential events
Historical context
Methods of history telling
Influence / impact of events on subsequent events
Session Learning Goal:
Learners will examine the main characteristics of life and belief across the
mediaeval world
Session Description:
Life and belief across the mediaeval world

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 01.01.09 ROCK & SAND

GROWTH AND POWER

Turning tide

The year 1000 passed. The world did not end; in fact the social order in western
Europe remained much the same as it had done for the previous 400 years with little
sign that very much would change. But remarkably, within 100 years life was to have
changed in every respect; and this change is one of the surprising facts of the Middle
Ages. A growing self-confidence in many people replaced the inferiority and
insecurity of the past. There was:

Major economic expansion;

Population growth;
Settlement of wastelands;
Road improvement;
New farming methods;
Increasing urbanisation, but majority of population agrarian;
Weakness in the eastern church and Islam gave the West more power.

Society was a feudal system, strengthened by the tumults of the 10th century in
which all that counted were the bonds that people created between them by oath.
Land belonged to the warrior who defended it, who in turn was under the protection
of a more powerful lord who granted their vassal possession of a fiefdom or benefice.
So there was a hierarchy of warriors and landowners. The church was caught up in
this system. Ecclesiastical office had land to provide the incumbent with a living; so a
bishop was also both lord and vassal, controlling land, dispensing justice, maintaining
an army; hence peoples desire to hold ecclesiastical position, which also had
spiritual as well as temporal influence. These offices were appointed, not by election
as in the past, but at the behest of emperors, kings, dukes and lords; known as lay
investiture. Because church positions were not hereditary they were redistributed at
the death of the holder to whoever had earned favour. So western Europe was a
society in which everyman had their allotted station, usually fixed by birth and
offering little chance of any movement from it. Added to this, it was believed that
feudalism produced a divinely ordained balance to society in which, Some pray,
some fight and some work.

As the age progressed, the spiritual aura that the secular rulers had drawn around
themselves was increasingly seen to be absurd. They were neither priest nor monk,
so they could be only a layperson. With the expansion of agriculture and commerce,
society became increasingly complex and demanded more sophisticated solutions to

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its problems. These could be found only in acquiring more expert knowledge.
Education, above elementary level, was in the hands of the church, which gave it not
only spiritual power but also real secular power. This increased the gap between the
clergy and the laity.

What has emerged is a phenomenon we refer to as Christendom; that quite

particular relationship between church and society, which formed the essence of the
Middle Ages. The peoples of Europe were seen as being held together by a common
commitment to the Christian faith. Church and state were the viewed as the spiritual
and temporal aspects of the same reality; like the spirit and body of a person.
According to idealists, the community had meaning only in the ultimate fulfilment as
the kingdom of God. The church was the state. Ecclesiastical organisation became
monolithic; even though national forces were able to put some limits upon it. Every
sphere of life, in all its complicated detail, was seen to fit into a single socio-spiritual
system that was authoritative. It was believed to be a theocracy, with God at the
apex of the feudal pyramid. All activities and achievements were understood as being
directed towards the single end: the glory of God. The reality we shall explore.

West-East schism

We have seen that from the 5th century onwards there had been an increasing gap
developing between the Latin churches of the West and the Greek churches of the
East. The reasons were political, cultural and theological:

The Greek church was controlled by the political power of Byzantium, while in
the West the papacy operated politically and often appeared to be against the
interests of the east;
The 10th century saw the Latin West as a cultural desert, perceived by the
East as savages, while the West saw the Byzantines as culturally affected;
The West distinguished between rite and belief, while the East saw any
change of ritual as a change of faith; they saw questions about fasting, the
eucharist, priest marriage, and the Wests inclusion of the filoque1 clause in
the Nicaean creed, as very important;
The Byzantines honoured the Bishop of Rome but were collegial in their view
of episcopacy, where as the pope often claimed universal authority in the
church.

From the 5th to the 11th centuries these were the themes that led to a number of
divisions and reconciliations between the church, east and west. In 1054 the threat of
a common enemy in the Normans in southern, Byzantine Italy led to a renewed
attempt at reconciliation. Sadly the mediators on each side were not adequate to the
task; they did not understand each others cultural background and they were both
stubborn. Not finding any basis for discussion or agreement, the papal legate,
Cardinal Humbert, solemnly excommunicated the Byzantine patriarch, Michael
Cerularius, in Constantinoples church of St Sophia. Humbert returned to Rome
claiming a great victory for the Latin church. At the time the events were not seen as
so important, relations continued east and west; but in hindsight 1054 is symbolically
significant:

1
See 02. 05.06 Holy Spirit for details about this debate

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 No real reconciliation followed this date;
The crusades widen the gap further;
The councils of Lyons (1274) and Florence (1438) achieve nothing substantial;
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 highlights the isolation of the eastern church.

Christendom and papacy

As the new era dawned we find the papacy at its lowest ebb. During the 10th century
the womenfolk of a rich Italian family kept the papacy under their control, installing
lovers and illegitimate sons as bishop of Rome, which explains why there were papal
concubines and teenage popes. The emperor also was a strong influence. Corruption
of the papacy was a symbol of widespread corruption throughout church leadership.
Bishops were appointed by lay investiture, princes and the emperor filling the posts
with military men or their own sons; there were few spiritual considerations:

Simony: selling ecclesiastical power was widespread (see Acts 8:20);

Nicolaitism: keeping priestly concubines was frequent (see Rev 2:6,14-15).

In 1032 Benedict IX was elected at 12 years old by his political masters; the older he
grew the more debauched he became, shocking even the libertine Italians.
Throughout the church, especially from centres of spiritual revival such as Cluny and
its monasteries, there was a growing demand for major reform and a more holy
church. We see successive popes trying to break free from the power of the emperor
and political control. In 1059 Pope Nicholas II made the innovative ruling that
cardinals alone should appoint the pope.2 Understandably, the emperor, in particular,
did not take kindly to his power in appointment being eroded by cardinals.

Hildebrand and reform

In 1073 Hildebrand was appointed Pope Gregory VII. He was from Cluny, the great
centre of Benedictine revival, and became a great champion for moral, spiritual and
structural reform.3 It was individuals like Hildebrand, who along with others, set the
direction for the papacy to became the dominating force of the Middle Ages. He
made the Donation of Constantine clear papal policy, but went far beyond even this.
He saw the pope not simply vicar of St Peter but vicar of Christ himself, with divine
given authority over kings and emperors. The following are some of his many
statements:

The pope can be judged by none;

The Roman church, founded by Christ, has never erred nor ever will err until the
end of time;
The pope can depose or restore bishops, and alone can authorise their
appointment;

2
Initially all bishops, including the Bishop of Rome, were appointed by popular choice of the people.
Then, as we have seen, they became appointed by secular political powers; the decision to appoint
the pope by using cardinals [the most important clergy] alone has characterised the choice of the pope
ever since.
3
Without being too simplistic there is a sense in which one can say that the reformation begins with
Hildebrand; an attempt to reform internally, which did not succeed; leaving the reformation of the 16th
century as the logical consequence of its failure.

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 The pope alone can reverse his own statements;
The pope can depose emperors, and all princes are to kiss his feet;
The papal court inhibits the judgment of all inferior courts;
The pope is undoubtedly made a saint by the merits of St Peter.

Statements like these were designed to give the pope total sovereignty in all affairs of
Christendom. These statements grew to have practical force throughout Europe in a
short period of time.

Hildebrand challenged lay investiture at every level. He forbade bishops to accept

appointment by rulers, and forbade archbishops to consecrate any such person.
Matters came to a head in 1075 when Hildebrand excommunicated the emperor,
Henry IV, for independently appointing a bishop. Popular fear of the popes spiritual
authority led to Henry becoming completely isolated and being forced to seek the
papal absolution. In the depths of winter in 1077, the emperor, with his wife and son,
were forced to stand exposed to ice and snow in the courtyard of the castle of
Cannosa for three days and nights, before being given an audience with the pope to
be received back into the church. All Christendom watched and saw where the real
power lay. Ironically, in 1085 Hildebrand was to die in exile, a prisoner of the
Normans, but nonetheless he had set a standard others would follow.

Papal power and Innocent III

There was an ongoing struggle for papal supremacy. The tensions between spiritual
and temporal power continued for some time, but increasingly the bishops of Rome
asserted themselves:

They called councils of the church in which only the western Latin church was
involved, called Lateran Councils;
They collected papal letters and rulings on various matters (decretals) from
the past, which were given the same authority as Scripture;4
They established Canon law as the omnipresent government throughout the
Roman church of western Europe;
They interfered more and more in the daily life of the church.

It is with Innocent III (11981216) that the papacy reaches the height of its powers.
He attempts to take the direction already set to its logical conclusion:

He becomes the supreme arbiter in Europe;

He appoints the emperor and makes the English king bow to his will;
He develops the theory of papal power as a theocracy;
He affirmed that he held the fullness of power in Christendom. Spiritually all
churches were under his control; while the temporal sphere was autonomous, the
pre-eminence of the spiritual gave him the right to intervene in political affairs
when salvation was at stake in a sinful world.

So between the 11th and 13th centuries we have seen the papacy develop into what
has been described as the grandest, most developed and integrated system for

4
This explains why the forged or false decretals like the Donation of Constantine could be used to
reinforce papal power.

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conducting human life. Papal government became central, extending to every corner
of western Europe, and came to expect instant obedience. It erected a huge
machinery of bureaucratic government, with enormous numbers of papal agents; an
increasing flood of appeals on every aspect of life poured into the papal courts
seeking either justice or favour. Of course, at every level, each cog in the wheel had
to be oiled by the exchange of money. It was impossible to live outside this system,
and to live within it demanded that you were orthodox.

Faith and society

The multitude of great cathedrals which thrust their great spires skyward across
Europe, between the 11th and 13th centuries, eloquently symbolise the power and
confidence of Christendom. The ordinary peasant people who lived beneath their
buttresses were perceived as being Christian; but it was a social and cultural
Christianity within which there was as much superstition, fear and scepticism as there
was personal faith. Medieval religion was shaped by rural and feudal society. God,
the supreme Lord, was loved but greatly feared; every pain or pleasure of life was the
result of divine providence. Peasant people mixed Christian and pagan ideas into the
fabric of their lives. As we have seen, Christendom became an exclusive society:

Membership demanded baptism within a few days of birth, and the oaths
taken by the parents and godparents were binding on the person until their
death;
Confession and communion were emphasised, with the mass becoming a
mysterious spectacle; seeing the elevation of the host became almost
magical;
The language of the liturgy and Scripture was Latin, many of the clergy had
little education all ground for ignorance and superstition;
Churches and cathedrals were public places, even a refuge in times of war; to
attend mass may have been an obligation but the occasion was often more
social than spiritual;
Popular religion expressed itself in festivals with miracle and mystery plays,
and at times open clowning, such as at the Feast of Fools;
There was a continuing interest in touching the sacred that expressed itself in
everything from holding a relic to going on pilgrimage.

We need to recognise that there was often a real difference between what the church
officially demanded and what happened in practice, with greed often being judged
more harshly than fornication. There were also many who were concerned about the
spiritual needs of the common people and worked to meet them. As we shall see,
there were a small but significant number who challenged the status quo as a whole.

Monastic flowering

We have noted before the important part monasticism plays in the story of the church
east and west, and the way in which the Benedictine Order, which was founded in
529, grew to dominate the life of church and society throughout western Europe in
the early Middle Ages. However, both the passage of time and success, plus the
ravages upon society from the 9th century brought degeneracy and abuse. There
were increasing calls for reform.

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 Cluny
In 910, when a renewed and invigorated Benedictine monasticism began to flower at
Cluny in central France, it was not only a protest against the degeneracy into which
so much monastic life had fallen, but also against the control of the state over the
church. The reforms at Cluny were both religious and organisational:

The main principles of the Benedictine Order were restored;

The abbot was elected independently of princes and bishops;
The abbey affirmed its allegiance directly to the pope;
The personalities and longevity of its early abbots gave it influence;
The order championed the papacy and provided bishops and popes;
The order did much to aid the reform of other monasteries and the church;
The stress was on liturgy and continuous prayer, not manual work;
The liturgy and church buildings created a sense of magnificence;
The community was to be a picture of heaven upon earth;
The abbey was generous in its charity to the poor;
Church building influenced the spread of Romanesque architecture..

One of the most significant characteristics of Cluny was its complex and centralised
organisation when it came to founding daughter houses. These did not become
independent with their own abbot as in other Benedictine foundations, but instead
they each had a prior who was obedient to the abbot at Cluny. In its heyday, in the
middle of the 12th century, what was referred to as the state of Cluny consisted of
314 dependent monasteries with some 50,000 monks; a powerful network and
influence.

Citeaux and the Cistercians

The reforms at Cluny restored dignity to the monastic movement; however, their
emphasis on magnificence in liturgy and buildings did not satisfy the longing that
many had for a return to the most simple and austere interpretation of the
Benedictine rule. In 1098 a group of hermits, led by Robert de Molseme and an
Englishman Stephen Harding founded a monastery in the wild valley of the River
Saone at Citeaux in Burgundy with just that intention. There was to be:

A complete break with the backsliders of Cluny;

Poverty in food and clothing;
Simplicity in church buildings and services;
Silence and austerity;
Emphasis upon manual work;
An assembly (chapter) of abbots once a year;
The commitment to be like Christ.

One of the most significant characteristics of these white monks (they wore white
habits in contrast to the black Benedictine habit), was their desire to imitate the early
Christian monastics and search out the wilderness places away from society. They
were wholly self-sufficient, establishing huge farms in previously desolate areas,
dominating the landscape. In time they introduced lay brothers (conversi) to work the
land while they prayed and studied. In time their economic activities, especially
sheep farming, brought them great wealth and ironically reversed their austerity.

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Nevertheless, in 1300 there were over 600 Cistercian monasteries and nunneries,
indicating the strength and influence of the movement.

Clairvaux and Bernard

One of the main reasons for the influence of the Cistercian order was Bernard
(10901153). He was a Burgundian nobleman from Dijon who, with 30 companions,
joined the hermits at Citeaux and then in 1115 founded an abbey at Clairvaux. He
himself went on to found 66 abbeys personally. The influence of Bernard of Clairvaux
was enormous; it is said that in the middle of the 12th century he was the most
important person in the church. He was often far from his abbey, involving himself in
different matters:

He attacked Cluny on the grounds of laxity and decadence;

He worked for the reform of the clergy;
He encouraged bishops to practise poverty and concern for the poor;
He tried to Christianise feudal society, but did not understand the growing
challenges to it;
He challenged the powerful and the extravagant living of the rich;
He saw one of his monks selected as Pope Eugenius III;
He made peace between the French king and his feudal subjects;
He proclaimed the sanctity of marriage;
He defended the faith against heresy;
He challenging Peter Abelard and rationalism and put a brake on theological
thinking;
He preached the second crusade, but challenged the massacre of Jews;
He wrote a rule for the militant monastic order, the Knights Templar.

Bernard was first and foremost a spiritual master, a person for whom meditation on
the Scriptures was the starting point for everything else. He stressed the love and
mercy of God rather than judgment. He stressed union with God rather than
asceticism and spiritual exercises. His central emphasis on Jesus is seen in his
hymns, Jesus, the very thought of Thee, O sacred head once wounded and Jesus,
Thou joy of loving hearts. His sermons on the Song of Songs remain an important
example of medieval spiritual mysticism.

It was Bernards personality rather than his intellect that made him such a dominant
figure. He was rigidly orthodox and self-righteous, yet deeply pious and ascetic. He
was both a contemplative mystic and a political activist. It is this mix that makes him
both the influence and paradox he was.

Augustinian canons
Another reaction to the Benedictine monopoly on monasticism arose, about the same
time as the Cistercians, in the form of the Augustinian canons. In some ways they
were a greater challenge than the Cistercians because they broke with the traditional
patterns of monasticism and identified with Augustine of Hippo, the greatest name in
the western church. They were reaching behind the Benedictine Rule, behind the
organised church and back to the Bible, to live like the first apostles.

The earliest origins of the movement are obscure. People looking for a simple and
early form of monasticism took a letter written by Augustine to some religious women

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advising them how they could live as the first apostles would have done. The
attractiveness of Augustines Rule was that it was hardly a Rule at all. It was very
sensible and extremely general:

Have all things in common;

Pray together at appointed times;
Dress without distinction;
Obey a superior.

It could be interpreted in so many ways and used by different communities in

whichever ways it suited them; some took a severe line, others a broad. The
spontaneity, variety and freedom of the movement contrasts it with others. The
Augustinian canons were never as influential as the other orders, but they were
important. They were inexpensive to found; quite unlike the Benedictines. They
thrived on contact with the world around and were found in the shadow of the castle
or the town; they identified with their surroundings quite unlike the Cistercians who
dominated theirs. Augustinian canons ran many small schools, hospitals and places
of retirement for the sick, the aged, for pregnant women, for the blind and for lepers.
They were modest in demands and style, and serving in attitude; this appealed to the
spirit of the times. They were the most prolific of medieval monastic orders with
thousands of communities in the 13th century.

Hermits and anchorites

By the end of the 11th century there was a strong movement of men and women who
took themselves off to dreadful places forests, caves, ravines and islands in
search of penitence and poverty to expiate their sins. However, their saintliness often
attracted crowds and they became popular preachers.

Other men and women embraced the life of a recluse within the urban environment
by becoming anchorites. They had themselves incarcerated in small rooms at the
side of churches, with small angled windows through which they could hear services
and receive food. They remained there devoting their lives to prayer and penance
until they died.

Francis and Dominic

The years of the 13th century saw the papacy reach the height of its powers, but
during these times society was also changing. There was growing urbanisation with
the growth of towns; there was intellectual ferment and, as we shall see, theological
dispute which challenged the church. An important response to meet the new
demands was found in the rise of the Mendicant Orders. Their members became
known as friars, working in the environment of the towns and universities. It has
been said of them that without the towns they never would have become great.
Their humble lives and spirits, and their concern for ordinary people, gave them a
great appeal. However, in Francis and Dominic we see quite contrasting responses
to the challenges of their day.

Francis and the Friars Minor

Francis was born about 1181, the son of a rich cloth merchant in Assisi. His youth
was filled with dreams of chivalry. In 1205, following a pilgrimage to Rome, he

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believed God was calling him to rebuild churches like St Damian near Assisi. He
gave all his possessions, even his clothes, to his father, who disowned him. He took
up the life of a hermit, begging or working to provide for his needs, and for the
rebuilding programme. In 1209 he heard the words of Matthew 10:7-10 preached:

Go and proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Take with you neither gold or silver

These words formed the call to a life of apostolic poverty. With several companions
he set off along the highways and byways, joyfully proclaiming the gospel of peace.
Francis preached without being a priest, but he did not sit in judgment on church or
priesthood. He simply asked for the freedom to live according to the gospel as Jesus
had done. As the number of his followers grew, he composed a short Rule based on
the Gospels and the Franciscan Order formally began. In 1212 Pope Innocent III
approved them, giving them the title Friars Minor, the lowest rung on the social
ladder.

Francis and his followers gave their lives to spiritual preaching and caring for the sick
and the poor:

In ten years the movement numbered 3,000 followers;

In 1212 the womens order was founded by Clare (Poor Clares);
In 1219 Francis went to Palestine on mission;
In 1223 a new, more detailed Rule, was written to cope with growth.

Towards the end of Francis life, the order faced tensions that were to last four
centuries; tensions between those who wanted to hold to original simplicity and those
who insisted on greater organisation and development due to growth. In 1223
Francis stepped down from leadership and spent the final three years of his life in
prayer and solitude during which time he composed his Canticle to the Sun and his
Testament. He died 3 October 1226.

Francis desire to express the simplicity of discipleship of Jesus has been his lasting
legacy, and his affinity with nature is a compelling example. He expressed the desire
to be like Christ in a wholly different way from that of the Cistercians. Franciscans
have left their historical mark in providing five popes, and in teaching and mission.

Dominic and the Friars Preachers

Dominic Guzman was born in 1170, in Old Castile in Spain. He became an influential
Augustinian canon. In 1203 he travelled to Languedoc, in southern France, where the
church was struggling to combat heresy.5 The splendour of the Cistercians, the
envoys of Innocent III engaged in the dispute, contrasted with the simplicity of the
dissidents they were challenging. Dominic declared that there was need for simple
preachers of the truth imitating the poverty of Christ if they were to win the heretics
back. By 1215 he had gathered a small company of preachers, under the
Augustinian rule, recognised by the Bishop of Toulouse:

5
The Cathari to whom we shall refer shortly

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We recognise brother Dominic and his companions as preachers in our diocese, with
the aim of stamping out corruption and heresies, of pursuing vice, and teaching the
rule of faith and instilling saintly habits in the people. Their way of life is to live like
religious, travel around on foot, in the poverty enjoined by the gospel, while
preaching the word of truth.

In 1216 the pope himself recognised the Order of Friars Preachers. Dominics life
was spent travelling tirelessly in Italy, France and Spain. While planning to preach in
Hungary he fell ill and died in Bologna in 1221.

Dominic was a determined but humble leader, devout in faith and had a passion for
preaching the truth. These hallmarks characterised the movement. Dominicans
always saw themselves as evangelists and defenders of the faith. Their flexibility and
mobility made them useful to the papacy as agents for many and various tasks. They
were great missionaries; they were also great scholars, with Thomas Aquinas being
a famous example. Sadly, in time the Dominicans came to staff the work of the
Inquisition. There are interesting parallels between Dominic and Francis, yet the
character of their respective movements is quite distinct.

Reason and faith

The revival of learning that took place in the court of Charlemagne continued into the
10th and 11th centuries in the cathedral schools (which he encouraged), and the
monasteries. Initially it was the monasteries that were the most influential places of
learning, where good teachers taught not only novices but also the children of
wealthy families. By the 12th century, the cathedral schools had become the most
important centres of learning. Students would study under a chancellor who, under
the authority of the bishop, would give them a licence to teach at the completion of
their studies.

Birth of the universities

We see then that education in western Europe during the Middle Ages was entirely in
the hands of the church. The bishop controlled who taught and what was taught.
However, in important centres such as Paris, cathedral schools drew large numbers
of students and the desire for learning and the stimulus of intellectual debate saw
teachers and students restless to be free from the control of the bishop. They wanted
autonomy like the trade guilds had to organise their own affairs. After a struggle the
universities came into being.6 The first universities appeared in Bologna, Paris,
Salerno, Oxford, Cambridge and elsewhere.

Scholasticism
The study and intellectual pursuit that took place between the 9th and 14th centuries
is called the age of Scholasticism and its great teachers are called the schoolmen.
These were days of great intellectual debate and disagreement, but what marks them
out as distinct was the particular way and style of thinking. There was the constant
attempt to blend theology and human reason into a single system of thought. The
whole approach was philosophical; examining the logical links and implications of
ideas.
6
The word universitas was a guild term; in northern Europe they tended to be guilds of teachers, in Italy they
were often guilds of students.

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A huge stimulus to scholasticism was the rediscovery, in the 12th century, of the
writings of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. They came via Muslim sources and often
from Arabic translation. Here was a way of thinking quite uninfluenced by the Bible.
The debates stimulated by these and other ideas were considered very dangerous by
many in the church, and brought resistance from a number of quarters.

Scholasticism produced many great thinkers. We can mention only three as an

example of the breadth of thinking throughout this period:

A n s e l m (10331109) An Italian, Anselm, became Archbishop of

Canterbury in 1093 following the Norman conquest. A great reformer, he
was one of the early scholastic theologians. He taught that faith must lead
to the right use of reason, I believe, in order that I might understand. As a
philosopher he originated the ontological argument for the existence of
God; we have a conception of God as that which no greater can be
conceived; to exist in thought, not reality, would make him inferior to the
greatest being that did exist, this cannot be so he must exist! As a
theologian he made an important contribution to understanding the
atonement in his book, Why Did God Become Man?
Abelard (10791142) Born in Brittany, Peter Abelards life was one of
personal turmoil and conflict with authority. He was a brilliant teacher who
was followed wherever he went by large numbers of students. His working
maxim was, by doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive
at truth. In his book, Yes and No, he showed that tradition and authority
were incapable of answering questions such as Is God omnipotent? His
desire for authority in faith and practice anticipated the debates of the
16th- century Reformation. His desire to reconcile faith with reason paved
the way for Aquinas in the next century.
Aquinas (122574) Born in Aquino, Italy, Thomas Aquinas was the
greatest scholastic theologian of the medieval era. Once a fat, slow, pious
schoolboy nicknamed the Dumb Ox, he was destined to develop one of
the most internally consistent systems of thought ever devised, which is
still the basis of orthodox Catholic theology. A prolific writer, his works fill
18 large volumes. He was enthralled by the ideas of Aristotle, and he
endeavoured to make a synthesis between them and Christian tradition.
His work has been described as a lake into which many streams flowed
and from which many have drawn, but was not itself a water source. His
skill lay in drawing together what had gone before and the rigorous way he
questioned.

The schoolmen were intellectual giants. They often attempted the impossible, trying
to reconcile the irreconcilable. Greek philosophy and biblical revelation often cannot
be harmonised. Many of the questions they pursued are irrelevant in a scientific
world and with a true understanding of Scripture.

Crusades and mission

The peoples of western Europe lived in an enclosed world, viewing the nations
outside of the realms of Christendom as infidels. The Muslim peoples in the East
were seen as a threat, especially the newly arrived Turks from the steppes of central

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Asia. The response to the challenge Islam was to provoke events that leave a tragic
and violent scar on the story of the church. It also opened the eyes of a few to the
demands of mission.

Call to crusade
Muslims were perceived not only as a political threat, but also they occupied the most
sacred sites of Christian pilgrimage in Palestine. These and other factors led to the
era of the crusades between the years 1095 to 1270 events that were a powerful
shaping force upon the Middle Ages.

A crusade was first preached by Hildebrand (Gregory VII), but was actually carried
out by his successors. It was the cry of Pope Urban II in 1095 that started the
momentum across Europe:

an accursed race utterly alienated from God has invaded these lands of the
Christians and depopulated them by the sword, plundering and fire start upon the
road to the Holy Sepulchre to tear that land from the wicked race and subject it to
yourselves.

The cry in response was Deus Vult (God wills it); this became the watchword for the
whole crusading movement. That same year Peter the hermit an uncouth,
unkempt preacher stirred thousands into a frenzy of enthusiasm, leading them to
be decimated along the road towards Jerusalem. It was later in 1096 that the first
official, and most successful, crusade set out, via Constantinople, with some 50,000
soldiers. Only a tenth of the original number actually arrived in 1099 at Jerusalem,
which they captured after a horrific massacre of the Muslim and Jewish population.
From this beginning, the fortunes of the crusades became increasingly mixed and
unsuccessful. Crusader kingdoms were set up in Palestine, but Saladin recaptured
Jerusalem in 1187 and with the fall of Acre there were no crusaders left by 1291.

We can make the following broad observations about the crusading movement
during the Middle Ages:

They increased the power and status of the pope who fuelled them with every
means at his disposal;
They proved an outlet for the warring passions of European rulers and had
little genuine spiritual motive;
They left in their wake not only the massacre of Muslims but also an
unspeakable massacre of Jews throughout Europe;
The joining of the two themes of holy war and pilgrimage;
They increased the tension between the churches east and west;
They are popularly imagined as eight clear campaigns, but it is more accurate
to see them as a continuous movement with strong popular support,
sometimes made up of large organised expeditions and at other times smaller
ones;
They brought important contact between East and West, especially in
bringing Greek science and literature to Europe, which was to fuel both
scholasticism and the Renaissance.

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 Call for mission
The failure of the crusades caused some people to think carefully about their
relationship with the Muslim world, and other peoples beyond the boundaries of
western Europe:

During the 12th century the evangelisation of north eastern Europe was
completed with missions to the Scandinavian and Prussian peoples;
During the fifth crusade in 1218, Francis of Assisi crossed the Saracen lines
chanting Psalm 23, and was taken to preach to the Sultan of Egypt;
A Spanish Franciscan Raymond Lull (12351316) called for the conversion of
Muslims by works of love and debate, and by understanding their language
and doctrines. He called for the church to found schools to prepare for this
work. He himself visited North Africa four times to preach and debate with
Muslims, eventually dying from injuries received;
Groups of Pilgrim Friars (Franciscans and Dominicans) travelled to central
Asia, Persia, India and China.

Dissent and the Waldensians

The perceived threat to Christendom was not only the external forces of Islam, but
also those within who were believed to challenge the orthodox faith and therefore
the status quo. Such people were called heretics, a word which literally means the
exercise of choice. As we shall increasingly see, there were those in western Europe
who believed that it was essential to purify and reform the church, while there were
others who believed the only future was in an alternative form of church altogether.

One of the most important of these dissenting movements were the Waldensians or
the poor men of Lyons. They are said to have gained their name from Peter Waldo
(or Valdes), a merchant from Lyons who experienced conversion about 1175. There
is reason to believe that the movement itself actually predated him. He gave away his
wealth and possessions, deciding to live a simple life of preaching and poverty,
following the example of Jesus. Waldo translated the Latin New Testament into the
language of the area; he preached to his fellow citizens and many men and women
joined him. These dedicated people prayed, read the Scriptures and preached in the
market places, You cannot serve two masters, God and mammon! Initially their
evangelism won the popes approval, provided the local church authorities agreed,
because they were orthodox in their original aims. The crisis came, however, when
they attacked the wealthy and laxity of the established church, and resulted in their
being banned by the Archbishop of Lyons.

Soon serious attempts were being made to silence them; but this only encouraged
them to preach more zealously. The Waldensians were soon found spread through
Languedoc, Provence and northern Italy, and then scattered to every corner of
Europe, except Britain. By 1184 they received official excommunication and branded
as heretics:

They set up their own true church with bishops, priests and deacons and
determined that lifestyle determined a true minister;
They were against work simply to acquire wealth and they rejected both the
swearing of oaths and the death penalty;

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 They expanded both doctrinally and geographically and made common cause
with other dissenting groups;
They held a general council in Italy to iron out difficulties between groups;
Their work and influence was to survive in inaccessible Alpine valleys and be
part of the ferment of biblical ideas that would come to flower in the
Reformation of the 16th century.

The parallels between Peter Waldo and Francis of Assisi are fascinating. They were
both from merchant families, gave away their wealth to follow Jesus in poverty,
became preachers of Gods love and drew a strong following. The significant and
critical difference was Peter Waldos insistence on challenging corruption in the
church, which Francis never did. Francis was able to remain included and influence
the church from within, while the Waldensians were excluded; nevertheless both
were significant witnesses.

These were days of many other small dissident movements who wanted to return to
the gospel and the early church, and often drew inspiration from the prophetic books
and Revelation. Many became apocalyptic and millennial groups who believed in an
imminent in-breaking of God to redress the injustices perpetuated by the established
church. So beneath the surface of the medieval world flowed powerful spiritual
currents that were to have significant influence in the years ahead.

Cathari and inquisition

We have already seen how, in the early Middle Ages, dissenting groups in Armenia
and the Balkans were influenced by dualistic and Gnostic ideas; the Paulicians and
the Bogomils. Early in the 12th century, Bogomil missionaries travelled from Bulgaria
following the Danube westwards. We know Bogomils were burnt in Cologne in 1142.
Soon teaching clearly influenced by the Bogomils took deep root in southern France
(particularly in the Languedoc) and northern Italy. The members of this movement
called themselves Cathari.7

The name Cathar means pure one. They clearly thought of themselves as
Christians and referred to themselves as the good Christians. However, it is clear
that they held dualistic Gnostic-type doctrines expressed in Christian terms:

They were struggling with the important question, Why is there evil in the
world?
They believed two gods; the good creating the spiritual world, the evil created
the physical world imprisoning the spiritual soul in a body;
They did not believe in the incarnation; Christ was spirit and only an
appearance;
They believed in reincarnation, which Christ came to reveal salvation from;
They forbade marriage, were vegetarian and abhorred violence;
They taught a supreme sacrament, the consolamentum, spiritual baptism
which gave the Holy Spirit and removed original sin and assured unity with
the good god at death;

7
There is a very helpful introduction to the Cathari in Tobias Churton, The Gnostics (Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1987), Part 2, The Good Men, pp. 67-96.

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 They taught that there were two classes of Cathar; the perfect who had
already received consolamentum and believers who had not.

One reason why Catharism flourished in the Languedoc was because at this time
there was continual conflict between the ruling families and the church showed no
pastoral care and usually provided only ignorant immoral clergy. The Cahari had
simple styled but eloquent preachers such as Guilhabert de Castres who appealed to
the peasant communities. The Roman church was incensed not only by their
doctrines but also by the fact that the Cathari taught that the Roman church was
major agent of the forces of evil.

In 1207 Dominic Guzman, founder of the Dominicans, came to debate with

Guilhabert and others, but with no substantial success. So in 1209 Pope Innocent III
proclaimed the Albigensian8 crusade against them because it seemed their influence
would lead to their control of the entire south of France. The campaign, which
involved 10,000 troops from all over Europe, was ruthless and decimated the whole
area. The Cathari died fearlessly and faithfully, being burned in their hundreds as
town after town, such as Beziers, Minerve and Montsegur, were ravaged. By 1217
the Cathari power bases were broken; now followed the painstaking task of rooting
out the heretics individually. This was the task of the Inquisition, the powers of which
were given to the Dominicans in 1233.

The Inquisition is the institution whereby the civil and religious powers systematically
joined forces to search out and punish heretics and papal rulings made such action
general throughout the church. The path towards inquisition was slow but, with the
growing number of dissenting movements threatening the concept of Christendom,
something more than excommunication was seen to be needed. Some heretics were
burnt in 1022, Bernard of Clairvaux argued the necessity of force against heretics in
1144, and by 1199 Innocent III is calling heresy high treason. There were three
stages to inquisition: persuasion, canonical sanctions pronounced by the church, and
finally appeal to the secular force. The church pronounced the punishments and the
civil authorities carried them out; which could be anything from confiscation of goods
to death by burning. Of course, torture could be used to help heretics see the error of
their ways and bring them to repentance. From now on, as we shall see, the tools of
inquisition became part of the apparatus of the church in dealing with dissenters.

DAYS OF RESTLESSNESS

Winds of change

As the 13th century draws to a close and the 14th century dawns, changes begin to
take place in western European society that would have appeared inconceivable only
a century before:

The papacy was being weakened by political forces and by disagreements

between cardinals at papal elections;

8
The term Albigensi is almost certainly another way of referring to the Cathari and comes from the
fact that many of them were centred on the town of Albi; however, some believe it also included
Waldensians as well.

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 The monasteries are either losing enthusiasm, or they are being disbanded or
curtailed out of fear of extremism;
There are new movements in thought and spiritual life which are displaying
independence and a freedom from papal control;
There is a growing emphasis towards personal faith, ending the strength of
the established church institutions;
The urban population is growing faster than rural, creating an atmosphere in
which dissent finds a louder voice, bringing rebels and eccentrics together in
large numbers;
The urban environment is one in which the extremes between poverty and
riches become more acute; it gives birth to protest movements that are too
strong to be repressed;
There are constant demands at all levels that the church should be reformed.

Behind all of this there were strong political forces at work bringing about change on
an even greater scale. We have seen how the struggle between the papacy and the
Germanic emperors weakened imperial power, and between 1254 and 1273 there
was no emperor. The papacy was losing its advantage through its misuse of power,
but individual European kingdoms took advantage of this weakness to strengthen
themselves and gradually become states in the modern sense:

England and France defined the boundaries of their respective kingdoms

through the events of the Hundred Years War between 1337 and 1453;
Spain was unified in the marriage of Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of
Aragon, with the Inquisition of heretics, Jews and Muslims from 1478 and
capture of Granada from the Muslims in 1492.

Finally, there were other powerful influences at work that were to make this very
much an age of fear and death:

Externally there was the increasing threat from the Turks who finally
conquered Constantinople in 1453; they remained as a continued threat to
the West, especially in places like Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria;
Internally there were the ravages of bubonic plague, which originated in Asia
and first struck Europe in 1347; it became known as the Black Death and it is
estimated that it killed at least a third of the population before it was spent.

So these were remarkable times; there was struggle, fear and death, yet a growing
confidence, individualism and intellectual and spiritual flowering. It was still very
much the medieval world, but new eras were beckoning.

Eclipse of papacy

In 1294 Boniface VIII appeared to come to the papacy on the full crest of traditional
power. He loudly proclaimed that every human creature is to be subject to the
Roman pope, if they required salvation. But everything was not as it seemed, times
had begun to change. Not only did such statements irritate secular rulers, but also
the latter now had the power to do something about it. In 1303 King Philip of France
sent his servant to Italy to arrest Boniface because of a dispute over the kings
temporal power. The now aged pope was so roughly handled in the incident that he

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died a month later. Papal misuse of power had sown the seeds of spiritual decay and
now the growing forces of nationalism across Europe resented its claims.

The Avignon popes

In 1305 pro-French cardinals elected a new pope. For various reasons, but not least
because of his close links with the King of France, he chose not to live in Italy. By
1307 he had settled in Avignon where in fact the papacy was to reside for the next 70
years. The Romans referred to this period as the Babylonish captivity of the church
due to its miserable servitude to the French monarch.

In reality it was not inconvenient for the papacy to be centred at Avignon. It was easy
to communicate with the whole of Christendom. However, it meant the papal court
had a strong French influence and appeared to be under the influence of the French
king. It also developed a court of 3,000 to 4,000 people, which resulted in huge
taxation to sustain it and in consequence a tarnished reputation.

The Great Schism

In 1377 pressure from the Roman people, and elsewhere in the church, managed to
persuade Pope Gregory XI back to Rome. However, in 1378, on his death, an even
greater scandal broke. The French cardinals elected a pope to sit at Avignon, while
another was elected in Rome. This was called the Great Schism and its influence
was so great that Romes power would never be quite the same again. For 40 years
we have a succession of two popes; each cursing the other, each claiming to be the
true successor to St Peter.

The Great Schism showed the great sickness and corruption of the church. In an
attempt to resolve the situation a General Council of the church was called in Pisa in
1409. Both existing popes were removed and a new one was elected. In the event,
what actually happened was that both the original popes refused to stand down and
Christendom had three popes! It was not until the Council of Constance in 1414 that
the matter was eventually resolved with a single universally accepted pope once
more appointed. These events not only deeply weakened the concept of the authority
of the papacy, but they also showed that a council of the church had more authority
than a pope. Everywhere, it was obvious that reform was needed, but how?

Renaissance

Amid the shaking of the papacy, the threats from both the Turks and bubonic plague,
the forces of political and social change, we see a remarkable intellectual awakening
take place, which expresses itself in many social, cultural and spiritual ways. It is to
have such significant and lasting effects that later historians, looking back upon these
times, would speak of them as the Renaissance or new birth.

Sources and characteristics

The Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453 was significant for many reasons.
With this event the beleaguered remnants of the ancient Roman Empire finally
expired. For the Orthodox church it was traumatic; the Patriarchs were now
controlled by the sultans, and most other eastern churches were also in lands ruled
by the Muslims. From this time on it is Russia that takes up the leadership of the
churches in the East, and Moscow sees herself as the new or third Rome. For the

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West, the events of 1453 were also highly significant; floods of refugees poured into
their territories and brought with them numerous ancient Greek manuscripts and
philosophical ideas, which were to be vital fuel in an era of enthusiastic learning and
artistic expression. The Renaissance cannot be described easily; it was an
environment, not an event:

It was not a radical break with the Middle Ages, rather a rediscovery of
antiquity in all its forms; literature, the arts and sciences;
It flowered in Italy, in cities such as Florence, where educated people were
closer;
It spurred a passionate interest in ancient literature, which was lying dormant
in many of the old monasteries;
It was tired of Aristotle and the schoolmen and amazed to discover many new
Greek philosophers and poets, which provoked a great desire to learn Greek
and to make comparative studies of manuscripts and translations;
It was greatly aided by the development of the printing press by Johann
Gutenberg in 1445, which began to make books and therefore ideas more
widely available.

The most distinctive characteristic of the Renaissance was not simply studying
ancient manuscripts, but beginning to live in the spirit in which they were written. The
primary focus became an emphasis upon the human position in the created order
or, in the words of the pagan Greek philosopher Protagoras, Man is the measure of
all things. For this reason people who took on the values of the movement were
called humanists. This did not mean that they no longer believed in God, not at all;
rather that they drew on good sources to direct their own lives and those of others.

Expressions and effects

Humanism revealed itself in every form of human expression; in the very way that
people looked at the world and the way they acted. It was seen in books and writing,
but equally in architecture, painting, sculpture and music. It made its impact through
the patronage of the rich and influential, and by being taught in the universities. It
produced some of the greatest architects, artists and sculptors the world has ever
known Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci lived in this era. It was
patronised by several popes and as a consequence St Peters in Rome received
much attention.

Humanism was a breath of life; a spirit of adventure was in the air, a spirit of
enterprise. It was not only an intellectual stimulus; it affected how people saw
themselves and their place in the world, even seeming to stir geographical travel:

In 1488 Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope;

In 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered America;
In 1498 Vasco da Gama opened up the sea route to India.

It is interesting that in Italy humanism tended to have a much more worldly outlook,
and at times was openly pagan; while in the countries of northern Europe such as
Holland, England and Germany the fruits were much more spiritual and biblical. They
encouraged a return to the Scriptures, and a study of the Greek text of the New
Testament in particular.

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 Erasmus of Rotterdam
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (14691536) is the person who illustrates the
character of the Christian humanist. He has been described as the prince of the
humanists, and it was his work that paved the way for the Reformation in the 16th
century more than anyone else. It has been said that Erasmus laid the egg which
Luther hatched; the illegitimate son of a priest who became a monastic, a priest and
an enthusiast for ancient literature. He travelled extensively throughout Europe
studying and talking to humanists. He lived in France, England, Italy and Germany
and died in Basle. He was a close friend of the English humanists John Colet and
Thomas More. He wrote in an easy style but with a biting wit. His intention in writing
was to regenerate humankind by purifying religion and baptising culture. He wanted
to take theology back to its sources for the purpose of discovering Christ, and he
wanted the gospel to be available to all people in their own languages so they would
find the wisdom to live the Sermon on the Mount. He said that religion was none
other than true and perfect friendship. His most important contribution was to
produce a printed edition of the Greek New Testament; it was published in Basle in
1516 the year before the Reformation began.

Spiritual stirrings

For ordinary people the fear and the horror of death hung over the 14th and 15th
centuries in the form of war and plague. Many believed it was judgment from God
and sought to expiate human sin by becoming flagellants, travelling through towns
flailing themselves until the blood flowed. Others saw Satan as the source and began
witch-hunts, with thousands being burnt in the flames as sorcerers or sorceresses; in
fact an obsession with witchcraft gripped the European psyche until well into the 17th
century. Added to this the church was in deep corruption. Against this background we
hear an ever-increasing cry for true spiritual life. The answer does not come from the
institutional church but from among individuals and small groups who discover truth
and express God among themselves in a remarkable way:

Greet Grotte (134084) was a native of Deventer in eastern Holland who

lived a life of self-indulgent luxury until he was converted in 1374. From that
time on he devoted himself to practical piety. As a result of his work a
movement was established which became known as the Brethren of the
Community or the Deventers. Grotte opened his home to students to help
them in their studies and moral welfare; also helping them find jobs later. Men
and women who joined the movement became involved in a monasticism
without monasticism; they laboured with their hands and worshipped
together. They practised poverty, chastity and obedience without taking any
formal vow. The Deventer movement spread widely through Germany,
Holland and Switzerland. Grotte himself died of the plague, which he caught
from a man he was trying to help.
Thomas Kempis (13801471) was a Deventer and in 1406 became an
Augustinian canon near Zwolle where he remained until he died. He wrote
books, copied manuscripts, preached and counselled others. His Imitation of
Christ, which was published in Augsburg in 1471, was destined to become
one of the most widely read books on Christian devotion ever written.
The Begines were lay monastic communities that grew up in towns. They
were made up largely of women who took a vow of chastity and lived together

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 simply in very ordinary houses. They are found throughout northern Europe
throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. There are records of up to 37,000
members of Begine communities in the area of Cologne. Their name Begine
is thought to derive from Albigensians and shows the suspicion many people
held them in.
Meister Eckhart (12601327) was born at Erfurt, a Dominican, who lived in
Paris, Strasbourg and Cologne. He was accused of propagating erroneous
doctrines about divine nature. He went to Avignon to defend himself and it
was there that he died. In 1320 the pope condemned him on the basis of his
writings and sermons noted down by his disciples. He is now recognised as
the chief representative of Rhenish mysticism and a dynamic force in German
spiritual life before the Reformation.

John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe (132084) came from the north of England to become a brilliant Oxford
scholar. John of Gaunt, who was the ruler at the time, invited him to serve at court.
However, in 1376 his conflict with the church began as he wrote and preached to
challenge the church of the day. He taught that:

Christ is the only head of the church;

Transubstantiation was contrary to both Scripture and reason;
Papal infallibility, confession, purgatory and pilgrimage were wrong;
The wealth of the church was wrong; and he was a champion of the poor.

His teaching was warmly received among the peasant people. His concern for the
poor led to an approach by John Ball, the leader of the Peasants Revolt, but he
refused to have anything to do with it because he was opposed to violence. His
teaching gained increasing opposition from the church with the result that his
influential friends deserted him. So in 1382, a sick man, he was forced out of Oxford
and went to live in Lutterworth in the Midlands, where he had been a priest and
where he died.

Enthusiastic followers gathered around Wycliffe and he organised them into bands of
preachers who went about living simply, proclaiming the gospel. They were called
Lollards (probably a jibe meaning mutterers or mumblers). Their work survived
long after Wycliffes death. Their influence spread to many areas doing much to
prepare people for the English reformation. They were suppressed in the 15th
century when their teaching was linked with political unrest.

Wycliffes major contribution was the translation of the Vulgate Bible into English,
which made an enormous impact not only on the people of his day but also on latter
translations of Scripture into English. His friend Nicholas of Hereford finished it after
his death.

After his death John Wycliffe was condemned by the Council of Constance (1414),
but all they could then do to his body was exhume his bones and burn them, throwing
the ashes into the River Swift. He has been well described as the morning star of the
Reformation.

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Jan Hus

Jan Hus9 (13601465) was born of Czech peasant stock. He had a very powerful
conversion experience, which led to him being ordained as a priest in 1401. By sheer
strength of character and intellectual ability he became both an influential teacher at
the Charles University in Prague, and a mighty preacher in the Bohemian language
at the Bethlehem Chapel nearby.

In his preaching he stressed the authority of Scripture in the church and said it could
not be replaced by tradition. He fearlessly rebuked vices in the clergy and
superstition among the people. He became a popular national hero, but faced
increasing hostility from the church.

There were close links between the universities of Prague and Oxford, which meant
that Hus became influenced by Wycliffes teachings that made a real impact upon
him.

Eventually Hus was summoned to the Council of Constance (1414) with promise of
safe conduct. When he arrived he was thrown into prison, and then given the
mockery of a trial. He was condemned as a heretic and burnt at the stake where his
last words were:

God is my witness that I have never taught nor preached what is attributed to me on
the testimony of false witnesses. My prime intention in my preaching and all my
actions has been to extricate people from sin. I am ready to die with joy in the truth of
the gospel, which I have written, taught and preached in accordance with the tradition
of the holy doctors.
It was said, by a cardinal watching him die, that there was nothing about him that
could be described as fear. At his death there was a revolution in Bohemia that
lasted for several decades.

Savonarola

Girolamo Savonarola (145298) was born in Ferrara, Italy. He studied humanism and
medicine, but turned from these to become a Dominican in 1474. By 1491 he had
become a popular preacher in Florence, one of the centres of the Renaissance. He
was shocked by the way the Renaissance fever was leading many into immorality
and paganism. His sermons warned of coming judgment beyond which a golden age
for the city would appear, uniting all Italy in a commonwealth. His words appeared to
come true when the French king, Charles VIII, invaded Italy and the Medici rulers
fled. Under the new government his preaching led to his holding high office :
He initiated tax reforms;
He aided the poor;
He reformed the courts.

His person saintliness and fiery preaching affect the masses of people in Florence.
Huge bonfires were made of vanities in the public square; these were cosmetics,

9
His name meant John the Goose, emphasising the poor peasant family he came from.

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false hair, pornographic books and gambling equipment. His aim was to make
Florence a theocratic republic.

Having reformed Florence he next denounced the pope, this was the notorious
Alexander VI Borgia and the corrupt papal court. This led to his excommunication by
being falsely accused of heresy. An interdict was threatened against the city so the
frightened population agreed to his execution. He was strangled and burnt at the
stake in front of a huge crowd on 23 May 1498. Savonarola was a medieval man in
his thinking and theology, but he became a hero of many of the early reformers. His
death was like a sign; the church would not reform on the inside, something else
must happen.

Questions
1. Which events during this period seem to be of greatest significance? Which
personalities are the brightest lights?
2. What would have been the greatest difficulties in being an ordinary Christian
during the Middle Ages?

Open Reflection
John Wycliffe began the work of translating the Bible into the English language. Why
do you think Wycliffe did this? Do you think it is important for a person to be able to
read their Scriptures in their mother tongue? Give reasons for your reply. How many
images or phrases from the Bible can you think of that have influenced the English
language? Why do you think there are so many different English translations today?
What do you think Wycliffe would have made of them all?

Reading & Resources

G Barraclough, The Medieval Papacy, Thames & Hudson, 1968

G Barraclough, Eastern and Western Europe in the Middle Ages, Thames &
Hudson, 1970
R&C Brooke, Popular Religion in the Middle Ages, Thames & Hudson, 1984
P Brown, The World of Late Antiquity, Thames & Hudson, 1971
T Churton, The Gnostics, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987
N Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium, Temple Smith, 1970
J Comby, How to Read Church History, Vol. 1, SCM, 1985
C Dawson, The Making of Europe, Shreed & Ward, 1953
M Deansly, A History of the Medieval Church, Methuen, 1947
T Dowley (ed.), Lion Handbook : The History of Christianity, Lion, 1977
D Durnbaugh, The Believers Church, Herald, 1985
C Euan, The Reformation of the Heretics: The Waldenses of the Alps,
Clarendon, 1984
G Evans, The Mind of St Bernard of Clairvaux, Oxford, 1983
J Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages, Penguin, 1955
B S James, St Bernard of Clairvaux, Hodder & Stoughton, 1957
D Knowles, The Evolution of Medieval Thought, Longmans, 1965
E LeRoy Ladurie, Montaillou, Penguin, 1980

Workshop notes are copyright to Anvil Trust and may not be reproduced without permission 01.01.09.24
T Lane, Lion Concise Book: Christian Thought, Lion, 1986
K S Latourette, A History of Christianity, Harper, 1953
K S Latourette, The Thousand Years of Uncertainty (History of the
Expansion of Christianity, Vol. 2), Zondervan, 1970
G Leff, Heresy in the Later Middle Ages, Manchester University Press, 1966
G Moorhouse, Against All Reason, Hodder & Stoughton, 1986
J R H Moorman, Francis of Assisi, SPCK, 1963
S Neill, A History of Christian Missions, Pelican, 1964
H Obermann, Forerunners of the Reformation, Fortress, 1981
G H W Parker, The Morning Star, Paternoster, 1965
R Ridolfi, The Life of Girolamo Savonarola, Routledge, 1959
P Roubiczek and J Kalmer, Warrior of God: The Life and Death of John
Hus, London, 1947
S Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople, Cambridge, 1965
S Runciman, History of the Crusades (3 vols.), Penguin, 1971
O vov Simpson, The Gothic Cathedral, Routledge, 1956
R W Southern, St Anselm and His Biographer, Cambridge, 1963
R W Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages,
Penguin, 1970
J Stacey, John Wyclif, AMS Press, 1979
AA Vasiliev, A History of the Byzantine Empire, Blackwell, 1952
D Winstein, Savonarola and Florence: Prophecy and Patriotism in the
Renaissance, Princeton University Press, 1971
Video Becket (Richard Burton / Peter OToole), Gateway Films
Video John Wycliffe: The Morning Star, Gateway Films, 1983
Video John Hus, Gateway Films, 1983
Video Brother Sun, Sister Moon [Francis of Assisi], directed by Zeffirelli

Internet http://www.christianity.net/christianhistory

Workshop notes are copyright to Anvil Trust and may not be reproduced without permission 01.01.09.25