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Christianity in Medieval Europe. World History I. The Papacy. The Catholic Church gained control of territories in central Italy known as the Papal States . This control kept the popes involved in politics.
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Christianity in Medieval Europe World History I
The Papacy • The Catholic Church gained control of territories in central Italy known as the Papal States. • This control kept the popes involved in politics. • By the 11th century, the church wanted to be free from the practice of lay investiture. • Lay investiture was the appointment of church officials by lords and vassals. • Gregory and King Henry IV argued over this practice. • In 1122, the Concordat of Worms declared that the bishops were elected by church officials.
Power of the Church • In the 12th century, under Pope Innocent III, the Church reached the height of its power. • Innocent became the most powerful person in Europe. • He used spiritual methods to achieve his goals. • He used the interdict, which forbid the priest from giving the sacraments to a particular group of people. • Sacrament – Christian rites; needed for a Christian to go to Heaven. • Interdiction would cause a conflict between the group under interdiction and their rulers.
New Religious Orders • In the late 11th and Early 12th centuries, the popularity of the Catholic Church kept growing. • The Cistercians were a group of monks who took their beliefs to people outside of the monastery. • Women became more involved in the Church. • The Franciscans, founded by Francis of Assisi lived among the people and focused on helping the poor. • The Dominicans wanted to defend the church from heresy. • Heresy is the denial of basic church doctrines.
The Inquisition • Because of heresy, the church created a court called the Inquisition. • It was created to find heretics and develop a procedure to deal with them. • If an accused heretic confessed, they had to perform public penance and suffer a punishment. • Eventually, those who refused to confess were tortured until they did. • If they still didn’t confess, many were considered guilty and executed. • Christians felt that heresy was a crime against god and humanity. • They believed using force to save souls from damnation was the right thing to do.
