HIST 1003 Chapter : Reformation
-Reformation I: The Old Church
i. Background
ii. Structure and Problems of the Roman Catholic Church
In 1500, the biggest change was change is in churches
There was only the Catholic Church—just called the “church”
Catholic means “universal” which means everyone lived and died under this church
Terms:
➢ Pontifex manimus- high priest; pope
➢ Papal- pope
➢ Papal States- area under the pope; some of the wealthiest in Italy
➢ Purgatory- only saints skipped over this, got be there for very long periods
of time
➢ Veneration of saints- Saints has a treasury of good deeds, and if you
venerated a saint, a saint may pass over some of his good “tallies” to you
• Veneration is not prayer to God or Jesus. It is a different level of devotion
• You could visit saints (bones and earthly things)—reliquary held parts of
saints
➢ Pluralism- holding of one or more church offices; common at top levels of
the church (be a cardinal and archbishop and abbot at the same time.
➢ Simony- the selling of church offices—the pope offers to sell the position to
whoever can pony up the price—considered a mortal sin, but, it was very
common at the top (Pope)
➢ Relics and reliquaries- saints’ remains and the places where they were held
➢ Lollards- Followers of Wyclif – wanted to have it in English/vernacular
And the notes begin….
• Russians and Greeks were practicing an orthodox version of Catholicism, but
everyone else is “Roman” catholic
• Everyone lived within walking distances of a church or chapel
• The RCC is the largest institution in the world as well as the largest
bureaucracy
• Pontifex Maximus- high priest; pope
• Pope- comes from the Italian “father”
• The church, like the rest of society, has a very rigid hierarchy
• Bishop of Rome becomes supreme for one reason: there is only one person
able to pick up the pieces and take over again with bureaucracy
• Only Rome represented the west, and had no rival (easy to take charge and
power)
• Pope claimed to have a special connection with God and took charge of the
churches all over the world
• The Pope spent a lot of time in the medieval time to create lots of papal
authority
• The church teaching means: doctrine –pope claimed to be in charge of this
(all things related to faith)
• When you are the final authority in anything, you will have people dispute
their authority
• The Papal Crown- it is a 3-tiered crown so show that he is supreme.
• Kings did not like the idea of papal authority—kings fight with the pope over
power
• The Pope has a trump card (so to speak) because he is in charge of the
Church, and the church grants salvation
• Excommunication- the pope could excommunicate people and that got
people behaving
• If you are outside of communion in the church you go to hell (people in the
medieval period were terrified of hell)
• The Papal States in Italy had the most wealthy Italian cities—had the power
and wealth of Italy
• Pope was a secular prince and started war with his neighbors
• However, while the pope’s rule of the Papal States, there are very powerful
kings (Francis I, King Henry VII)
• If there was a bishop elected, Henry VII would send in a request for a
candidate
• Problems happened when the pope and kings disagreed over Bishop
positions
• Popes tried to force their power even though they had problems
• When you disagree with a king, it generally means tax decrease or war
• The church is the largest landowner is Western Europe
• If you have land, you need civil workers or bureaucracy
• The church has the largest bureaucracy in the world –so many people
working for them
• People were motivated to work to make life better for themselves—
successful lives for priests that were not exactly humble and celibate
• People were aware of the corruption with the priests
• The authority in the church is where the real power lays (power struggles)
• If the youngest brother of a king is made bishop, he usually wont let go of his
lavish life
• Bishops studied laws and advised kings
• The Church’s Role: to keep you from hell –hell was very real and God was
very angry—angry Old-Testament God
• The Church offers salvation through its sacramental system
• The RCC got away with being corrupt and ungodly because it kept you from
hell and gave you salvation
• People accepted that their alternative to the corrupt church was hell
Church’s Role in Society:
1. Saved people from hell (spiritual
2. Landowner/landlord
3. Prince
4. Served as administrators for kings
o Hell was a place of damnation and torment
o As hard as life was earth, going to hell was much worse
o They didn’t have a clear view of heaven
o It is bright, peaceful, and full of angels
o Images of what will happen in hell is very strong
Catholicism in 1500:
• The main duty of the church was to teach religion to the uneducated
• Many people at the parish or local level are uneducated, just as the priests
there
• “Hocus Pocus” a barbarization of part of the mass-
• the Priests told mass in Latin
• people believed in superstition and magic- couldn’t explain much
• the church believed in superstitions- belief in fairies or witches was
encourages and not stopped
• the mass would be simple and much memorization
Purgatory: 1436
• Formally recognized by the church in 1436, even if the idea had been there
anyway
• Place of waiting (for heaven)—stayed for millions of years
• Formally recognized
• Idea around for centuries
• Work off debt of sin
The After Life:
• There were ways you could work off time in purgatory:
• Veneration of Saints (Christopher)
• Saints skipped purgatory because they live godly life on earth
• St. Christopher never existed but he was the patron saint of travelers
• People made up saints because they wanted people to feel comfortable
with Christianity
• They Christianized pagan ideas (turned gods and goddesses into Saints
with similar themes)
Document Summary
Structure and problems of the roman catholic church. In 1500, the biggest change was change is in churches. There was only the catholic church just called the church . Catholic means universal which means everyone lived and died under this church. Papal states- area under the pope; some of the wealthiest in italy. Purgatory- only saints skipped over this, got be there for very long periods. Veneration of saints- saints has a treasury of good deeds, and if you of time saints. Pluralism- holding of one or more church offices; common at top levels of the church (be a cardinal and archbishop and abbot at the same time: veneration is not prayer to god or jesus. Lollards- followers of wyclif wanted to have it in english/vernacular venerated a saint, a saint may pass over some of his good tallies to you: you could visit saints (bones and earthly things) reliquary held parts of.
