Medieval Church

Background

The term "medieval church" commonly refers to the church of Western Europe from about the fifth century, when the Western Roman Empire collapsed, to about the fifteenth century, just before the Reformation. Centered on the pope in Rome, this church conducted its worship in Latin. Amid political fragmentation, the church also took on responsibility for education and charitable relief. Monasteries sustained a life of prayer and work according to rules such as the Rule of Saint Benedict. The Western church separated from the Eastern church in the East–West Schism. The Western church continued as today's Catholic Church, and the Eastern church as the Orthodox Church.

Development

Growth of Papal Power

In the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII prohibited simony and clerical marriage. Simony is the buying and selling of church offices for money. He asserted that the right of investiture, the authority to appoint clergy such as bishops, belonged to the pope. Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire resisted him and was excommunicated. Excommunication is a penalty that expels a person from the fellowship of the church. In January 1077, Henry IV went to the pope at the castle of Canossa in northern Italy to seek forgiveness. The dispute over investiture was settled by the Concordat of Worms, which the First Lateran Council confirmed in 1123.

Height of Papal Power

In 1215, Pope Innocent III convened the Fourth Lateran Council. The council condemned the Cathars as heretics and defined transubstantiation as official doctrine. Transubstantiation is the teaching that the substance of the bread and wine in the Eucharist is changed into the body and blood of Christ. The council also required the faithful to make confession and receive Communion once each year. Around this time, mendicant orders such as the Franciscans and the Dominicans were active. "Mendicant" means living by begging. Scholasticism, which sought to systematize the faith through logic, also developed, centered in the universities.

Decline of Papal Power

Following a conflict between King Philip IV of France and the papacy, the papal court resided at Avignon in southern France from 1309 to 1377. This period of the Avignon Papacy is also called the "Babylonian Captivity of the Church," by analogy with the Babylonian captivity of the Jews.

In 1377, Gregory XI moved the papal court back to Rome, but he died the following year. Thereafter, Urban VI, elected in Rome, was opposed by Clement VII, whom the French cardinals set up separately. This was the Western Schism (1378–1417). In 1409, the Council of Pisa elected a third pope, so that for a time there were three rival popes. The schism ended when the Council of Constance, convened by Emperor Sigismund, removed all three popes and elected Martin V.

Results and Influence

Although the schism was resolved, papal authority was significantly weakened. John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and others criticized the wealth and power of the church and challenged traditions not found in Scripture. These currents formed the background to the sixteenth-century Reformation. Transubstantiation, as defined by the Fourth Lateran Council, remained a central issue in the Eucharistic controversies after the Reformation. Monastic spirituality and the tradition of treating theology as an academic discipline carried over into both Catholicism and Protestantism.

Assessment

The Catholic Church regards this period as part of a single, continuous history of the church. It counts the Fourth Lateran Council among its ecumenical councils and upholds its decisions. Among Protestants, the prevailing view is critical, regarding the period as one in which papal power was abused and doctrines departing from Scripture accumulated. Others, however, emphasize continuity between the two eras, noting that the Reformation grew out of medieval theology and reform movements. The same event may also be named differently in different countries. In Italy, the Canossa episode is called the "Humiliation of Canossa," while in Germany it is called the "Walk to Canossa," a name that downplays its significance.