Public Turmoil, Personal Piety:
1300-1500
1.) How did the popes’ removal to
Avignon signal a change in the status of the papacy?
--- The people were disturbed about the Pope living away from Rome. They believed the Pope should live in Rome just like Peter did.
--- The Avignon popes asked for more and more money--- far more than previous popes, through taxes.
--- The English people were worried because the Church government was dominated by French which they fought against in the Hundred Years’ War.
Important
Facts:
The Church acted
independently from the
government.
The Church did not allowed any
King’s intervention.
The government (king) was able to control the
Church.
How?
Before
After
• King Philip IV of France
Arrested Pope Bonaface VIII
• Pope Bonaface VIIIArrested and was rescued by the people of Rome but died a month later.
The King gained more confidence in his
manhandling of the future popes!!
Two years later, a French Bishop who was a personal friend of the king was
elected Pope.
Pope Clement V
First Avignon Pope
John XXII
2.) The Hundred Years’ War had
implications for the Church. What are some of these?
--- The English were worried that the French were ruling the Church by themselves.
---The Church cannot be a mediator between English and French
Increased taxes Living far away from their Papal States the
Popes could not collect usual revenues from their area and so, to find money in other ways to run the church gov., they collected increased taxes.
Popes lived extravagantly Less number of English men were with the
Church government. English vs. French worsened doubt
3.) In what ways was the Avignon papacy difficult for the whole Church at
this time?
No more priests
New priests were ordained without adequate and frequently the selection of priests candidates was hasty and ill-advised.
4.) The black death killed 1/3 of Europe’s population, what is its effect?
Caused by a bacterium from rat fleas
This was spread in Italy and North Africa by a merchant from Genoa who was trading with the East
The infected rats were almost part of every train carrying the cargo.
One-third of Europe’s population had died.
Black Death
Black Death
5.) Explain why St. Catherine of Siena was such an unusual person for her
era---maybe for any era. Why was the religious order to which she belonged
different from most of the other religious order for women?
She acted as a successful mediator in the conflict between Florence and the pope which was quite remarkable for she was still in her twenties.
In this era, when few women had any real rights, she was being looked to by nobles and generals for advice.
She managed to learn how to read, something unusual for her time.
An order of laywomen who wore the
Dominican habit but who lived at home. Unusual because at this time, nuns, by
definition, lived in cloistered convents.
Mantelate
CAUSES
6.) What were the causes and effects of the election of two and then three popes?
How was this solved?
Gregory was succeeded by Urban VI. The cardinals would like to have elected another Frenchman but the people of Rome wanted a Roman.
Urban was hot-tempered, so the French cardinals slipped quietly out of the city an elected a French cardinal as Pope, who went to live in Avignon.
Problems arise so some cardinals met at Pisa, Italy and elected a new pope in the hope that he would be accepted. But neither of the two popes agreed to be pushed out.
Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund and his council, elected a Roman, MARTIN V as the one and only pope
The political situation is in conflict. Italy was
being torn apart by small wars among various city-states.
Conflicts between Lorenzo Medici (“Lorenzo the Magnificent”) and Savonarola triggered the church to put Florence under an interdict.
7.) What was the political situation of Italy at this time, and how did it
influenced the Church?
Lorenzo de Medici(rig elections so that they look
legal)
Savonarola(began preaching publicly against
the dirty Florentine politics)
Pope
STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING SAVONAROLA!
I REFUSE TO! I WON’T GO TO
ROME TO ANSWER ANY CHARGES AGAINST ME.
When SAVONAROLA refused to answer charges against him, the POPE threatened to put Florence
under an INTERDICT.
Interdict---- PRIESTS WERE FORBIDDEN TO ADMINISTER THE
SACRAMENTS TO ANYONE UNLESS IT WAS LIFTED.
Because even in the end, he showed his
commitment to reformation. He gave his life for it.
8.) After his death, Savonarola became somewhat of a hero to people trying to reform the Church. Why might this be
so?
Maybe, learning from the past experience of
the Church, the pope cannot anymore issue an interdict.
If this was not so, there would be a great mishap in the church. People would protest and we would not trust the Church.
9.) What is an interdict? Could it be used today by the Pope? What would be the
result if he tried to?
Renaissance was a period of rebirth after the Black Death.
This movement in art, literature and culture came to be named the Renaissance---- which means “REBIRTH”.
The Church especially the popes encouraged writers and artists in their work. Some paid artists to do projects for them.
Pope Nicholas V--- started the renowned Vatican library.
He also began plans for rebuilding the basilica of St Peter’s at Rome.
What was the Renaissance and how the Church became a patron of this
movement?
Humanists---- Those who stressed making
human life more tolerable and fulfilling by surrounding themselves with the beauty found in art, science, and literature. Some of them adopted a pagan lifestyle.
It enabled any literate person to read the
Bible. The popular possession of the Bible would be one of the catalysts in the Reformation of the 1500s.
The change increased the demand for Bibles in different languages as well.
In 1456, the Bible was printed by Guttenberg. How did this event hasten the demands for reform in the Church?
Living in double lives mean you live a two-faced life.
Serving two masters at a time--- Christ and money.The popes position is holy, so they were perceived
holy. But the truth is they live in corruption, bribery and for others openly violating celibacy.
Alexander VI--- the most notorious of the Renaissance popes. He had six children although they were born before he became pope. Further, he did not hesitate to give them high positions in the Church.
The popes of the Renaissance seemed to lead double lives. What does this mean?
Life in the countryside had changed a
little--- primarily, they hoped for just treatment and enough to eat. At noon and 6:00 pm they said special prayers when the cathedral bells rang out. They walk to Mass every Sunday and like everyone else they enjoyed the celebrations of feasts.
What were some of the ordinary religious practices of the common
people during the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries?
Indulgences---offered a release from the punishments
due in the next life for sins done in the present life.
They began several centuries before when people were allowed to build chapel or contribute a stained-glass window instead of doing some sort of penance for their sins.
This gave way to the buying and selling of indulgences-0- as though God could be bribed into forgiving sins.
Particularly, how did the practice of granting indulgences began, and what distortions
resulted? ?
In contrast to the corruption in part of the
church, a revival of meditation and prayer was going on in pockets all over Europe.
Several great works about spiritual lives were written by people like:
Nicholas of Cusa, Erasmus, and Gabriel Biel.Imitation of Christ---- written by Thomas Kempis
How did Moscow became the third
Rome?
Turks conquered most
of the Byzantine
empire, in the end, they also
conquered Constantinople
The Byzantine Emperor was
killed in battle. Turks looted the
rich city.
Constantinople
became Istanbul.
Russia, on the other hand regained
independence
Ivan the Great, a Muscovite prince saw himself as the successor of the Byzantine emperor. He considered
Moscow the “third Rome”