3. The Medieval Church- A. A Spiritual and Worldly Empire- 1. When the Roman Empire fell sop did the churches, the church split into the western (governed by the Pope) and the eastern which became the Roman Catholic Church. 2. Christians believed that all people were sinners and in order for those sins to go away you had to follow Jesus. 3. The Cannon Laws were special laws that were given to the church members that were from God�s word. B. The Church and Daily Life- 1. Most of the churches of the Middle Ages began baptizing their children and saying the vows at their marriages. 2. To make sure that the Church was stable and had enough money to sustain its situation all Christians were forced to pay a tithe, or a tax that was 1/10 of their income. 3. All churches set a law that limited the marriage age for the women because they thought that they were to protect them. C. Monks and Nuns- 1. All monks and Nuns were under the Benedictine Rule which made them take an oath of poverty. 2. Monk Benedict made a rule that all monks had to work in the fields or do some other physical, hands on task. 3. Some monks, like St. Patrick, tried to spread Christianity by traveling great distances to set up churches. D. Hildegard of Bingen: Adviser to Popes and Kings 1. Hildegard decided that when she was 14 she was going to be a Nun, and later she wrote books about science, medicine and philosophy. 2. Hildegard�s writing spread into Germany and she created a new convent in 1147. 3. In the 1400�s women�s laws had basically vanished and hardly any other women would be listened to like Hildegard. E. Reform Movements- 1. Abbot Berno, in the 900�s, brought back the Benedictine Rule and elected men who would be loyal to the church.. 2. Monks started to preach to the poor and spread God�s word to them as they went around preaching God�s word. 3. The Beguins were a group of women that did not have enough money to pay to enter a covenant so they set up churches and hospitals and shelters to the poor. F. Jews in Western Europe- 1. Some Jews were officials in Royal Muslim Court Systems. 2. When Jews migrated into Germany they became known as the German Jews. 3. Churches were anti- Semitists which are people who are prejudice against Jewish people. 4. Economic Expansion and Change- A. An Agricultural Revolution- 1. The windmill was developed which crushed the farmer�s grain into flour. 2. Powerful lords forced the peasants to cut down forests, swamps and other wastelands for animal grazing and farming. 3. Somewhere between 1000 and 1300 the population of Europe almost doubled itself. B. Trade Revives 1. Big trade companies traveled for trade around Asia and the Middle East. 2. Traders began to meet with each other at trade fairs to sell their items to the lords because peasants had little or no money. 3. Charters were documents that stated the rules and privileges of the country C. A Commercial Revolution 1. Capitals are money investments in which people barrowed the money from moneylenders. 2. Usuries were people that gave out money as people needed it but the money went to the church. 3. A new middle class was formed of merchants, traders and artisans that was in-between the nobles and the peasants. D. Role of Guilds 1. Merchant guilds were associations that were ruled by medieval towns. 2. Guilds were given to anyone that had a job and non matter what job that you had you received one. 3. But in order to get a guild you had to be an apprentice in which you worked for many years and was in trade. E. City Life 1. Once a city was overcrowded, the newer citizens were forced to live outside of the protective walls of the city. 2. Most of the houses in the cities were jagged and they hung over the streets so they seemed as if they were going to fall over. 3. No city in the Middle Ages ever had a garbage or a sewer system in it and the waste would be piled into the streets. F. Looking Ahead 1. New riches were developed around this time. 2. All of this trade influence resulted in a huge economical spread throughout Europe that got many ideas from their trade. 3. This age had new technology, farming equipment and products that sparked an influence throughout Europe.
