C. Developments in the History of the Christian Church
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CK_4_TH_HG_P087_242.QXD 10/6/05 9:02 AM Page 112 II. Europe in the Middle Ages systems nor organized government on a large scale. They did not live in cities and did not participate in complex trading networks. They were nomadic herders and farmers who lived in small communities and were governed by local chiefs or kings who based their rule on custom and tradition. None of the nomadic peo- ples had written languages. In the years after the end of the Roman Empire and the ascendancy of the Germanic peoples, the trading networks of the old empire broke down. Education and the arts suffered from lack of interest. People retreated to their landholdings and looked to local warlords to secure law and order. In this absence of govern- mental organization, two institutions emerged as central to the establishment of order—the Church and feudalism. C. Developments in the History of the Christian Church Teaching Idea Growing Power of the Pope Before discussing the spread of During the early Middle Ages, the church that later became known as the Christianity in the medieval period, you Roman Catholic Church was the single largest and most important organization may wish to review with students the in western Europe. The Church provided stability in the face of political early history of the religion and its upheavals and economic hardships. This stability was evident both in its organi- spectacular growth during the time of zation and in its message: life on Earth might be brutally hard, but it was the the Roman Empire. Christianity grew means to a joyful life in heaven. Christians during the early Middle Ages looked out of Judaism. At the time of the death at life on Earth as a time of testing and preparation for life after death. In gener- of Jesus, there were only a handful of al, although not everyone in the early Middle Ages was religious, many people Christians. The apostles, especially were. And even those who were not especially religious in their personal beliefs St. Paul, helped spread the religion may have appreciated the order and structure that Christianity brought to every- throughout the Mediterranean. day life. Christianity continued to grow steadily, Because of the central position of the Church in the West, the pope, the head despite occasional persecution. of the Church in the West, grew from a local Roman authority to become a pow- However, it remained a minority reli- erful secular as well as religious figure by the end of the 11th century. As the gion (most Romans were polytheists Christian church grew during the time of the Roman Empire, it developed a struc- who worshipped many gods) until the ture and a hierarchy. At the local level was the parish, a congregation of worship- conversion of the emperor Constantine pers in a local community who were looked after by a priest. Many parishes made in 312. After the emperor converted, up a diocese overseen by a bishop. Several dioceses were then combined into a Christianity rapidly became the domi- province overseen by an archbishop. At the top of the Church was the pope, also nant religion of the Roman Empire. known as the Bishop of Rome. Over the years, power slowly transferred from bishops as a group to the pope as an individual. By the 11th century, in part through the doctrine of Petrine supremacy (St. Peter is considered the first pope), popes claimed the authority of God on Earth; that is, what they said and did reflected God’s will. Based on this concept, popes sometimes extended their authority to claim papal supremacy over secular rulers. Wielding political influence and the threat of excommunica- tion—withholding the sacraments from an individual—various popes enforced and enlarged the power of the Church. A new level of papal power was achieved during the reign of Pope Innocent III from 1198 to 1216 CE. Innocent III set standards for regular worship among lay Christians; he approved new religious orders; and he built up the role of the papacy as the main forum for diplomacy among European political leaders, such that leaders often felt compelled to follow his decisions. 112 Grade 4 Handbook CK_4_TH_HG_P087_242.QXD 10/6/05 9:02 AM Page 113 Conversion of Germanic Peoples to Christianity One major goal of the Church during the early Middle Ages was to convert the various Germanic peoples who settled in western Europe to Christianity. The Germanic groups were polytheists, worshipping many male and female deities associated with nature. For example, the chief god of many of these people was Woden (also spelled Odin), who was said to have created the world and the first man and woman. His wife was Frigg (also known as Freya), queen of the heav- ens and the deity of the household. Among their children was Thor, the god of thunder, war, and strength. (Students in Core Knowledge schools may have learned about some of these Norse and Germanic gods and goddesses during their study of Norse mythology in Grade 3.) Among the groups who converted were the Franks under Clovis I, who accepted Christianity in 496 CE. A century later, Pope Gregory the Great, who reigned from 590 to 604 CE, sent missionaries to most of the Germanic groups and other nonbelievers. These missionaries were so successful that by 1000 CE, most western Europeans were Christians. The main exceptions were Jews who had set- tled in various parts of Europe, and Muslims who had settled in much of Spain. Charlemagne Cross-curricular Teaching Idea Clovis’s descendants ruled the Frankish kingdom for several generations, but Have students do research in library by the late 700s CE, the kingdom had passed into the hands of a king known as print materials and online to write a Charlemagne (the name means “Charles the Great”). Charlemagne extended the report about Charlemagne. They boundaries of his kingdom by annexing Bavaria in Germany, routing Muslims should include information about why from a section of Spain, and, at the request of the pope, subduing the Lombards he was crowned emperor of the West in northern Italy. and how he used this position to try On Christmas Day in 800 CE, Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the West to unite western Europe. Student in Rome by Pope Leo III, whose enemies Charlemagne had defeated. In a sense reports should present a main idea this was a ceremonial title, since the Western Roman Empire had in fact collapsed and supporting details and use clear hundreds of years earlier. However, the coronation of Charlemagne served two paragraph format. You may also have purposes. It was an attempt at extending the rule of law across western Europe, them create a bibliography listing the but it was also a carefully calculated move by the papacy. In bestowing the title of sources they used to create the emperor of the West on Charlemagne, Leo was also affirming the power of the report. Encourage students to share pope to crown a king. their reports with the class. Charlemagne was well suited to his new title. He felt a strong moral respon- sibility to support the Church and to encourage missionaries to the Germanic people, as well as to others, such as the Slavs and the Saxons. He set up a highly efficient government structure to administer his empire and instructed his offi- cials to govern justly. Agriculture, manufacturing, and commerce flourished under his rule. Charlemagne was also interested in furthering education and the arts. Both had suffered in the centuries since the disintegration of the old Roman Empire. Charlemagne set about establishing his court at Aachen, located in present-day western Germany, as a center of learning. In 781 CE, Alcuin of York, theologian and scholar, took over direction of the palace school and devised a course of study based on classical (ancient Greek and Roman) learning that included grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. History and Geography: World 113.