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

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 lega

l)

Savonarola

(began

preachin

g 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.

Even though Savonarola had reformed the taxes for the people of Florence and

had served the poor, they all turned against him.

After trial, Savonarola was burned at the stake in the center of the city. The Medici family now turned to power. In effect, the

POPE supported the continuation of corruption and power.

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 Constantinopl

e

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”