Late Medieval Religion
I. The Rise of Anti-Clericalism in the Fourteenth Century
A. The Reform Movement of the High Middle Ages
B. The Church's continued growth in power and wealth
1. largest landowner in Europe
2. tithe
3. anti-clericalism continues to grow
C. The Avignon Papacy (1305-1377) [MAP]
1. struggle over taxation rights
2. French king Philip IV v. Pope Boniface VIII
3. Boniface humiliated; dies shortly thereafter
4. French pope elected; he moves the papacy to Avignon (France)
5. papacy losing more and more respect
6. overtaxing in order to build new papal palace at Avignon
D. The Great Schism (1378-1419)
1. demand grows over next several decades for the pope to return to Rome
2. pope Gregory XI returns to Rome in 1377, but dies in 1378
3. the predominantly French college of cardinals is forced to elect an Italian pope
4. shortly thereafter they claim the election to be null and void
and elect a French pope
5. the new French pope returns with the French cardinals to Avignon
6. thus, there are two popes = the Great Schism
7. two popes = two papal bureaucracies = even more taxation
- the masses are losing faith in the church
II. John Wycliffe (1330-1384)
A. the Oxford scholar and theologian
B. the heretic [DOC 24]
C. Wycliffe's beliefs [DOC 25]
D. English translation of the Bible
[excerpt from a 1430 copy (beginning of Book of John)]
E. the Lollards
1. Wycliffe's followers who preached throughout England
2. persecuted under Henry IV and Henry V
3. eventually disappeared, at least from the public eye
III. The Jews in England
A. Anti-Semitism in Medieval Europe
1. Jews had been treated relatively well in the Roman Empire
and in the post-Roman Germanic kingdoms
2. highly valued as doctors, merchants, diplomats, soldiers, etc.
3. the rise of Christianity spells an end to such treatment
a. most of Europe Christian by 10th c.
b. religious reform movement
1. Crusades created first widespread attacks on Jews
2. Map of Jewish persecution during the First Crusade
3. initiated a tradition of violent anti-Semitism that
continued throughout the Middle Ages and beyond
B. Occupational Separation: Money Lending
- forced into money lending and merchant activity because Christians
would not let them hold other jobs
C. Physical Separation: The Ghetto
1. areas of towns and cities where Jews lived
2. sometimes by choice at first; protection in numbers
3. then, by law/force
D. Visual Separation: Clothing
1. often required to wear different clothing by lords or townspeople
2. the Pope makes this official in 1215 when he dictated that all
Jews must where distinctive badges (often yellow circles)
E. Anti-Semitism in England [DOC 26]
F. Expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290