Chapter 2 - Popular Piety and the Church's spiritual role

Question 1

The Church’s spiritual role

1529

Answer 1

• The link between God and humans
• One could only ‘reach’ God through membership of a church
• The way by which all religious ceremonies for a parish are performed

Question 2

Lay Religious guilds

1529

Answer 2

• The wealthy often financed their own chapel’s and priests for their personal use
• An alternative was paying for membership of a ‘Guild’
• Guilds provided masses and funeral care for their patrons
• It was mandatory to attend all Guild masses

Question 3

Heaven, Hell and Purgatory

1529

Answer 3

• Heaven - eternity spent in paradise, reaching Heaven was the central aspiration of individuals in the 16C
• Hell - eternity tortured by the evil
• Justification by works - you go to heaven because of your good works on earth
• Purgatory
  ▪ a waiting place between heaven and hell where one is judged
  ▪ Can be reduced through ‘indulgences’ like a pilgrimage, praying to a saint or touching a saint’s relics
  ▪ Lots of the Catholic faith revolved around this, many people spent lots of their time doing things to ensure they and their relatives had shortened wait times in purgatory.
• Pilgrimage - a journey to a holy place, often a tomb of a saint or the location of a reported past visitation of the Virgin Mary, some would go on pilgrimages to seek healing

Question 4

The Sacraments

1529

Answer 4

• Religious ceremonies that took place during a person’s life from birth to death
• Most important was the Mass
  ▪ A priest took bread and wine and elevated it through his prayers
  ▪ Catholics believe a divine transformation occurs in which they become the body and blood of Christ - transubstantiation
  ▪ Bread is taken once a year at Easter and wine is only consumed by the priest
• The seven sacraments
  ▪ Baptism - babies cleansed of original sin
  ▪ Confirmation - young people became members of the church
  ▪ Marriage - two people joined together by a priest
  ▪ Ordination - when a man becomes a priest
  ▪ Confession - the confession of sins to a priest
  ▪ Mass - a re-enactment of the last supper
  ▪ Last rites - the dying are anointed with holy oil.

Question 5

Evidence for people’s beliefs

1529

Answer 5

• Historians have looked at material like court records, churchwarden’s accounts, wills, private correspondence and artefacts such as literature
• Will based evidence - proof of change in religious beliefs introductions to wills changed from Catholic statements to Protestant

Question 6

The role of the priesthood

1529

Answer 6

• Central to the spiritual lives of members of the Church, represented God
• Administered all sacraments like Mass, baptism and marriage, consecrated the wine and bread, heard confession
• Without the priest and the role he performed, the congregation would not be able to attain eternal life
• The priest had to be educated and understand Latin, the Bible was in latin and translating it was considered to be heresy. The priest was therefore relied upon to translate the word of God.

Question 7

The importance of printing

1529

Answer 7

• A key development of the 15th century was the growth in literacy amongst the nobility due to an increase in grammar schools
• Education led to the possibility of three main careers, the Church, the law or medicine
• Literacy was also increased due to the invention of the printing press, which made books more readily available
• Religious books were very popular, the wealthy could study the word of God in their own home rather than relying on a priest.
• Growing market for fictional tales, although many had a strong religious basis