Lecture 8 Flashcards
When did the end of the Imperial Church come in the West?
The end of the Imperial church in the West came with the defeat of Rome and North African by the Goths and Vandals.
- The beginning was the fall of Rome in 410
- The Vandals had waited for Augustine to die before they sacked Hippo in 430
- By 476, the last western Roman Emperor was deposed
What happened to the church in the east when the church in the west fell?
It survived under the Byzantine empire for another 1000 years.
Name some of the germanic kingdoms
- The Visigoths and Ostrogoths
2. The Vandals
Who were the Visogoths?
Visigoths and Ostrogoths were warring, nomadic German peoples
a. Defeat the Romans at the battle of Adrianople in 378
b. Sack of Rome in 410 Invaded Spain in 415 and ruled until the invasion of the Muslim Moors in the early eighth century
c. Visigoths were Arians and Warriors (Only 15 of their 34 kings died of natural causes. The rest were murdered or deposed!)
King Recared (586-601):
A Visigoth king who converted to Nicene Christianity in 589—as a result Arianism disappeared from Spain
What role did the church play after the conversion of Recared?
e. The Role of the Church after the conversion of Recared:
• the vast majority of the nobles became Christians and Arianism virtually disappeared
• The Church played the role of legislator for the Visigothic Kingdom
• The church provided a measure of order, although some decrees were unjust (see the Council of Toledo below)
• Continued instability in the Germanic Kingdom after the death of Recared:
Which Visigoth King killed 700 of his enemies?
King Recesvinth (649-672)
What marked the end of the Visigoth kingdom?
Under King Roderick (710-711), Spain fell to the Muslim Moors, and the Visigoth rule came to an end.
• However, Christianity was so ingrained in the populace, that it became a rallying cry when the Muslims were defeated later on
Who were the Vandals?
The Vandals: (Eastern German tribes) crossed the Rhine in 407
a. They sacked Carthage in 439
b. They sacked Rome in 455, a greater destruction than the Goths of 410
They were Arians, and under their rule, persecution broke out against Catholics and Donatists
• They ruled Italy/North Africa for over a century
Who was General Belisarius?
The Byzantine general who wanted to recapture the glory of old Rome and led the campaign against the Vandals.
a. He invaded North Africa in the mid-sixth century
b. The Vandals were defeated after 100 years of rule
c. The invasion brought an influx of “Greek Orthodox” Christianity—with Eastern practices—this divided the church
During the 5th century, Gaul was divided between two main groups:
The Burgundians
The Franks
Who were the Burgundians?
An East Germanic tribe, possibly from Scandinavia. They were Arians
• Did not persecute the Christians in Gaul as the Arian Vandals had done to the Nicene Christians in North Africa
• The Burgundians, in fact, imitated the customs of the Christians in Spain, and eventually became Nicene Christians
King Sigismund
The Burgundian King who converted to Nicene Christianity in 516. This caused much of the populace to switch to Nicene Christianity.
Who were the Franks?
A Lower Germanic tribe; from the Rhine near Holland. They were pagan when they invaded.
• Were united under the Merovingian Dynasty
King Clovis
The Frank King who converted after a battle:
He was married to a Christian Burgundian princess
o Vowed to become a Christian on the eve of a certain battle (if we was victorious)
o He was victorious and was baptized on Christmas Day 496-don’t forget, that’s what happened to Constantine.
What happened to Frank leadership after Clovis?
The people were ruled by weak kings who became puppets to “chamberlains”, or Prime Ministers, who held the real power behind the scenes.
Charles Martel
One of the Frank Chamberlains
• He led the Frankish troops against the Muslims who had crossed the Pyrenees from Spain and were threatening Europe
• He defeated them at the Battle of Tours in 723
• He was basically king, but did not claim the title
• The real king, Childeric III, was overthrown by Pepin the Short: son of Charles Martel
Pepin the Short
Son of Charles Martel, who overthrew Childeric III, the waek Frankish king.
What is important about Pepin the Short?
Pepin was then anointed by Bishop Boniface who was acting under the order of Pope Zacharias.
Pepin’s forceful removal of King Childeric with the consent of Pope Zacharias (this sets up the stage for the papacy):
• Shows the increasing power of the Church in political issues
• Paved the way for the rule of Charlemagne: Pipin’s son, and the greatest ruler of the early Middle Ages who sought to reform the Churches.
What role did King Clovis play in church politics?
o Ecclesiastical leaders were content to follow the wishes of the King
o This set a precedent for Kings to choose people for vacant bishoprics
• The Church began to own large portions of land, so bishops became wealthy land owners and managers
What is happening in church history with the fall of Rome, the rise of German tribes, and the Muslim invasion?
What’s happening at the time is that the Muslims are rising, but you have these Germanic tribes banding together in Europe under the banner of Christendom. This all paves the way for Charlemagne. The church begins to become more powerful in parts of Europe. Even with the Muslim invasion. More land. More connection with kings.
How was Great Britain divided during early church history?
Great Britain: had always been divided between North and South by the Roman Wall (Hadrian’s Wall)
a. The North: was independent, and inhabited by Picts and Scots
b. The South—inhabited by the citizens of the Roman Empire who had fled with the troops when Rome fell
• The Area was then invaded by Angles and the Saxons
• They founded the seven Kingdoms of: Kent, Essex, Sussex, East Anglia, Wessex, Northumbria, and Mercia
Who was Columba, and what did he do?
Columba: the most famous of the Irish missionaries who settled on the island of Liona with twelve companions around 563.
o The monastery became a center of missions to the Scots
o Many other missions/monasteries were modeled after this one
o The missions moved south, to territories held by the Angles/Saxons
Context: : The Church in Ireland was Catholic and was striving
a. The Missionary movement (they began to send missions out, because they were an island probably protected):
• Since the church was thriving, Ireland sent many missionaries to other parts
The lasting influence of Irish Christianity
- The practice of private (or “auricular”) confessions to a priest
- Confessor manuals
- The Hymn “Be Thou My Vision” is a translation of a Celtic prayer to thwart the evil of the Druids
Differences of between Scotch-Irish Christianity and Catholicism of the day
a. Were not led by bishops but by heads of monastic communities
b. Differed on the manner in which a number of rites should be performed
c. Differed on the date of Easter
d. Monks resisted tradition by shaving the front of their heads, rather than the crown—the practice was eventually outlawed
Council of Toledo (Spain) 633
a. Marriage of priests (To give you some perspective: the first official Catholic Church decree forbidding Priests to marry was the First Lateran Council of 1123—it was merely hinted at in previous councils, such as this one)—priests could only be married with permission of the bishops
• Any priest who disobeyed was to be condemned to do penance for a time, and his wife was to be sold by the bishop
How were Jews treated at the end of early church history?
Jews were not to be forced to convert, but any converted Jew could not revert back to Judaism since it was blasphemy
- Any Jew who reconverted to Judaism would be forbidden to speak to others (including relatives)
- Any Jew found to observing their traditional practices (such as circumcision) were to have their children taken away from them
- Any male Jew found to be married to a Christian woman must choose Christianity, or his wife and children would be taken away from him
Isidore of Seville
a. He was a scholar who sought to preserve the Ancient Church as much as possible
b. Isidore’s book Etymologies:
• A veritable encyclopedia of religious knowledge of the times (including astronomy, medicine, agricultures, and other fields)
• This brought back to the Middle Ages, an appreciation and reconnection with Ancient Christian wisdom
Gregory the Great (Pope in 590)
One of the greatest of the medieval Popes—he took a great interest in missionary efforts to England (see more below)
a. Took great personal interest in the Angles, and briefly considered becoming a missionary to them
b. Became pope in 590
c. Sent a mission to England in 599, headed up by Augustine (of Canterbury—not of Hippo)
What was Augustine of Canterbury’s relationship to Gregory the Great?
Had lived in the same monastery with Gregory
• He was reluctant missionary—wanted to be a scholar, but Gregory insisted that Augustine become a missionary
• At one point, Augustine almost turned back when he realized how difficult things were going to be, but Gregory did not let him His missionary journey:
