Test #2 Flashcards
Cluniac Reform
The monastery of Cluny was founded in 910 by Duke William of Aquitaine, and it was created in an attempt to return to a very strict Benedictine Rule. It was one of the earliest systematic attempts to return to the original simplicity of benedictine order;
Exercised lots of oversight, no longer leaving the sister homes alone, enforced stricter practice. It was started by mostly monks, who were the minority, but they were very effective, and Cluny became widely admired. Other monasteries began attaching themselves to Cluny, making it a nucleus of a group of reform monasteries across Europe, and thus, essentially created a monastic order. The Center of Western Christendom was St. Hugh of Cluny (1024-1109). However, in the 12th cent, Cluniacs began showing complacency and contentness, and thus began breaking apart. Still the Cluniac reform and the cluniacs had a large spread of influence, reaching people such as Henry III.
Gregory VII
Orig named Hildebrande, he was Pope from 1073-1085, was known for his very assertive program. He collected Canon law and organized it into a somewhat coherent system. The Dictates of the Pope (1074), said that secular rulers, even if they’re baptized, can’t be trusted, because they’re all thieves, murderers, and rapists, so they must submit to the Pope. The Condere Noves leges expressed the Pope’s ability to create new laws, which don’t have to be in line with the old system, and was a very aggressive assertion of Papal authority. He used the Legates, his officials/agents, to have full control over the entire church, because he needed to constantly monitor things to keep power. However, BIshops and priests didn’t like this, didn’t like him interferring so much. This led to the investiture conflict, which was a question of who had the power, which sword? Gregory claimed that secular people can’t appoint Bishops, leading to a huge conflict between him and Henry IV, who Gregory excommunicated and deposed, causing lots of fighting, a second excommunication, but eventually Henry invaded Rome and Gregory was driven from Rome in 1084 and died in exile in 1085, leading to even more problems in the church and with the Antipope Henry chose.
St. Peter Damian
1007-1072, a monk and ascetic, a radical closely associated w/ the Cluniacs, he was an early advocate of stringent discipline for monks, such as flagellation. He was critical of clerical wealth, simony, and nicolaism, and argued that beastiality is a lesser sin than homosexuality because only one soul is damned. He was a critic of empty ritualism, wanted a “new piety” and less formalism, you needed true faith and belief. He defended the priesthood, argued against donatism, because even if they’re a sucky priest, God wil honor the sacraments. He was appointed Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia in 1057, then there was the Schism of 1061-64. He allied with Leo IX, Humbert, and Hildebrand for reforms, and was overall the most influential church choice in central 11th C.
Battle of Manzikert
occured Aug 26, 1071, a conflict between the Seljuk Turks and the Byzantines. The Turks were the new enemies to the East of Byzantium, and they were conquering, starting w/ Baghdad in 1055, then they took Armenia in 1065, and raided Anatolia from 65-67, leading the Imperial army to try to push them back and drive them from Asia minor. The Battle was a complete Byzantine loss, as there were 80,000 men, but 1/2 were under a different commander. The commander of the rear position left the field, and the army panicked. The Emperor Romanus IV Diogenes was captured, and a personal deal was made between him and the Turkish leader. When Romanus was returned he was captured, blinded, and killed, which meant the peace treaty they made was void. The battle was a turning point for Byzantium, because they lost their hold on Asia minor, and without it the Empire was much smaller and weaker, and more conquerings from the West would continue as well (bc of the Normans)
Roger II of Sicily
1095-1154, he was the most powerful ruler in Christendom in the 12th Century. He inherited Sicily at 10yrs old, and thus had a regency period with his mom until 1112, Adelaide of Vasto in charge, though we know nearly nothing about her. In 1122, Roger’s cousin, William II, was struggling with Rebels in continental Italy, so Roger helps him for a future favor, which he cashes in quick when his cousin dies in 1127, and Roger inherits his kingdom, which upset a lot of vassals and the Pope, who tries to start a Crusade but fails, thus there’s a new election for Pope, and Roger can give his candidate, Anacletus (but Innocent III wins, obv). Theres lots of rebellions and fights: Ranulf, 1130-35, Roger wins; Lothair’s invasion (Innocent called help from Holy Roman Emp), 1136-37, and Roger has to retreat to Sicily, and Ranulf rebels again at Battle of Rignano, Oct. 30, 1137, Roger loses, but Ranulf dies 2 yrs later so rebellion falls apart. Innocent invaded again in the summer of 1139, but he walked straight into an ambush, and 3 days later he had to accept Roger as king of both Sicily and S. Italy. His legacy is huge. The Assizes of Ariano (1140) was a legal code inspired by Byzantine models, where the will of the monarch is law, it’s an absolutist document. He spread culture and science, making a sort of fusion culture with Byzantine, islam, Normans, etc. He practiced religious toleration, where nearly anyone could worship as they wanted. He made a royal bureaucracy which wasn’t hereditary to take power from nobles, built a fleet to control trade and make more money. He made the most powerful, wealthiest, urban, sophisticated, centralized kingdom in W. Christendom in the 12th cent.
Cathars
Heretics promenent in medieval Languedoc, southern France, completely different from the other heretics like the Waldensians. A Dualist perspective, agnostic, the material world is evil, the spiritual world is good. Thus, whatever God is in the Old Testament, who made the material world, can’t be the real God, he’s just some smaller, petty, Jewish God, not the God Christ spoke of. Christ can’t have a physical body, otherwise he’d be imperfect, so he just has the appearance of a person; he’s a guide to spiritual wisdom to escape from prison of the material world. Thus, the resurrection didn’t happen, because the whole point of salvation is to escape the physical world, not to return to it. Some Cathars practiced the endura, a practice of ritual suicide by starvation. There are two ways to think of evil material world; you either go full asceticism, get away from material world, OR, because spirit world is good, nothing matters in this world, have sex, but objection to reproduction, because it just spreads material world. Meats were seen as more material than vegetables, so mostly a vegetarian diet. There was a belief in Metapsychosis, which is basically samsara, or the cycle of rebirth. Idea of consolamentum, that is the priests lay their hands on you, all your sins are wiped away and you can escape the material world for good. For a while Cathars were protected fairly well, but church upset about it, led to The Albigensian Crusade and the Papal Inquisition.
St. Francis of Assisi
1181-1226, born to a wealthy merchant family, he was a bad student, but was known for his generosity, and he wanted to achieve martial glory. He fought at Perugia, but it failed and he was imprisoned, and then he got ill at Spoleto, which led to his conversion, because he questioned why was he dedicating his life to military glory when that will come to an end? He had a deep horror of people w/ leprosy, but after conversion, met a leper and hugged him to overcome his revulsion, and when he looked around, the leper was gone and it was a test from Christ. He made a pilgrimage to Peter’s tomb, believed he was told to rebuild the shrine to St. Damian, so he did, with his dad’s money, he heard Matthew 19, so gave away all his shit, started preaching love of poverty, free from wealth, message of penance, repentance, reject worldly concerns, forgiveness, love between brothers and sisters. By 1209, enough people gathered that he wanted approval from the church to teach and preach his message, orignially denied by Innocent III, but then he had a dream than Francis was holding up the Lateran, so the order was approved in 1210. It’s a very simple order, not intellectual, and more orders were added, but Francis resigned in 1221. He received the Stigmata Sept 14, 1224, which was the ultimate sign that Christ approved Francis’ work. His work was counter-cultural, he converted everyone, preached different from aristocratic ethics, believed religion is of the heart, not mind, honored priests, forgiveness, emphasized nature, and restored confidence to the people, because he wasn’t fake and practiced what he preached
Waldensians
Begun by Peter Waldo (1140-1218), son of a wealthy cloth merchant who was troubled, influenced by Matthew 19 and gave up everything in 1176, life is about love and reconciliation with God, preached to the poor. Then Archbishop Steven hears about this and gets concerned, esp bc Waldo doesn’t have the right to preach or teach since he’s not ordained or a priest
Keep doing what you’re doing, but stop preaching. Waldo summoned to rome in 1179 by Pope Alexander III to tell him to stop preaching, which he did for like a year, then continued, saying “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 4), but they were condemned as heretics or schismatics in 1184. By the late 1180s, Waldensians were very distrustful of institutions, Proto-Protestants, listen to the Bible alone, screw the priests who live lavish lives, poverty only, denied priesthood, purgatory, rejected killing and oath-taking, and they wore sandals to show their identity. It spread among the urban poor, it was persecuted harshly, and presented a challenge to the institutional church, bc the Waldensians seemed to follow the role of the apostles better than the clergy were; more people seeing the hypocrisy of the church.
Council of Clermont
Nov. 18-27, 1095. Summoned by Pope Urban II, and there’s no official transcript but lots of different versions. Urban talking to the nobility of France and guilt-trips them, tells them of the horrors happening in the East to the Christians by the Muslims (he’s out of date), so it’s the Christian obligation to save them from the unclean race (the Turks). He used the idea of chivalric loyalty to get them to get Jerusalem, it will be beneficial to your soul to use warfare skills for a holy purpose, and promise of Full satisfaction (all penance for sins remitted). It worked! (Deus Vult! God Wills It) was the response, there were some voices of doubt, some questioning the Pope’s authority, but their voices drowned out. Urban just wants warriors, but the message of penance spreads so now everyone wants to go on a Crusade and lots of commoners go. Led to the First Crusade in 1096 going to Jerusalem.
The Magna Carta
July 15, 1215. John of England was a very unpopular king, Notorious for his adultery and greed, and an all aroound terrible military leader, and managed to piss off Innocent III, loses the Battle of Bovines, a huge humiliation, bc you can’t be abusive and incompentent, yet John was, so there was an uprising, and John was forced to sign the Magna Carta. It was the foundation for a constitutional or limited monarchy, the barons have certain rights against the king, and the king can’t just do what he wants. It was nowhere near a democracy, and no one wanted a democracy, they just didn’t want the king to do absolutely anything they wanted. Pope Innocent III technically rejected the Magna Carta, because England was his vassal state and he had to approve things like this, but no one really listened or cared.
The Albigensian Crusade
Occurred from 1209-1229. There were a concerning number of Cathar heretics, but it was the events of the papal legate Pierre de Castelnau and Count Raymond VI of Toulouse which pushed Innocent III to push for a Crusade. There was a big problem with nobles protecting Cathars from persecution, and Pierre de Castelnau wanted to harshly punish the Cathars and all those who protected them, whereas Raymond wanted Castelnau to mind his own business and return to Rome. They had an argument one night, and the next day, January 14, 1208, was found dead in the streets, presumably by Raymond. This pushed Innocent to call for a Crusade, and Simon de Montfort led his army of 10,000 (lots of knights) into Languedoc in 1209, both wanting to absolve their sins and keep all the territory they conquered. They arrived at Beziers July 22, 1209, and it was a complete massacre, everyone, Cathars or not were killed with the idea that “God will sort them all out.” The massacre got everyone’s attention, so towns started surrendering before they were attacked, such as Carcassonne (Aug 15, 1209). The crusaders tried to rule the territory they took, but it didn’t work too well because there were too many cultural differences, and the crusade goes on for another 20 yrs because of this until Raymond negotiates an end. However, this crusade led to the Papal Inquisition because the heretic problem wasn’t fully rooted out.
St. Dominic
1170-1221, was born Diego de Guzman to a noble family, became a priest in 1196 and traveled to Languedoc with a Bishop because of rumors that the heresy was spreading to northern Spain and Aragon, so he began preaching against the Cathars, which worked because part of the reason the Cathars were listened to was the hypocrisy of the church, but Dominic was true and practiced what he preached, thus he restored some credibility to the Roman clergy. He was inspired by the holy idea of poverty and followed a very strict life, he lived off begging and the bare minimum, and was not lax about his life. He founded the Dominican order in 1216 when the Order of the Preachers approved, and they were known as the watch dogs of the Lord. Unlike the Francisians, they were very intellectual, driving force in new university system, believed in the power of the word, and in dogmatic order, You have to know the truth, it’s not just love and all, its dogma and theology. They worsened the situation of the Jews. It was a Mendicant order which required the members to live in poverty like Dominic. They dominated universities because of their intellectual emphasis, and eventually held great thinks like Thomas Aquinas.
Fourth Lateran Council
It was the most important council to occur under Pope Innocent III 1215, and took 5 weeks in the summer to complete. there were more than 1200 bishops, abbots, and priests. 70 disciplinary actions were laid out, including establishing the official # of sacraments (7), fixed the western understanding that what goes on in Mass is transubstantiation, making the role of the priest absolutely vital, required that every faithful christian should attend church and take mass at least once a yr, forbade priests from participating in the ordeal (bc it tests God) (Instead, to decide who is innocent or guilty in a crime, gather evidence and use logic), imposed guard that Jews and Muslims wear dif clothes, ensure separation btwn communities (esp sexually), and that no Jewish officials allowed to exercise political authority over Christians.
Louis IX
r. 1226-1270, was known as the Saint-King of France. There was a period of regency under his mom Blanche of Castille, who was a formidable force and had a profound effect on her son. Such as, she wanted to wrap up the Albigensian crusade, so Louis went to finish it, but Louis truly believed in the Crusades, only used money he taxed or fined (espec. From Jews) for only what he said he would, no parties, no personal things, etc. He was a perfect knight and king, but when he got ill and was on death’s door in 1245, he made an unshakeable vow that if he got better and God saved him that he would go on Crusade, which he did (to his mom’s displeasure, didn’t want another Crusade). The Seventh Crusade arrived at Damietta June 4, 1249, and the field army was unprepared, so when the crusaders got onto land much quicker than they expected, they just kind of fled, and it wasn’t really a fight (Battle on the Beach) which was a miracle of God to the Christians, and Damietta fell. They attacked Mansurah Feb.7, 1250, but the leader Robert of Artois’ hot-headedness cost the army, he followed them into the city, which was full of narrow alleys (not great for cavalry), and got slaughtered. Louis didn’t know this, and followed them in, so his cavalry got slaughtered too, and he had to surrender April 5, 1250. Louis was ransomed and spent a few years in the Holy Land calming nobles disputes. He was upset by this failure, and wanted to make an ideal Christian monarchy at home to compensate. He was venerated as a peacemaker, except to the Jews, who he saw as an enemy. He died on another unsuccessful cruade in 1270, but he was canonized as St. Louis in 1297.
Henry II of England
r. 1154-1189. Before his rule came the Anarchy of Stephen, who kicked out the original female heir of Plantagenet England, but Henry (who was the grandson of King Henry I) claimed the throne and kicked Stephen out. He married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, which led to the “Angevin Empire” because she was extremely and used to be married to Louis II of France, so now Henry has a claim to England and her French Empire. He reasserted royal power in England, counteracting the anarchy of Stephen’s rule and the leniency of nobles who would build their own illegal castles/bunkers. He took significant steps toward the development of English Common law, including suspending the complex jurisdictions of local and baronial courts, juries, precedent, etc. He also used scutage, which was a tax paid by a knight to the king in lieu of military service, that way he had more money and could buy his own loyal mercenaries. Then the Becket Affair occurred, between Henry and his old friend Thomas Becket, who he appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury to gain greater control of the church, but it backfired because Becket actually cared about the church and defended its rights. This led to a conflict of jurisdiction, where is the line between spiritual and secular crimes and punishment (murder, adultery), and both men stood by their sword’s side. At the Councils of Claredon (1164), Henry asserted the King as chosen by God has the authority to try priests and monks for secular crimes (papacy disagreed), Becket agreed and then quickly backtracked, and Becket was assassinated in front of a church altar Dec. 29, 1170 (apparently bc Henry wanted him dead, but some knights took it too seriously). Because of this, Henry had to calm down, water down the decrees of the councils, give penance, visibly repent for this sin, etc. Still, Henry got a lot of what he wanted, lots of control over the church. He invaded Ireland in 1171 to assert his control, and then from 1173 to his death, Henry’s sons were rebelling against him (especially Richard, Eleanor’s fav), and while Henry maintained control in England, France was a different story.
