Authority In The Medieval Church example essay topic

The authority in the medieval church was maintained mainly by three factors. One was because of the wealth of the church the other was their process of getting wealthy and lastly it is because of the popes who were the central figures in authority in matters of faith, law, discipline and organization. Money was probably one of the main factors that raised the medieval church up and gave it the authority it may have lacked. The church had numerous ways of getting the money they desired.

One of the most important ways was by selling indulgences to the people who felt that they needed it in order to prevent them from entering purgatory. The church teaches that before you enter into heaven you will be sent to purgatory to have your sins burnt out. Johan Tetzel stated ' a soon as gold in the basin rings, right then the soul to heaven springs'. It seems as if he was more interested in the gold, then of the person's soul.

Another way the church attained their money was from the great pilgrimage. This was the time of the greatest pilgrimages in history. People all over Europe traveled great distances to experience even the most insignificant of relics. Soon, the possession of relics became a kind of competition between churches and monasteries, indicating their popularity and faithfulness. With the collection of relics came an increase in the size and wealth of the church, which housed them. This led to an obsession for money and materialism within the church, which grew tremendously over the next few hundred years.

It went so far as the selling of indulgences, which was basically the buying off of one's time, spent in purgatory before ascending to heaven. This action depicts the church because here you were encouraged to worship idols such as relics and patron saints. Relics became objects of veneration and worship. Every monastery became a shrine and more relics were gathered into it. People became too superstitious and ignorant and because of this they worshiped relics and saints to act out a religion that other wise could have been too abstract for them to appreciate. The Medieval church used forms of entertainment and ceremonies which they became very good at in order to show their illiterate followers the majesty, mystery and authority of the church.

With the money they attained they were able to build the churches so that they rose up to be 'splendid' and 'dominant's truc tures. The churches soared above all other buildings within its site. This shows that the church had the money and the people's accordance to develop these magnificent buildings. The church was seen to be like a pyramid. The bottom of the pyramid is where the less ranked authorities sat and as the pyramid goes higher we move to see the higher authority figures. On the top is the pope then the cardinals, then the bishops, then priests and at the bottom are the common ordinary people that are known as Laity.

This group is the source that held the church together. They maintained the authority of the church. Medieval Church in the West was completely focused on the pope as the authority figure in matters of faith, law, discipline and organization. The pope became an absolute monarch with supremacy over all the churches in the East as well as the West.

The Roman church was considered the "mother" of all other churches and the pope was God's representative on earth. One of the famous Medieval Popes was Martin Luther, who played a key role in the development of Roman Catholic Medieval Christianity. He had a tremendous influence on medieval cultural, political and ecclesial life. He was religious and humble and very concerned about the needs of the people.

During the middle Ages, the Church in the West developed its own set of laws and regulations alongside the laws and decrees of emperors and kings. But the secular rulers were subject to church law, and the Pope was the supreme governor, absolute lawgiver and supreme judge not only in church matters but in secular as well, since the state was subject to the church. The medieval church had several ways to maintain their authority; through wealth, ways of getting wealthy and the high authority medieval popes, but their ways were indignation to God and the church.